Continuing with my
10-Day Music Challenge, here are my
9 favourite songs.
As a composer, it's nearly always the music that attracts me to a song first and the lyrics a distant second, if at all. As you'll see there's even a song in my list that I disagree with lyrics but the music is just so amazing....
Click here to hear my favourite 9 songs as a Spotify playlist (minus the Peter Gabriel which isn't available on Spotify!)
1.
I Can See Clearly Now - Hothouse Flowers
Such a great song, and I particularly love the Hothouse Flowers version.
2.
Leaving on a Jet Plane
A simply lovely song that takes me back to my Uni days for some reason (no, I wasn't at Uni in the '60s!)
3.
Come What May (from "Moulin Rouge")
I love the power and OTT-ness of this - a tour de force, a wall of emotion.
4.
Finlandia Hymn - Sibelius
Not because of any religious reasons, as is well known I'm an atheist/anti-theist, but just because it's such a magnificent melody. Along similar lines are I Vow To Thee, My Country and Jerusalem - great tunes, somewhat spoilt with religious lyrics. This version is in Finnish so it sort of nullifies the lyrics if you don't know Finnish!
5.
Father, Son - Peter Gabriel
I loved the Millennium Dome for so many things but, in particular, the spectacular show that happened 3 or 4 times every day. The soundtrack was written by Peter Gabriel and this is a very touching song.
6.
Somewhere (from "West Side Story") - Bernstein
The best song from the greatest musical ever written. By the time this is sing at the end of West Side Story I'm always blubbing!
7.
One Day Like This - Elbow
It's overuse as inspiring background music by lazy television producers has made this a bit of a cliché, but it doesn't stop it being a tremendous song and one I'll always turn up a little!
8.
Time After Time - Cyndi Lauper
I liked this song a lot, then it was used in Sliding Doors, one of my favourite movies of all time!
9.
Jai Ho (from "Slumdog Millionaire") - A. R. Rahman
I never understood why Slumdog Millionaire was promoted as a "feel-good movie" with so many awful things happening in it. However, this song is a amazingly feel-good song and deservedly won the Oscar for best song. It's a shame that the Pussycat Dolls put out a version with them warbling over it and unable to pronounce the title but this version, the original is great!
That was VERY difficult! - so many songs I like - so many that just didn't quite make the final cut! I could easily have included songs by
Blur,
The Divine Comedy,
Philip Glass,
Ash,
Wheatus,
Bill Whelan,
Dixie Chicks,
Seth Lakeman..... the list could go on and on and on!
Click here to listen to my near misses as a Spotify playlist.
What have I missed? What are your favourite songs?
This is the plan of my
10-Day Music Challenge - I'm currently on
Day Two:
Day 1 - My 10 favourite albums
Day 2 - My 9 favourite songs
Day 3 - The first 8 songs to come on shuffle
Day 4 - My 7 favourite bands
Day 5 - My 6 favourite song covers
Day 6 - 5 Bands for my dream gig line up
Day 7 - My 4 guilty pleasures (artists or songs)
Day 8 - My 3 favourite vocalists
Day 9 - My 2 favourite music videos
Day 10 - My all time favourite gig
