This past week, I’ve been asking people to name songs that have been significant at turning points in their lives. So, it only seemed fair to put together a list of my own.
In no particular order, here are ten of the best that are likely to remain on any of my lists for the foreseeable. Bonus feature: Some have audio clips available.
1. Going Underground - The Jam
The Sound of The Jam, 2002 (song originally released as a single in 1980)
I hope everyone has this kind of musical epiphany. In 1980, I was on holiday in Blackpool with my grandmother. Sitting in a hotel café, this song came on the jukebox. Hard to explain what happened next. Somehow, my body and mind were totally integrated with this wall of music. Everything had just fallen into place. I spent the next hour just paying to hear the same song over and over.
Best line: “You’ll see kidney machines replaced by rockets and guns.”
2. The Hardest Walk – The Jesus and Mary Chain
Psychocandy, 1985
Recipe: Take feel-good riffs from big and simple sixties love songs. Smother liberally in layers of chaotic feedback. Dress in black. Sprinkle with negatives: never, hardest, dead etc. Serve up to indie crowd. Watch them dance and enjoy themselves while pretending not to.
Best line: “I don’t want you to want me.”
Amoureux de Paname, 1975
The bulk of my soundtrack to my year in France was provided by singer/songwriter Renaud. I find a lot of his songs almost unlistenable these days, but he did write some classics. And I learned masses of useful expressions from his lyrics. Hexagone is a month by month left-wing tirade against perceived French failings, hypocrisy, and all manner of deadly sins.
Best line: “Moi j’voudrais tous les voir crever, étouffés de dinde aux marrons.”
(Which lacks a little charity at Christmas, and sounds worryingly like the sentiments that lead to a Reign of Terror, but, hey, when you’re writing polemics for posterity…)
The Bends, 1995
Sometimes a song just seems to sum up the moment for you. This simple but soaring rant against physical and metaphorical pain was just what the doctor ordered when I was cursing through a lengthy bout of sciatica. To be sung through gritted teeth.
Best line: “Now I can’t climb the stairs – pieces missing everywhere.”
5. You Belong to Me - Kate Rusby
The Girl Who Couldn’t Fly, 2005
Whatever you think of previous versions of this song, you just have to give this a listen. Fair enough, I’m bound to be a tad biased with Kate being a Barnsley native and all. Vocals sound effortless, with perfect phrasing and are just utterly mesmerising.
Best line: all of them.
Closing Time, 1973
Sometimes people ask you to sit down and listen to how great a song is. In some cases, you wonder what the fuss is all about. Not this time. Someone special once asked me to give this a hearing. The song transports you forty years into the future and forces you to reconsider your present, lest you end up regretting what you’re giving up right now.
Best line: “Those were days of roses, poetry and prose.”
7. Tubthumping - Chumbawamba
Tubthumper, 1997
The ultimate resilience song. I remember one day I had an important interview at 6pm in the evening in front of a panel with a presentation element. After a long and stressful day at work, I had a 45 minute drive to the interview site. I just played and sang this the whole way there in a bid to build up adrenaline and self-belief. It worked.
Best line: I get knocked down, but I get up again.” (What else?)
8. This is the One - The Stone Roses
The Stone Roses, 1989
Ever wonder what falling in love sounds like when set to music? In popular music terms, this is about as good an evocation as you’ll ever hear. Perfectly captures the sensation of happily tumbling into the abyss while simultaneously being uplifted.
Best line: “I’d like to leave the country for a month of Sundays. Burn the town where I was born.”
9. Sit Down – James
The Best of James, 1998 (song originally released as a single in 1989)
Have to include at least one of “our songs”. When my wife and I had our first drink together, I put this on the jukebox. Luckily for me, since she’d been travelling in Asia for a while, she hadn’t heard this song before and I got top marks for cool taste. She later told me that she figured anyone who liked such great music was worth getting to know. You just never know where that walk to the jukebox will lead.
Best line: Those who find themselves ridiculous – sit down next to me.”
10. Find the River - R.E.M.
Automatic for the People, 1992
Very hard for me to choose an REM song, but this one has always been near the top of my list. It’s a very poetic song, whose lyrics look a bit florid on paper. Caught up in the stunning melody however, you get their best meditation on life, death, the quest for meaning, and a heartfelt call to enjoy the ride.
Best line: “The river empties to the tide – all of this is coming your way.”
Comments are welcome! And feel free to leave your own list.
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Technorati: music, top ten, songs, best songs, top ten songs, jam, r.e.m., rusby, tom waits, radiohead, stone roses, psychocandy, renaud
Wow, couldn’t believe you put Renaud in there ! I’m impressed !
He is one of my favorite French singer, I love the song, Hexagone… you’re suprising, I wouldn’t think an English guy would know it ! But I guess I can sing “Drunken Sailor”, so we’re even
You have good musical taste, I love Radiohead as well, and REM.
Zhu: I lived in the Auvergne for a year. One of my friends out there was a big Renaud fan – he also explained a lot of the lyrics – that was a big help! I got to see Renaud live in Clermont-Ferrand that year as well – great gig.
It’d be good to see your list – any other French recommendations would be appreciated as well!
Sure… I’ll come out with a list… But I’m afraid it will be too hard – I’m a big music fan !
Excellent choices! I would not be able to do justice to such a list off the top of my head, but Stone Roses would also be mine, and perhaps even the same song (although I have a massive soft spot for Tightrope from the much-maligned second album).
Others that would definately be there or there abouts would be Disco 2000 from Pulp (first love and all that), Thunder Road by Bruce Springsteen (goosebump-inducing, especially on the live from Hammersmith video), and California Dreamin’ by the Momas and the Papas (the perfect pop song?).
Great post.
the only James song I know is “Laid”. I didn’t even know he had any other hits. One time I did a search on Limewire for “James” and “Laid” was the only song they had. I couldn’t believe it!
Wednesday night at the Wigan Pier, circa 1995. Sit Down comes on over the speakers and everybody does…before comparing black eyeliner in both the men’s and the women’s toilets.
Those were the days…
Paul: Thanks for the endorsement! Agree how difficult it is to compile these lists. Fun though.
Pulp’s “Common People” was on my unpared-down list. Hard to beat Jarvis Cocker’s vocal delivery for the first half of that song. Mamas and Papas – great track, on my ipod, but didn’t have the personal impact factor. Still wondering how I managed to cross off The Pogues’ “A Rainy Night in Soho”.
“Sit Down” – what an anthem!
Dawn: If you liked “Laid”, there are a few other James songs you’ll probably like. They don’t have the best name for searching on Limewire! First two albums are quite different to the later more polished pop anthem stuff – worth a listen if you’re feeling adventurous. My vinyl copies are still in the UK after seven years away. Must get organized…
Like your blog, btw – good read!
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Your reminiscences about your songs are very evocative, well done for a great post! My partner Miki, a french painter was well impressed with the Renaud inclusion! Back in 1980, before I made my own way in music, I played Goin Underground in a covers band, such a powerful song, and the best lyric line is spot on. Weller, although Im not a fan of him or his politics, always came out with some classic one liners, take A Town called Malice ; “A hundred lonely housewives clutching milk bottles to their hearts” its right up there with Ray Davies.
Kev: Thanks for your comment!
I agree with your Weller opinion – he had a real knack for a lyrical turn of phrase (with a few cringers thrown in as well, but all poets have their off days!).
From the same verse, I’ve always liked “Hanging out their old love letters on the line to dry” – captures that stoical optimism – trying to peg tear-soaked pages onto a flapping washing line in grey and windy England. Classic stuff.
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