My Top 1000 Songs #551: All The Old Showstoppers

[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.]

Yet another dense tapestry of multi-layered baroque pop from the New Pornographers. Maybe not as immediate as some of my prior choices... but if you measure a song's worth in how many times you find yourself subconsciously singing the chorus to yourself for years after its release, "All The Old Showstoppers," from 2007's superb (and underrated?) Challengers, is way up there. 

I mean there you are, quietly going about your day, and for the millionth time you find "the princess of the paupers, and all the old showstoppers" unexpectedly bouncing around your brain for no reason and oh god make it stop but nope it just keeps going!

Live 2008:

Live 2011, with Neko: