list 43 songs that never fail to brighten my day

The Black Crowes – Hard to handle

Du-du du-du-DUMMM – du-du du-du-DUMMM

And, leaving you with that baseline intro in your heads, I shall leave my list and declare it complete.

Backstreet Boys – Everybody

OK, ok! So there is a boyband song on my list, sue me!

Nik Kershaw – The Riddle

Another childhood favourite. I was ten when it came out! My sister translated the lyrics as best as she could and told me that there really was an Island called Aran (I’ve stood on the main island of the Aran isles 5 years ago).
I still love this song very much today and all the adaptations of it I’ve heard are all simply atrocious and a mere shadow of the original. A standard song on my list for YouTube-80’s-binges.

Edit: my sister writes that Nik Kershaw wrote somewhere on the net that these lyrics where dummy lyrics for an existing song he only wrote to record a demo and never intended to be released. The producers told him to record it anyway and put it out, call it “The Riddle” and voila, a world hit was made.

Cypress Hill – Insane in the Brain

Iggy Pop and Kate Pierson – Candy

Las Ketchup – Asereje

Just stupid and happy.

I’ve know this was going to be number 43 from the start – not ‘cos it’s a chirpy, cheery song at all, but because it’s my favourite :)

So the night is coming down
Drowning us in blue
And it all points towards the things we
Know we shouldn’t do

Be my downfall, be my great regret
Be the one [guy] that I’ll never forget
Be my undoing, be my slow road to ruin, tonight

(and about a hundred other artists along the way, too!)

It’s a new dawn
It’s a new day
It’s a new life
For me
And I’m feeling good

Plus just the sexiest beat ever!

Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams
Purge your thoughts of the life you knew before
Close your eyes, let your spirit start to soar
And you’ll live as you’ve never lived before

This has been going through my head on a regular basis for weeks – and I really don’t mind! I confess I really enjoyed The Phantom of the Opera when it showed at the cinema, then not so much when I saw it on TV at Christmas. But… hmm. I’ve seen bits of actually stage productions on screen of late, and I have to say that none captured my imagination the way the film did – it seemed so much less… well, staged!

So anyway. I wouldn’t have thought MotN would end up being my favourite song, especially as it’s the one that garnered the most criticism in the film version (that ‘soar’ above was a rather painful note!), but it’s stuck, and I likes it!

Let the dream begin
Let your darker side give in

The Decemberists – The Sporting Life

And father had had such hopes
For a son who would take the ropes
And fulfill all his old athletic aspirations
But apparently now there’s some complications
But while I am lying here
Trying to fight the tears
I’ll prove to the crowd that I come out stronger
Though I think I might lie here a little longer