The 333 Best Pop Songs of the 2000s: #279

#279: "Fallin'" (2001) - Alicia Keys

Well, Mr. Zimmerman, since you were wondering where she was, I found her for you. You were looking for her in Tennessee, and you were close, but you didn't travel far enough south. I caught her in Georgia, pilfering through James Brown's basement. I asked her what she was doing there, and she told me that it was no longer a man's, man's, man's world anymore. She was digging through his files, for she said she was determined to bring enough class and musicianship back to R&B so that the youngsters would stop fallin' for the government-sponsored gansta rap that had torn the African-American youth apart. She said that it was time for America to get back on the good foot, and that she was going to take the Godfather of Soul's music and sing it her way. I told her that what she was doing was stealing. She then put the record she held on the turntable, turned it on, sat down at the baby grand, and played along with it; she sang her own words though, and when she finished, she asked me what I thought about her singing over James Brown's music. I asked her, "James who?"