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.

80 - 71 (my top 100 songs of all time)

80 Fascination Alphabeat new
For a long time I ummed and ahhed about which Alphabeat track to include. 10,000 Nights was on the list in 2010, but this song is such a great upbeat song it was banging on my door demanding inclusion. So which would I pick? In the end I couldn't choose. I slipped this song in as well. You can't not feel good when listening to this. The two lead voices complement each other so well and I particularly love Stine Bramsen's voice. This is brilliant feel good pop.


79 You Better You Bet The Who 76

When I was young, possibly in my early teens, I knew nothing about The Who except Pinball Wizard. Then one day during the school holidays there was a concert on tv. I watched it with no preconceptions and the song that grabbed me was this one. I don't know why. It just did. And to this day I love the song.


78 All The Things She Said T.A.T.U new

Amidst the debates about the rights and wrongs of getting two young girls to pretend to be lesbian (wrong), there is one undeniable fact: this is a stunning song. Musically, lyrically, and vocally it was a stark contrast to the safe faux bicuriosity of Katy Perry's I Kissed A Girl. You see how edgy this was, and in the light of what is happening in Russia right now it seems brave.


77 Itchycoo Park Small Faces 73

When I ran Cranfield Students' Association (98-2001) I used to DJ on Friday and Saturday night. I wasn't a dance DJ, not really liking dance music too much. Feel good songs and cheese were largely the order of the day. Curiously for a bunch of students in their 20s from around the globe, this song was a feelgood floorfiller that always had them dancing and singing at the end of the night. British psychedelic singalong tunes of the 60s don't come much better than this. Surprisingly M People recorded a version in the early 90s and didn't murder it.


76 A Change Is Gonna Come Sam Cooke 72

On the night he won the election in 2008 Barack Obama said "It's been a long time coming, but tonight, change has come to America." I knew that this was a song reference, but I thought he was quoting Otis Redding rather than Sam Cooke. I didn't know the song was originally Cooke's, but I soon found out. I love both versions, Cooke's being the better vocal, and Redding's the better orchestration. Such a talent, such powerful lyrics. What an amazing song.


75 I Want To Be Buried In Your Backyard Nightmare Of You new

I know nothing about this band. Until it cropped up on a compilation album that I ripped for my mp3 player I don't think I had ever heard it. Then it became one of those songs that you listen to, enjoy, and then have no idea who recorded it or what it was called. I had to wait for it to come up on shuffle again. I love it. The melody soars, dips and soars again like a glider riding thermal currents. The lyrics are dark but somehow it exudes positivity.


74 Landslide Fleetwood Mac 69

This is quite simply a beautiful song that I fell in love with the first time I heard it. So simple and yet so powerful. Lyrically I guess it means more the older you get. But I don't want to over-analyse it. I just want to immerse myself in the acoustic guitars and Stevie Nicks' voice.


73 Oliver's Army Elvis Costello 68

This is the first song on the list that I can blame my brothers for. Or rather, I can thank my brothers for. I remember hearing this song coming from their bedroom when I was very young. Later, I came into possession of my eldest brother's copy of Armed Forces and this was the song I zeroed in on. Right from the opening bars this song seizes you and pulls you along. There are a number of theories about the meaning behind the cryptic lyrics. My personal theory is that the Oliver of the title is Oliver Tambo, and his army being the ANC's armed wing. Hence the line "If you're out of luck or out of work, we can send you to Johannesburg". But that's just one of my pet theories developed while listening to this wonderful song.



72 Dancing In The Moonlight Thin Lizzy 67 

My brothers can indirectly take credit for this song too. They loved Thin Lizzy, and I was to inherit a copy of Jailbreak when they left home. I loved that album with a passion, and so I collected all of the Thin Lizzy that I could. Despite being into heavy metal at the time, this song with it's bouncy bass line, lyrics that spoke directly to me, and light feel became one of my firm favourites. I still love Thin Lizzy, and most of all I love this song.


71 Purple Rain Prince 66
I hated Prince. I didn't understand him. I thought he was a poor man's Michael Jackson. Then I went to University and became close friends with a girl who loved him. I can still remember very clearly the day that she brought the vhs cassette of the film Purple Rain into my Uni bedroom and we sat down to watch it. I expect she thought I would be instantly won over to Prince and admit I had been wrong. And goddammit she was right....partially. The film was corny but I loved it. The music was sophisticated and exciting. But for me, the guitar solo in the title track is a true virtuoso piece. As a guitarist myself I could see that Prince was a genuine musician, able to pour intense emotion out through his guitar. Forget the posturing and the craziness that came later. Purple Rain is a song written and performed by a genius. Did I admit I was wrong? I suspect I only did so half-heartedly. But I right that wrong here, some 22 years later. Jo, you were right!