Top Ten

An email correspondent asked me a good question a few days back. If Prince's "When you were mine" was one of my favourite songs, what were the others? To be more specific, what would the list of my top ten favourite songs be?

I had a bit of a think about it and this is the list I came up with. The thing that all of these songs have in common is that they are songs that I am unable to turn off half-way through. I tend to know the songs before them on the album much better than the songs that come after them, because until I hear this song I am conscious that it's coming up any minute now so I had better pay attention. These are the songs that I bought whole albums for. These are the songs that I turn up too loud, play again and again, the songs that I didn't have to try to learn the lyrics for yet still searched for on the internet to ensure I got them right. These are the songs that feel like they are written just for me.

The list exludes classical and country since I get obsessed about different types of music in different ways and have a fairly narrow listening repertoire in those fields anyway. They are presented in chronological order of obsession, as best I can recall. Enjoy. (Or possibly not!)

Smashing Pumpkins, "Thirty-three"

I first heard this song at about 3 a.m. when I pinched the double album "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" from a housemate and listened to the whole ostentatious, pompous thing twice through in a row. I still don't know what it's about, maybe early midde-age. Whatever it is, I'm a sucker for the shimmering slide guitar, the single notes picked out on the piano and Billy Corgan's sneering, contemptuous voice singing about what seems like love.

The Beautiful South, "From under the covers"

I love the horn fanfares on this song and I always sing along with them by going "BA BA BA BA BA BAAAA". There, I've said it. Happy? Who cares that it's a daggy song about a friend who sleeps in too much?

George Michael, "Waiting (reprise)"

I can't recall how many epiphanies I've had to this song. Shame they never last. I hate this song because it is too short. It sounds like him and his guitar in a huge concert hall, mike so far down his throat he's about to get arrested. Intimate.

Magic Dirt, "Dirty jeans"

I remember sitting freezing in my car in a Canberra carpark waiting for this song to end. I love the way it turns the rock song structure inside out by keeping the same lyrics going over and over again while the music changes from verse to verse underneath it. Surfy, whistly, echoey, grungy, dirty, growly, anthemic, power chords bursting out left and right. Had to let you know!

Ben Folds, "Landed"

Heard this on triple-J when it was first released and it jumped right into me. Didn't hear it again for yonks. Acquired it years later and still love it. Ben Folds has the perfect plaintive voice for this song, and the way the melody in the interlude ripples up and down the keyboard is captivating.

The Mountain Goats, "No children"

This is a very very bleak song. Beware of its evil power and use it wisely - if you can. Muahahahah!! The music and the lyrics go bustling on merrily to destruction together and it's a jolly little trip.

Paul Kelly, "Nothing on my mind"

This is a very un-Paul Kelly song. It surges off the disc, so different from the pseudo-country rock around it that you wonder if there was a mistake at the factory. The bass comes belching out of the speakers and the guitar scrapes and groans its way through the song while the vocals are tinny, rough and repulsively idiotic. This song is so Aussie it makes me cry with happiness.

The National, "Slow show"

I was very tempted to list "Fake empire" (from the same album) here because the opening chords remind me every time of how electrified I was when I first heard them. But this is a better song. Adventure vs security, new vs old, love vs fear. It's got a big warm embracing feeling, like a kitchen with a good meal cooking - only for the last third of the song to throw you out lonely into the snow.

The Herd, "The king is dead"

Simple - good solid Aussie hip-hop about Howard's crushing electoral defeat in 2007. Shame Rudd's such a numbnut. Can't wait for Gillard to take over. Oh sorry, we're talking music, not politics. Well, The Herd lets you do both. Anyway, you gotta love the tooting accordion in the background. Plus I love songs with crowd noises. This song makes me ferociously angry and joyously happy at the same time, like some kind of crazed axe-wielding viking.

Something For Kate, "Moving right along"

No, this is not a cover of the well-known song from the Muppet Movie. This is in fact the least depressing song that Something For Kate have ever written. You could even call it uplifting. And I like it anyway!

Well that's the way we rock in my Top Ten. Happy listening. Wait - I just realized that the song that inspired this post didn't even make it in! Oh well, consider it in there anyway. It looks like my Top Ten goes up to eleven.