My Favourite 101 Songs

I do all these lists, don't I, but it's been over five years since I actually told you what my favourite songs are. No arsing about with pretence to objectivity or strictures or structures.

Here they are. There is some small structure. I thought "Since I last made a list of My Favourite 100 Songs five years ago, what have been my favourite songs within that time?" So not just this second and not throughout my whole life either. I looked at what I'd listened to most, thought about what had consistently thrilled me in the various contexts I listen to music, and then knocked this together in no time at all.

If you follow the blog, there are few surprises. There's plenty that was here last time. It's depressingly lacking the kind of eclecticism I'd be compelled into if I was doing anything but expressing a preference for the very cream on the top of the 100s of 1000s of songs that have passed through my ears.

1. In California - Joanna Newsom
2. The Rat - The Walkmen
3. All My Friends - LCD Soundsystem
4. Going Underground - The Jam
5. Ice Hockey Hair - Super Furry Animals
6. Hey Lover - Dawes
7. Isis (Live) - Bob Dylan
8. Losing You - Randy Newman
9. I See a Darkness - Bonnie Prince Billy
10. My Girls - Animal Collective
11. La Tristesse Durere - Manic Street Preacher
12. Thunder Road - Bruce Springsteen
13. The First Day of My Life - Bright Eyes
14. Emily - Joanna Newsom
15. Bryte Side - The Pernice Brothers
16. The Only Living Boy in New York - Simon and Garfunkel
17. St Patrick - James Yorkston
18. The Good Intentions Paving Company - Joanna Newsom
19. Lean On Me - Bill Withers
20. So Long Marianne - Leonard Cohen
21. From the Morning - Nick Drake
22. Slaveship - Josh Rouse
23. My Wandering Days Are Over - Belle and Sebastian
24. The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll - Bob Dylan
25. Doo Wop (That Thing) - Lauryn Hill
26. Love Anyway - The Waterboys
27. Between the Wars - Billy Bragg
28. Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher and Higher - Jackie Wilson
29. Hey Darling - Sleater Kinney
30. Grace - Jeff Buckley
31. Dry the Rain - Beta Band
32. Angela Surf City - The Walkmen
33. Northern Sky - Nick Drake
34. People Ain't No Good - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
35. Be My Baby - The Ronettes
36. We Can Work It Out - The Beatles
37. Steady Pace - Matthew E White
38. There She Goes, My Beautiful World - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
39. Heaven - The Walkmen
40. Snow is Gone - Josh Ritter
41. Rise - Josh Rouse
42. The Trapeze Swinger - Iron and Wine
43. Trellick Tower - Emmy the Great
44. A Case of You - Joni Mitchell
45. Mr November - The National
46. Let's Make This Precious - Dexys Midnight Runners
47. Mississippi - Bob Dylan
48. Sons and Daughters - The Decemberists
49. Make Your Own Kind of Music - Mama Cass
50. The Mercy Seat - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
51. Idiot Wind - Bob Dylan
52. Holes - Mercury Rev
53. Fire in My Heart - Super Furry Animals
54. Fight the Power - Public Enemy
55. Olympian - Gene
56. Floating in the Forth - Frightened Rabbit
57. America - Simon and Garfunkel
58. A Rainy Night in Soho - The Pogues
59. 14th Street - Rufus Wainwright
60. She's Your Lover Now - Bob Dylan
61. Sweet Jane - The Velvet Underground
62. Chicago - Sufjan Stevens
63. Massive Night - The Hold Steady
64. This is a Low - Blur
65. Funeral - Band of Horses
66. The Weight - The Band
67. When the Haar Rolls In - James Yorkston
68. Don't You - Micah P Hinson
69. American Trilogy - The Delgados
70. Redemption Song - Bob Marley
71. Family Affair - Mary J Blige
72. Like a Rolling Stone - Bob Dylan
73. Jesus Etc - Wilco
74. Chin High - Roots Manuva
75. Wake Up - Arcade Fire
76. $1000 Wedding - Gram Parsons 
77. Carey - Joni Mitchell
78. Sunshine on Leith - The Proclaimers
79. Billie Jean - Michael Jackson
80. Moon River - Audrey Hepburn
81. Faster - Manic Street Preachers
82. Severed Crossed Fingers - St Vincent
83. Sweeping the Nation - Spearmint
84. Round Eye Blues - Marah
85. Sweet Thing - Van Morrison
86. Jackie - Scott Walker
87. My Baby Don't Understand Me - Natalie Prass
88. I'm Gonna Make You Love Me - The Supremes and the Temptations
89. Misunderstood - Wilco
90. Out on the Floor - Dobie Gray
91. Dreamy Days - Roots Manuva
92. Little Baby Nothing - Manic Street Preachers
93. Dancing On My Own - Robyn
94. Scottish Pop - Spearmint
95. How - Regina Spektor
96. Rise to Me - The Decemberists
97. Galveston - Glen Campbell
98. Oxygen - Willy Mason
99. Be Not So Fearful - Bill Fay
100. Instant Karma - John Lennon
101. Gimme Some Lovin'   -  The Spencer Davis Group