At the top of the charts, Billy Bragg & Wilco's Mermaid Avenue. On it, the aforementioned musicians play songs written by Woody Guthrie toward the end of his career, to new music written by Billy Bragg and Nora Guthrie.

The second song, "California Stars," speaks of such unbearable longing that I can hardly stand it sometimes. It makes me stop typing midsentence, stare out the window, daydream, and feel nostalgic for I don't even know what.

I'd like to rest my heavy head tonight
On a bed of California stars
I'd like to lay my weary bones tonight
On a bed of California stars

I'd love to feel your hand touching mine
And tell me why I must keep working on
Yes, I'd give my life to lay my head tonight
On a bed of California stars

But the song I wake up singing in the morning is the rollicking hoedown "Christ for President":

The only way we can ever beat
these crooked politician men
Is to run the money changers out of the temple
And put the Carpenter in

And when I say "Carpenter" I don't mean that in a "faith-based initiatives" way; I mean that in a "love thy neighbor" way.