iTuned In: Broken

Kathryn, your iPhone is famous!

Five songs in my iTunes library with titles that contain the word “broken”:

1. “Broken Strings,” James Morrison and Nelly Furtado. I’ve liked Morrison’s fluttery-rasp vocals ever since his “You Give Me Something” was the free single of the week on iTunes. His song “The Pieces Don’t Fit Anymore” made my 2009 holiday disc; this one also was in contention but I think I decided to go with “Pieces” because Nelly Furtado oversings so much for the last two minutes of this track.

2. “Burn That Broken Bed,” Calexico and Iron & Wine. Speaking of the holiday disc, both of these bands are regular contributors, so when they got together a few years back, it was a no-brainer. The whole “In the Reins” EP is pretty great, but “16, Maybe Less” was the song that made the cut that year.

3. “Broken Homes,” Tricky. Tricky is another artist who has earned automatic-download status, thanks to years of great stuff. This is a duet with guest artist P.J. Harvey; other singers who’ve popped in for a song include Alanis Morissette (no, that’s not her on the chorus in the 30-second snippet of  “Excess“), Bjork (“Keep Your Mouth Shut”), Cyndi Lauper (“Five Days”) and Ed Kowalczyk of Live (“Evolution Revolution Love“).

4. “Trail of Broken Hearts,” k.d. lang. I remember hearing this at my brother’s house while he was living in Denver — either Wheat Ridge or Littleton — and thinking, “Who has this incredibly big voice?” Lang sort of fell of the face of the Earth, didn’t she?

5. “Some Broken Hearts Never Mend,” Don Williams. This is the kind of stuff I grew up listening to: old-school country. (Did I mention I’m from Montana?) I still have a tender spot for it.

WHAT SAM WORE: 1-13-10
The top shirt: Short-sleeved cotton T-shirt by Ted Baker, from Last Chance.
The bottom shirt: Long-sleeved stretch-cotton baseball jersey by Banana Republic, hand-me-down from my roommate.
The pants: Khakis by Chip & Pepper, from Last Chance.
The shoes: Sneakers by Asics, from Sports Authority.