Favorite Songs, Pt. XIV (The Final Countdown)

As I explained on Wednesday, there are special rules for this week’s giveaway. Everyone who comments on this post before Saturday, August 15th at 7pm CST will be eligible to win a $50 gift card from Amazon.com. This week’s topic: What is your favorite song? Obvious, right? Then that will be a wrap on this little project. I really hope that everyone has enjoyed this countdown, I know I had fun putting it together. Be sure to let me know if you have enjoyed anything or became a fan of a band you were not familiar with before. I think Friday will still be my day to post and I’m not going to be sticking to any one particular thing, but I have already written about some albums that have come out in the last few months that I have been enjoying: Veckatimest by Grizzly Bear, Bitte Orca by Dirty Projectors, and Wilco (the album) by Wilco. Hope you all check back for those.

Sorry, there’s not much variety in the list this week. I guess a lot of people know that The Beatles and Radiohead are two of my favorite bands, so there are “No Surprises” there (wink). Here is the cream of the crop from them and some other great songs, too.

010 – “How to Disappear Completely” by Radiohead. This is another song that I didn’t really notice the greatness of until a couple of years (and a couple of hundred listens) after I first heard it. I think it is the centerpiece of Kid A, and I believe that is what the band intended it to be. Opinions about that from anyone who likes/knows this album? I really love everything about Kid A, from the artwork and packaging to the way it was promoted to the fact that it debuted at #1(!) on Billboard. This song has such an ambiance to it, some of it almost just seems like white noise. It’s more than that, though. Some of the lyrics like, “That day, that’s not me” and “I’m not here, this isn’t happening” really fit the tone of the whole album. I like the bass a lot in this song. Also, who knew there could be so much emotion in a two note guitar riff? More about this album later.

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009 – “Two-Headed Boy Pt. Two” by Neutral Milk Hotel. I had heard about Neutral Milk Hotel a few years before I had ever heard a note by them. I really don’t remember why I decided to hear this album, but out of the blue one day I downloaded it. There was one song (not this one) that made an immediate impression, but the rest of In the Aeroplane over the Sea didn’t really live up to the hype. I listened to the burned CD of the downloaded files several times to hear that one song that sounded so good. And then – like many other great albums – something clicked. The other songs slowly revealed their greatness and I could almost see the full picture being painted. I know it sounds strange, but this is the one album I think of as almost being a living entity. I feels like it breathes. It feels like it speaks to me. I am always captivated when I hear it. What makes it so good? I can’t answer that question, even to myself. I do know that sometimes when I hear this song I wonder how this song makes me forget that, excluding the intro, this is just one man and an acoustic guitar. Same recipe as “Oh Comely” (see last week) but such a different result. Fun fact: I ordered a copy of this CD when I started digging the album a lot and it came in the mail on the same day Jessie told me she was pregnant with Jett.

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008 – “Sexy Sadie” by The Beatles. I already said that I love The While Album. My friend (“The Tyler Forret”) got a copy of it long ago and we listened to it a lot. If it wasn’t for him getting it, I may never have bothered listening to The Beatles beyond the greatest hits CDs I had. We listened to it a lot when the two of us and another friend Damon (“Gaymon”) drove to Michigan to see my cousin (“Cousin Sarah”). I guess this is my favorite song off of it. I have to address something that has been bothering me at this time. At the very beginning I said this list is flawed. It is flawed because each artist is weighed differently than others. I like The Beatles, Radiohead and various bands better than others, like The Silver Jews. I consider dozens of songs by The Beatles better than the best song by The Silver Jews. I had to look at each band independently and decide which songs I absolutely HAD to have on the list. If I did it the other way, there would be thirty songs by The Beatles and Radiohead each. That isn’t very much fun. I have dubbed this “The Karma Police Problem”. “Karma Police” is a song by Radiohead off of the titan of an album, OK Computer. It is not my favorite Radiohead song. Not even close. It is, however, a better song than maybe half of the songs I have already posted and written about. I also feel it is my responsibility for everyone to hear this song since part of the reason I did this was to expose new music to our friends. If you chose, you are able to hear it tacked on to my #8 entry, “Sexy Sadie”. Why “Sexy Sadie”? The chord structure of “Karma Police” is very reminiscent of “Sexy Sadie”. Hope you like both songs. Here is an inside (not really a) joke that maybe four people will get: “Don’t worry, Thom got out!” Anyways, this is a pretty accessible Radiohead song if you are looking for a place to start. This is what you get when you mess with us. 1=1 We hope that you choke. (Another inside not really a joke.)

“Sexy Sadie”

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“Karma Police”

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007 – “Hey Jude” by The Beatles. What can I say about this song? Via Wikipedia: The single has sold approximately eight million copies and is frequently included on professional lists of the all-time best songs. I don’t know about professional, Wikipedia, but if you insist… A lot of people don’t realize that this song was released as a single only and not on an album. It does appear on several compilations. I chose to feature The Beatles 1967-1970, which is the place to start if you want to get into The Beatles. Just looking at that picture brings me back. I listened to those two CDs a lot. I remember going on a family vacation to Minnesota and listening to them pretty much the whole way there, back ,and coming and going wherever. (While we are mentioning that collection, can anyone tell me why “Old Brown Shoe” is on there. Seriously, “Old Brown Shoe” ) Lame alert: as a teenager this was the song that I went to to make me feel better. (As I type this July 11th, I wonder what the odds are I will leave that last sentence in before publishing. If you are reading this, you’ll know the answer.) I love it now for a different reason. It the name of my firstborn. While Jude is often strange and difficult, he is definitely my little boy. Fun fact: When I was in Hawaii on a family vacation with my parents and little brother, Juttin, we saw the piano that Paul McCartney played when recording this song at the Hard Rock Cafe.

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006 – “God Only Knows” by The Beach Boys. I think the first time that I heard this song was watching “The Wonder Years”. I never saw that show during its original run, but I watched a lot of it when it first came to Nick at Nite. I don’t remember the specifics of the episode but they go on a field trip or something and Winnie asks Kevin to sit with her on the bus? It has been a long time since I have seen that episode, when is it coming out on DVD already? This song is also in one of my favorite movies, Boogie Nights. Even without those two appearances, the song stands on its own (Even with the nasally bah-bah-bah’s in the middle) The intro with the harpsichord and horns are a good example of how the rest of Pet Sounds sounds. Its very symphonic. I also really like the outro with the overlapping vocal melodies and the drums. The Beach Boys aren’t really one of my favorite bands, but Pet Sounds is one of the greatest albums ever. When I first bought it, I knew Pat-Tech (The Tyler Forret’s dad) was a big fan. He approved of my purchase and told me something to the effect of, “Don’t give up on it.” I’m glad I didn’t. It also contains the classic tracks “Wouldn’t it be Nice” and “Sloop John B”.

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005 – “Everything in its Right Place” by Radiohead. There was a sentence written in a review that perfectly describes this song. I couldn’t remember where I read it, but after a minute with Google, this is it: “How is it that Kid A’s opening track, laden with an electronic vocal stuttering “bleh, bluh-bleh bleh bluh” is the most fascinating statement made in rock & roll this year?” (From the end of year best list on Amazon.com – written by Beth Massa) That fits this song perfectly. If you were a fan of the band’s previous three albums you knew right away that this one was different. Just hearing the first few seconds makes me want to turn up the stereo, turn the lights off and just listen to the perfection that is Kid A. The album does take a few listens to get into (did I mention I fell asleep the first time I heard it?), but it is worth the time investment. I think it says a lot for the artists on my list that of the top 10 all of the albums are some of my favorites, too. Is this the last Radiohead song? You can scroll to the bottom to peek if you can’t wait.

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004 – “Beetlebum” by Blur. I think this is going to be the biggest surprise for some people that this is in my top 10, let alone number 4 of all time. I really like the bass part in this song, it might be my all time favorite. I really don’t have a story or anything why I like this song so much. I remember seeing the video on MTV2, buying the CD and listening to this song a lot the summer before my senior year of high school. This song and the previous entry “Everything in its Right Place” have got to be two of the best first songs on an album, ever. Well, obviously they are my two favorite. This is my favorite Blur song. After I placed it so high, I started to do a little research to see if there was anything interesting I could add and I found that on several message boards and polls that a lot of Blur fans consider this to be their favorite song by them. Rightly so. Now listen to it!

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003 – “A Day in the Life” by The Beatles. After all these years of being a Beatles fan I have finally decided that Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is a little overrated – as far as Beatles albums go. It’s very good, don’t get me wrong, but when compared to Abbey Road, The Beatles, Rubber Soul, Revolver and maybe even Magical Mystery Tour it just seems to come up a little short. There are some great tunes on it: “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”, “Getting Better”, “Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite”, “When I’m Sixty-Four”, the underrated “She’s Leaving Home” which are all classics in their own right. And then there’s “A Day in the Life”. A few strummed chords on acoustic guitar, some piano and some of the more poignant lyrics and singing form John Lennon make this song great from the second it starts. I haven’t really read a lot about this song, but I can imagine that there are people who don’t like the middle section by Paul McCartney. I love it. I think it brings a little levity to the song and makes the John Lennon parts more enjoyable. I don’t know why the words “Blackburn, Lancashire” sound so good coming out of his mouth. When I was a sophomore in high school, I had to give an informative speech in speech class. There was a time limit that we had to reach (I don’t remember how long). I gave mine about the life of John Lennon and asked if I could play a song. The teacher said yes but said I couldn’t count that into my time, so I played this song while I sat uncomfortably in front of the room in silence for five minutes when it played. Another memory I have of it is when I went to the science center to watch a laser light show of either Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin. I know there were four or five people in the car, myself and The Tyler Forret included. This song was playing and were were debating whether or not the words were “house of lords” or “house of Paul” (you know, the whole “Paul is dead” thing). I know we both thought it was “lords” but I thought there was at least a small possibility it could be “Paul”, an argument The Tyler vehemently disagreed with. Great stories, huh? Moving on… (Note: I am streaming the version from The Beatles 1967-1970 rather than the one on Sgt. Pepper’s. They are basically the same but the one here cleans up some applause noise mixed into the intro and removes the gibberish at the end.)

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002 – “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea” by Neutral Milk Hotel. This is the song I was talking about earlier that stood out immediately when I first heard In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. For some reason this album just resonates with people. Most of the people I know who have it or have heard it love it and have a personal relationship with it. It is one of the few things that I can hear at anytime in any mood and always enjoy. Although the music is stellar and incomparable to anything else, including Neutral Milk Hotel’s one other album, it and its creator Jeff Mangum’s legacy has grown as well. Neutral Milk Hotel was part of a collective of musicians on the Elephant 6 record label and quite a few of those bands still tour in one capacity or another. It’s quite rare, but on occasion Jeff Mangum will pop up to play a song at a show. When he does, it makes news on all of the indie music blogs. For one song. This is how well regarded this man is to some people. I have seen baby onesies that have the words, “Where is Jeff Mangum” on them. He has become somewhat of a recluse since releasing this album. He even turned down an opportunity to open for R.E.M. in 1998. Not much has been heard from him since then, he has become the Willy Wonka of indie rock. His status is still growing, though. This record still sells enough for him to support himself without other work. In 2008, it was something like the eighth best selling vinyl of the year. It is still finding its audience. Okay, after that history lesson let me tell you about this song in particular. It’s probably the prettiest song Neutral Milk Hotel ever released. I love the guitar and the simplicity of it. It is only four chords. This may be the only band I know of that uses a singing saw. If you have been scared of listening to the songs up to this point, this is the one you need to hear. Play this song at my funeral, Jess.

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And finally, the moment we have building up to, starting 13 weeks ago:

001 – “Cause You Had a Bad Day”. This song is so great. I’ll never forget when Keith Ledger died and someone put together an emotional montage to this song. Unfortunately, some no-funs complained about the audio being “unlicensed”, so you will just have to sing to yourself while you watch the video.

“Cause you had a bad day. You’re feeling so down. You’re takin’ your frown and you turn it around. You’re feelin’ so sad, the camera don’t lie. You take your best friend and you go for a ride. You had a bad day, you had a bad day!”

Here is another touching version done by Alvin and the Chipmunks.

Okay, here’s my #1 for real:

001 – “No Surprises” by Radiohead. Kinda funny how my favorite song of all time comes from my favorite album of all time, huh? From sometime in the year 2000 up to today if you would have asked me on any given day what my favorite song is, “No Surprises” by Radiohead would have been my reply. There are no frills to it. No pomp and circumstance, just a pretty melody. Some of my favorite lyrics ever are in this song. “A heart that’s full up like a landfill” and “bruises that won’t heal’”. It doesn’t get better than that. That’s all you’re going to get about this song, I’m keeping the rest for myself. I will tell you that I cannot keep from smiling just a little bit every single time I hear “Such a pretty house and such a pretty garden” towards the end.

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The video is great, too. Here it is.

The end.