BEST OF 2010 (songs) #7 Kanye West - All Of The Lights

I know, everyone else is picking "Power" "Monster" or "Runaway" for their year end lists, and arguably each of those tracks are serious contenders for best song of the year, but for my money no song moved me this year like "All Of The Lights" did. It is possibly the grandest note on an album full of grand notes, and no amount of effuse praise can come close to capturing the ecstatic experience of "Lights" once it gets under your skin. It energizes, brings tears, causes goosebumps and chills, and will make you just damn happy to be alive to hear this song. The track is based on a brass fanfare of french horns, trombones and trumpets giving it a baroque atmosphere. The beat is constructed out of a marching band tom rhythm giving the track an urgent feel that Kanye builds upon with a lyrical flow that tells the story of a man's attempt to reconstruct his life after a stint in the penitentiary only to be meet with restraining orders and unemployment. The titular "lights" change throughout the song from fast cars and shooting stars to sirens and spotlights, before the protagonist asks for all of the lights to be turned up extra bright so that everyone can witness his final fall in an act of desperation. It's such an insanely powerful and perfectly constructed song and the kind of song that only Kanye West could craft and execute.