What are your ten choices for the normblog songs poll of the greatest songs of rock and pop music? (If you haven't sent in yours yet, time's a wastin'; poll closes next Sunday, January 16.) These are mine, ordered chronologically by date of release. I chose these based on how strong the urge would be to crank them up ("to eleven") when driving down the street with the top down. Er, if I had a convertible. And it weren't below freezing half the year. So here goes:
"You Really Got Me," The Kinks. Punk before there was a word for it, the yang to the yin of Ray Davies when he's in a sentimental mood.
"In My Life," The Beatles. My favorite experience of this is as it's used in the opening of the movie "Five Corners".
"Tears of a Clown," Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. If I were to rank these songs in order of greatness, rather than year of release, this song would be at the top. I have loved this song since first hearing it on a transistor radio over our AFRTS station in Korea.
"Never Can Say Goodbye," The Jackson 5. It's almost, but not quite, my favorite Jackson 5 song (that honor going to "Maybe Tomorrow", which no one but me remembers, much less still plays on their turntable), but it's worn well over the years and spawned worthy-in-their-own-right covers by Isaac Hayes and Gloria Gaynor (and don't forget how it inspires the signoff in Elvis Costello's "Love for Tender", no no no).
"All I Want," Joni Mitchell. Quintessential Joni, but I acknowledge that the effect of this song if played on a first date is akin to spraying a can of "Guy B Gone" in the room. Or so I hear.
"Pretzel Logic," Steely Dan. Too many to choose among in the Dan catalog, but I'll settle on this as the best exemplar of their genre-bending tunes and mind-bending lyrics.
"Accidents Will Happen," Elvis Costello and the Attractions. My intro to the wonders of E.C.
"Brass In Pocket," The Pretenders. Once I heard this song, I knew it was time to rip up my subscription to Ms. magazine.
"She Blinded Me With Science," Thomas Dolby. One of the best dance songs of the '80s, which is sorta strange, because judging from what I saw around me when I saw Mr. Morgan Dolby Robertson in concert, a lot of his fans can't.
"Let's Go Crazy," Prince and the Revolution. "Let's look for the purple banana 'til they put us in the truck."
Let's go!
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