21.   Becker sings about junkies and cheating lovers, a space alien and a suicidal couch potato, old girlfriends and a spoiled son.

22.   Before the ceremony, the Rose Garden speaker system played Bruce Springsteen singing about the glory days passing people by.

23.   - The Big Sandy River winds through some of the loneliest landscape in Arizona, across furrows and dunes that Indian tribes sing about in sad verses.

24.   A group of Gypsy women gather on the street of an unidentified Spanish town and sing about the hatred they feel from the outside world.

25.   A Brazilian master answers all modern conundrums with effortlessly sophisticated melodies, singing about everything from quantum physics to crab vendors.

26.   A flustered reply from Ms. Cook, who clearly prefers singing about love to discussing it.

27.   Accompanied with homemade rattles and guitars, they prayed and sang about the glory of God, their reedy voices rising in harmony.

28.   Actually, Neil Young is singing about the late Kurt Cobain on the title track and other songs on his new CD.

29.   Brennan sings about abandonment to God with a childlike simplicity that makes the song even more endearing.

30.   Brand remembers how, before soft money and sound bites, before attack ads and tightly scripted conventions, presidential candidates were something to sing about.