My Top 1000 Songs #518: Impossible Germany

 [I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

Most of my "I'm talkin' 'bout the live version!" posts in this list involve the Grateful Dead. Or possibly My Morning Jacket. But Wilco's "Impossible Germany," one of their finest moments after that mad rush of phenomenal records from Being There through Yankee Hotel Foxtrot had passed, is best heard live. I mean, hey, the studio version found on 2007's Sky Blue Sky, is quite nice, a lovely Jeff Tweedy ballad with some stunning fretwork from guitarist Nels Cline (who joined the band in time for the record), a beautiful front end that cuts loose into a soaring jam.

But live, Cline and Tweedy (with utility multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone) really go to town, a dynamic multiple-guitar attack that owes a bit of a debt to Television's "Marquee Moon." It's remained a peak of the concert setlist ever since, and never falls anywhere short of exhilarating.

Live 2016:

Live 2008:

Nifty cover from Jen Cloher & Tiny Ruins: