“Deathly” by Aimee Mann

Dad’s Song of the Day, Sept. 18, 2025

There’s a lot of things I could say about this song and it’s hard to narrow it down to just a few sentences:

1. It’s written and performed by Aimee Mann, whom I would say with a fair bit of confidence is my #1 female artist. She’s been making music since the 80’s (first with a group called Til Tuesday, who had a great hit song called “Voices Carry”) and has produced one after another of fantastic albums, right to this day. “Bachelor #2” and “Lost in Space” are probably my favourite of Aimee’s albums, but there are so many great ones that I highly recommend.

2. It inspired the creation of one of the best, most emotional movies ever: Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Magnolia”…it’s lyrics show up not only when the song plays on the soundtrack, but also uttered as part of the screenplay. Aimee’s songs are featured throughout this movie and I truly recommend it…just be prepared with a box of Kleenex and expect to see Tom cruise’s best-ever (and most shocking!) performance in a movie!!

3. It features an all-time brilliant guitar solo by Michael Lockwood…listen as his guitar haunts the song, sneaking around in the background and punching up after each chorus, before being set free at the end of the song, just a gorgeous expression of its emotion and beauty.