STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
When I listen to a song, I listen for the lyrics. The words put images in my head, if they're good, like a Springsteen line. (Singing) The screen door slams. Mary's dress waves.
Or they convey an emotion, AJR describing a guy who's sorry for himself, hearing the world's smallest violin. Song lyrics even influence how I try to write for you, writing for your ear. We've been asking some of our experts at NPR Music for lyrics they heard in this past year that moved them.
ANAMARIA SAYRE, BYLINE: I'm Anamaria Sayre. I'm the host of NPR Music's Alt.Latino and Tiny Desk Radio show. My selection for the lyric that really hit me this year was pretty surprisingly simple, (speaking Spanish), which means I hope that mine never move. And it was from the song "Debi Tirar Mas Fotos," by Bad Bunny.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DEBI TIRAR MAS FOTOS")
BAD BUNNY: (Singing in Spanish).
SAYRE: Bad Bunny is saying he hopes that his people never leave, referring to a lot of the movement out of Puerto Rico, the displacement of people that's come from gentrification. Basically, an island that's having trouble sustaining its people.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DEBI TIRAR MAS FOTOS")
BAD BUNNY: (Singing in Spanish).
SAYRE: This is something that happened to be a resounding experience across Latin America. Whether from Venezuela or Mexico, they had experienced similar things. These words and the sentiment behind them were so impactful and so pervasive. They really created a cultural moment. The thing that unifies Latin America feels like, in some ways, it is (speaking Spanish).
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DEBI TIRAR MAS FOTOS")
BAD BUNNY: (Rapping in Spanish).
(SOUNDBITE OF RYAN DAVIS AND THE ROADHOUSE BAND SONG, "NEW THREATS FROM THE SOUL")
LARS GOTRICH, BYLINE: Hey, y'all. I'm Lars Gotrich. I'm the series editor for Tiny Desk. There's this great record by a group called Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band. It's called "New Threats From The Soul." It's just a cosmic and exploratory country rock record. He has a way with his words that feel like backroom bar witticisms. There's one line that, to me, sort of gets at this grand thesis that Ryan Davis is working from - you can see the kingdom from the tailgate.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NEW THREATS FROM THE SOUL")
RYAN DAVIS AND THE ROADHOUSE BAND: (Singing) You can see the kingdom from tailgate if you stack a couple coolers. But you're never going to see it from the front of the line.
GOTRICH: When you think about somebody at the tailgate, it's because they can't afford seats. (Laughter) So there's the income gap of it all. If you think about the kingdom with a capital K, you think about God. Then suddenly you're in the realm of the prosperity gospel. So it's maybe a commentary about how, you know, you got to pay your way to God. But sometimes the kingdom is too far or too unattainable. And maybe that doesn't matter anymore because it's at the tailgate, where your community lives and where it thrives. And that's where Ryan Davis wants to be.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NEW THREATS FROM THE SOUL")
RYAN DAVIS AND THE ROADHOUSE BAND: (Singing) In what was once our home but is now just a house for all the new threats from soul.
INSKEEP: That was Lars Gotrich with the song "New Threats From The Soul," by Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band. We also heard Anamaria Sayre with Bad Bunny's "DTMF." We'll have more of the best lyrics of 2025 as we get closer to the New Year.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NEW THREATS FROM THE SOUL")
RYAN DAVIS AND THE ROADHOUSE BAND: (Singing) I jolted up to some new transference from a sliding door. On a sister vessel, it's hard to know sometimes if I'm on... Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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