I was awaiting this particular list extremely impatiently I must confess. The writer of it has turned me on to so many great artists and songs that I was truly touched by his effort into putting together his personal 31 song list. He is a great Songwriter and guitarist formerly of the Ardent Fools, the Lovejoys, and the Hal Lindens but now holding his own in Greensboro based Taija Rae. He is
Lee Wallace :
1. Nick Drake - "River Man"
I realize that I am in no way qualified to make this appraisal, but I have to say that "River Man" is very likely the greatest song of the 20th Century, at least in the English language, maybe any language. It offers no philosophical advice, it has no concern with any religion, political viewpoint, sexual relationship, nothing of the sort, no finger waving points to be made here. "River Man" is simply an extraordinary window into a world that already exists - but has been forgotten and obscured by a world of conceit, materialism, deception and false need. "River Man" remembers a time before, before there was time. It is not a sad song; Nick's voice has no remorse, no vibrato or pretense. There is no anger directed at the deceivers or the materialists. It is simply calling you, evoking you towards this world that is already there, so that if you really listen maybe you can see it again. Other than his voice, all you hear is his delicately, deliberately finger plucked guitar and the whisp of a string quartet arranged by his buddy from music school. Some of the lyrics are slightly borrowed from a centuries old poem, but that is only appropriate. It is a miracle that this record exists, or that I ever got a chance to hear it. Joe Boyd called it "the most perfect record I was ever allowed to make." And it's in 5/4 time. Top that.
2.Gershwin/Heyward - "Summertime"
There are of course thousands of versions of this Porgy and Bess centerpiece, but my favorite is the one performed to this day by Doc Watson.
3. The Beatles - "Tomorrow Never Knows"
4.The Velvet Underground - "All Tomorrow's Parties"
5. Bob Dylan - "Visions Of Johanna"
6.Blossom Dearie - "Manhattan"
Again, this is a Rogers and Hart lounge standard has been recorded hundreds of times, but no version could possibly come close to this slow burn sweetness from Blossom's 1958 Verve album "Once Upon a Summertime". The beginnings of real love, slowly realized and remembered eons later in a dream. Drummer Ed Thigpen recreates the sound inside of a city cab with the rain drizzling on the roof, and the trio leaves enough space in the sound so you can look out of the windows through the rain droplets. If her delicate voice ("the only white woman I ever met that had soul" - Mile Davis) doesn't slay you, she will by the time she finishes her piano solo. Be for warned.
7.Nick Lowe - "What Lack Of Love Has Done"
8. Ray Charles - "You Don't Know Me"
From the classic "Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music" LP.
9. The Beatles - "Please Please Me"
10.Bob Dylan - "Blind Willie McTell"
11. Al Green - "Let's Stay Together"
12. Hank Locklin - "Please Help Me, I'm Falling"
The town I grew up in had an FM/AM radio station that everybody seemed to listen to and with one announcer that was more or less a local celebrity, sort of like the radio station on "Northern Exposure". They had an odd record collection and certain songs seemed to be fixated on at odd times, like Eddy Fisher's "Catch a Falling Star", the novelty record Cher did "I Love You Ringo" and, I swear to god, "Shapes of Things" by the Yardbirds. This Hank Locklin tune has stuck with me ever since and for me still is the epitome of the "high, lonesome sound".
13. John Coltrane - "Naima"
14. The Kinks - "Better Things"
15. Bob Dylan - "I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine"
16. Howlin’ Wolf - "Spoonful"
Wow! Maybe this record should be closer to the top of the list. A big mean riff that you need Incredible Hulk hands to play, done on a cheap guitar thru an overworked little tube amp. The Wolf's lyrics are key - "could be a spoonful o' diamonds, could be a spoonful o' gold, just a little spoon of your precious love, could satisfy my soul." He makes his point.
17. Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell - "Your Precious Love"
18. Kate Bush - "L'Amour Looks Something Like You"
19. Richard and Linda Thompson - "Night Comes In"
20. Johnny Hartman and the John Coltrane Quartet - "They Say It’s Wonderful"
21. Bob Dylan - "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You"
22. Elvis Costello and the Atactractions - "Accidents Will Happen"Costello has written so many songs that should be candidates on anyone's list. This is one that may seem a bit too obvious, but it has to win. This record, this song, is so perfectly constructed it is like a totally efficient engine that will never stop running. From the very first perfectly realized opening a cappella line, "Oh I just don’t know where to begin…"you know that the rest of the song is going to totally grab hold of you and tell you the whole pissed off story. How we all wish that we could have such presence of mind during these moments of emotional duress? Next to Elvis, we are all George Costanzas who realize hours later that we "should have said this" and "shut up before I said that". Elvis perfectly turns someone's miserable excuse around into a searing insult, and even allows a little bit of pity, in the wonderous four bar bridge "and it’s the damage that we do that we never know, it’s the words that we don’t say that scare me so" - pretty much summing up every rock and roll break up song ever written and moving on. By the time he finishes off with "your mind is made up but your mouth is undone" he has dusted off his hands and spit on the floor, on his way out the door. I haven’t even mentioned the letter-perfect band performance on this record.
23. The Small Faces - "Itchycoo Park"
24.The Small Faces - "Here Come The Nice"
These Small Faces records are little psychedelic sonic masterpieces. They sound good on vinyl, LP and 45 RPM, they sound good on CD, they sound good on AM radio. They sound good on sunny stoned out days, they sound good early in the morning before dawn at the end of a long drive. They were made with tremendous enthusiasm by young men who loved music and records and studios and radios and fun. They cleverly talk about drugs and deviant sex and all sorts of fun in a way that still entertains and offends no one. They have wonderful Hammond organ sounds and compressed piano chords played with two talented hands. Two of my favorite records ever, really.
25. The Beatles - "Old Brown Shoe"
The…….THE coolest Beatles B-side. God bless you, George!
26. The Who - "5:15"
27. The Clash - "Safe European Home"
I heard this record for the first time on WFDD, the public radio station out of Wake Forest Univ. When I was a youngster, the station was NPR during the day, and then the looney students took over at night. They played all of the "new" punk rock records from England and home grown stuff, it was amazing. This immediately became my favorite Clash song and still feels like the one for me.
28.Bob Dylan - "Queen Jane Approximately"
29. The Go Betweens - "The Streets Of Your Town"
30. Al Stewart - "Year Of The Cat" "She comes out of the sun in a silk dress running like a water color in the rain." A pop masterpiece recorded by Alan Parsons at Abbey Road, right down the hall from Pink Floyd who were simultaneously recording Dark Side Of The Moon with Parsons. Legend has it that Parsons suggested to the Floyd that they should add a saxophone to "Money" the day after he finished this record.
31. Ella Fitzgerald - "Ding Dong, The Witch Is Dead"
The great Harold Arlen wrote this song for The Wizard Of Oz. Ella recorded it as part of her ambitious "Songbook" series. I love how the horn section power chords its way through it, and how Ella sings it like it was the greatest day of her life. This is a great record to play when you’ve quit a stinking job, when you have left a stinking town for good, when another neocon has been chucked out of office, pick your own relief/victory celebrations.
Today I want to shed some needed light on a normally elusive friend of mine. Getting some people to decide on a definitive list is majorly difficult but rewarding as hell in the end I find more often than not. Anyway this woman's list was highly anticipated by me and I think you can see why. She is a local musician and film student - she is
Diana Deveaugh-Geiss :
All right, here’s my list – finally! – and despite much deliberation, I’m leaving it unchanged from whence I started this process (as your project first began – and I would bet I’m still the first, behind you and Mr. Hornby, of course, to put this together. But damn me for taking an eternity to actually get it to you). Alas, I left some last bits of commentary out for the moment too, and I did also have to whittle it all from 46 to 31, as you know. . .
A few instrumentals (can’t deny the personal influence of film scores), and a lot of locals (can’t fight that either, since, after all, I did spend some formative years here in Chapel Hill)! The list is in alphabetical order, primarily because at least the first third or so honestly worked out that way, and so I felt compelled to go with it!
I’d innocently like to think the list would stay the same tomorrow, or next week, next month, etc. (although, on top of the 15 I cut – including everything from Rex, Archer Prewitt, Small Faces, Gang of Four, Diana Ross, R.E.M., Buddy Holly, Whiskeytown, LUD, Tweaker, The Ventures, Talking Heads, to a few others –the Beatles selections were admittedly the toughest to narrow down and would be most likely to change, from hour to hour even).
1. The Beach Boys - You Still Believe in MePerhaps the most “perfect” song there is, in my opinion. Number one on my list every time I revisit this project. The song’s very opening, the plucking of the piano strings, kills me each and every time. And those confessional lyrics, not to mention those harmonies, the coda (do you all hear what I hear in Brian Wilson’s “cry”?), and the way it “comes back” for a second round (because I, presumably like others, simply can’t ever get enough). My all time favorite pop song, hands-down.
2-5. The Beatles - For No One/Golden Slumbers/In My Life/Rocky Raccoon Whew, these were tricky. All I can say – to perhaps borrow others’ words – is that I hope to leave this world hearing that which I came into it hearing. I would be content. And while “You Still Believe in Me” might be my favorite pop song, The Beatles will forever remain my favorite pop band, also hands-down.
6. Big Star - ThirteenTakes me back to another time. Is there anyone who embraces this song who doesn’t share this xperience?
7. David Bowie - Quicksand Man, oh man, simply another personal favorite. Beautiful!
8. The Cars - I’m in Touch With Your World
9. Elvis Costello - God’s Comic All right, perhaps not his “best” song of all time, but anyone who can at once poke fun at AND exalt Andrew Lloyd Webber (as I hear it – do I need to explain further?) is someone I yearn to somehow “know.”
Incidentally, “Spike” was the first Costello album I had ever heard (fairly late, in high school, and the fact that Paul McCartney cowrote a couple of the album’s songs most definitely factored into my curiosity then). Needless to say, I immediately began to backtrack and collect Costello’s earlier records. So, thank goodness for this one! Where might I be otherwise?
10. Iris DeMent - Our TownI moved around a lot growing up. This song, in all of its simplicity, expresses not what I have known, necessarily, but what I crave to know, eventually. Some day. Still. (And I once loved “Northern Exposure” too!)
11. Brian Eno - Baby’s On FireGenius!
12. Evil Wiener - The Man in the MoonSettling on this particular song was tough. Every time I see Evil Wiener live, I proclaim that “Marching Band” should go down in the books as one the greatest pop songs EVER written. But, then there’s “The Man in the Moon.” And it just gets me like none other. One of the first local bands I had ever heard after moving here, and (appropriately, I think) my first local selection to make this list.
13. Family Dollar Pharoahs - The Arabian Motel
14. The Fall - Surmount All Obstacles
15. Flat Duo Jets - California Luau C’mon, if you were “there,” you know why this one makes the cut above the rest. (Although, Dexter and Crow also do the meanest cover of “You Belong To Me” I’ve ever heard.) With due respect to Zen Frisbee, Metal Flake Mother, Polvo, Spatula, and so many others, I think I still miss this band more than any other from the “now defunct” local roster.
16. Friends of Dean Martinez - Ask the DustListening to this instrumental number incited feelings that inspired me to
write an entire feature length screenplay over the past five months or so. Honestly. This is a large part of where that started. Enough said.
17. George Harrison - For You Blue
18. Bap Kennedy - Unforgiven“It’s all there in black and white/It’s just the story of my life/Well, you get it or you don’t/You’re the only one I’ve ever told.”
19. Ben E. King - Stand By Me (Just two side notes here: it’s from my very first “favorite” movie. And John
Lennon recorded the sole cover version of this song that also gives me chills every time I hear it.)
20. John Lennon - Oh My LoveOne of my all-time favorite love songs.
21. Magnetic Fields - 100,000 Fireflies
22. Aimee Mann - Wise UpIt would be too gargantuan an oversight for me to leave Aimee Mann off this
list, but I had a hard time settling on one song. So, for now, a pick off of the soundtrack of one of my favorite movies of recent years wins out. I can’t wait for decades more to come from her, though.
23. Roy Orbison - You Got It (Posth.)“I live my life to be with you. No one can do the things you do.” If I might cheat for a moment: I’m gonna call this one a tie (with a cover version of the same song, that is, courtesy of my dad’s band, Hearing Voices). And if I can’t “cheat” when it comes to my parents, then I don’t know what else further to say.
24. Sonic Youth - Tunic Oh, how I wish I didn’t relate to this particular song. Sonic Youth (with Yo La Tengo, others) was the closest I knew to a “local” act before moving here to Chapel Hill. Thurston Moore was one of my first “loves.” And I wanted to be
Kim Gordon. That was a long, long time ago. I still love Sonic Youth.
25. Shark Quest - Hugging is Affecting China Where should I start? I had the privilege of hearing a recording of this song in its earliest stages with Laird at his apartment one drunken night. And not only did it lift me out of insobriety almost immediately, but, for the moment, it was the most brilliant musical “excursion” I had ever had! If that makes any (abbreviated) sense. I had told Laird so then. And now, after hearing both Shark Quest albums over and over again, this song still transports me in a
way that I only hope for all music to do so. I could write much more (including my thoughts on Groves Willer as the most expressive and musical drummer anywhere), but I will sum it up for now by saying, all personal bias aside, this band surpasses the status of my favorite local band and into the realm of best bands of all time. Truly.
26. Patti Smith - Land: horses/land of a thousand dances/la mer (de)
27. The Stooges - T.V. Eye I read a review once that claimed “The Stooges were the Velvet Underground taken to the logical extreme.” And, oddly, this makes complete sense to me. (Not to mention that John Cale had been paired with them to produce their first album, so the connection isn’t completely out of the hat.) Not really punk, not really art rock, The Stooges are one of the first bands I turn to when I’m in the mood for rock, complete with bold, sincere, and memorable riffs, and Iggy Pop. Iggy Pop! Love this song, love them all, really.
28. T. Rex - Mambo Sun “Beneath the bebop moon, I want to croon with you. Beneath the Mambo Sun, I got to be the one with you.”
29. Velvet Underground - What Goes On
30. The Who - The Seeker Okay, well The Who is actually my favorite rock band of all time.
31. Zen Frisbee - Lunch at Laird’s
