My 100 Favourite Songs - Part 5: The Top Twenty

 ⭐ It's Top 20 time! ⭐

Welcome to the final part of My 100 Favourite Songs - it was so difficult to decide on my Top 20.  Some I thought were in it turned out not to be when I listened to them again, and vice versa.  I've also managed to narrow down my Top 10 - I would have liked to do a proper top twenty countdown but the order would have changed from week to week.  

I hope you have enjoyed listening to some of my favourites, and perhaps they've brought back some memories of your own, too.

Enjoy!

Part 1 HERE

Part 2 HERE

Part 3 HERE

Part 4 HERE

Street Fighting Man - The Stones (1968)

  Chiquita - Aerosmith (1979)

Blowin' Free - Wishbone Ash (1972)

 Public Image- Public Image Ltd (1978)

Fortunate Son - Creedence Clearwater Revival (1969)

Heroes - David Bowie (1977)

Wait Until Tomorrow - Jimi Hendrix (1967)

This was the best I could find - stacks of cover versions on YouTube; this was the only actual one with Hendrix singing!

Sweet Home Alabama  by Lynyrd Skynyrd (1974)

Found A Job - Talking Heads (1978)

I remember having this album on a lot when my then-boyfriend bought it, and I kept thinking, oh, there's that really good one again, before I worked out which one it was. You know how certain tracks kind of steal into your brain almost before you know you love them.

Movin' Out - Aerosmith (1973)

⭐ The Top Ten ⭐

In no particular order....  

Freebird - Lynyrd Skynyrd (1973)

Was my number one favourite song for ages - still love the musical outro soo-oo much.

Family Affair - Sly and the Family Stone (1971)

(I'm A) Road Runner - Junior Walker & The AllStars (1966)

My Old School - Steely Dan (1973)

Civilian - Wye Oak (2011)

I discovered this beautiful song when it was featured on The Walking Dead; I like this acoustic version of it best. I never tire of listening to it.  Walking Dead  below!

Hangman Jury - Aerosmith (1987)

One Way Street - Aerosmith (1973)

How do you pick your favourite song from your favourite band?  It's a toss up between this and Hangman Jury.  This was from a set they did on the MTV Unplugged series in about 1989.  Hangman Jury featured too, but I couldn't find a decent video of it.

.  

 Gimme Shelter - The Stones (1969)

Just a shot away...

No one Came - Deep Purple (1971)

Just brilliant.  The instrumental bits are sublime. 

Black Water - The Doobie Brothers (1974)

If I had to choose one favourite song ever, it would probably be this one.  Loved it since I bought the album in the late 70s.  I'd like to live in it.  That violin.  

My 100 Favourite Songs - Part 4

Part 4 of my Top 100 Favourite Songs, the first 80 of which are in no particular order.  

I didn't intend for this to be about my own memories, just the songs themselves, but a few have crept in here!  Hope that works okay - enjoy!

Part 1 HERE

Part 2 HERE

Part 3 HERE

Part 5 (top 20) HERE

 Jealous Again - The Black Crowes (1990)

Seen them a few times ... Donington 1991 and Glastonbury 1993 stand out.  Below video: me at each one!!  

Simone, on the right in the Glastonbury picture, was Italian, and pronounced them 'The Black Crow-ez' , i.e. as two syllables, with the 'Crow' bit to rhyme with 'vow'.  Don't know why that popped into my head!

Just Like Paradise - David Lee Roth (1988)

My sister, when we were on the way to see DLR at Wembley, on March 1st 1991 (St David's Day!!).  These days, our tube journeys are somewhat less rock 'n' roll.

Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me A Little While)

- The Doobie Brothers (1975)

Reminds me of a pub called The County Tavern in Northampton.  Was a good rocker/biker pub.  It's now a soulless place with varnished floorboards and menus on the tables, of course.

 Trampled Under Foot ~ Led Zeppelin (1975)

 Tired of Being Alone - Al Green (1971)

  I'm Not The Man I Used To Be - Fine Young Cannibals (1989)

When I bought this I was living with a friend who loved it too; that was in the days of vinyl singles, and we used to have it on repeat.

Might Just Take Your Life - Deep Purple (1974)

Skewiff (Mend The Fuse) - The Faces (1973)

One day the 14 year old me decided to play the B side of 'Cindy Incidentally', and was blown away.

Tumbling Dice - The Stones (1972)

Get up (I feel like being a) sex machine~  James Brown (1970)

 Free and Easy - The Almighty (1991)

Reminds me of the Lupus Club, a biker hangout in an old warehouse in Northampton.  It didn't have a licence, so there was a notice up saying that all drinks were gratis but you could donate a pound per beer to the club for expenses.  Awesome place, had some good bands on and it was open until everyone had gone home (in the days before 24 hour opening).  

The whole area was razed to the ground in the early noughties, including the winding cobbled streets behind, and now boasts a car park and lots of nasty shops like Aldi.  

Not so much 'Everything's so free and easy.  Everything's so free and wild'.  More 'Everything's so safe and neutral.  Everything's so cloned and bland'.  Kind of sums up the second half of the 20th Century versus the 21st.

The Tears of a Clown - Smokey Robinson and The Miracles (1967)

 8 Ball - Underworld (1998)

I particularly love 4.30 onwards - so beautiful

Cloudbusting - Kate Bush (1985)

Warszawa - David Bowie (1977)

Run Run Run - Jo Jo Gunne (1972)

 Pretzel Logic - Steely Dan (1974)

Seagull - Bad Company (1974)

Summer Breeze - The Isley Brothers (1974)

Was there ever such a summery summer record?

Join Together- The Who (1972)

Never was a Who fan, but I love this.

My 100 Favourite Songs - Part 3

Part 3 of my Top 100 Favourite Songs, the first 80 of which I have listed in no particular order. I hope you enjoy this week's selection!

Part 1 HERE

Part 2 HERE

Hole Hearted - Extreme (1991)

(Also, a chance to lust over Gary Cherone, or Nuno Bettencourt if the 90s long hair and lycra cycling shorts look is more your bag.  Or the one with the long blond lion's mane.  Something for everyone, ha ha!)

Porcelain - Moby (1999)

Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover - Sophie B Hawkins (1992)

I do love a song of obsession!

Rescue Me - Fontella Bass (1965)

Oh I Wept - Free (1970)

One of the most emotive songs ever....

You Oughta Know - Alanis Morissette (1995)

The Girl From Ipanema - Astrud Gilberto with Stan Getz (1965)

Just so beautifully 1960s :)

A Horse With No Name - America (1971)

Dark Horse - George Harrison (1974)

Laura - Scissor Sisters (2004)

Don't know why I love this, I just do.  The whole album was good, but this is the stand-out, I think.

Born To Be Wild - Steppenwolf (1969)

Couldn't Get It Right - Climax Blues Band (1976)

Takes me straight back to autumn 1976 when I was pretending to be at art school (by which I mean I didn't go that often)

White Ladder- David Gray (1998)

I had a boyfriend for a few years who played David Gray like I watch The Walking Dead.  I got to love a lot of them too - this is my favourite.

The Highway Song - Free (1970)

There was always something about Free that 'spoke' to me, even when I was 11 or 12.  This one makes me want to hitch down a dusty road at sunset in 1972.  

Thinking about it, lots of my choices reflect this desire!

Take Me To The River - Al Green (1974)

The original and best, preferable to any other version - including the ones on those motion-activated singing fish (below).  Yes, I used to have one too.  Seeing someone's face the first time they walked past it never got old!

My Fist Your Face - Aerosmith (1985)

From Done With Mirrors, an underrated album.  Soo-ooo hard to pick favourite Aero tracks too - more to come, fear not!

Old Man - Neil Young (1972)

C.R.E.A.M - Wu-Tang Clan (1994)

(Dollar dollar bill y'all)

Feel Like Makin' Love - Bad Company (1975)

 She's So Fine- Thunder (1989)

Ah, happy memories of so many gigs in rock chick days!!!  This was at Donington, 1990 - I'm in the crowd somewhere!

My sister with Danny and Luke in some pub.  She just happened to be wearing her Thunder t-shirt :)

My 100 Favourite Songs - Part 2

Welcome to Part 2 of my Top 100 Favourite Songs list.  They're divided into 5 groups of 20; the first 4 are in no particular order.

Part 1 can be seen HERE.

Part 3 HERE 

Something I found when I was compiling my Top 100 was that songs I used to number among my all-time favourites, I no longer do.  For instance, I used to adore 'The Way It Is' by Bruce Hornsby and The Range, but when I listened to it again, as I listen to them all before including them, it didn't do anything for me.  I much prefer the sampled version: 'Changes' by 2Pac, and was about to add that instead when I realised that what I was enjoying most of all was the beauty of the late lamented Tupac Shakur in the video!

But I'll stick it on here as a bonus song anyway, so you can see it too 😉.

🎸🎤🥁

Back to it!

...and here is my second group of twenty, a random mix of musical types, as before!

Bohemian Like You - The Dandy Warhols (2000)

Message of Love - The Pretenders (1981)

I wavered between this and 'Brass In Pocket', but I decided that, although I played the latter about 20 times a day when it first came out, I've heard it so many times that I'm not sure I shall ever need to again.  Thus, not a Top 100!

Silver Machine - Hawkwind (1972)

One of the first singles I ever bought :)

 The Order of Death - Public Image Ltd (1984)

Dig A Pony - The Beatles (1969)

I'm not much of a Beatles fan - I appreciate how good their music is but most of it doesn't quite hit the spot for me.  Except for this.

Castles Made of Sand - Jimi Hendrix (1967)

Method Man - Wu-Tang Clan (1993)

I love how the voice of Clifford Smith Jnr, aka Method Man, just melts into the flow and the rhythm of this.

Can't You Hear Me Knocking - The Stones (1971)

(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang - Heaven 17 (1981)

Hello Meow - Squarepusher (2006)

Hey Boy Hey Girl - The Chemical Brothers (1999)

If I had a quid for every time I've drunkenly danced to this at 2 am... not for some years now, though!

Burlesque - Family (1972)

Pure Shores - All Saints (2000)

I adored the soundtrack to the film The Beach, and used to play it over and over about 20 years ago.  

Feel The Need In Me - The Detroit Emeralds (1972)

You Wear It Well- Rod Stewart (1972)

I bought this when I was just 13, and remember playing it in the living room about 20 times on the day I got it.  Still love it now.  

Wichita Lineman- Glen Campbell (1968)

Bittersweet Symphony - The Verve (1997)

Somebody Loves Me - George Gershwin (1924)

sung by Margot Bingham on Boardwalk Empire

(yes, Margot Bingham aka Max in The Walking Dead!)

Owner of a Lonely Heart - Yes (1983)

As perfectly early 80s soft rock as Africa by Toto!

Maybe I'm Amazed - Paul McCartney (1970)

My 100 Favourite Songs - Part 1

 

I had the idea of compiling this list a while back, and it turned out to be a longer project than I'd imagined - half of them differ from the original list.  You keep thinking, "Damn it, how could I have forgotten 'Bohemian Like You' by The Dandy Warhols?", and similar!

I think I've got it about right now - I've included a couple of instrumentals, but on the whole this my Top 100 of pop/rock, as if I'd started including other musical genres it would have been too vast a project.

I'm posting them in five groups of 20.  The first 80 are in random order - a Top 100 countdown would have been impossible.  However, the fifth post will be my 20 most favourite songs of all time - now that was a task!

I tried not to choose songs simply because they evoke a happy memory ; if I had, my Top 100 would have included 'gems' like 'Get Out of My Dreams and Into My Car' by Billy Ocean, and possibly 'La Macarena' (don't ask).  

The title and artist are linked to the Wikipedia page for more information on each.  Where possible, I've chosen a video that shows an actual performance or promo vid, but obviously the sound was the most important thing.

Here's the first group, in no particular order:

Golden Years - David Bowie (1975)

From my one of my favourite two albums of his - was a toss up between this and the title track.

Marquee Moon - Television (1977)

Under Ice - Kate Bush (1985)

The whole of The Ninth Wave, B side of Hounds of Love, is a masterpiece!

My Favourite Mistake - Sheryl Crow (1998)

Sympathy for the Devil - The Stones (1968)

Little Bit of Love - Free (1972)

This song was how I discovered Free - it was in the charts when I was 12 or 13

Lover - Dan Reed Network (1989)

The whole of the Slam album takes me straight back to 1989/90 - hard to choose one track.  

Remedy - The Black Crowes (1992)

(and Chris Robinson wins the 'Hottest Guy in Red Velvet Loons' award)

Feel So High - Des'ree (1991)

Can't Happen Here - Rainbow (1981)

'Dystopian lyrics 30 years before the world realised what was happening' - comment on YouTube.  Aside from that, just a terrific song. 

Wood Beez - Scritti Politti (1985)

Paradise City - Guns N' Roses (1989)

Rock and Roll Doctor - Little Feat (1974)

'Two degrees in be-bop, a PHD in swing...'

The Bitterest Pill  - The Jam (1982)

Seasons of Wither - Aerosmith (1974)

Most hauntingly beautiful - long intro, so stick with it if it's new to you

Tunnel of Love - Bruce Springsteen (1987)

Reeling In The Years - Steely Dan (1972)

...and this was how I discovered Steely Dan, when I was 13.

Linger - The Cranberries (1993)

I was working in a pub in 1996 after a long relationship break-up.  The landlady had to tell me to stop putting it on over and over again.

Transmission - Joy Division (1978)

Space Junk - Wang Chung (1997)

Famously used as the outro in the first episode of The Walking Dead, and then again in Rick Grimes' last episode, so I've chosen this excellent fan-made video, by Ah Perfect.

Part 2 HERE

Part 3 HERE