We probably all have some songs that seemed like a good idea at the time we added 'em, but which more often than not we hit the >> tab and move on. Then there are the songs that bring a smile to our faces when the Shuffle function brings 'em up, the songs that we’re always (or nearly always) glad to hear.
Ten of mine, in no particular order:
“Wouldn’t It Be Nice” - Beach Boys
“Good Morning Good Morning” - Beatles
“Get ‘Em Goin’” - Euge Groove
“Hughie Shortie’s” - Childsplay
“Things Have Changed” - Bob Dylan (my only Dylan tune!)
The songs that I am always pleased to hear are not usually the songs I thought they would be. A month after adding one of these songs, the fact that I didn’t expect them to be so good always brings a smile to my face.
“Grass” - Animal Collective - Weird, weird song. Cheerful, manic, rhythmic and stuffed full of birdsongs.
"Walk in the Park - Oh No! Oh My - I can never decide whether this is a happy song or a sad one.
“Miracle Drug” - AC Newman - The man is a helluva songwriter.
“Loose Translation” - The New Pornographers - Keeping the AC Newman train going. The wood block always gets me.
“Another Sunny Day” - Belle & Sebastian - All the vocalists have such peacfully mellow voices.
“Lovefool” - The Cardigans - Easily the creepiest song I’ve liked this much.
“Age of Consent” - New Order - Only heartless people are not hooked in the first thirty seconds.
“Felt Tip” - Love is All - Possibly the only song where turning the reverb all the way up worked.
“Nowhere With You” - The Joel Plaskett Emergency - It’s infectious.
“I’m a Pretender” - The Exploding Hearts - Excellent, excellent pop-punk.
I have a playlist called “The Best.”
Hitting random I get:
“Late in the Evening” - Paul Simon: My favorite Simon song.
“One Night a Day” - Garth Brooks: Trust me: it’s jazz, not country.
“This Side” - Nickel Creek: One of many great songs by this young ‘bluegrass’ group.
“Thirsty Work” - Gaelic Storm: Manic, virtuoso penny whistle on this Irish instumental.
“The 59th Street Bridge Song” - Simon & Garfunkel: Who doesn’t like this song?
“Blackbird” - The Beatles: Perfect simplicitity with sublime guitar
“Let’s Face the Music and Dance” - Nat King Cole: My vocal hero. My dream is to perform this in front of a live big band.
“I Love You Always Forever” - Donna Lewis: The ultimate in '90s romaticism.
“Water Dance” - Raffi: Kiddie singer proves his chops.
“Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye” - Neal McCoy: Excellent country cover of a doo-wop gem.
Fire Woman - The Cult
Thunderkiss '65 - White Zombie
Last Resort - Papa Roach
Cowboys From Hell - Pantera
Sex Type Thing - Stone Temple Pilots
The Game - Disturbed
Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck - Prong
Master Of Puppets - Metallica
One - Metallica
Live Wire - Motley Crue
Sara Evans - missiog missouri
Brad Johner - the last saskatchewan pirate
great big sea - clearest indication
amanda stott - she’ll get over it
amanda marshall - double agent
kim richey - just like the moon
paul brandt - sycamore tree
great big sea - excursion around the bay
trisha yearwood’s cover of ‘sad eyes’
chely write - between a mother and a child
Funny, I just had this conversation with some co-workers yesterday. My list is:
[ul]
[li]I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor: Bad day, instantly made better, through the awesome power of roller disco.[/li][li]Back In Black - AC/DC: I believe that God invented cruise control so that we could play air guitar when listening to this song while driving.[/li][li]God Only Knows - The Beach Boys: Because weeping is therapeutic.[/li][li]Only The Good Die Young - Billy Joel: Always dedicated to my mother-in-law, who hates my guts.[/li][li]Sing - The Carpenters: This song fills me with such unbridled hope. I miss Karen.[/li][li]I Will - The Beatles: My favorite Beatles song, and almost my wedding song.[/li][li]If You Could Only See - Tonic: For reasons I don’t entirely understand, this song moves me.[/li][li]Surrender - Cheap Trick: Reminds me of many a drunken debacle from my youth.[/li][li]Fields Of Gold - either the Sting version (preferred) or the Eva Cassidy version: So pretty and evocative.[/li][li]His Eye Is On The Sparrow - Marvin Gaye: Sometimes, listening to Marvin sing is like going to Church.[/li][/ul]
There’s probably more than ten, but these are the first ones that come to mind:
Holiday in Cambodia, The Dead Kennedys
Cinamon Girl, Neil Young
Pinball Wizard, The Who
Holiday, Green Day
Jesus Walks, Kanye West
-London Calling, The Clash
-Sultans of Swing, Dire Straits
-Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd
-Seven Nation Army, The White Stripes
-What’s This Generation Coming To? - Urge Overkill
Off the top of my head; there are WAY more than this.
“Housework” by Fishbone
“Slung” by Foetus
“Calling All Angels” by Jane Siberry
“Not Having You, But Keeping You in Mind” by Mary Margaret O’Hara
“Jackie” by Scott Walker
“Scary Monsters, Super Creeps” by David Bowie
“Rhythm” by Anna Domino
“Bohemian Like You” by the Dandy Warhols
“No Children” by the Mountain Goats
“Ymaeldi A’r Ymylon” by the Super Furry Animals
Ummm…you do know that cruise control doesn’t steer for you? Right? Right?
Ten of my favs include:
“My Name is Jonas” - Weezer
“Jesus of Suburbia” - Green Day (yeah, it’s 9 minutes long, which some people say is too long for a ‘shuffle and play’ song, but I am crazy with my music, and usually end up hitting ‘next’ about fifteen times in a row before settling on a song I am in the mood for. This song lets me not worry about having to hit next for nine minutes.)
'Like a Prayer" - Guster
“More than a Feeling” - Boston
“Feel Good, Inc” - Gorrilaz
“Under Pressure” - Queen and David Bowie
“Don’t Stop Believing” - Journey (go ahead and laugh, you know you love it too.)
“Baba O’Riley” - The Who
“Best of You” - Foo Fighters
“Sloop John B” - Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
“Little Bombs” by Aimee Mann
“Across the Universe” by Rufus Wainwright
“Ruby Soho” by Rancid
“Rainy Night in Soho” by The Pogues
“Little Bit of Emotion” by The Kinks
“Fight Test” by The Flaming Lips
“Speedy Marie” by Frank Black
“The Queen of Argyll” by Silly Wizard
“Wave Motion Gun” by Marcy Playground
“Walls of Time” by Paul Burch
Drug Raid At 4 am, Lard
Shot By Both Sides, Magazine
Jim On The Move, Lalo Schifrin
Burn, Deep Purple
Hanging Around, The Stranglers
Jesus Built My Hotrod, Ministry
Cowgirl in The Sand, Neil Young
Marquee Moon, Television
State Trooper, Cowboy Junkies
Look Back In Anger, David Bowie
“Take Me Home Country Roads” by John Denver - simple and beautiful
“Ode to Billy Joe” by Sinead O’Connor - O’Connor is nuttier than a Drumstick, but she can sing a haunting lyric like nobody else
“It Doesn’t Matter” by Allison Krause - I defy anyone to not feel compelled to stop and listen to this song it’s so hauntingly beautiful
“Dream On” (live) by Aerosmith - upbeat and rockin’
“Long Black Limousine” by Elvis Presley - One of the lesser known Presley tunes where he shows off his bluesy side
“Bohemian Rhapsody” (live) from “Queen on Fire” by Queen - Boy can that Freddy Mercury belt out a tune. (MHRIP) My kids love this song.
“Words” (live) from “Here at Last…Bee Gees Live” - a countryfied version of a great song, before Gibb had to ruin the song by pausing to let the girls squeal
“O Holy Night” by il Divo - A Christmas tune that I listen to year round because it’s so damn good. Sadly for my family, I can’t help singing along in my best opera voice.
“Voices Carry” (iTunes acoustic) by Aimee Mann - beautiful, slowed down rendition of an 80’s classic
“Love Lifted Me” by Kenny Rogers - a very simple gospel song that makes me happy
[ol][li]Bitches Ain’t Shit as covered by Ben Folds[/li][li]Walking on Sunshine as covered by Ghoti Hook[/li][li]Crazy Love by Van Morrisson[/li][li]Christmas is All Around as featured in Love, Actually[/li][li]Turn Me On by Norah Jones[/li][li]You Give Love a Bad Name by Bon Jovi[/li][li]I’ll Cover You (Reprise) from RENT[/li][li]Have a Little Faith in Me by John Hiatt[/li][li]Your Song by Elton John[/li][li]She by Green Day[/li][/ol]
Not including music by favorite artists who I’ll stop and listen to anything by, ten of the songs that I never skip are:
“Still The One” - Orleans
“Everlasting Love” - Carl Carlton
“Come On Eileen” - Dexy’s Midnight Runners
“Sir Duke” - Stevie Wonder
“Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” - Elton John & Kiki Dee
“A Little Respect” - Erasure
“December 1963” - The Four Seasons
“The King is Half Undressed” - Jellyfish
“We Close Our Eyes” - Go West
“Bus Stop” - The Hollies
*His Latest Flame * by Elvis
*Further on up the Road * by Bruce Springsteen
*Here Comes My Baby * by The Tremeloes
*Hey Ya * by Outkast
*My Brain is Hanging Upside Down * by The Ramones
*Ol’ 55 * by The Eagles
*Opus 17 * by The Four Seasons Otherside by Red Hot Chili Peppers Rings by Lobo Where Have All the Cowboys Gone? by Paula Cole
I Be An Retarded - They Might Be Giants
*Naked And Famous * - The Presidents of the USA Asshole - Dennis Leary The Internet is For Porn - Avenue Q Schadenfreude - Avenue Q I Write Sins Not Tragedies - Panic! At the Disco More Human Than Human - White Zombie Moscow - Rammstein Return of the Phantom Stranger - Rob Zombie
*Doctor Worm * - They Might Be Giants
Some of those songs just make me want to rock out, some of them always make me smile. But every single song is always “Ooh, I love this song”
Follow you down - Gin Blossoms
Story of a Girl - Nine Days
Here with you ?
It’s my Life No Doubt
Save Tonight - Eagle Eye Cherry
Going down in Flames -
Make me Smile - Steve Harley
Just What I needed - Cars
Here With Me - Dido
Les Yeux Ouverts - Beautiful South
