Nebraska – Bruce Springsteen
The whole album is a classic, of course, but this song is arguably the hardest-hitting of the bunch. It’s not my favorite track on Nebraska, by any means, but it’s the one that defines the entire enterprise. Springsteen has always been more complicated than his critics (and fans, too, in most cases) have thought, but with this song he laid down a marker. It’s dark, unforgiving, raw, horrifying.
The killer waiting for his execution, feeling no particular remorse, or fear either, with just enough humanity left to ponder why it all took place. The simple, devastating answer: “I guess there’s just a meanness in this world.”