7/22/07

Fifteen is lookin' for some answers

A few weeks ago, my friend Chris told me someone asked him if he could make a mix of the 15 songs that mean most to him and probably always will, and then he asked me if I thought I could do it too. Right away I said yeah, of course, but after I really thought about it, um, no, it was hard. A few songs came immediately, but the others took quite a lot of thought. I made a list of all the ones that I thought could make it; after a great deal of thinking and weeding out, my original list of about 100 became 30, and I think I spent about an hour narrowing those to 20, then to 15. The last five get at least honorable mentions because they would have made it if the challenge had been for 20. And now what you've all (all none of you) have been waiting for:

1. You Are the Everything — REM
2. Sunflowers — Everclear
3. Chealsea Hotel No. 2 — Leonard Cohen
4. Last Goodbye — Jeff Buckley
5. What If We Give It Away? — REM
6. Man Over — Robinella and the CC Stringband
7. Tame — Cory Branan
8. Father Rose — Pete Francis
9. Untouchable Face — Ani Difranco
10. These Are the Days — 10,000 Maniacs
11. Love at the Five and Dime — Nanci Griffith
12. Colorado Bound — Townes van Zandt
13. Work — Jimmy Eat World
14. Coming Up Roses — Elliott Smith
15. Big Yellow Taxi — Joni Mitchell

And the runners-up, in no particular order:

Looking at the Sun — Matthew Sweet
E-Bow the Letter – REM
John Walker's Blues — Steve Earle
You Wreck Me — Tom Petty
Solsbury Hill — Peter Gabriel

So there you have it. All of them have their reasons for being on this list; whether or not I tell you those reasons is another matter. Criticize/compliment as you will.

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