List 43 Songs that are Important to Me

First off, you had to be there. I was young, dumb and full of it – (ok just full of energy and enthusiasm), it was 1981, and for the past year I had felt like we were stepping into the future,like anything was possible. Music videos were not quite yet on TV,mostly we had music variety shows like Musikladen.

And all of a sudden this guy shows up in leather and colorful cloths and with some warpaint on, and he’s like a Pirate! Lots of style and power in what he did. He started with a unique yell that was like a call to arms for indians! And the drums were sounding out a beat like at a pirate hanging. And then the guitars kick in sounding like a Spanish dance. During the chorus men were singing real deep in the background, it is really powerful!

So he performed the ultimate anthem against conformity and for fighting against being ridiculed. The perfect song for a kid in middle school. And it has stood the test of time, and I hope he still listens to it and believes in it because he has had to fight his own battles against people recently.

Speaking of the swedes, “Arrival” is what I would consider the best instrumental anthem of all time: It sounds ancient, like its from the highlands of Scotland, but has melodical/chord looping qualities that signify everything is all right after all… then throw in some Balalaika/Mandolin bits for eastern flavor, and it seems it could unite the world. Mike did an excellent job remaking it, (I normally dislike remakes) and his electric guitar style is distinctive enough to be his trademark, and it is a pleasure to hear it in this song.

Despite the schizophrenic subject matter of this songs’ lyrics, to me this song just exudes visions of Outer Space… because I got to hear this album when my sister got it for Christmas, 1980, the same time I got my largest collection of Lego Space sets ever. I built them all and set the lunar baseplates together and even made a giant backdrop out of cardboard, painted black with white spots for stars… and several songs off the album just fit the space travels so well, none so much as this one. The intro even sounds a bit like the theme to 2001: A Space Oddysey… oh well, my imagination was in full gear at the age of 10. Hey, maybe it was the heavy vocoder use… or doppler effect chord changes…

Sometimes when I’m mad
There’s a part of me that seems to be a little sad
Sometimes when I scream
There’s a voice in me that says, “You shouldn’t be so mean”
Oh no, oh no
Part of me is acting while the other stands beside
Yes, I am to myself what Jekyll must have been to Hyde

We’re like sun and rainy weather
Sometimes we’re a hit together
Me and I
Gloomy moods and inspiration
We’re a funny combination
Me and I
I don’t think I’m different or in any way unique *
Think about yourself for a minute
*And you’ll find the answer in it
Everyone’s a freak

Sometimes I have toyed
With ideas that I got from good old Dr Freud
Nothing new of course
It may seem to you I try to break through open doors
Oh no, oh no
I just wanna say a lot of that applies to me
‘Cause it’s an explanation to my split identity

We’re like sun and rainy weather
Sometimes we’re a hit together
Me and I
Gloomy moods and inspiration
We’re a funny combination
Me and I
I don’t think I’m different or in any way unique
Think about yourself for a minute
And you’ll find the answer in it
Everyone’s a freak

Another song that I found 15 years too late, though I’ve been a RP fan for many years before that. This became the quintessential summer swimming song for me, probably because of its Double Fun album cover. I was living with two hot girls at the time, so at times I really did have the best of both worlds. I guess I just like the general philosophy of this song, a taste of this and that, a nice balance, not missing out on anything. And with the reggae-like song structure, I can almost taste the frozen drinks. And it’s fun and playful!

We want the best of both worlds
We want it slow and hot
We like to taste revenge, yeah
But we can’t waste the shot

We want to see from both sides
We like it cool and fast
We want to get it over
We like to make it last

Keep it on
It’s getting closer
The best of both worlds
Double fun

We’ll make the most, girl
To get the best of both worlds
We must obey the law
What good’s a place to stand up
Without a place to fall?

Two and one
Fast and slow girl
The best of both worlds
Double fun
I’d like to now propose a toast
To the best of both worlds

I think about the war that is no fight at all
I think about the peace that is a fight for all
The best of both worlds

Keep it on
Fast and slow girl
The best of both worlds
Tight as a drum, loose as a gun holster
Yeah, it’s getting closer

Why do we waste our breath, child
On what we like the most
Seeing as we’ve wound up here
We ought to do them both

Back and forth
We get the most
Yeah, the best of both worlds
South and north
I’d like to now propose a toast
To the best of both worlds
Two and one
Fast and slow girl
The best of both worlds
Double fun
We’ll make the most girl, to get the best of both worlds

Even though this album was released in 1979, I only got this one song about 10 years ago, and couldn’t let it go, could not stop it going round and round in my head. Another one that starts quiet and builds and builds until it is an orchestral piece with rockin’ duel guitars, but on top of it the vocals are so beautiful and layered…and it ends as quietly as it started.

Don’t want no darkness in my days, I wanna tell you that
Don’t want no clouds to fill my skies, no more goodbyes
I know that this time you have come to me, and run in on me
Good love is running in on me
Don’t try to dim my eyes, don’t ever try to live my life

Welcome to the cruise
Welcome to the cruise
Cruise
(Welcome to the cruise)
Love come down and run in on me
(Welcome to the cruise)
Love come down and run in on me

No words from me will change your ways, I want to tell you that
Nothing that I see will change your days, nothing will change
‘Cause I know this time you have come to me, come to run with me
I know that you will run with me.
Don’t try to take my time, don’t question what is on my mind

Welcome to the cruise
Welcome to the cruise
Cruise
(Welcome to the cruise)
come on down and run along with me
(Welcome to the cruise)
come on down and run along with me

(flute and strings building up)
(two electric guitar solos)

Don’t want no darkness in my days, I’ve got to tell you that
Don’t want no clouds to fill my skies
Don’t want the earth, no crooked lies, don’t want the night
No more goodbyes

ELO has long impressed me with their blend of orchestral strings and good old classic rock (Beatles influenced, I hear), and Discovery was one of their first albums I listened to. The album cover was, from front to back, like an Aladdin movie, and I imagined the songs as the soundtrack to an exotic film. The first track opens with tinkling sounds and distant echoing vocals that evoke visions of a temple.. and then the rocking beat kicks in just as you turned the volume up! Turned out to be a recurring ELO trick. But the beat reminded me of Aladdin running away with his stolen prize.. and it just rocks, always has, always will. The strings remind me of epic movie soundtracks… and i love the call and answer part:
Can you understand? (Yes I understand)
Can you feel it’s right? (I know it is)
Will you be the same? (I’ll do it all again)
It seems like a love story, this movie, this video before videos were made. I cannot forget this song, ever.
“And the feelin’ in your heart will soon be shinin’ in your eyes.”

Let’s kick off this quasi-chronological listing with one of my oldest song memories.
I was 4 years old and lying on the floor listening to one of those portable (!) 8-track players with the big round speaker and the handle on top that you press to change tracks (iirc) and my dad had one of the Beach Boys greatest hits albums in it, and I was just enthralled by the vocal harmonies and the song arrangement. I think it also shows that I was a romantic at an early age:
Lovin’ you
It keeps me satisfied
And I can’t explain, oh no
The way I’m feeling inside
You look at me we kiss and then
I close my eyes and here it comes again

Especially the break in the middle, where its just voices and handclaps:

I hear the music all the time, yeah
I hear the music, hold me tight now baby
I hear the music all the time
I hear the music
I hear the music (baby)

That stuff just blew me away, and seems like a decent intro to music for a kid.

I finally got my list together, actually i went over by a few and am narrowing it down to the most important 43.