Yesterday I assigned myself the task of picking my Top 5 songs in three different categories. Since I don't work in a low traffic record store like the guys in High Fidelity and have all day to think about minutiae, I had to ponder my lists while on the cardio machine at the gym, while pitching baseballs to my sons and during meetings at work. My head is spinning from all of the memories and emotion these songs elicit. Here we go!
Top 5 Beach Songs:
I had to take all Reggae out of the equation because it would completely dominate my Top 5. Props to Jimmy Cliff, Bob Marley, Shaggy and Sean Paul!!
5. Pulling Muscles From A Shell - Squeeze
Difford and Tillbrook were the best songwriters of the late 70's and early 80's.
Innuendo? Most definitely.
"But behind the chalet
My holiday's complete
And i feel like william tell
Maid marian on her tiptoed feet
Pulling mussels from a shell"
4. Margaritaville - Jimmy Buffett
You can't have a summer song list without Buffett.
"blew out my flip-flop
Stepped on a pop-top
Cut my heel had to cruise on back home
But theres booze in the blender
And soon it will render
That frozen concoction that helps me hang on"
3. Beautiful Girls - Van Halen
"She was seaside sittin, just a smokin and a drinkin on ringside,
On top of the world, oh, yeah.
She had her drink in her hand; she had her toes in the sand and whoa,
What a beautiful girl, ah, yeah."
The lyrics say it all!
2. Good Vibrations - The Beach Boys
Beach Boys and Summer, enough said.
Time to dose out.
"I, I love the colorful clothes she wears
And the way the sunlight plays upon her hair
I hear the sound of a gentle word
On the wind that lifts her perfume through the air"
Sounds like Brian Wilson discovered "X".
1. Under The Boardwalk - The Drifters
You can imagine yourself at the beach with all the sights and smells and whats better than "on a blanket with my baby is were I'll be".
Top 5 Songs While Having Sex:
Each song has to be under 3 minutes...just kidding.
There are so many songs about sex that this category was the toughest. Prerequisites? A driving beat, screeching and dudes with long hair.
5. Feel Like Making Love - Bad Company
Driving drum beat exacerbates Paul Rodgers plea for some lovin'.
4. Just A 'Lil Bit - 50 Cent
Nasty. Luther Campbell type nasty.
3. Give It Up To Me - Sean Paul
"So back it up deh..So pack it up yeah
Cause I wanna be the man that's really gonna have it up and mack it up and
Slap it up yeah...So what is up yeah...You know you got the sinting inna me pants a develop and a swell up and
Double up yeah...So gimmie the work yeah cause if you no gimme the work the blue balls a erupt yeah..
So rev it up deh gal gwaan try you luck deh cause when you stir it up you know me haffi measure up yeah."
Those reggae artists know how to f***.
2. Slow 'An Easy - Whitesnake
"So take me down slow an easy,
Make love to me slow an easy
I know that hard luck an trouble
Is coming my way,
So rock me til Im burned to the bone"
Ouch...but it hurts so good! (by the way John Cougar never came close to this list)
1. In the Evening - Led Zepplin
Robert Plant squealing always gets me ready to rock!! Personal favorite of the wife and I. Good times.....
Top 5 Songs At My Funeral:
Every one at one time or another imagines what it'll be like at their funeral. If you want something other than organs and hymns and uncontrollable sobbing, then get your playlist together now! Every wake should be an Irish wake!!!
5. Angel - Sarah McLaughlin
It would be awesome if she would come and sing it live, in church. She has the sweetest voice. Imagine being her kid and getting sung to every evening.
4. Ave Maria - Chris Cornell
The Catholic boy in me doesn't think its a funeral until "Ave Maria" is sung. Cornell has one of the best voices and this rendition is haunting. You can find it on one of those "Very Merry Christmas" compilations wherein rock/pop stars do XMas tunes.
3. Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding - Elton John
The organ in the beginning of the song sets the somber tone. Its an instrumental until the upbeat "Love Lies Bleeding" starts.
2. Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End - The Beatles
This song montage was used in the funeral scene of the crappy "Sergent Pepper's Lonley Hearts Club Band" movie with the Bee Gees and Peter Frampton. The songs are on "Abbey Road".
1. That Lonesome Road - James Taylor
JT sang this at John Belushi's funeral. The lament and regret in this song is palpable. If its good enough for Belushi, its good enough for me!
"Walk down that lonesome road all by yourself
Dont turn your head back over your shoulder
And only stop to rest yourself when the silver moon
Is shining high above the trees
If I had stopped to listen once or twice
If I had closed my mouth and opened my eyes
If I had cooled my head and warmed my heart
Id not be on this road tonight
Carry on
Never mind feeling sorry for yourself
It doesnt save you from your troubled mind
Walk down that lonesome road all by yourself
Dont turn your head back over your shoulder
And only stop to rest yourself when the silver moon
Is shining high above the trees"
More Top 5's another time.
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7 comments:
Those are some great freakin' choices, Cuz.
The funeral thing - I've often thought of putting together a compilation CD of the songs that really spoke to me during life and making enough copies so that everybody who attends my funeral could have one.
(I'd need at least, oh, six copies.)
Cuz,
Even though I haven't laid eyes on you in 40 years I'll show up. Basically thats who shows up to funerals, people you haven't seen in forever or people seeing if your really dead. They look in the casket and think "yep, he's dead". I'll poke you with a stick while sucking down some Jamesons.
These song posts are hard...I know I just posted one myself.
I like your lists, but would add "You Can't Always Get What You Want" to the funeral one!
"I'll poke you with a stick while sucking down some Jamesons" is funny!
I liked your list:-)
I'd rather you poured the Jameson down my throat, and if I perk up I'll buy you a case.
Tangentially related music comment - The Grateful Dead automatically sound infinite times better in the summer when the sun is shining. If I listen to them in the middle of the winter, when it's dark and crappy out, I just want to kill hippies.
ec
I will have to write a post about a Dead show I went to in '84.
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