Song 24: Yes

Yes - McAlmont & Butler

Aah, so I'll do a nice easy post about the Best Pop Song of the 1990s. It's late, I've had a long day but I don't want to break my roll of at least one post a day, so I'll write one which makes me feel good. Yes, I do feel better.

I've chosen a rather ropey video of a live perfomance of the track, so apologies if you don't feel this does it justice. Download it for the recorded glory, this Jools Holland just made me feel nostalgic.

My Anglo-American friend Jack came up with his own beautifully produced list of The Top 200 Pop Songs of the 90s recently, which I enjoyed enormously, and, as you'll see, was in accord quite often with some of my tastes, but there is one glaring omission, not just from the Number 1 spot it merits but from the entire 200, and that is 'Yes'.

One can only assume the omission is because Jack's 90s time in the UK began more thoroughly when we were at university together in 1997, and he missed this classic. If anyone in America was going to know it, it would be Jack, so here's a treat, if you're American and you're reading this and have never come across this before.

It's kind of a one-hit wonder, but not quite. A happy coming together of two extremely talented fellers, Bernard Butler on the way out of Suede (who would never be anywhere near so good again after he left, and, come on, we all know that don't we?), David McAlmont having been in a band called Thieves and released a solo album.

Butler is one of those guys whose fingerprints are all over British music of the last 20 years, from Suede to producing The Libertines and Duffy and countless others. He even had a go at a solo career, but while he has a very nice voice for the small music, his musical talent is for The Big Music, so he generally went out trying to find other voices to complement his sound. He released a couple of very nice solo songs called 'Stay' and 'Not Alone' but really, I'd have loved to have heard David McAlmont sing them.

As it happened, M and B in their first incarnation had had a moderately acrimonious split by that point - thankfully they reconvened on good terms more than once, even coming up with a very good second album, which included the delicious little minor hit 'Bring It Back' in the early 2000s.

But, as a pairing, they are defined by 'Yes', the most glorious hit which those of my vintage remember with blissful fondness. It did well, getting to the Top 10 and hanging around for a while, and I think seeing them on Top of the Pops was really one of my favourite musical memories of that time - pride and satisfaction and wonder.

So far, in talking about Bernard Butler, I haven't mentioned his most well known distinction, namely that he was the most spectacularly good guitarist of his generation, but with McAlmont and Butler, he didn't put his guitar at the centre of things - notwithstanding the walls of strings and the burgeoning Spectorisms, it was David McAlmont's extraordinary voice at the front.

Now, I'm not saying he's an all time great, but he certainly brought the thrills here (I can easily imagine people finding his voice a bit much). In recent years, he actually produced a rather lovely album with the composer Michael Nyman where he wrote a lyric about various news stories of the year. It was intelligent, reflective and demonstrated a different side to his vocal ability.

I don't know too much of what else to say about 'Yes'. It makes me feel happy. It's exactly what it should be, an unrelenting and proud ray of sunshine. I remember listening to it at so mant points of my life and thinking "this is it, this is better", whether when stuck at Acton Town station in the cold, or in the bathroom of my pissy studio flat in Tooting, or delighted to hear it at some bar where it's the last thing you'd expect to hear. I remember trying to sing along and my brother laughing at my squawking, because really, you can't sing along, but you can feel it. We all feel bad and feel wronged every single day of our lives, and, from the tiniest thing to the largest thing, this song is the most delightful and spirited response to any perceived enemy.