The concept here is simple enough, without searching out best songs of all times, I stumble upon them all the time, the A Plus List; songs that are so great if you haven’t heard them you’ve not lived a fulfilled. So I have started finding a place to put them and share em with you… because I like you.
1. Honolulu Blues – Craig Finn – This is the greatest song ever written about Christianity ever: it is beyond honest, it is well beyond truth, this is the meaning of faith for millions upon million. If faith is a form of perfection, “Honolulu Blues” is about the imperfect me and you. The sound is Holding Steady alt rocking and the lyric… well, in case you think I’m exagerating:
A man darkened our doorway
He said he’s here to share the good news
He had a smile straight from the movies
But when I looked down at his shoes
There were holes and they showed his toes
The right was left. The black was brown
And later on in the garage I couldn’t find my chainsaw
In the distance I heard trees just falling down
I was underneath the city I was riding around on trains
Fell asleep before Nassau Ave.
And I ended up in Maine
There were big tall trees and rocky coastline
And the waves came in so wild
But for all the natural beauty there were still so many kids that were asking me for something that could help them to get high
We’re all good. We’re all bad
We’re euphoric and we’re sad
We roll the rock away and check the tomb
We’re awake and we’re aware that we’re confused and cold and scared
And the cross reminds us that He died for me and you
Woke up in the ocean with the Honolulu Blues
Joan Didion and Graham Greene
Said roughly the same thing
You bring your Jesus to the jungle
Try to teach people to sing
All the hymns that you love because you learned them as a kid and they make perfect sense to you
There’s a point in time when thousands die
And you’ve got to maybe think that maybe Jesus isn’t getting through
We’re freezing in the forest
There’s no wood to heat the house
We took axes ti the furniture
We pulled the floorboards out
There’s animals scratching at the door
And they know we’re gonna die
There were big tall trees and rocky coastline
And the waves came in so wild
We’re all wild. We’re all free
We’re all back from Tennessee
With the souvenirs to prove that we were there
We’re flying round in planes
We’re riding around in trains
Searching out those panoramic views
Woke up in the ocean with the Honolulu Blues
We’re all good. We’re all bad
We’re euphoric and we’re sad
We roll the rock away and check the tomb
We’re awake and we’re alarmed at the scars scratched in your arm
The cross reminds us that He died for me and you
Woke up in Oahu with the Honolulu Blues.
2. Colorado – For Science – If all Joe Steinhardt ever wrote was this song, he would be one of my favorite songwriters. One minute and seven seconds of punk pop bliss: “I’m so in love with her and I don’t think she knows is timeless pop sentiment.
3. Elephant – Jason Isbel – I vehemently disagree with the “nobody dies with dignity”, a close friend of mine is dying from cancer and with immense dignity as I wrote this. Otherwise, he gets an impossibly difficult story quite right.
4. Crying – Roy Orbison – Sun Records reminds me a little of punk rock, people think it was all the same but all of it was different. Roy had that voice and when he sang it the sound fell out of any genre and become the noise of a yearning of heart.
5. Our Love Is Here To Stay – Billie Holiday – She owns it and she swings it and it might not need that swing, it seems upbeat in a song that wants to move downwards, but Billie’s voice makes everything she touches fragile and sad and bluesy, so it works any way.
6. Love Will Tear Us Apart – Joy Division – This is the sound of a life coming to an end, this and the MTV Unplugged “All Apologies” by Nirvana is how it sounds when a man is done with living.
7. The Tracks Of My Tears – Smokey Robinson – Love poetry worthy of Shelley (Percy but Pete as well) only including better singing.
8. You Send Me – Sam Cooke – Embodied a courteous and beauty and pop sensibility never really rivalled by any one. It is like Cary Grant became a pop singer.
9. You’re The One For Me, Fatty – Morrissey – Pure pop for now people, yes, that intro is post-punk New Wave (though maybe a decade later) but the sentiment seems to widen up the concept of attraction and love to everyone.
10. One After 909 – The Beatles – They waited six years to record it and should have, everything clicks into place and it is one time you can actually believe Billy Preston is the fifth Beatle.