Knopfler/Harris: "This is us"

I don't touch much on pop music, largely because it is a disturbing mix of techno, crooning, and otherwise-dreadful schlock. It's like Pierre Boulez and Mama Cass had a lovechild. Not '60s Boulez, when he was cool. No. The synthesizer, keeping-up-with-the-Stockhausens Pierre Boulez. Yeah. I know.

However, off the Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris record, All the Roadrunning, there is one single that really works. "This is us" has all the hallmarks of a great pop single from the days when pop singles weren't for dance halls and morons. I liked Knopfler's single of some time back, "Boom like that," about McDonald's czar Ray Kroc. The current single has a sweet-enough story, catchy hooks, and doesn't make my ears bleed.

I can't say I love it as much as Schmidt's Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln (which is fast becoming one of my O-best-beloved works), but I like it. If pop, even well done examples, isn't your thing, that's fine. However, if you enjoy a good four-minute song, this might fit your bill. Or some Schumann.