Sexsmith’s ‘This Song’ Is the Song So Far

Joni Mitchell’s “For the Roses� has stood for nearly three decades as the song about the dehumanizing nature of the music business. It’s a bitter, accusatory tale about how mercenary businessmen savage an artist’s spirit by tossing around new records “like the latest golden egg . . . wondering if the next one in the nest will glitter for them so.�

Now “For the Roses� has a companion piece in Ron Sexsmith’s “This Song,� which tops today’s list of the most noteworthy singles or album tracks in the first half of 2001.

Against a comforting, light country shuffle, Sexsmith sings about taking a new tune to the “tower of gold,� where it gets swallowed up in the industry machinery: “I came unarmed, they’ve all got knives / How can this song survive?�

The sobering thing is that Mitchell’s song was written in 1972 during the golden age of singer-songwriters, when she was a critical and commercial star.

If she felt savaged by the bottom-line consciousness of the pop machinery then, you can imagine what it must be like today for writers, like Sexsmith, who are trying to get a hearing when the craft and insight of singer-songwriters is not in such favor.

Sexsmith’s song tops the midyear record list as a symbol of the struggle so many quality artists have these days in fighting the wall of resistance at radio, whose airwaves are turned over almost exclusively to generic rock, hip-hop and teen pop sounds. (My list of the 10 best albums of the last six months appears in Sunday’s Calendar.)

1. Ron Sexsmith’s “This Song� (spinART). Sexsmith’s own underdog struggle adds to the song’s evocative edge. He wrote “This Song� around the time of his first album for giant Interscope Records in 1995. The thoughts in the tune were based strictly on all that he had heard about the shark-like tactics in the record business. But the tune didn’t fit the tone of the collection, so he filed it away. He began thinking about it again after his relationship with Interscope, where his first three albums sold less than 50,000 copies total, became strained.

Though he recorded his new “Blue Boy� album for Interscope, he left the label (by mutual agreement, he says) and relocated at spinART, an alternative-based New York indie label. Like his earlier albums, “Blue Boy� has received strong reviews and Sexsmith--one of the finest pop craftsmen working today--says some other major labels are expressing interest in signing him. So his song may yet survive.

2. Travis’ “Sing� (Epic). Here’s a charmer that should be a fixture on every pop-rock station in the country. But the upbeat, unabashedly optimistic number is having a hard time finding a radio home amid the lightweight teen pop and the angry rock dirges. The Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love� would probably have a hard time today too.

3. Tricky’s “Excess� (Hollywood). Tricky’s “Maxinquaye� album in 1995 was an unforgettable piece of pop extremism that looked at paranoia and injustice. In his new “Blowback� collection, he moves closer to the mainstream in several tracks--not always with good results. Here, however, he teams with Alanis Morissette for a gripping tale filled with the dance- world tension that would make it fit nicely into the film noir world of “Memento.�

4. Missy Elliott’s “Get Ur Freak On� (The Gold Mind/Elektra). This is the first of the songs on the list that is actually a hit, a supercharged funk/hip-hop exercise that is in the Top 10 on both the pop and R&B; charts. The record’s dynamic production touches reaffirm the place of Elliott and partner Timbaland alongside Dr. Dre and RZA on the short list of hip-hop’s true studio marvels.

5. Staind’s “It’s Been Awhile� (Flip/Elektra). This hard-rock ballad is another one of the year’s smash hits, topping the mainstream and alternative rock charts for more than two months. And it’s no fluke. Though hard rock has been one of the least interesting areas of pop in recent years, Staind’s Aaron Lewis, one of the genre’s most promising new figures, steps away from the whining to take responsibility for some of his own foul-ups. At the end, he even offers a tender “I’m sorry.�

6. Alicia Keys’ “Fallin’ � (J). Clive Davis’ latest discovery is a 20-year-old pop/R&B; wonder whose high-powered vocal delivery on this torch ballad has already drawn comparisons with everyone from Aretha Franklin to Chaka Khan. A star on the rise.

7. Rufus Wainwright’s “One Man Guy� (DreamWorks). It’s hard to imagine Jakob Dylan doing one of his father Bob’s tunes, but Wainwright’s version of a song by his father, Loudon Wainwright III, is a marvelously sweet reflection on self-appraisal and, ultimately, self-acceptance.

8. Shelby Lynne’s “Killin’ Time� (Island). The golden country-soul voice steps away from the dark, oppressive tones of “I Am Shelby Lynne,� the 2000 album that won her a Grammy as best new artist. She’s still talking about the delicate nature of relationships in this track from the “Bridget Jones’s Diary� soundtrack, but it carries a brighter, more accessible tone. The track also marks her first effort with producer Glen Ballard, the prolific hit-maker who is working with her on her new album.

9. Daft Punk’s “One More Time� (Virgin). Now for some old- fashioned pop fun. This is one of those dizzy, pop-minded dance tracks that pops up every couple of years and lights up the airwaves. This is this year’s model.

10. Mirwais’ “Disco Science� (Epic). The wry title from the Paris-based producer who worked with Madonna on last year’s “Music� album is a tip-off that the track mixes the classic sound of disco with some highly imaginative, contemporary dance-world touches. Too bad most disco didn’t sound this good the first time around in the ‘70s.

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Robert Hilburn, The Times’ pop music critic, can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].