Here's the second installment of my Top 100 Songs. It's a bit of a mixed bag and I can imagine it will invite all sorts of ridicule. But, hey, isn't it great that we all have different tastes! I normally like songs for the tunes rather than the lyrics, but in this selection there are a few with absolutely brilliant lyrics, which really mean something to me. Listen to AFFIRMATION (51) and BROTHERS IN ARMS (63) and you will see what I mean. The Top 50 will appear on the blog tomorrow.
Anyway, do click on some of the songs you don't know. If you click on just two pick 61 and 74, SCATTERLINGS OF AFRICA and the Norwegian entry to the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin, which I attended, DUETT.
51. Affirmation - Savage Garden
52. Devil Woman - Cliff Richard
53. Shine On - James Blunt
54. Give me Back My Heart - Dollar
55. Special Star - Mango Groove
56. Chiquitita - Abba
57. Alone - Heart
58. I Want it That Way - Backstreet Boys
59. Back for Good - Take That
60. Riverdance - Bill Whelan
61. Scatterlings of Africa - Johnny Clegg
62. I'd Lie for You - Meat Loaf
63. Brothers in Arms - Dire Straits
64. Halo - Beyonce
65. Any Other World - Mika
66. I Will Come to You - Hanson
67. Denis - Blondie
68. Love it When You Call - The Feeling
69. This is the Last Time - Keane
70. Fernando - Abba
71. Don't Go - Hothouse Flowers
72. Vienna - Ultravox
73. Cry Freedom - Dave Matthews Band
74. Duett - Elisabeth Andreassen & Jan Werner Danielsen
75. Fake Plastic Trees - Radiohead
29 comments:
No sign of the Birdy Song yet.
Dear God, Iain... my ears! Stop! Stop!
Norway 1994 not half as good as Ukraine 2008 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mY1AnCJsxDk
No sightings of Sylvester or Kelly Marie yet either . . . . . .
...or the legends that are Donald Becker and Walter Fagen! I expect that they will heavily populate the top 25.
Hey Iain what's the deal with the South African songs? Two songs by Johnny Clegg and... Mango Groove? South Africa's behind the times but even we've forgotten Mango Groove.
And there is more to come! Mango Groove have reformed and are recording a new album. Yay!
And I thought Iain didn't drink.
Iain- you are so old-fashioned linking to Youtube.
Why not link to the legal and artist supporting web phenomena that is spotify. www.spotify.com
Youtube is currently blocking UK citizen’s access due to a disagreement over copyright royalties. Spotify pay royalties like a radio station, so everyone is happy and they have eight million records and adding weekly
Interesting mixed bag of music some new some old some very very old
impressed with the south african songs! specially mango groove! didn't think that many people outside SA would know of it!! recently discovered it again on youtube and is excellent.
"great heart" by johnny clegg is better than scatterings...
How did you come across these?
It's like being force fed Angel Delight.
RM, I was in a coffee bar in St Martins Lane in London in 1994 and they were playing a Mango Groove CD. I was transfixed. That encouraged me to look into other South African bands so I then discovered Juluka and Johnny Clegg.
Mr Weasel - butterscotch, banana, chocolate or strawberry E numbers?
You're speaking as a pop fan Iain.
Anyone who can play more than three chords on a guitar will admit that there have been few songs since the 60s to compare with the Great American Songbook. (Gershwin, Cole Porter, Rogers and Hart, etc.).
Modern pop songs are repetitive and formulaeic. They have to be , for the audience is musically illiterate.
The Aroma - the place to go after a slap up meal at The Stockpot, as far West down Old Compton Street as it was thought worthwhile going.
I recall something about a girl who worked there more than the music.
No Bird, I'm not having that.
I can play *all* the chords on a guitar, am an accomplished pianist and a professional musician.
I can also be deliriously happy in the audience at wonderful gigs, transported by the magic of live music.
Repetitive? Cole Porter wrote the same song 50 times and did it well, for sure. But A Transport of Delight he was not.
Formulaic? Verse- chorus- verse - what did Rodgers do then?
And don't you ever anoint me as musically illiterate matey.
You have a nice weekend now.
Oh dear, Iain, Iain, Iain. I think you may have to go on my "First against the wall come the revolution" list. Squeezed between Malcolm Mclaren and Dave Lee Travis. Not a nice place to be.
Just a thought, and after a quick glance at your list, are you by any chance, er, gay?
No Hunters and Collectors, Midnight Oil, Crowded House, Nick Cave, or even Kylie?
Now, you wouldn't have something against Australians would ya?
(OK, you did have Savage Garden but that is indescribably gay and rubbish. And I mean that in a nice way, (still in a good mood)).
Radiohead, for f...
You do know that sanctimonious holier-than-thou creep votes Green?
My ears are bleeding!
I agree with Vienna and Denis. I have an excuse though, I was a child when they were in the charts.
I'm basically in agreement with the Weasel though :)
Bless you for including the wonderful Darren Hayes (Savage Garden). You should have a listen to his latest music though...very different but still good
You're right, Iain. Anything containing Hanson invites derision.
McBride was fired for less.
It's good to know that T.Rex, Sweet, Slade, The Glitterband, Mud, The Move, ELO, Peter Frampton, Pilot, Status Quo, Thin Lizzy, Black Sabbath, The Arrows, Generation X, Hawkwind, Jethro Tull, Genesis, Jasper Carrott, Chris Spedding, The Wombles, Donny Osmond and David Cassidy have all made it through to the top 50
I forgot the Bay City Rollers
Christ, you're a great blogger, but you have cr*p taste in music. Stick to politics.... :)
If there was ever a case for a state funded Desert Island discs scheme this is it.
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