Margie’s Top 40 – For Today

Elaine Spitz wanted me to talk about some of my most favorite songs. Now unlike that Gini person, Elaine did not restrict me to a certain number.

So…don’t say I didn’t warn ya 🙂 I’m gonna do this stream of consciousness though, because otherwise it would get out of control. This list is by no means comprehensive!

Songs I love that are joyous

1. I’ve Just Seen A Face – The Beatles I’m normally not a Paul fan, but I find it difficult to listen to this song and not move my feet!

2. Anything You Want – Roy Orbison “I’m glad to give my love to you! I know you feel the way I dooooooo!” I mean, c’mon. How can you NOT like that??

3. Hey Ya – Outkast I challenge you to sit perfectly still and frown while this song is playing. Don’t tell me if you succeed though!

4. Elevation – U2 It’s true that the Edge’s guitar may, as one critic said, sound like a wasp of angry  hornets in this song, but I love it anyway.

5. Dancing Nancies – Dave Matthews Band This was a favorite particularly during my college years. “Sing and dance, la la heyy la la heyyy la la.” Hmm, there are a lot of “hey” songs on my list, I think. Weird.

6. Roam – B52s Nothing tops this song when you really are roaming (like, on vacation, not phone-wise).

7. Whip it – Devo I can’t help it. I’m an Akron girl.

Songs I love that get me fired up!

8.  Chance of a lifetime – Eminem Yep. I love Eminem. I see your visions of me crashing as we speak 🙂

9. I will survive – Gloria Naylor I  know, I know. I do not disco dance when this is on. Does that help?

10. Push it – Garbage The mashing up of Pretenders type sounds and Beach Boys type sounds is pretty awesome in this song.

11. House of the Rising Sun – The Animals I have loved this song for as long as I can remember, even though it’s pretty depressing. So expressive!

12. Respect – Her majesty Aretha Franklin My only problem with this song is that I always jog between singing with Aretha and singing with her back-up singers. I ain’t gonna do ya wrong!

Songs I love that may be a bit on the angry side

13. Walk in my shoes – Depeche Mode I’m a huge Depeche Mode song. Their concerts was one of the best ever. If you ever feel like people don’t get you, this song is rather ideal 🙂

14. Twister – Cranberries The ending of this song is one of my most favorite moments in the musical world.Ah, 90s angst. Where art thou?

15. Piece of my heart – Janis Joplin Who can beat Janis Joplin on like, anything? Really? You know ya got it, chile if it makes you feel good!

15. Lithium – Nirvana I had to have Nirvana on here somewhere. After all, Nirvana was around when I was stinking of teen spirit. But I have always liked Lithium better than Teen Spirit, so, here it is!

16. Zero Chance – Soundgarden Yeah, ok. This would not win “happiest song ever” but it’s still pretty awesome 🙂

Songs I love that are just plain sweet

17. In my life – The Beatles I don’t really need to explain this one, right?

18. Unchained Melody – The Righteous Brothers Yes it’s hokey, and yes, I do now always think about Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze making out in Ghost. But it’s still a great song!

19. All you ever wanted – The Black Keys This is not exactly your typical Black Keys song, but it’s my second-favorite number of theirs. So, yeah. That’s that!

20. Romeo and Juliet – Dire Straits, covered by Indigo Girls I actually love the Indigo Girls cover of this much better than the Dire Straits original. “How can you look at me as if I was just another one of your deals?” Too good!

21. Veronica – Elvis Costello This is a song about an older woman who is suffering from Alzheimers. It’s a sweet song, but it has an undertone of sad to it that makes it meaningful instead of just fluff.

22. Homeless – Ladysmith Black Mombazo If you don’t know who Ladysmith Black Mombazo is, you’re depriving yourself! They are a band from South Africa featured on Paul Simon’s Graceland and also in a Lifesavers commercial. Well, we can’t all be winners all the time, right?

23. Wind beneath my wings – Bette Midler And then all of the men and most of the ladies stopped reading. But c’mon, if someone sang this to you you know you’d totally start bawling!

24. Midnight train to Georgia – Gladys and the Pips I don’t know what it is about this song I love so much – it just always makes me stop and absorb whenever I hear it. The Indigo Girls also did a super awesome cover of this song, by the way.

Songs I’m kind of  ashamed to love

25. Follow me – Uncle Kracker My brother almost disowned me when I told him I liked this song. Fair enough.

26. Private eye – Hall & Oates This song has a lot of positive reminders for me. I grew up in the 80s. What do you want?!?

27. I believe the children are our future – Whitney Houston I really can’t defend this one either except Whitney did an amazing job singing it and it’s a good message.

28. Earth Song – Michael Jackson Not many people talk about this MJ hit, but if you listen to it it’s really pretty awesome. Well, okay, I like it anyway.

Songs I love that are hard to categorize

29. Walk Unafraid – REM A lot of times I like songs just because of their message. Such is the case with this one.

30. Way over yonder in the minor key -written by Woody Guthrie, sung by Billy Bragg The chorus of this song in full is, “Way over yonder in the minor key, ain’t nobody who can sing like me.” It’s childish in a way, but also very cocky and also sort of nostalgic. I love it.

31. Galileo – Indigo Girls The burden of reincarnation is discussed in this song.  Not your typical fare for a rock song, right?

32. Special – Garbage Yes, this is a total rip-off of The Pretenders, but since I like the Pretenders I was bound to like this song. It’s a good angry song too, actually.

33. Chain Gang – Pretenders Talking of….:) This is one of the first songs I remember hearing in my life. Also – Akron loyalty!

34. Kite – U2 This may be on my short list of favorite U2 songs. “I know that this is not goodbye.” I played this a lot when I graduated from college. *sniff sniff*

35. A love you can’t survive – Richard Thompson If you can keep your eyes dry while listening to this song, you’re a better person than me. The single best singing performance Richard Thompson has done – he has always been known as a guitar master, not so much on the vocals. This song changes the latter.

36. Oh mémé – Les Tireux des Roches One day I was lying in bed with my NPR station on, and this completely a capella French song came on. I have no idea what the words mean, but the song was so jolly and the harmonies so tight I had to look up the group. They are French Canadian and are so much fun. Highly recommend their works!

37. Meet on the ledge – Fairport Convention Another college graduation type song. Given that Sandy Denny is no longer among us, the song seems even more poignant, which is hard to imagine.

38. Head over heels – Tears for Fears Yes, I’m aware of the YouTube video that masterfully makes fun of the video. I still love this song – always loved it more than Shout!

39. People like us – Talking Heads There are so many Talking Heads songs I adore, but this one never fails to give me goose pimples. And that means it HAS to be on the list!

40. Rainbow connection – Jim Henson and the Muppets I will love this song no matter how old and crotchety I get. I promise!

Well, this list isn’t nearly thorough enough, but it gives you an idea, I guess, of my musical taste. Which is to say, you can see that there is no stinkin’ pattern whatsoever 🙂

Now it’s your turn.

What are YOUR favorite songs? Any similarities here?

Image by Sas Van Veen. http://www.sxc.hu/profile/xtrapink