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. 

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.