Favorite Songs: #18 to #16

#18 Close to Me by the Cure (from The Head on the Door, 1985)

I’ve never been much into dancing, and if you ever saw me “dance”, you might not recognize it as such. Having said this, I still have a dancing instinct within me (without the talent, though). If I hear a song that has a good beat and sound, I just might find myself spontaneously jumping around and swaying to it. And that’s about as far as you’re going to come toward seeing me actually dance! Close to Me by the Cure is one those infectious types of songs that can pick you up from the doldrums and get you moving! The music is upbeat and funny, not the sort of thing you’d expect to hear from the Cure, whose music is pretty melancholy, for the most part. I also felt that the video for this song was hilarious. Close to Me is an example of an artist or group stepping out of its routine sound and producing something truly special!

#17 America by Simon & Garfunkel (from Bookends, 1968)

America is an anecdotal song about a young man and his friend (Cathy) hitching rides from Michigan and then riding a bus from Pittsburgh through New Jersey. It captures the feeling one gets riding public transportation, when all that seems to be available to do, for hours, is either look out the window, “play games with the faces”, or just fall asleep. The lyrics and the way they were sung deeply touched me, making me feel like I was there on the bus with them. But that’s Paul Simon for you, and Art Garfunkel’s beautiful harmony combined with a poignant melody to bring out an outstanding song, one that has grown in my estimation over the years. My other favorite S&G songs are Scarborough Fair and Fakin’ It, while Paul Simon’s Boy in the Bubble is my favorite of his solo work (along with the incredible video).

#16 No Milk Today by Herman’s Hermits (from There’s a Kind of Hush All Over the World, 1967)

This is another example of artists transcending the pattern that they used to become successful and coming out with something great. No Milk Today is simply a song about a guy who delivers milk and is love with one of his customers. But he keeps seeing the sign “no milk today” and realizes his amorous hopes are for naught, for his “love has gone away”! Pretty silly, huh? In spite of that, the musical production for this song, combined with Peter Noone’s compelling singing and an unforgettable melody, made this one of my favorites even back in 1967, when I was ten years old. And my affection for it has never wavered through the years. Unfortunately, No Milk Today never received much radio air play, and it came out when British rock music was starting to fade a bit from the American scene (excluding supergroups like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, of course). Herman’s Hermits was one of the many bands of the mid-1960’s that I used to look forward to watching as guests on the Ed Sullivan Show.

Next favorite songs: #15 to #13.