Top 31 of 2006: #28

Emily Haines: "Knives Don't Have Your Back"
Released: September 19, 2006

I need to fall asleep. It's been hours now, just lying around in bed, waiting for my body to final give in. It's not going to happen. I get up, watch TV. I lock an oscillating fan and stare directly into its breeze in a failed attempt to dry out my eyes and make me sleepy. Nothing is going to work. I will be awake for the rest of my life. I'm going to be like Edward Norton on Fight Club. I glance over my shoulder to make sure I don't have my very own Tyler Durden. I don't. It's infomercial hour. Nothing except Full House on Nick at Nite. I turn off the TV and head over to my CD collection. Nothing looks good. But wait, what's this? It's Emily Haines' debut solo album, "Knives Don't Have Your Back." What the hell, I think. I put it in for a spin and lay back down in bed. Slowly but surely, I am overcome by sleep. Beautiful, peaceful sleep. I meet a beautiful young lady in a coffee shop. I hate coffee. We talk, and laugh and I tell her about my mundane life and my brooding insomnia. She laughs and tells me that her life is not so special either. "I'm going to get some cheesecake," she says, "Do you want any?" I shake my head. I never see her again. I wake up. "I'd rather give the world away then wake up lonely," sings Emily Haines, and I realize that I know exactly what she means.

"Knives..." is an album spiced with beauty and pain, and probably the best lyrical performance of 2006. If you haven't heard this album, you really need to. For being a kindred spirit, Emily Haines is #28.

Top 31 Songs of 2006: #28
Incubus - "Dig" from the album Light Grenades.