10 - 1 (my top 100 tunes)

You will note that my top 10 is unchanged from 2010. The truth is, when you get to this point it is incredibly difficult to rate one song above another. Depending on my mood any of them could have claimed the top spot.

10 A New England - Kirsty MacColl 10
It's not just the additional verse or the gender swap that makes this version of A New England very different from Billy Bragg's. The silky voice of the sorely missed Kirsty MacColl, the musical arrangement and the tempo give this version real oomph. Better than Bragg's version? Different, and brilliant. I will settle for that.

9 The Glorious Day - Amsterdam 9

There was a section of my friends at Uni who loved a band called Pele. Indeed at one point it felt like Pele were the house band of Rutherford College Junior Common Room. I never really got Pele, but when I saw Amsterdam (formed from the wreckage of Pele) support Billy Bragg I was won over. Even more so when they played The Glorious Day. There isn't a particularly good version of this song on the internet. Skip to around 40 seconds in on the link above to get a flavour. Then perhaps listen to Billy Bragg's The Warmest Room, the song on which this is based. With Bragg you get a love song, but with Amsterdam it is an ode to revolutionaries. It's a great track but sadly I think for you to appreciate it you will just have to buy their album.

8 Panic - The Smiths 8
I think this may be the first Smiths song I remember hearing. It was certainly the first to capture my imagination, even though it breaks my 5th Law of Pop: "Though shalt never have a choir of children singing backing vocals" or the Excerpt From A Teenage Opera Law as it is otherwise known. Only the Smiths and Pink Floyd are exempt from this Law. Anyway I digress. Do I really need to justify how brilliant Panic is? I don't think so.

7 I Useta Love Her - Sawdoctors 7
In my first year at University the jukebox in Keynes College bar was a new fangled CD jukebox. It was really very novel, but it also only had a small number of CDs. Fortunately one of those CDs included this song which would get played pretty much every night. I get a big goofy grin every time I hear this song. Partly due to the brilliance of this Irish band's songwriting/performing, and partly because it transports me back to some happy and formative years.

6 I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind Of Thing - Pet Shop Boys 6
Despite the deadpan delivery this song is fantastically life affirming song. Every now and then we all need to cut loose. For no reason, just because. We all have the right to be a-typical once in a while. The emotions stirred by this song are summed up by  "I feel like taking all my clothes off. Dancing to the Rite of Spring. And I wouldn't normally do this kind of thing."
 

5 Beat Surrender - The Jam 5
There was a time in the mid 90s when the soundtrack to me getting ready for a night out was a Jam cd. Invariably this was the last song I would play before heading out. It got me in the perfect positive mindset. Shouty vocals, great lyrics, blaring horns and a driving beat. It has all of my favourite ingredients. "Fill my heart with joy and gladness. I've lived too long in shadows of sadness." Succumb to the beat surrender!

4 Waiting For The Great Leap Forwards - Billy Bragg 4
In many ways I suppose it's odd that the top Billy Bragg song in my list is impossible to sing along to live. And yet curiously it's a highlight of his show.Over the years pretty much every line has changed to reflect the topical issues of the day. This original version was written before the fall of the Iron Curtain and muses on the lot of the political singer/songwriter. It gradually gains momentum over the course of the song, through a succession of one liners, into the final glorious shouty refrain. (If you listen very hard you can hear Phil Jupitus shouting amidst the backing vocals towards the song.)

If you want to see how radically Bragg screws with the song check out later live versions:
Live on the Henry Rollins Show 2007
Live at Keele 2011

3 Mr Blue Sky - ELO 3
When I was little, my brothers had the ELO album Out Of The Blue on which was my favourite song of the time: Mr Blue Sky. Were they being mean or were they being principled prog rockers? I don't know. But whenever I wanted to hear Mr Blue Sky I was forced to listen to all of the preceding tracks. I couldn't fully appreciate the song you see, unless I heard it in context. Well that's what distinctly remember them telling me. The only problem being that Out Of The Blue was a double album and Mr Blue Sky was at the end of side 3. Despite this, I still love ELO, I still love Mr Blue Sky and I still talk to my brothers. This is a sublime piece of orchestral rock. I can't listen to it without feeling good. It is 4 and a half minutes of spellbinding genius.


2 Something  - Beatles 2
Frank Sinatra, who knew a thing or two about music, said that Something was "the greatest love something of the past 50 years". Who am I to disagree? From the moment that the drum roll ushers in the mournful guitar riff you know this is a truly special work of art. The song just drips with lush gorgeousness. It oozes class. It is remarkable to think that only 6 years previously they had been bashing out mersey beat tunes like I Want To Hold Your Hand. Has any other band in history changed so radically over such a short lifespan and with such high quality control? 

1 Yes - McAlmont and Butler 1
I used the word lush in describing Something. It applies equally to this gem of the britpop era. Bernard Butler of Suede, and David McAlmont of the impossibly high voice, combined to produce a masterpiece. It is a sweeping, embracing and intoxicating song. I was introduced to Yes by my friend Corinne when I lived in Sheffield. I don't remember the games we played on the Sega Megadrive on that boozy night, and it has been 15 years since I saw Corinne. But 16 years on from that night I can remember the thrill of hearing it for the first time. It sounded like nothing else. Timeless and contemporary at the same time. Is it my favourite song of all time? Maybe not. Can I think of anything that would decisively knock it off top spot? No. 

20 - 11 (my top tunes)

20 Flight Of The Wild Geese -  Joan Armatrading 20
Another song on the list with a movie connection. The fact that it also has an African connection also works in its favour. This song drips with pathos, and there is a piano run just after the line "There were promise made" that for some reason I adore. The song really has very little to do with the film and would be better suited to a more political movie than an action one. It doesn't matter to me though. I love the film and I love the song. It's not as good as Love and Affection but it means more to me and for that reason it is high on this list.


19 God Only Knows - Beach Boys 19
Having previously said that it is really hard to write a song about being in love that is as good as unrequited love, this song is the exception, and it is exceptional. Its ruminations on what life would be like without his love is surely something everyone in love can identify with. It is beautifully understated, and a genuine classic.

18 Me And The Farmer - The Housemartins 18
Hull's finest may have had bigger hits, but I will fight to the death (metaphorically) to defend my view that this is their best song. The video has a wonderful home-made zero budget feel to it, and when you look at Norman Cook you do have to wonder whether he has a painting stashed in his attic.

17 Marlene On The Wall - Suzanne Vega 17
As I write this list it is becoming increasingly apparent to me how influential my brothers have been on my musical taste. My eldest brother gave me his vinyl copy of Vega's debut album. I played that album to death, it being my first real experience of a female singer songwriter. Above all, I loved this song and played it over and over. It still sounds fresh to me all these years later.

16 What's Going On - Marvin Gaye 16
I'm a big fan of Marvin Gaye, and I could have happily picked a half dozen of his songs for this top 100 list. I feel bad not including a duet with Tammi Terrell, but you can't include everything. This  plea on behalf of the planet is a wonderful moment in time. It stays on the right side of cheesy. A classic song from a classic album.

15 This Is How It Feels -  Inspiral Carpets 25
The second appearance of the Inspirals on my list and it sees this song rise 10 places from 2010's list. Harking back to my time at the Warehouse in Preston, it is amazing that a song about despair can actually be so uplifting when sung by a couple of hundred sweaty clubbers.

14 Last Of The Famous International Playboys - Morrissey 14
I find this to be a grand and swaggering exhibition of mock hubris from a killer. I like it a lot.

13 Absolutely Everybody - Vanessa Amorosi - new
We all know that until July/August last year the 2000 Sydney Olympics were the best Olympics ever. Such a wonderful celebration of sport organised with the light and enthusiastic softness of touch that we were later to also see in London 2012. I would stay up late into the night and wake early in the morning to catch the latest action. It was the first Olympics I really bought into beyond the high profile events. As I watched the closing ceremony I was a little bereft. Then a girl came leaping onto the stage to sing this positive bouncy life affirming anthem. The music, the athletes smiling, dancing and gurning for the cameras.... even 13 years on I can't hear this song without smiling and remembering what a fabulous job Sydney did of hosting the Olympics. The second best ever in fact :p


12 Whatever - Oasis 12
There was a time when Oasis were writing so many good songs that the b-sides of their singles were littered with would-be classics. Whatever was a stand alone single, never appearing on an album until their 2009 greatest hits album. How can you have such a good song and not include it on an album? Though admittedly What's The Story Morning Glory didn't exactly suffer from its exclusion. Later in their career they would go OTT with orchestration and overly long songs, but here they got it just right. Simple yet strong lyrics, pleasing melodies and an orchestra that accompanied without overpowering or being overpowered.

11 For What It's Worth - Buffalo Springfield 11
Uneasy and sinister, but rippling with defiance. This is more than a protest song, it is a social commentary and a snapshot of a time when the young were making their voice heard politically. The slow rhythm, the pinging guitar,  the lyrics and the overall vibe combine to create a 60s masterpiece.

30 - 21 (My 100 top tunes)

30 Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd 29
I've never bought into the whole 'Dark Side of the Moon is the greatest Floyd album ever' nonsense. I much prefer The Wall, and have done for as long as I can remember. Sometime in the 90s however I started to really appreciate Wish You Were Here (the album). It was a toss up between Shine On You Crazy Diamond and Wish You Were Here as to which song to include on this list. It is possible, though I would not admit it to his face, that my University housemate Jamie may have indoctrinated me by playing this song over and over. Whatever the truth is, this is a fantastic song that glides majestically like a swan on a river over honey. And this, despite the memory of Jamie singing "We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl" being burned forever on my mind

29 2 Of Us - Beatles new
I only 'discovered' this song a couple of years ago. It's a lovely little song. It's very simple, with a delightful melody and pleasing harmonies. It is a perfect nugget of whimsey, and what sealed it for me was the clip of Lennon before it starts saying "I dig a pygmy by Charles Hawtrey and the Deaf Aids. Phase One, in which Doris gets her oats." (not on this video clip though) Errant nonsense but somehow appropriate.

28 Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen 28
This is quite possibly the greatest song ever written. So why, I hear you cry, is it languishing at number 28?  It is glorious, subtle, brash, understated and over the top in equal measure. But I am so familiar with it, that though I haven't tired of it, it doesn't quite pack the same punch it once did. I still love it though.

27 Kashmir - Led Zeppelin 27
The guitar line is an intimidating brute that is juxtaposed with the high fragile vocals of Robert Plant. The instrumental chorus is epic, and with the return to the verse you have the feel of an impending crescendo supplemented by the introduction of luscious strings. It builds and builds, even with a segway into a new verse structure, but it never does reach that climatic end. 

26 Subterranean Homesick Blues - Bob Dylan 26
Don't you just love Dylan? Strip away the innovative video that has been aped more times than I can count and this song stands on its own two feet. This is a supremely confident song that subverted the songwriting conventions of the day. It chugs away with the verse and chorus blurring together, and then in little over 2 minutes it is gone. It may not have had the immediate impact of The Times They Are A Changing or Blowin' In the Wind, but it still resonates today.

25 Rise - Public Image Limited 24
I love the hints of the old Johnny Rotten that you get in this song allied to a controlled and classy backing track. Lyrically there are beautifully succinct phrases: "I could be wrong, I could be right", "Anger is an energy", "May the road rise with you".  Getting more pretentious than usual for a moment, the repetition of these phrases reminds me of Handel and his use of repetitive phrasing in oratorios such as the Messiah. It is certainly effective in Rise.

24 Senses Working Overtime - XTC 15
It starts off a little weird, like a post-punk curiosity. It builds in intensity over the course of the bridge and explodes into a wonderful chorus. Get in! During the course of the song we learn that the world is both football shaped and biscuit shaped. I am still trying to resolve this apparent paradox.

23 Alison - Elvis Costello 23
Songs about unrequited love or lost love always seem to reflect the reality of life more accurately than songs that revel in the glow of being in love. With a song like Alison you feel both the love and the aching disappointment of a lost love. It is beautiful and delicate while at the same time being pointed and edgy.

22 Walls Come Tumbling Down - Style Council 22
I am amused by the fact that the opening line in the video has been changed. The 'c' being removed from "We don't have to take this crap". Those were such innocent days! This is an energising call to action from the darkest days of the Thatcher ("public enemy number 10") era . "You can actually try changing things". "Unity is powerful". Where are the political songwriters in the mainstream nowadays? Anyway that aside, any song that starts with a Hammond organ and blaring horns is always onto a winner with me. Fortunately it never lets up that pace and this is a ramraiding slam dunk of a song from the guy who also brought us The Jam.

21 Don't Stop Moving - S Club 7    21
It doesn't happen very often, but every now and again I am not only on trend but slightly ahead of the curve. The first time I heard this song I was in my car and just about to drive to London to see my friend Sara. As I switched the engine on the radio burst into life with this tune but I had I missed the start so I didn't know the act. But from very early on I knew it would be a hit. Not in the "dumb kids are going to love this piece of xxxx" kind of way, but in the "wow this song is great and will be number 1" way. Pretty much the first thing I said to Sara when I got to her flat was "I have just heard a future number 1". It's a high quality party tune. Forget that S Club 7 were manufactured for the teeny bop market, this is a great pop song. Is it a better song that Bohemian Rhapsody? Of course not. Can I listen to it over and over? Oh yes. Of course my defence is blown out of the water by those who know I also rather like other songs by S Club.

40 - 31 (My top 100 tunes)

40 Mary's Prayer - Danny Wilson 96

"Everything is wonderful. Being here is heavenly...". It is amazing that a band that can craft two such joyously sublime pop songs as this and The Second Summer Of Love should just disappear from view with 4 years. Despite the title, this song is not about religion. It is about the singer realising he has made a big mistake in turning down someone who used to pray to be with him. Despite those sentiments this song powers along gloriously. As debut singles go, they don't come much better than this. A real gem of 80s pop.


39 St Louis Blues - Glenn Miller 36
I love the Louis Armstrong version of this song. It reeks of cigarette smoke and sweaty basement jazz clubs. Perhaps I have been unduly influenced  by the film The Glenn Miller Story into choosing the Miller version. I like the fact that it portrays Miller as subverting the military norms. But most of all I love the juxtaposition of a military marching band and the Big Band jazz sound within the same song.

38 Talking 'bout A Revolution - Tracy Chapman 35
I have deliberately picked Tracy Chapman's breakthrough performance as my illustrative clip rather than the promo video. At the 1988 Nelson Mandela Birthday Concert she was just filling time while the stage was rearranged between major acts. I remember her coming on and being captivated by this mouselike girl strumming a guitar, and singing such powerful songs with an incredible voice.  Fast Car was a bigger hit and may be a better song. But on that day, with Mandela still in prison, it was Talking 'bout A Revolution that spoke to me. "Finally the tables are starting to turn, they're talking 'bout a revolution".

37 10,000 Nights Alphabeat 34

This is the second song on my list to reference Wuthering Heights, though I suspect probably not due to a love of the book like Kate Bush, but more in order to make the song rhyme. I digress. Two Alphabeat songs in my top 100? This is madness I hear you cry. But it is such a joyous, upbeat duet, with voices that work so well together that I couldn't resist. Even if they record nothing else this song will stay on my list for a long time.

36 I Think I Love You  The Voice Of The Beehive 33
The Voice Of The Beehive played at my University when I was a student. I think it was Rutherford College Dining Hall, and my abiding memories are of wonderful upbeat pop songs and my friend Neil sat topless on someone's shoulders waving his arms like a loon. The band were great, energising the crowd and bouncing around in their brightly coloured 50's dresses. They produced a clutch of superb hits, but this one in particular takes me back to Canterbury and that night in a Dining Hall. Happy days!

35 Help Me Please -  Hard Fi new

From joy to despair. Richard Archer wrote this song after the death of his mother. It is so pure and so simple. So heartfelt, and heartbreaking. It could just as easily be about a break-up. It's about the void that is left when someone has gone, and the things that remind you of them. Like Tank Park Salute by Billy Bragg I find this song incredibly moving. <edit> I understand that there are two versions of this song, of which this one is the better. It can be found on the charity album Help, A Day In The Life.

34 Greatest Day Beverley Knight 32

Another song with a Mandela connection. In 2001 I managed to get hold of tickets for the Celebrate South Africa concert in Trafalgar Square, celebrating 7 years of democracy in South Africa. I got to a prime location with two friends, and was waiting for two things: To see REM and to see Nelson Mandela. Most of the acts that day have passed from memory, but Beverley Knight stuck with me. "I just met Nelson Mandela backstage, this is the Greatest Day of my life", and then she launched into Greatest Day. An upbeat British Soul classic, with great horns and an incredible vibe. I cannot hear this song without thinking of that day. I have been lucky enough to see Mandela in the flesh four times (this was the second), and this brilliant song perfectly captured the thrill of seeing Mandela that day.

33 Shirley Billy Bragg 31

Bragg does love songs ever so well. Most people think of him as a political singer/songwriter, and he is rightly famous for that part of his work. But there is much more diversity to his songwriting than most people realise. The original version of this song is on Talking To The Taxman About Poetry. The same album that gave us Levi Stubbs Tears, and also There Is Power In a Union. This re-titled and re-recorded version owes a big debt to Johnny Marr of the Smiths who appears on guitar and was involved in the new orchestration. Musically and lyrically this song does it for me. I love how Bragg plays with words and phrases. In concert the political stuff can create an almost religious fervour, but without songs like Shirley you don't get the full Bard of Barking experience.

32 Motorcycle Emptiness Manic Street Preachers 79

This song is from 1992, a few years before they made it really big. It hints at some of their later sophistication whilst retaining the raw punky feel. The guitar riff grabs you and the chorus is like a massive French kiss. It's a little sad to see the video and the reminder that there were once four of them. An awesome tune from start to finish.

31 I Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor Arctic Monkeys30

What a way to announce yourself to the world. This sub 3 minute blast of working class Northern indie is brilliant, just brilliant. Almost 7 years after the song went straight to number 1, the Arctic Monkeys performed it at the 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony. To go from Neepsend to a global stage you need songs like this.

50 - 41 (my 100 top tunes)

50 Justified And Ancient - The KLF    45

This song is bonkers. It is a huge pile of crazy. I guess there might be an internal logic, but really it makes no sense but in the most wonderful way. "They're justified and ancient, and they drive an ice cream van". But what do you expect from the mad geniuses behind the KLF? They created some of the most bizarrely great songs of the late 80s and early 90s. Having Tammy Wynette on vocals for this song was a stroke of genius, and she camps it up brilliantly in the video. You can dance to it, and you can sit and enjoy it. You can't take it too seriously, but why would you want to?

49 London Calling - The Clash 44

There is a sinister tone to this song. From the thumping bass drum and staccato guitar, to the bass guitar line and the aggressive lyrics/vocals of Joe Strummer. This song is so evocative of a truly tough time for a Britain in transition, so it was curious to hear it played throughout the 2012 Olympics. And yet despite all of that clenched fist anger in the song it never felt out of place at that celebration of sport. I guess if  Americans can play Born In The USA and ignore its lyrics we can do likewise with this.

48 Crazy In Love - Beyonce 43

From the moment the sample of the Chi-Lites' "Are You My Woman" kicks in and grabs you by the scruff of the neck, this is a masterful piece of pop magnificence. There are so many great hooks in this song, from the chorus to the "uh oh uh oh uh oh" bit. Even the Jay-Z rap works when it could easily have seemed incongruous. This song shifts back and forth through the gears with the purring effortlessness of a Rolls Royce. Sumptuous and sexy!

47 Love Machine - Girls Aloud 77

It takes a pretty special pop song to jump up this list ahead of Crazy In Love, but I think this song merits it. The Bass intro sets the tone for this gem of manufactured pop. It's fun, dumb stupid enjoyable pop but it never gets tired. Want to feel sexy? Put on Crazy In Love. Want to feel good? Put on Love Machine.

46 Life on Mars  - David Bowie 90

Sometimes it's only when you try to sing a song at karaoke that you gain true respect for the song and singer. You are eased in with the soft piano led intro. Before the deep strings push you towards the chorus. Ah that chorus. At that point my faultless Bowie impression fell apart. "Sail-screech-ors fighting in the dance hall. O-screech-h man, look at those cavemen go. It's the freakiest show. <breathe> Take a look at the laaa-screech-ww man beating up the wrong guy....." Bowie flies up the octaves effortlessly and in doing so puts amateur wannabes to shame. And that's before you even get to "Is there life on Mars?". Wow. This guy can really sing. And he can also write strangely great lyrics: "It's on America's tortured brow. Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow." The song even ends with a curious coda: a Beatles-esque eternal chord and a soft piano reprise. Curious and memorable.

45 In The Lap Of The Gods (Revisited) - Queen new

The first album that I bought with my own money was very nearly True Blue by Madonna. But at the last moment I bought Live Magic by Queen, figuring that I was getting more songs for my money. It was quite possibly the best decision I ever made, turning a liking for the band gained via my brothers into an obsession. There was a tantalising fragment of a song on the album. A true singalong anthem, called In The Lap Of The Gods (Revisited). I loved it and it wasn't long before I had sought out the 1974 album Sheer Heart Attack that it appears on. Maybe it was the singalong chant, maybe the 3/4 time signature. But this song waltzed into my heart and has stayed there ever since.

44 Move On Up - Curtis Mayfield 40

I may have mentioned that I like blaring horns. So one listen to the intro to this song will tell you one of the big reasons why I love the long. Mayfield's falsetto silky singing, the funky soul vibe and the blistering pace of the song are a potent combination. "Take nothing less than the second best". This song is certainly in the top couple of ranks of tunes.

43 Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of - U2 39

Should this be on my list? I'm confident that it is not their best song. It might not even be my favourite of their songs. But I think perhaps it is the one that speaks the most strongly to me. I'm sure all of us can at one time or another relate to the lyrics of the chorus. I will leave the analysis there. It is a sublimely lovely song. 

42 Great Things - Echobelly new

If the song at number 43 in this list is about being stuck in a rut, this song is pure optimism and ambition. Very much the contemporaries of Sleeper, I have very similar reasons for loving this band. They were incredibly good at writing infectious indie pop. Check out Close But... and King of the Kerb  as well to see quite how good they were. Oh and I had a massive crush on Sonya Madan. But who didn't?

41 I'm Alive The Hollies 37

You could write this off as a piece of 60's beat fluff. It's not even 2.30 long. But I find the chorus immensely uplifting. Sometimes it's just good to celebrate being alive in an unapologetic manner.

60-51 (my top 100 tunes of all time)

60 The Man With The Child In His Eyes Kate Bush 55

Ah Kate Bush. One of the most supremely talented British singer/songwriters of the past 35 years. How talented? She wrote this song aged 13 and recorded it aged 16. Even then she had a lyrical and musical sophistication that would make people gnash their teeth in jealousy. This song is beautiful. Her ethereal voice is beautifully controlled, the orchestration is both powerful and understated, the unusual chord progressions make it feel as if you are being blown on a breeze. It's a short song but ever such a good song. And she was 13 ffs!

59 Cabaret Louis Armstrong 54

Whilst at University, my friend Jo (who turned me on to Prince), also introduced me to the incredible Kander and Ebb musical, Cabaret. I fell in love with the show and in watching the film I fell in love with Liza Minelli. Later, Jo and I saw an outstanding production of the show at the Donmar Warehouse starring Alan Cumming and Jane Horrocks. It is fair to say that I know the musical inside and out. So when I first heard Louis Armstrong singing the title song there was a danger that perhaps it would seem wrong to have a man singing it. In actual fact Armstrong makes the song stand on its own. He plays it as a straight trad jazz tune. You can close your eyes and imagine a 1930s jazz band playing in a smokey club. Satchmo's vocals are unmistakable and his trumpet playing lifts rather than overpowers the song. It is a joy to behold.

58 Wuthering Heights Kate Bush new

How on earth did I miss this song the first time I compiled this top 100? It is a tour de force. There is madness in her vocals, and it is never less than compelling. Bush was a veteran when she wrote this. Well compared to the song at number 60 on my list anyway. She was 18. It was one of the first songs of hers I can remember hearing. I loved it then and I love it still. A little factoid for you: Kate Bush was born 140 years to the day after Wuthering Heights author Emily Bronte. Another factoid: When Kate Bush took this song to Number 1, she was the first woman to do so with a self penned song.

57 Mayor of Simpleton XTC 52

I remember watching a Saturday morning kids' tv show called Going Live back in 1989. They had a feature called the video vote, where new songs were reviewed, and there was a video on by a band I had never heard of. Having heard it though I knew I had to have it. So the next time I found myself in a record shop I bought the 7" single of The Mayor of Simpleton by XTC. I played it and played it, over and over. I loved the central conceit, that the singer might be thick as two short planks but he knows the one thing that really matters, that he is in love. It's a great pop tune and I assumed it was a hit. But looking into it now, I find that it reached number 46 in the UK charts. Charts be damned, this is a great song.

56 Johnny Come Home Fine Young Cannibals new

I knew that I wanted to include a FYC song in this list, but which one? I love their version of Suspicious Minds, but the Elvis version is on the list at 54 so I discounted that. Ever Fallen In Love, She Drives Me Crazy, Good Thing, Blue. Aaagh, so many to choose from. In the end I chose this because even today there is a freshness to it, typical of a band on the cusp of greatness. They later released a fantastic album called The Raw and the Cooked. Well this song is raw but delightfully so. The music scene remains a poorer place for the absence of Roland Gift's vocals.

55 Inbetweener Sleeper 97

Those halcyon days of britpop. How I miss them. Sleeper were a band whose flame burned brightly but they were unable to outlive the britpop bubble. The gorgeous Louise Wener may not have had the strongest voice but I think it was a case of right person in the right place at the right time. Sleeper wrote catchy songs, and I have always loved this one in particular. I listen to this and it takes me to happy memories.

54 Suspicious Minds Elvis Presley 51

Elvis didn't always have the greatest quality control. Especially in his latter years. But this song is the equal of any in his catalogue. From the "We're caught in a trap" opening, to the emotional chorus and the change to/from the 3/4 time signature, the song is an exhilarating rollercoaster.

53 Birdhouse In Your Soul They Might Be Giants 48

There's a risk of writing this song off as a novelty song but there is more depth to it than you may think. For me, this song takes me back to UKC Radio discos at University. A night wouldn't be complete without "Size of a cow" by the Wonderstuff and this song. For a song with such bizarre lyrics it has the great virtue of allowing anyone to sing along by yelling fragments of lyrics such as "who watches over you" at the appropriate moment.

52 I Am The Resurrection Stone Roses 49

This proto britpop anthem is the antithesis of throwaway pop. There is a place for throwaway pop, and indeed several places for it on this list. I Am The Resurrection however, has a relentless driving rhythm, a majestic chorus, an instrumental section, and then it stops. Before going into an extended indie instrumental that is also eminently danceable. For anyone who thinks that dance music has to be electronic I would play them this. It's also a great song for power walking to. It is no wonder that the Stone Roses are so revered. With songs like this there can be no dispute.

51 Levi Stubbs Tears Billy Bragg 46

The first appearence of the Bard of Barking on my list. Bragg is well known for his political songs, but his love songs and social commentaries are as good if not better. The segway where Bragg name-checks "Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong..." is sublime. This song is not political prosletising, it's just telling a story. There is disatisfaction, unhappiness, and domestic referenced in the lyrics. It's powerful stuff, and part of that power is drawn from the simplicity of the orchestration. Bragg + guitar = 50 Shades of Awesome.