List Mania II

Yesterday I had an extremely productive day, finishing up a project, meeting with my accountant, and getting my eyebrows done among other things. So when I got home in the afternoon, I felt like I'd deserved a few leisurely hours of blog-reading. And oh did I find some good stuff to read.

As I mentioned the other day, I'm a total sucker for lists. And yesterday I ran across two different lists of the "500 best songs ever" (here and here). Both were the result of multiple contributors and a lot of work on behalf of bloggers. While I don't have the attention span required to do that much work, I do like to sort through my old mix tapes (when I listen to a mix tape of mine, I have a bad habit of saying "I LOVE this song" every time a new song comes on. It's pretty annoying to be in the car with me at those times). So I decided to make a list of my own.

Without (much) further ado, here are the 80 songs I love the most (note: these are not necessarily the 80 songs I think are the "best ever" in terms of social and political importance - they are my favorite songs) (note 2: they are in the order in which I thought of them, which is slightly embarrassing, but I decided to keep it that way b/c it's natural and organic) (note 3: the list has 80 songs because that's when I started having a hard time thinking of songs - these are the songs that just popped into my head):

1. Me & Bobby McGee/Janis Joplin

This is my favorite song in the world...so it's not at all surprising that I thought of it first. I first remember hearing it in 10th grade - the chorus was in a film strip on the influence of rock music on 60s politics. I watched that movie in my modern European History class...which makes no sense, but I'm glad I did. After I heard it, I went home and found an original copy of Pearl in my parent's record collection (father's not mother's - my mom thinks Janis "screams" instead of singing). I liked the full song even better than the chorus. My favorite line has always been, "I'd trade all of my tomorrows for one single yesterday." Sigh. So sad.

2. Piece of My Heart/Janis Joplin

Loving this song followed shortly after Bobby McGee. It's just also that good.

3. Squeezebox/The Who

Hearing this song on the radio makes me incredibly happy. I have the CD and could listen to it whenever I want, but for some reason, when I just happen across it on the radio it makes it that much better.

4. I Can’t Explain/The Who

I've blogged about this song before: it is such a solid pop song. Much less full of subtext than most other Who songs, but so, so catchy.

5. Kiss/Prince

This reminds so much of the summer after I graduated from college. The Prince box set had just been released and my friend Alison and I used to listen to it all the time. It was one of those crazy, fun summers - just before I started taking any responsibility for anything in my life. So nice.

6. Even the Nights Are Better/Air Supply

When I was seven I listened to this song over and over again in my parents' living room, spinning around uncontrollobly. I'm sure they're glad now that they didn't have a CD player with a "repeat" button at the time.

7. Bizarre Love Triangle/New Order

I don't know why I like this song. I just always have. Weirdest place I ever heard it: at a wedding. It was the first song the DJ played. I thought it was kind of odd and inappropriate, but I went with it.

8. Suspicious Minds/Elvis

By far my favorite Elvis song and only made better by it's totally appropriate inclusion in Intolerable Cruelty.

9. Falling to Pieces/Faith No More

Faith No More was the first CD my brother ever owned (immediately followed by Bell Biv Devoe) and we listened to it a LOT. A few years ago, when I saw Black Hawk Down, I was happy to hear this song included in the background. It was such a good early 90s song.

10. Red Hill Mining Town/U2

U2 appears on this list more than any other artist...and it's interesting that the first U2 song I thought of was this one. Probably because of my friends' obsession with it in college. One of my favorite memories of the summer of 94 was of a party in College Park - everyone put in money for the keg and, to show that we paid, the guys who lived in the house wrote "RHMT" on our hands. That's obsessed.

11. All I Want Is You/U2

"Reality Bites" kind of ruined this song for me. But not entirely. In 1988, when I was in 8th grade, I got the Rattle & Hum tape for Christmas. I listened to this song every day for the next few years. SO good. I mean just Bono's voice. Again, sigh.

12. God Only Knows/Beach Boys

I'll admit, I might not have thought to put this song on the list if I hadn't read it on the other two lists I linked to at the top and if I hadn't just recently watched the extras on the "Love Actually" DVD and been reminded that this song closes the movie. It's on Pet Sounds, which my parents own on vinyl and Cooper and I bought in a very cliched move on our trip to California two years ago. Whenever I hear it, though, I kind of wish it was the first song we'd danced to at our wedding.

13. Where the Stars Go Blue/Bono & The Corrs

This was the first song we danced to at our wedding. Such a good wedding song. Very sweet...and have I mentioned how amazing Bono is?

14. Bittersweet/Big Head Todd

For some reason, I write better to this song (and the whole CD) than any other song/CD.

15. Cecelia/Simon & Garfunkel

Like Bobby McGee, I discovered this song in 10th grade. That must have been a really formative year for me, musically.

16. Tangled Up in Blue/Bob Dylan

I put this on a mix tape I made for my friend Suzanne right before she moved to San Francisco for med school. I made myself a copy of the tape, then listened to it so much that I wore through the tape within two years. It is a good song.

17. I Nearly Lost You/Screaming Trees

This is the only "grunge" song on the list...because I was never that into grunge (I mean, I did see Nirvana in concert literally a month before Kurt Cobain died, but I'm sorry to say I didn't really appreciate it). I like this song a lot, though. I remember listening to it the day my parents left me at school my freshman year in college. I was sitting on my bed, looking up at the high school pictures on my wall and I was very sad. That sort of sad that comes when you know everything's about to change, which is exciting, but you're also sure you're about to break up with your boyfriend, you just aren't sure why yet.

18. Crazy Love/Van Morrison

I have a thing for Van Morrison like I have for Bono. Especially this song.

19. Do You Realize?/Flaming Lips

Like I mentioned earlier this week, this song is made to be the last song on mix tapes. Or in VH-1 commercials. Either one.

20. Pride (In the Name of Love)/U2

Again, like I mentioned earlier this week, this song gives me goosebumps when I hear it because it's such a perfect song. Plus, oddly enough, my brother and I have both dated people born on April 4th (the day MLK, Jr. was shot). We never would've remembered their birthdays if it wasn't for this song. And yes, I know that's crass.

21. Three Strange Days/School of Fish

This is just a cool song that feels like it's always been in the background of my life. I couldn't tell you when it came out, except that I know it was sometime after 1985 and before 1995...

22. Stagger Lee/Fats Domino

"Is that Pudge?" "Heavens, no! Pudge is fat. She's pretty, she must be a first cousin."

One day I will learn how to shag.

23. Thunder Road/Bruce Springsteen

My college boyfriend used a quote from this song - the part about rolling down the window, etc. etc. - as his high school yearbook quote senior year. He also thought the line that said, "you aint a beauty but hey you're alright" was sexist and it offended him. That pretty much sums up why I liked him and why I broke up with him. God, he was liberal.

24. Night Moves/Bob Seger

When I hear this song, I imagine my brother on stage singing it (badly). I've never actually seen this happen, but I know it has happened more than once.

25. Paradise City/Guns-n-Roses

I struggled do decide which song off Appetite for Destruction to include on this list. They're all so good. Maybe I picked this one because it was also in "Can't Hardly Wait"...

26. American Girl/Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers

"Silence of the Lambs" can't ruin this song for me, as hard as it tries. It's the song that reminds me most of myself, as self-involved as that is. For the record, I've had several other people tell me that it reminds them of me, as well. Specifically me in 1993, wearing white jean shorts, a blue and white checked shirt, and a big white bow in my hair. Hot.

27. You Can’t Always Get What You Want/Rolling Stones

In "High Fidelity" this song is stricken from a list of good songs to play at a funeral because of it's involvement with the Big Chill. I've never seen the Big Chill, so that doesn't bother me. So I like it anyway.

28. #1 Crush/Garbage

I heard this on the radio the other day and was reminded of how much I loved Baz Lurhmann's Romeo & Juliet and the mix tape I made right after seeing the movie (this song was the first song on side A). 1996 was a good year.

29. These Arms of Mine/Otis Redding

In general, I like Otis Redding a lot. This song is especially achey sounding...which is one of my favorite song qualities.

30. Beautiful Girl/INXS

I have been obsessed with INXS since seventh grade. The same Christmas I got Rattle & Hum, I got INXS Kick. I can't pick a favorite from that tape. But Beautiful Girl, from X, has a lot of the same qualities as Never Tear Us Apart. Oh how I wish Michael Hutchence hadn't died such an embarrassing death.

31. Santa Monica/Everclear

I don't like Everclear overall. I think Art whatever his last name is is kind of whiny and all their songs sound the same. But I love the song Santa Monica. It reminds me of springtime and the year I graduated from college - full of parties and fun and excitement about what was coming next. Plus, it's really catchy.

32. 1979/Smashing Pumpkins

You know, I don't really like the Smashing Pumpkins either. I know they're a "good band" but they just don't seem to enjoy playing music. But I do like this song - there's something about it that reminds me of winter and dressing up for parties and watching "Dazed and Confused." Random, yes.

33. Paul Revere/Beastie Boys

I learned all of the words to this song by staying up all night with my friends Emily and Katie at Amy Quinn's birthday party in sixth grade. That alone makes it a great song.

34. American Music/Violent Femmes

I have more than one memory of hearing this song while driving somewhere near the water in a convertible with the top down. I'd love any song tied to memories like those.

35. Tangerine/Led Zeppelin

Besides that this is just a beautiful and sad song, it reminds me of laying out at my parents beach during the last summer I didn't work - summer before 10th grade. I laid out for at least an hour a day and Tangerine was the last song on the mix tape I listened to most of the time. I was so tan that summer. And so, so relaxed.

36. Girlfriend/Matthew Sweet

My senior year in high school, there was a big blizzard and we had off school for almost a week. One night, toward the end of the week, all of my friends went to my friend Charles' house. We listened to this tape over and over again. And that night my high school boyfriend and I decided to get back together after a nine month hiatus. We broke up again three months later, then again five months after that, but that night was really good.

37. Brimful of Asha/Cornershop

This is one of the only songs on the list that doesn't actually remind me of anything. Maybe it reminds me, in general, of the time it came out, but I don't have a specific memory attached to it. So it's just that good.

38. The Joker/Steve Miller Band

I was sort of embarrassed to include this on the list - but it's such a good song in high school and I still listen to it if I hear it on the radio. Because it was such a good song in high school.

39. Tupelo Honey/Van Morrison

This was just after Tangled Up in Blue on that mix tape I wore through a few years ago. And did I mention how much I love Van Morrison?

40. Sweet Virginia/Rolling Stones

I lived with a girl named Virginia my senior year in college - I was sort of jealous that I didn't have a name that's in a cool song like this. And...it was ALSO on that tape I wore through back in 99...that was SUCH a good tape.

41. Backwater/Meat Puppets

Summer of 94, saw this song live at the WHFStival. Something about it...just reminds me of that summer (first summer home from college) and how fun it was and how I never wanted to go back to school. (of course I was happy I'd gone back one week into the semester)

42. Uncle John’s Band/Grateful Dead

Freshman year in college, I had a Christmas party in my room. When this song came on, everyone in the room stopped and sang together. Straight out of a teen movie. You can't even script that.

43. Supernova/Liz Phair

I don't have this on a CD or anything, but it just makes me happy to hear. I wish the new Liz Phair songs were this good.

44. Laid/James

I can't not smile when I think of this song. I just feel lucky that it came out when I was in early college. Those were the best years to have a song like this.

45. Debra/Beck

I wasn't sure which Beck song from Midnite Vultures to put on this list, but I knew one had to make it. I love that CD so much (and, next to Big Head Todd, it's my best writing CD). So I picked Debra because it's ridiculous and because I have such a clear memory of a huge cheesy bed emerging from above the stage when Beck sang this song when I saw him in concert in 99. That was a gooood concert.

46. It Takes Two/Rob Base & DJ Easy Rock

I'll admit, I never would have thought to put this song on the list if it hadn't been on the first two lists I read. But it is a solid song and reminds me so much of high school, particularly my friend Mark Stafford (I have a vivid image of him singing it, wasted, in the middle of this random field we used to go to to watch planes take off from the airport. I bet you can't even go to that field anymore, since 9/11).

47. To Be Young/Ryan Adams

I think of this as the "Old School Song". My sister put it on a CD she made me last year...it is super catchy and I identify with the people in Old School more than I'd like to admit.

48. Road Trip Song/The Eels

I don't know what this song is called, even though I have the CD. I think of it as "goddamn right it's a beautiful day" and it makes me want to drive with my windows down. Seriously, I can almost feel my endorphins rush when I hear it.

49. Ballad of John & Yoko/The Beatles

I really like a lot of Beatles songs, but something about this one - it must be how upbeat it is - has gotten it onto more of my mix tapes than any other.

50. Hey Jude/The Beatles

My last night in Scotland, I heard a cover band play this at the hotel bar of the nicest hotel in Edinburgh. I ended up literally swaying with my arms around the people I'd met on the trip (there were about 15 of us out that night) singing the song. It was very moving...since we'd been drinking for hours. It's that kind of song, though.

51. Don’t Stop Believin’/Journey

This song was NOT on any of the other lists and I can only assume that's a terrible oversight. How can't you love Steve Perry? How can't you play this on any jukebox that has it?

52. I Want It That Way/Backstreet Boys

Possibly the most perfect pop song ever. Possibly not. But definitely one of the best songs to come out of that late 90s boy band craze.

53. Sunshine of Your Love/Cream

This was on a lot of my high school mix tapes and somehow disappeared (I guess I needed more space for Backstreet Boys - what happened to my musical taste?).

54. Be My Baby/The Ronnettes

This song is on this list for two reasons: a) the Ronnettes "sample" in "Take Me Home Tonight"- which I used to always hear on my way home from my jazz dance class (I was thinking what?) in 6th grade and b) I just saw Carnie Wilson say this is her dad's (Brian Wilson) favorite song and that it was the first song they danced to at her wedding. How nice is that? And, I mean, the favorite song of a musical genius like BW is certainly good enough for me.

55. Miss Jackson/Outkast

I almost also included Hey Ya on this list, but didn't at the last minute. I don't think I need to go on and on about why Outkast is great, though. It's just obvious.

56. My Old School/Steely Dan

I don't really like Steely Dan much (and the single worst date I've ever been on involved a Steely Dan concert) but as a graduate of William & Mary, I feel obliged to include this song on this list. Just like I've included it on mix tapes. Just like I spent countless hours in Williamsburg singing the lyrics on the back porch of some fraternity...

57. Ray of Light/Madonna

I love Madonna. Ever since I got Like a Virgin from Misty Gargano as a 4th grade birthday present (my parents were NOT thrilled) I have thought she was super cool. And Ray of Light is a killer song. And video.

58. The Good Life/Weezer

This is a song I make people listen to when I'm drunk. And I sing. A lot. I'm really bad about that, actually - making people listen to songs I like when I've been drinking.

59. Walk on the Wild Side/Lou Reed

Another 10th grade discovery. I actually wish I knew a lot more about Lou Reed...

60. Like a Rolling Stone/Bob Dylan

One summer during college, my friend Jeremy got out of a speeding ticket (on his way to Ocean City) by explaining to the police officer that he was speeding because this song was on and it's just so good. State police, no less. It is a good song.

61. Thunderstruck/AC/DC

Besides how cute Angus Young is in his little shorts, this song is so adrenaline-pumping.

62. Last Night/Traveling Wilburys

When I first heard The Strokes' first CD, I kept thinking of this song. I used to love it and I still don't think its ever gotten enough radio play.

63. Baba O’Reilly/The Who

When I first started listening to The Who, this song made me feel young and powerful (even though I'm pretty sure that was never the intent). Now it makes me sort of sad...but I still love it.

64. Peace Frog/The Doors

I could've put a LOT of Doors songs on this list. I have read multiple bios of Jim Morrison. I've seen the Doors movie a million times. I have so many Doors tapes. I gave my friend Mandy a Jim Morrison poster for her 16th birthday (she put it above her bed). But Peace Frog is the song that stuck with me once the obsession wore off. It must be because, at my core, as much as I appreciate the rock star poet, I really like pop music and this is a pop song.

65. KRS-One/Sublime

I started liking this song because Cooper likes it...and I really wish it was longer.

66. Divine Thing/Soup Dragons

I don't know anyone else who likes this song as much as I do. In college, I always wanted to put it on a party mix, but never got it on one. It's so catchy - how can't everyone like it as much as I do?

67. Lose Yourself/Eminem

As I mentioned earlier this week, this song makes me feel like I've won a rap battle. I don't know any better feeling than that.

68. Werewolves of London/Warren Zevon

I don't actually know much about Warren Zevon's music, though I wish I knew more. This song's about the extent of my knowledge. And it is an amazing song.

69. Fortunate Son/CCR

This song's not on the list because of it's message. It's on the list because it was my favorite song on a particular mix tape made for me in 11th grade by my friend Rasim. It reminds me so much of the spring of 1992. Good times.

70. Danny’s Song/Anne Murray

And this song...reminds me of playing at my parents beach when I was little. As much as I rejected all things Anne Murray while growing up, it seems that some of it seeped into my subconcious. The other day, I heard this on the radio and stayed in my car until it was over.

71. Shoop/Salt-n-Pepa

Back in 98 or 99, I used to go to Philly occasionally to visit my friend Rasim, who was in a masters program at Drexel. One night, we went to a bar and I requested this song from the DJ. He told me it didn't have enough beats per minute to play, or something ridiculous like that. I told him to play it and everyone in the bar would dance (it was a small place - there were maybe 40 people there). So he relented and played it. And EVERY PERSON in the bar danced. I won.

72. Glycerine/Bush

a) Gavin Rossdale is so hot. b) Lines like "could not kiss just regress" were made for me to hear when I was in college and back and forth between my high school and college boyfriends. c) Gwen Stefani is so lucky.

73. Three Little Birds/Bob Marley

This song was on the very first mix tape I ever owned. It was the second song on the first side, just after the Who's "I Can See for Miles." The tape also had "D'yer Mak'er" on it. I think of all three of those songs in the same breath now, and love them all.

74. Love Rescue Me/U2

A week before I left for college for the first time, I was at my parents' beach, lifeguarding and entertaining about 10 of my friends (it was a pretty lax job). We were playing Rattle & Hum on someone's car stereo and when this song came on, everyone was quiet and I'm pretty sure at least one girl started to cry. So dramatic, but so typical of how high our emotions were running in those days.

75. Little Miss S./Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians

Edie Brickell was my first concert and this was my favorite song on her first tape. She didn't play it in concert, unfortunately, but I did come away with a very cool concert t-shirt with brightly colored bird cages all over it. Not to mention that Edie Brickell is a far cooler first concert to have seen than almost any of my friends' firsts.

76. Layla/Eric Clapton

My junior year in high school, my english teacher was a bit kooky, but very smart. One of our assignments was to select a song that made us feel a very strong emotion and to write an essay about it. My friend Rob chose this song. He played it for the class and explained that Clapton had written it for his best friend's wife, who he was in love with. Rob was obviously feeling Clapton's pain - and so clearly remember what it felt like to listen to the long instrumental at the end of the song that day. Good essay, Rob.

77. Right Here Right Now/Jesus Jones

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned before that my entire educational path was determined largely by the fall of the Berlin Wall. And that this song reminds me of the feeling I got when I learned about those events and how excited I was for what was happening in Europe. And now, it reminds me of what it must feel like to live in the Ukraine. And it always gives me goosebumps. I think the only other song to do that is Pride (In the Name of Love).

78. Candy/Iggy Pop

I love Kate Pearson, I love Iggy Pop. Together, I think they are possibly the coolest rock stars ever. Kind of weird looking together, but so, so cool.

79. Down/311

This was the #1 song on HFS's top 99 of 1996 (played on New Years Eve). I remember hearing it over and over again during that very fun year and on the countdown as I drove to Georgetown to go out for my first NY eve legally drinking. And that was SUCH a fun night. God, what a year.

80. Anna Begins/Counting Crows

I can't believe I didn't think of this song until last, since it (#5 on August and Everything After) is one of my very favorite songs. I have the lyrics handwritten in more than one diary. Its on every mix tape I've made since 1994. I only wish the Counting Crows still wrote them like this.

Whew. I've been writing this for almost two hours. My hands are killing me, but I feel like I've accomplished something...I'm just not sure what. What I do know now is just how important a handful of years have been to my musical development: 1991, 1994 and 1996 especially. They really were good years overall. I wonder if the music made them good, or if it's that they were so good that the music I listened to in those years became good for me?