A funny thing happened regarding this "500 all-time favorite songs" weekly project of mine back in late February: I inadvertently passed over ten of the songs...the other day I thought, hey, Diary by Bread should have been on my list but I didn't discuss it and presto, there it was in the missing section. "My bad"...here are the songs in that segment I accidently skipped four months ago:
240 RIDE...Twenty One Pilots...favorite song of 2017 with reggae sound mixed with rap, good current act
239 HURRICANE...Bob Dylan...passionate plea from '75 for justice about wrongly convicted boxer
238 DIARY...Bread...bittersweet, but ultimately gracious ode of a love interest who loves another, from 1972
237 THE GYPSY DAVEY...Arlo Guthrie...in '73 sings one of his dad Woody's great old pieces
236 THE GHOST OF YOU LINGERS...Spoon...sharp rhythmic piano highlights it, from 2007
235 SCAR TISSUE...Red Hot Chili Peppers...favorite song of 1999, great lead guitar play
234 WHAT HAVE I DONE TO DESERVE THIS?...Pet Shop Boys/Dusty Springfield...Dusty's 1988 return to top forty hit parade with a resounding performance
233 THIS FIRE...Franz Ferdinand...from 2004, great rocking piece, guitar riffs abound
232 TIRED OF WAITING FOR YOU...the Kinks...guitar intro was unforgettable in this 1965 song
231 GET IT RIGHT NEXT TIME...Gerry Rafferty...the stage-shy artist's best song but just a minor hit, from '79
And below I continue the next five on my list, after double-checking to make sure I didn't skip any...
85 NO MILK TODAY...Herman's Hermits
An unusually moody song from Herman's Hermits, a group usually perceived as a cleaner, more proper alternative to the Rolling Stones or Beatles during the 60's British Invasion. No Milk Today bemoans a love who moved away as the milkman, whom singer Peter Noone portrays, gets all dark and gloomy over it. I loved the orchestral background production on this very minor late-1966 hit as the band found itself sinking into a popularity decline in America...
84 ONE STEP INTO THE LIGHT...the Moody Blues
When the Moody Blues reunited to record Octave in 1978, six years after they broke up to pursue solo projects, there were great expectations, largely deflated by the more mediocre content on it than with their previous works. Mediocre until the album's final two tracks, that is: I've previously discussed the closing The Day We Meet Again, composed and sung by Justin Haywood...immediately preceding it is this song by founding member Mike Pinder, who gets about as spiritual as one can get in a song without being theological. One Step Into the Light can sound a bit New Age, but you don't have to follow that movement to see the beauty in the lyrics: a wonderful song. Mike left the band after Octave...I think he should get a lot of credit for their earlier great music...
83 NEVER GOING BACK AGAIN...Fleetwood Mac
One of the great solo guitar pieces of all time, Lindsay Buckingham sings and plays this often overlooked track from the band's celebrated 1977 Rumors album. Once I timed its beat to running steps and calculated that with a specific length of stride while running to the music I could pull off a pretty damned fast marathon...but that was back in 1978 when I wasn't thinking too clearly. Still, the subliminal connection to running remains with this song...
82 MAGIC BUS...the Who
To be honest I didn't care for this 1968 singles hit when it came out, but by the late 80s I thought of it as my all-time favorite song. It has a unique sound among the thousands of songs I've heard. There's a curious mixture of rawness, virtuosity and good old rock and roll...as well as a thinly-veiled tribute to the Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour BBC-TV movie from 1967. I still love it, although there's another Who song now much higher on my list...
81 TINY DANCER...Elton John
Back in early 1972 Tiny Dancer was the first Elton John song ever that I took to, and I have loved it ever since. Apparently, it has only increased in stature over the years with the listening public as I'm always hearing stations playing it, although back in the day my local Miami pop music station WQAM/560 refused to play it...I had to switch over to Ft. Lauderdale's WSRF/1580 to hear it. Elton would follow up on Tiny Dancer with Rocket Man, which all the stations would play. Like with song #82, I'm not finished with Elton John on this list, either...
Next week: #80-76...
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