120 Songs
It was my birthday yesterday - and I'm getting closer to the magical 33 years. So, time to start a quest.
I was given an iPod Shuffle. It holds 120 Songs. It plays them at random.
So, with just 120 Songs, these have to be the best 120 Songs ever. Every one must be a perfect slice of pop, or a quirky 3 minute slab of aural strangeness, or the best of its genre, or hold some lyrical magic to earn its place on the list.
And - to make it a little harder - there's that randomness. So, every one of the 120 Songs must play well after any other of the 120 Songs.
First up was Teenage Kicks, followed by the MC5's Kick Out The Jams. Jonathan Richman's Roadrunner was next. It has to be here, as possibly the greatest rock 'n' roll single ever.
Jolie Holland's Mad Tom of Bedlam and Glen Campbell's Wichita Lineman add a different, alt-country-ish flavour. Traffic's John Barleycorn (Must Die) flies the British folk flag.
Galliano's Heaven Knows is on there - for the line 'Heaven knows, and heaven ain't telling/ god's lost on the A27'. The A27, for those from further afield, runs across the top of my hometown Worthing.
Robert Wyatt's Shipbuilding had to go on - genius song, from one of the greatest voices in British songwriting. And from another Brit genius, World Shut Your Mouth.
Nancy Sinatra's Gotta Get out Of This Town is a brassy addition, which always makes me want to shimmy in a three-button-ticket-pocket-and-side-vents kinda way. For similar reasons, Jackie Wilson Said (I'm In Heaven When You Smile) is on here - I knew the Dexys cover first, but this is Van the Man's version. Mark Ronson's cover of Radiohead's Just also makes it on, for its sheer boogieness.
Sparks (This Town Ain't Big Enough For the Both of Us) and Buffalo Springfield (For What It's Worth) have a massive anthemic quality, so made it on.
That's it so far. 14 tracks. There are lots more to add. Blur, the Small Faces, Steely Dan, Spitfire, Pulp, the Manic Street Preachers, Dusty in Memphis, Captain Beefheart, Love, Elvis Costello, The Fall, Suede. What else is missing?
I was given an iPod Shuffle. It holds 120 Songs. It plays them at random.
So, with just 120 Songs, these have to be the best 120 Songs ever. Every one must be a perfect slice of pop, or a quirky 3 minute slab of aural strangeness, or the best of its genre, or hold some lyrical magic to earn its place on the list.
And - to make it a little harder - there's that randomness. So, every one of the 120 Songs must play well after any other of the 120 Songs.
First up was Teenage Kicks, followed by the MC5's Kick Out The Jams. Jonathan Richman's Roadrunner was next. It has to be here, as possibly the greatest rock 'n' roll single ever.
Jolie Holland's Mad Tom of Bedlam and Glen Campbell's Wichita Lineman add a different, alt-country-ish flavour. Traffic's John Barleycorn (Must Die) flies the British folk flag.
Galliano's Heaven Knows is on there - for the line 'Heaven knows, and heaven ain't telling/ god's lost on the A27'. The A27, for those from further afield, runs across the top of my hometown Worthing.
Robert Wyatt's Shipbuilding had to go on - genius song, from one of the greatest voices in British songwriting. And from another Brit genius, World Shut Your Mouth.
Nancy Sinatra's Gotta Get out Of This Town is a brassy addition, which always makes me want to shimmy in a three-button-ticket-pocket-and-side-vents kinda way. For similar reasons, Jackie Wilson Said (I'm In Heaven When You Smile) is on here - I knew the Dexys cover first, but this is Van the Man's version. Mark Ronson's cover of Radiohead's Just also makes it on, for its sheer boogieness.
Sparks (This Town Ain't Big Enough For the Both of Us) and Buffalo Springfield (For What It's Worth) have a massive anthemic quality, so made it on.
That's it so far. 14 tracks. There are lots more to add. Blur, the Small Faces, Steely Dan, Spitfire, Pulp, the Manic Street Preachers, Dusty in Memphis, Captain Beefheart, Love, Elvis Costello, The Fall, Suede. What else is missing?
posted by Dan Thompson at 1:36 PM
2 Comments:
David Devant and His Spirit Wife?
Happy Birthday Dan!
fred
PS hey, your blog looks just like mine!
Dear Dan
As parent of said feral child at Shoreham's as-always wonderful Beach Dreams weekend, I have to recommend the so often played it's almost trite but still wonderful "Summer Breeze" by the Isley Brothers. Not sure if the soul theme will fit with your current playlist but it's an essential summer theme for me.
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