Saturday, October 17, 2009

Ten Great Songs From One Great Year

Shayneblog All-Time Top 100

#21
-#30

Over the years, many of my friends and I have talked about the best songs ever written, or what our favorites were. I think, over the course of this past year, I have shared many of my favorites, as well as yours on this blog.

Now that this is the one-year anniversary of my “Ten Great Songs From One Great Year” list, I decided to open my memories a bit more and allow you to see exactly what the soundtrack of my life sounds like.

Over these ten weeks, I will countdown my top 100 favorite songs – some hits, some misses – ten each week, until we reach number one. I’m sure some songs will surprise you that they ranked so low, high or even made the list at all didn’t). I can promise you that I paid no attention whatsoever to the songs charting success. These are simply my all-time favorite songs.

This is the eighth week.

#100-#91

#90-#81

#80-#71

#70-#61

#60-#51

#50-#41

#40-#31


#30 I Go Crazy – Paul Davis

Most of my friends loved the song “Sometimes When We Touch” by Dan Hill, which was the top ballad at the time. Instead, I loved the tragic beauty of this Paul Davis classic, which really has passed the test of time.

#29 Somebody's Baby – Jackson Browne

I just arrived in Manhattan for college and the very first social event (there were many, many more) was going to see “Fast Times at Ridgemont High.” I wasn’t so into Rhonda, but her 5-foot friend was adorable.

#28 Take Me Home, Country Roads – John Denver

This came out when we took our first driving trip from Dallas to New York. The interstate wasn’t completed yet, so we drove through these winding country roads in Virginia and West Virginia. From there, a romance with the open road was born.

#27 Make It With You – Bread

David Gates’ angelic voice simply mesmerized me. This song takes me back to a summer trip back in 1970 (Florida). I can still feel the comfort of hearing my parent’s voices from the back seat. For a while, the world worked the way it was supposed to.

#26 Side Show - Blue Magic

I don’t know what made me sadder – the lyrics or the mournful sound of Ted Mills voice. But the story was so tragic it used to make me cry. Maybe that’s why I haven’t been to circus in 40 years.

#25 Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves – Cher

I was never a Cher fan, but I did like the Sonny and Cher show. Regardless, Cher had a way with rhapsodizing about the downtrodden and forgotten. The song sounds cheeky today (and probably did back then). But it was infectious and a huge hit.

#24 Alone Again (Naturally) – Gilbert O'Sullivan

No one song reflected my inherent sadness as a child quite as well as this one did. “I cried and cried all day” was what I did a lot of when I was young. Plus, the fear of losing my parents was so strong that I sometimes couldn’t breathe. How did that happen?

#23 Keep The Customer Satisfied - Simon and Garfunkel

I loved Simon and Garfunkel growing up (see #43 – “The Only Living Boy in New York”). But I’m told I used to sing this song out loud constantly in my house. I can understand why.

#22 Traces - The Classics IV

Some kids are lulled to sleep with nursery rhymes and children’s songs. I fell asleep to the radio and rock and roll. As I’ve mentioned countless times, I often cried myself to sleep by sad music. This Classics IV tune still affects me the same way whenever I hear it still.

#21 One On One – Daryl Hall & John Oates

No one was bigger than Hall & Oates in 1983. I can still see myself riding the “A” train to Midtown to go on a date, with this song ringing in my ears. It’s a song that had it come out 10 years earlier; it would have had the same effect on me that “Traces” did. But being 20, at the time, it simply set the romantic mood for the time.

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