Well, since nothing much else is happening in my world that I really want to write about now--I could go on and on about my job situation, but I've done that already, and there are no new developments, it still stinks like rotten eggs--I figured the first of the new month would be a fine time to round out my personal top 10.
The next group of songs are great tunes, really great tunes, and while I have to put them in six to 10 order, really, No. 6 is no better than No. 10, No. 7 is no better than No 8, etc.
They are simply great songs that I simply love.
So here goes:
6) Petula Clark - I Know a Place: If there was ever a song, and a singer, that epitomized a different time and place in my life, it is this song and this singer. The 1960s were a time that everything and anything went, where the rules were being written about music, and thus, there were no rules at all. The British Invasion produced so much good music, and allowed for so many different types of artists to emerge. Although I loved Clark's music canon from 1965 to 1969, this song simply stands out because of its exuberance.
7) Lulu - To Sir With Love: Like the previous Clark song, this tune really captures a time and a place as well or better than any other song I have ever heard. I am not much for ballads, but I just love this song. Couple that with the movie that this song was featured in, and you have something that is very special to me, as not only is this one of my favorite songs of all time, but the movie is one of my favorite films of all time (more on that another time). And Lulu's vocal performance is certainly one of the best of the time period. She was not a one-hit wonder, but ask anyone what song they remember from her, and this one is it.
8) Cheap Trick - Surrender: Well, we had to move into the 1970s eventually, and although the 1970s could not compare with the 1960s musicwise, this song really hit me on the side of the head when it came out about 40 years ago. Although never a really big hit single, it has become a mainstay on classic rock stations over the years, heavily influenced by the power of 1960s music and created by the newer wave of artists who were born in the 1950s and grew up in the 1960s. "Mommy's all right, daddy's all right, they just seemed a little weird," is just one of the non-sequitor lyrics in this song, and every time I hear it, I think back to my college days.
9) Elvis Costello and the Attractions - Pump It Up: Although I have written off Elvis C. nowadays because of his stance against Israel, when Elvis C. was a young artist, he had lots of anger inside of him for a variety of reasons, and his punk/new wave/pop songs showcased all of that anger in an attractive sort of way. I think that this song was the epitome of that type of music, and remember, this was the tune that he played on "Saturday Night Live" when he basically thumbed his nose at the show and played a different song than was scheduled, which riled lots of people, but thrilled others, like myself. Power punk at its best, it is sad that as Elvis C. progressed through his career, his music became less and less listenable to me.
10) Elvis Presley - Jailhouse Rock: Look, I was a little baby in the 1950s when Elvis was at the height of his popularity, so his entire 1950s and early 1960s musical canon I heard, well, second hand on oldies stations like WCBS-FM in New York. But can you question the power of this song, even 60 years later? One cannot imagine the force that Elvis was on the music scene way back when, and I could actually choose any one of this songs from that era as a favorite. This is the one I chose, simply because I like it the most of all of them. When I hear it, I think to myself, "That is Elvis!" And it is, and it still sounds great.
And yes, there are plenty of songs that I left off this list but are right up there in my mind as among my favorite songs, such as the Beach Boys' "God Only Knows," the Grass Roots' "Midnight Confessions," the Turtles' "Happy Together," a whole slew of Motown songs including "Love Child" and "Reflections" by Diana Ross and the Supremes ... and there are plenty of others that just missed my personal top 10.
What are your favorites? Please let me know.
And if there are favorite singles and songs, there must be favorite albums, too.
And yes, those are probably coming too, later this month.
I mean, it is December, the month of "Best Ofs," so why not? Everybody else has them out, why not me?
My "best of" list would probably be more 70's oriented. Billy Joel, Queen, Styx, Fleetwood Mac, Rod Stewart...and yes, I'd include some disco, e.g., the Bee Gees.
ReplyDeleteThat is understandable. Everyone has their favorites. By the time that most of the artists you mentioned became successful, I had moved on to digging out what I could find of the old stuff. And the funniest thing about the artists you mentioned is that each and every one of them honed their musical roots in the 1960s. I don't think they ever could have gotten as big as they each became without that strong 1960s musical backbone.
ReplyDeleteInteresting how you're only 3 years older than I am, and your musical taste are rooted in the 60's, not the decades when we were in high school and college. I mean, Davy Jones was my first "crush", but the music that defines me is the music I chose for myself as I moved into adolescence and adulthood. Taking a Greyhound bus home from college my freshman year and hearing "New York State of Mind" in my head evokes a very different type of memory than "Last Train To Clarksville".
ReplyDeleteI like some music from the 1970s, but really, high school was such a blur for me, the unhappiest time of my life. Moving from Queens, I really never fit in with the crowd I was with, and the music of that era did little for me. When I got to college, things picked up a bit, and thus, the two songs on the list from that era. Otherwise, living where I did in the 1960s, the music was really, really important, much more so than it was in the suburbs. I think that that really influenced my choices. My interest in the music of my high school years really is nil, and I think it reflects the fact that my high school experience was an extremely poor one.
ReplyDeleteI guess that music is part of our experience, part of who we are.
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