1. Petra Haden, "Don't Stop Believin'" (from Guilt by Association, Engine Room)
2. Stephen Malkmus & the Million Dollar Bashers, "Ballad of a Thin Man" (from I'm Not There, Sony/Epic Soundtrax)
3. Iron & Wine, "Resurrection Fern" (from The Shepherd's Dog, Sub Pop)
4. Panda Bear, "Bros" (from Person Pitch, Warp)
5. Radiohead, "Unravel (Pocket Mix)" (MP3, music-by-pocket.com)
6. Beirut, "Elephant Gun" (from Lon Gisland EP, Ba Da Bing!)
7. Vampire Weekend, "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" (from EP, self-issued)
8. LCD Soundsystem, "All My Friends" (from Sound of Silver, Capitol)
9. Spoon, "The Underdog" (from Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, Merge)
10. Neil Young, "Ordinary People" (from Chrome Dreams II, Reprise)
11. Kanye West, "Can't Tell Me Nothing" (from Graduation, Roc-a-Fella/Def Jam)
12. M.I.A., "Paper Planes" (from Kala, Interscope)

"Made in America," the final episode of The Sopranos, aired on June 10th. I got my advance of the Guilty by Association covers comp a few weeks later. Did Petra Haden know that David Chase would use the song? Her publicist says no, but I believe Haden lives in L.A., so maybe she has moles in the TV industry. I always thought Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" was comically bad, but in that final scene in the diner it seemed to sum up everything that was delusional and abhorrent about the America that the Soprano family lived, loved, killed, and did business in; it rang out like the national anthem of a poisoned culture. This multi-tracked a cappella cover shows another side of the song. Charlie Haden's quirkily talented offspring reclaims its pop radio innocence, mirroring it back with childlike joy, voices mouthing lyrics, basslines, drumbeats, synth whines, and even the guitar solo. It's like quintuplets singing in front of their bedroom mirror while their mom makes Shake-and-Bake chicken downstairs.

My other on-screen musical epiphany of 2007 was Cate Blanchett in Todd Haynes' I'm Not There—especially when she lip-syncs to Stephen Malkmus (backed by Tom Verlaine, Lee Renaldo, and Smokey Hormel on silvery, needling guitars) singing "Ballad of a Thin Man." Maybe Dylan's most withering lyrics apart from "Positively 4th Street," the words sound great coming from the nasal pipes of the ex-Pavement frontman, whose scathingly droll delivery (and vaguely feminine boyishness) obviously owes a bit to this particular Dylan. It was thrilling to watch Blanchett weave her rail-thin body and amphetamined fingers through the role; I've been trying to get my hair to look like that ever since.

As for the rest, I couldn't get Sam Beam's line in "Resurrection Fern" about "tender bellies wound in bailing wire" out of my head for weeks, and I was glad that his music (with help from some guys in Calexico, who also added shine to the I'm Not There soundtrack) has become as prickly as his poetry. Panda Bear's "Bros" was a warm bath that I drew often, and my favorite Brian Wilson homage-cum-hallucination of the year, edging out the Besnard Lakes by a nose. The Pocket remix of Radiohead's Bjork cover was grey-market online music making/pirating at its best (and a perfect cap to the band's year of internet shenanigans). Beirut made me want to drink. Vampire Weekend made me want to dance. LCD Soundsystem made me think about dancing. Spoon made me think about the mysterious art of songwriting. Neil, as always, made me think about Neil, and Kanye, as always, made me think about Kanye.

But it was M.I.A. who made me think about hip-hop, even though most folks would question whether she's hip-hop herself. So the mix ends, as it begins, with a girl's voice and the idea of gunfire as inescapable. "All I want to do is just [BANG] [BANG] [BANG] [BANG] . . . and take your money," she chants. God bless America.

Will Hermes obsesses about music for NPR, Spin, and The New York Times when he's not teaching journalism at SUNY-New Paltz.