The Ten Greatest Songs Of All Time
I loathe lists, but for years, I’ve often played this exercise over in my head. When I’m driving. When I’m in line at the grocery store. When I’m falling asleep. I’ve always kept a version of this in my head, perhaps with the morbid clairvoyant curiosity of what I’d want played at my funeral, but never actually put pixel to page and tried to make a definitive statement on a single list. This is about as far as I was able to get this time around. This isn’t a mixtape, this is a list, in order, of my all-time favorite songs.
No Smiths, no Stone Roses, no Fall. No Radiohead, no Embrace, no Interpol. In fact, only one American band at all, even though many of the songs contain specific American resonance for me. The Paris Angels almost, almost made it. Sting should never, ever be on any Top Ten list, especially one that also has Joy Division on it, but here he is I guess. I never expected that, but that song rips my heart out every time I hear it. See also: Audio Memory.
1. New Order: ‘True Faith’ (1987)
“You took my time and you took my money.
Now I feel you’ve left me standing, in a world that’s so demanding.”
The greatest song ever written, by the greatest band of all time. I remember hearing this for the first time back in 1987, and it was a lightning bolt for that kid in Somerset who’d never really heard indie music before.
To paraphrase Alan Bennett: “The best moments in listening are when you come across something - a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things - which you had thought special and particular to you. Now here it is, set down by someone else, a person you have never met, someone even who is long dead. And it is as if a hand has come out and taken yours.”
This song has always been that for me. Life was literally never the same.
2. Oasis: ‘Some Might Say’ (1995)
“The sink is full of fishes
She's got dirty dishes on the brain
It’s overflowing gently, but it's all elementary my friend.”
If there’s one song that epitomizes my time in London, it’s this one. Whenever I hear it, I’m right back there in my bedsit apartment in the summer of 1995 every time.
3. Joy Division: ‘Atmosphere’ (1980)
“Don't walk away, in silence.”
A truly beautiful song sung by a beautiful soul. Rest easy, Ian.
4. Procol Harem: ‘Whiter Shade Of Pale’ (1967)
“We skipped the light fandango, turned cartwheels 'cross the floor
I was feeling kinda seasick, but the crowd called out for more”
Whenever I see old photos of the Shadbolt family from the sixties, I always think of this. Bittersweet. Oversaturated, grainy Super 8 film. Campden’s cousins and uncles long since passed. Calling time on the sixties’ party. And of course, it was in Withnail and I.
5. Red House Painters: ‘Mistress’ (1993)
“A kind of weight you couldn't lift, even if your cheap career depended on it
I need someone much more mysterious
To be my, to be my miss, to be my mistress”
Time stops whenever I hear this. The perfect articulation of the wrongs of career over relationship. This choice was almost Red House Painters’ ‘Three Legged Cat’, which is one of the most beautiful hundred seconds of music I ever heard.
6. Mojave 3: ‘My Life In Art’ (2000)
“You read some books and they broke your heart
But you don't know one thing about life, you're just a pretty boy”
Often eclipsed by Slowdive’s legacy, Mojave 3 were always one of my favorites, especially after unexpectedly seeing them open for Red House Painters at The Shepherd’s Bush Empire in 2001, where I spent most of the show in tears. This song always reminds me of traveling in America, the weird and wonderful folks I’ve met, and the adventures I’ve gotten into. It’s the perfect song to drive through the desert to, and oddly, the most recent song on my list.
7. Ride: ‘Seagull’ (1990)
“Definitions confine thoughts, they are a myth,
Words are clumsy, language doesn't fit.
But we know there's no limit to thought, we know there's no limits.”
I always agonize over which Ride song to include on a list like this. Too often it’s been the ones everyone thinks should be on here though. Vapor Trail, Taste, Leave Them All Behind. But when I think of the one song that completely transports me back to why I fell in love with them in the first place, it’s this one. In particular, it always reminds me of traveling back home on the bus late night through Europe after an art school field trip. Also, Mark’s hair has been a perpetual inspiration.
8. Edward Elgar: ‘Nimrod’ (1898)
I’d be foolish not to include one of the unofficial British national anthems, something that stirs the blood of any Englishman. I’ve lived in America for almost twenty years, but my hair still stands on end whenever I hear this.
9. Sting: ‘Angel Eyes’ (1995)
“You look around each corner, hoping that she's there
You try to play it cool perhaps, pretend that you don't care”
This is about the right girl, at the wrong time.
10. The Wonder Stuff: ‘That’s Entertainment’ (1991)
“A police car and a screaming siren
A pneumatic drill and ripped up concrete
A baby wailing and stray dog howling
The screech of brakes and lamp light blinking”
One of the most English of English songs, and that semi-rare thing of being a cover that’s better than the original. It always brings a smile to my face, and I remember exactly where I was when I listened to it on the plane as I emigrated to America.
