Top 100 - I Can't Give It Up

Wilkommen in more Top 100 fun. I plan to continue much in the same manner that I left off: counting down the (possible) best songs of all time. Also, we're halfway there, so the excitement increases exponentially. So, without further ado, top 50 represent:

50. The Postal Service - Such Great Heights (4:26)
49. Pulp - The Babysitter (4:59)
48. Arcade Fire - Intervention (4:19)
47. The XX - Infinity (5:13)
46. The Futureheads - Hounds Of Love (3:02)
45. Carlos Santana - Black Magic Woman (5:18)
44. Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence (4:16)
43. The Clash - Rock The Casbah (3:43)
42. Rage Against The Machine - Killing In The Name Of (5:14)
41. Michael Jackson - PYT (Pretty Young Thing) (4:48)

The Babysitter is a brilliant song, due to it's full on, eat your face, electronic hammer followed by peaceful Jarvis Cocker descriptive interludes. Further electronic beauty is provided by the transient trance intro of Such Great Heights, which reminds me of the out-of-sync loop which permeates Baba O'Riley by The Who. The XX had to be in here, and it's quite difficult to pick just one track from their eponymous album, but I have. Also, I like to think of the serpentine infinity symbol whilst listening to it: such a practice increases my enjoyment of the music by 7-13%.

Intervention is practically a shoe-in, who doesn't love this juggernaught of a track, with its climactic ending? Hounds of Love is yet another cover which outdoes the original. Not sure why Wuthering Heights didn't get into this list, but it seemed inappropriate. Is there any greater pleasure than shouting "fuck you I won't do what you tell me?"

No. There isn't.

Let's see what numbers 40-31 have in store:

40. The Jam - The Eton Rifles (3:28)
39. The Dears - Lost In The Plot (4:49)
38. Dead Kennedys - Holiday In Cambodia (3:44)
37. William Shatner - That's Me Trying (3:48)
36. Ben Folds - Protection (4:38)
35. Nirvana - Lithium (4:17)
34. Sex Pistols - Anarchy in the UK (3:31)
33. Jarvis Cocker - Running the World (3:23)
32. Saian Supa Crew - A Co-Mow (3:35)
31. Beastie Boys - Sabotage (2:59)

Mmm, jam. The songs are getting shorter as we go further down the list, proving that attention spans are not what they used.... blah.

Cambodia was previously called "Preăh Réachéa Nachâk Kâmpŭchéa," so the name change significantly improved the catchiness of the Dead Kennedys classic. Seriously though, tourism is now the second greatest source of hard currency after the textile industry, so a holiday is probably quite a good idea, and one which will bring precious riel into the Cambodian economy. William Shatner is awesome, as anyone who's seen the cult classic Rocketman cover (which is everyone) will testify.

No place in this list for Smells Like Teen Spirit (I'll spoil it for you now), because it's a bit boring. Also, when every R&B/Easy Listening Show Pony has covered it in a "quirky" fashion, it loses some of the blow-your-head-off-with-a-shotgun edginess (too soon?)

Jarvis' Running the World is nothing like Tears for Fears' re-written Everybody Wants to Rule the World containing, as it does, repeated use of the rude C-word. As I've already demonstrated, liberal reiteration of swear words practically guarantees a listing. Although, now I think about it, Tears for Fears are in some ways like the song, containing, as they do, a lot of C-words.

A Co-Mow is just awesome. It has this indian-ish, oriental-ish, arabic-ish high-pitched vocal loop which lends itself to healthly superimposed rapping, hollering and general whooping. Tout le monde say...

However, beating it into 31st place is Sabotage: the best rap song ever, including no rap whatsoever.

Here we will rest awhile, until you're ready for more.