• Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” is an awesome song. It’s #217 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time – a list which is, of course, biased toward American and British acts, left out various influential artists, and includes nothing before 1940, but still! – and it is truly excellent. Not only does Dolly deliver marvelously, but the very structure of the song lends itself to a sound of desperation. Oh my lordy, I have listened to it seven times today.
   

• I didn’t manage to catch on to hip hop well enough in 2007, but Aesop Rock’s None Shall Pass and Buck 65’s Situation are both absolutely amazing (and would have been on my top 10 list, had I been smart enough to hear them when they were released). The former features tunes with the likes of John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats, and even has a song called “Bring Back Pluto” that begins And then there were eight, just like that. Um, awesome. Situation features Spanish guitar and quotes of the Clapping Song and Allen Ginsberg, as well as some seriously great singles like the percussion-filled “Dang”.
   

• The Futureheads‘ album This Is Not The World is awesome. I said I would review it and dropped the ball, so here it is in a few words: it is better than News & Tributes and almost as good as The Futureheads. The first single, “The Beginning of the Twist”, is classic catchy, spastic Futureheads fare; the production on everything is a little cleaner than their S/T, but thankfully not as slick as the unfortunate News work. I like it more and more every week. Well done, Sunderlanders. Now bring back Field Music!
   

• I am seeing Squeeze in 17 days. Not that I am particularly excited or anything.

Goodies:
Aesop Rock, None Shall Pass
The Futureheads, The Beginning of the Twist
Buck 65, The Outskirts

Dolly Parton’s breasts may be two of the wonders of the entertainment world, but the country music icon says they are a pain in her back.
     Parton, 62, said on Monday she would postpone her upcoming North American tour after doctors told her to take it easy for six to eight weeks to rest her sore back.
     ”Hey, you try wagging these puppies around a while and see if you don’t have back problems,” the folksy singer-songwriter said in a statement.

(Read the full story here.)

I swear I heard a clever joke about this particular article, but I’m trying to remember it and in all honesty, I’m failing miserably. I guess my mammary ain’t what it used to be.