Welcome to the winter of Kanye's discontent. On the first two singles from the upcoming 808s and Heartbreak, West drenched his sorrows in Auto-Tune, but he's more clear-voiced on this ode to his late mother. Injecting the glowing synths of Tears for Fears' "Memories Fade" with gut-punching percussion, he croons, "Will I ever love again?" It's an honest sentiment that's fortunately not deep enough to drown in.

“The Pretender”

This song wasn't part of the planned track listing for 2007's Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, and was put together in a day. "It happened after we recorded a lot of stuff," said Dave Grohl. Yet it ended up as the album opener and the lead single. Grohl called it "a stomping Foo Fighters uptempo song with a little bit of Chuck Berry in it." The singer hinted at the lyrics' political overtones: "Everyone's been f---ed over before and I think a lot of people feel f---ed over right now and they're not getting what they were promised."