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.

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!