Artist:   Nick Lowe
Song:   "I Trained Her to Love Me"
Album: At My Age
Label:   Yep Roc
Year:    2007

This is either the most cold-blooded song ever written, or the sharpest satire to grace an album in many years. Nick Lowe is no stranger to the sardonic, that’s for sure, but he also possesses one of the biggest hearts in rock & roll. One of his early American albums was called Jesus Of Cool, and he’s also responsible for “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding?”--and he meant it.  On “I Trained Her to Love Me,” he risks human roasting if listeners are lacking the necessary satirical bone. The male scamp in the song, who enjoys luring the ladies into his emotional web before turning on them, deserves to be diced and fed to the fishes, no doubt, but isn’t the singer winking at the women in the corner at just how low some men will go? With only a slight instrumental backing, the Englishman’s quivering voice is all fleshy confidence, somewhere in the sub-freezing territory of Antarctica. It’s worthy of an Alfred Hitchcock movie, set in swinging ‘60s London, with Nick Lowe, all alone at the end, wondering where his life went, when out comes a knitting needle from a long-ago victim to even things out. Another gem from someone who might not hog the headlines, and wouldn’t want to even if he could, but endlessly creates music that thrills and chills all who listen.