BEST OF 2010 (songs) #23 Ted Leo & The Pharmacist - Bottled In Cork

This year found Ted Leo & The Pharmacist returning to form with "The Brutalist Bricks" a rousing collection of pop-punk. One of the album's many standouts was "Bottled In Cork." The track begins with Leo singing furiously about a "peace keeping" debate on the floor of the U.N. that roots the song in agitprop before quickly turning from the political into a personal travelogue. As the piece continues it bears the melodicism of a world traveller imparting insight. One gets the sense that Leo loves the world he lives in, loves to explore it and loves the people he meets along the way, but that the misdeeds of Washington and Wall Street, which threatens those places and people, are never far from his mind. One line stands out in particular; "a little goodwill goes a mighty long way." If there is any expression to sum up Leo's approach to music and politics that would be it. Leo has always come in goodwill, even when he is singing about the atrocious realities of our time.