2022 Greatest Songs: Part 7 (299-150)

299        Just Like Honey -  The Jesus and Mary Chain

298        $1000 Wedding - Gram Parsons ft Emmylou Harris

297        Bat out of Hell - Meat Loaf

296        I Feel Good - James Brown

295        Manhattan - Ella Fitzgerald

294        All I Have To Do Is Dream - The Everly Brothers

293        The Kiss - Judee Sill

292        Northern Sky - Nick Drake

Probably the weirdest placing on my original list, the one that would make a casual reader who dropped in immediately think “what is this idiot on?”, after all the build-up I’d given about objectivity, is Northern Sky by Nick Drake at 4. What was I thinking? I had something in my head about Northern Sky possessing the same kind of unmatchable beauty as God Only Knows, which was Number 2. But God Only Knows has more than just beauty going for it, of course. The thing is Northern Sky probably isn’t even in my 3 favourite Nick Drake songs. It is a lovely song, but I don’t think there’s any good reason for it to be anywhere near the top, in retrospect.

Actually, just listened to it again. Scrap all that. Clearly is the 4^th best song of all time.

291        How Far I'll Go (Moana)

290        Girl in Amber - Nick Cave

289        You Oughta Know - Alanis Morrisette

288        Fast Car - Tracy Chapman

287        Atomic - Blondie

286        Push It - Salt-N-Pepa

285        Go Your Own Way - Fleetwood Mac

284        Livin' on a Prayer - Bon Jovi

283        The Modern Leper - Frightened Rabbit

Pound for pound, Scottish music’s been the best, right? That’s a given … Frightened Rabbit were so good. This album is so good. The scabrously witty and bathetic lyrics, the unfakeable voice. I love the line it ends with “You can tell me all about what you did today …”

282        God Save The Queen - The Sex Pistols

281        Fun, Fun, Fun - The Beach Boys

280        Land of 1000 Dances - Wilson Picketts

279        You Are the Generation That Bought More Shoes and You Get What You Deserve - Johnny Boy

278        Monster - Kanye West

277        Fourth of July - Sufjan Stevens

276        Independent Women - Destiny's Child

275        Wonderwall – Oasis

Two Mancunian songs of the 90s to consider now. Amidst the generally negative retrospectives on Britpop from both sides of the Atlantic, it is Oasis that are dealt with worst – described with contempt like they were the dense, basic, testosterone-fuelled lad apotheoasis of all that was grim about the era. Which is fine. I think we all ended up thinking that to an extent. But it’s not the whole story, certainly not for me, who was, somewhat, there.

Oasis were a behemoth, but I think it was ok to think they were a behemoth in a good way for a few months, from late 1995 to mid-1996, with their two biggest, most defining songs Wonderwall (sung by Liam Gallagher, a good rock singer) and Don’t Back in Anger (sung by Noel Gallagher, a bad rock singer), overpowering all before them.

Wonderwall is a funny thing. It still, unlike anything else by them, will give me a funny feeling if I’m caught offguard by it. It is not stereotypically Oasis – it is downbeat, minor-key, it is fairly gentle and empathetic. It’s not, unlike Don’t Look Back in Anger, an obvious football anthem.

Yet it became a British folk song, a people’s song, an everywhere song. I’d suggest that it did that while just about holding on to being a proper not-bad song by any reckoning. It also, contra-history, broke America. It was a very big hit in the USA, one of the biggest rock songs of 1995, and made What’s the Story one of the bestselling albums in the US of 1996. That did happen. American press act like no one in the US fell for Oasis, but they did fall for this song.

Not guaranteed. Country House was bigger than Roll With It, The Great Escape came out first. The second single was to be The Universal, which is one of Blur’s greatest, and most universal songs. But everyone went for Oasis instead, on the back of Wonderwall and Don’t Look Back in Anger. Such a distinct direction of events, which seemed to matter so much at the time.

Even now, it is possible to look back and not realise how enormous Wonderwall actually was, kept off the top spot as it was by Simply Red’s Fairground and Robson and Jerome. But Wonderwall, like Simply Red’s Stars, which I will now get to, falls into a very distinct category of song, which is the single that sold the album. Wonderwall is Oasis’ bestselling single, 12 times platinum, but it’s even bigger than that. It also convinced 100s of 1000s of people to buy the album from which it came.

Stars was only a Number 8 single in late 1991, but Stars the album was the bestselling in the UK for both 1991 and 1992, a phenomenal achievement, and it’s not like there were other songs on the album that were bigger than the title track. That song was everywhere in the early 90s. If I was to list six songs that were the true sound of the UK in the 1990s, I think I’d say I Will Always Love You, Stars, Wonderwall, Wannabe, Angels and the Macarena. Something like that.

That being so, and Simply Red being, somewhat, the comical enemy in my early indie days, it’s only in the last few years I’ve accepted that Stars is a magnificent song, a transcendent piece of melody. I’ve been wanting to write about Stars for quite a while, to confess, if you will, that I probably listen to it more than almost anything else these days. Isn’t that funny? Stars and Wonderwall, universal songs I still hold on to, after all.

274        The Message  - Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five

273        Would I Lie to You - Charles and Eddie

272        Random Rules - Silver Jews

271        No Woman No Cry - Bob Marley

270        September Gurls - Big Star

269        Little Green - Joni Mitchell

268        When You Wish upon a Star - Cliff Edwards

267        Ms. Jackson - OutKast

266        Seven Nation Army - The White Stripes

265        Take On Me - Aha

264        Let's Get It On - Marvin Gaye

263        I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor

262        West End Girls - Pet Shop Boys

261        Try A Little Tenderness - Otis Redding

260        I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free - Nina Simone

259        When the Saints Go Marching In - Louis Armstrong

258        Mack The Knife - Bobby Darin

257        Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd

256        Cross Road Blues - Robert Johnson

255        The Killing Moon - Echo and the Bunnymen

254        People Get Ready - The Impressions

253        I Think it's Going to Rain Today - Randy Newman

252        Tiny Dancer - Elton John

251        Venus in Furs - The Velvet Underground

250        Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Elton John

249        London Calling - The Clash

248        Anything Goes - Frank Sinatra

247        Emily - Joanna Newsom

246        Soon - My Bloody Valentine

245        Slide Away - Oasis

244        Happiness Is A Warm Gun - Beatles

243        Sweet Jane - Velvet Underground

242        The Ace of Spades -  Motörhead

241        Boulder to Birmingham - Emmylou Harris

240        The Man That Got Away - Judy Garland

239        He Stopped Loving Her Today - George Jones

238        Alone Again Naturally - Gilbert O'Sullivan

237        What'll I Do? - The McGarrigles/Various others

What’ll I Do by Irving Berlin is almost 100 years old. That melody and lyric is just as good as it gets, just gives me the shivers  – What’ll I do … when you … are far away … and I am blue … what’ll I do? There’s a version on the McGarrigle Hour album which really ticks several boxes. It’s a melody that would survive pretty much anything, though. I feel like there’s no one who could ruin it, not even Simon Le Bon.

236        Float On - Modest Mouse

235        Try Not to Breathe - REM

234        Milkshake - Kelis

233        Time to Pretend – MGMT

I don’t really know what the chaps from MGMT do now, but I imagine if they meet people in bars and tell them they’re musicians and they’re asked “have you done anything I’d know” they could go “duhnuhnuhnuh-NUH-NUH” and there’s not many people that wouldn’t be impressed. They had some other good songs and their second album wasn’t too bad, but those six notes are up with the six greatest notes ever, and enough.

232        Burn Baby Burn - Ash

231        Visions of Johanna - Bob Dylan

230        My Baby Don't Understand Me - Natalie Prass

229        Downtown Train - Tom Waits

228        Better Son/Daughter - Rilo Kiley

227        I Say a Little Prayer - Aretha Franklin

226        My Generation - The Who

225        Love Child - The Supremes

224        Famous Blue Raincoat - Leonard Cohen

223        Unsatisfied - The Replacements

222        Grace - Jeff Buckley

221        Modern Girl - Sleater-Kinney

220        They Can't Take That Away from Me - Fred Astaire/Ella Fitzgerald

219        That'll Be The Day - Buddy Holly and the Crickets

218        Stand and Deliver - Adam and the Ants

217        White Lines (Don't Do It) - Melle Mel

216        Ice Hockey Hair - Super Furry Animals

215        No Diggity - Blackstreet featuring Dr Dre

214        Not Dark Yet - Bob Dylan

213        There is a Light That Never Goes Out - The Smiths

212        Sir Duke - Stevie Wonder

211        Hey Jude - The Beatles

210        Perfect Day - Lou Reed

209        Will You Love Me Tomorrow? - The Shirelles/Carole King

208        As Time Goes By - Dooley Wilson

207        No No No - Dawn Penn

206        Don't Stop Me Now - Queen

205        Jump - Van Halen

204        No Scrubs - TLC

203        Sheena Is A Punk Rocker - The Ramones

202        Remember (Walkin in the Sand) - The Shangri-las

201        I'm Gonna Make You Love Me - Supremes and the Temptations

200        Temptation - New Order

199        Empire State Of Mind - Jay Z and Alicia Keys

198        I Only Have Eyes for You - The Flamingos

197        Fortunate Son - Creedence Clearwater Revival

196        Mr Tambourine Man - The Byrds/Bob Dylan

195        Into My Arms - Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds

194        Hyperballad - Bjork

193        Bring da Ruckus - Wu-Tang Clan

192        She's a Jar - Wilco

191        No Children - Mountain Goats

190        I Know You Got Soul - Eric B and Rakim

189        Brimful Of Asha - Cornershop

188        You Don't Have to Say You Love Me - Dusty Springfield

187        Witness (1 Hope) - Roots Manuva

186        Bad Romance - Lady Gaga

185        One - U2

184        That's The Way Love Goes - Janet Jackson

183        Stayin' Alive - Bee Gees

182        Rise – PiL

I, weirdly, used to self-identify as punk. When I first got into music, that simplicity, austerity, judgemental morality, appealed to me. Between the age of 16 and 19 I was very austere. Jesus was, in a way, the original punk, when you think about it. I never looked like a punk, I looked more like a monk. I took as gospel, for quite a while, the idea of not liking Fleetwood Mac, Queen, the Bee Gees, even Elton John. Silly thing is, I didn’t actually like the Sex Pistols. I wrote an excruciating article in the school newspaper about how real punk was The Jam and Elvis Costello. I die a little to think of it. I’d tie in lots of music I quite liked to the idea it might just about be punk, like the Police, Dire Straits. Oh god! Oh Jesus Christ!

I do still like punk rock, and I do rather like the Sex Pistols now. John Lydon is infuriating, in some ways coming across like a standard fame-hungry clown (“What? Too challenging for you? Oooh” etc) but there’s always a part of him which remains very impressive and endearing. Pretty Vacant is, for me, the best Pistols song, and even better is Rise, by PIL. PIL are pretty great. What strikes me about Rise is that his singing is really incredible. Like, he always had a unique, throat-grabbing sound, but, on mid-80s PIL, his voice is a greater, richer instrument, without losing its power. Everything about that record is great - the guitar sound, the scope, such a bold, big, beautiful record – I love the sloganeering “anger is an energy”, “may the road rise with you” (sons of dead Irish dads have a particular fondness for that one). So, yeah, take it from me, the original punk, that some good came of it after all.

181        Where Did You Sleep Last Night? - Leadbelly/Nirvana

180        Black - Dave

179        Rehab - Amy Winehouse

178        You Get What You Give - The New Radicals

177        I Feel Love - Donna Summer

176        7 and 7 is - Love

175        So Long, Marianne - Leonard Cohen

174        I Wanna Dance With Somebody - Whitney Houston

173        212 - Azaelia Banks

172        It's Alright Ma, I'm Only Bleeding - Bob Dylan

171        Fantasy - Maria Carey

Number 1 in Pitchfork’s recent Top 250 Songs of the 90s was ‘Fantasy (Remix)' ft Ol’ Dirty Bastard, a judgement you’ll be amazed to hear I don’t agree with. But … while I never liked Mariah Carey, found her voice so much more self-congratulatory than, say, Whitney Houston, and she did release some warbly cack in the early 90s, nevertheless even when I first heard Fantasy, back in 1995, I thought “well, that’s pretty good, actually” so if it was able to break past my defences even then, that says a lot. It’s not the Greatest Song of the 90s, but it’s pretty perfect, and even better with ODB on the remix.

170        We Shall Overcome - Pete Seeger

169        Satisfaction - Rolling Stones

168        The Israelites - Desmond Dekker and the Aces

167        Killing In The Name - Rage Against the Machine

166        My Funny Valentine - Ella Fitzgerald

165        Diamonds and Rust - Joan Baez

This song reminds me of Martha Wainwright. “My poetry was lousy, you said” and “Poetry has no place for a heart that’s a whore”. Two songs about men being dicks. There are a lot of great lines in Joan Baez’s ‘Diamonds and Rust’ but “my poetry was lousy, you said” is the most telling. You can imagine him saying it … “heh-heh you’re poetry’s lousy, Joan” … just off DA Pennebaker’s camera. “Sister, you fagged out a long time ago”. Dylan’s recent book’s brought a lot of chat about misogyny. At the moment, I can’t really face reading it. None of it really matters when he’s the guy who wrote ‘The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll’ and the more I know about him, his borrowed melodies, his sharp practices, his autopen, his grumpy old mannish oddness, the more, yet, I simply love the songs, more deeply than ever, knowing the limitations they spring from. That’s Dylan. “My poetry was lousy, you said”. Not this time.

“You say my time here has been some sort of joke, that I've been messing around, some sort of incubating period for when I really come around … …. you have no idea” – around 2004, I saw Martha W twice in quick succession, supporting her brother and then Wilco (or vice versa), the first time I’d heard her, and there she was, lost in the song, balanced on one leg, her massive voice filling the Barbican and the Hammersmith Apollo, shutting down the early chatter-drinkers to silence. “You bloody motherfucking asshole!” I love that kind of clumsy swearing, like Johnny Boy in Mean Streets saying “You fuckin fuck” or Maggie Gyllenhaal saying to Jake “Go suck a fuck” in Donnie Darko. It could be about any casual vain man but it’s about her dad, the new Bob Dylan, just being an asshole before he knows better. I love these songs.

164        Jesus, Etc. - Wilco

163        You Make Me Feel So Young - Frank Sinatra

162        Hounds Of Love - Kate Bush/The Futureheads

161        Pretty Vacant - Sex Pistols

160        Debaser - The Pixies

159        The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly) - Missy 'Misdemeanour' Elliot

158        Shake It Off - Taylor Swift

I didn’t think I’d be writing about Robbie Williams twice, but there you go. There’s a kind of writing I can’t really stand, which I think of Robbie Williamsy, where’s it so self-absorbed, knowing, the artist is singing about their own place in the culture with catchphrases and mild shock factor. It’s the thing that holds me back from being more of a Taylor Swift fan – her story songs are much better than her confessional or postmodern songs. Ed Sheeran reminds me of Williams sometimes, the 1975, Kanye West, just a bit … give it a rest. Having said all that, I love Shake It Off, and that’s a very Williamsy Swift song.

157        The State That I Am In - Belle and Sebastian

156        Folsom Prison Blues - Johnny Cash

155        Rebel Without a Pause - Public Enemy

154        Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division

153        Shaft (Theme From) - Isaac Hayes

152        Dancing In The Street - Martha and the Vandellas

151        Lose Yourself - Eminem

150        My Girls - Animal Collective