James Morrison, "You Give Me Something"

The year 2006 was an unexpectedly great one for pop singles. For years I've been sending end-of-year best-of mix CDs to friends, and 2006 was the sole year I had to do a double album (and even then, I left some really good stuff off).

Among the many fine voices I was exposed to that year was that of then 21-year-old James Morrison - a raspy, soulful kid who no doubt wishes the Doors had never existed. His "You Give Me Something" was not only a fine vocal, it was a smart take on a somewhat underexplored theme: a guy who's falling in love for the very first time and is unabashedly scared about the prospect. (Unlike John Lennon in "Don't Let Me Down," you can believe this guy on the literal level.) "I never thought that I'd love someone," he sings. "That was someone else's dream." He's honestly realistic rather than starry-eyed - "This could be nothing," he acknowledges - which makes it all the more powerful when he ultimately gives himself over to the feeling and the moment: "And the words that I could never say / Are gonna come out anyway." It's a grand declaration, and the video gets it right by having him saunter into traffic and make his declaration in a public square. Once you've done that, there's nothing to be scared of anymore.