Who knew 31 could be so far away?

23. First day of my life – Bright Eyes

This is a track which I imagine features quite heavily on people’s wedding song lists, and for a very good reason. Quite simply, it sounds a lot like what being in love can sometimes feel like. I think it’s snuck its way into the list right now as some good friends of mine are about to get married and I’m just a little bit excited about this since I’ve anticipated their nuptials pretty much since the first time I saw them together. So now I have renewed faith in love, and feelings like this, and I like hearing the song. It’s also good to play around other people, well maybe not ones going through a break up, but people other than those people, because I’ve seen even hard-up thick-skinned cynical types tapping their feet along to Conner Oberst, despite their very best intentions not to.

24. Revolution 1, The Beatles

This year marks the 40^th Anniversary of the White Album and it would not be right to miss featuring at least one track from this double album loaded with rock and roll magic.

What I like so much about this track is just how understated it is. I mean, it’s about Revolution, man! And it features the lyrics ‘shooby doo’?  And it’s..well…slow. Way too slow for a revolution. And really ‘they say you want a revolution’ – but do you really? Because I sure as hell don’t. They’re chaotic and nasty and end in blood-shed and often get taken over by people who ‘change the constitution’, but not in the ways they probably should and it all gets a bit tiring. Just ask Robespierre. Or Lenin. Or Mao. Revolutions are not much fun, and really, sometimes people should just chill out a bit. And maybe listen to this song, which is very chill-out-able.

Unless a revolution is really what you need, then maybe go for The Clash.

25.  Thank You, The Whitlams

“I shouldn’t have driven/You shouldn’t have driven”, begins the song, and while I wish I could say I don’t know what this feels like – I do. And I also know what it’s like to say, “thank you/for lovin’ me at my worst”.

I also like that the potentially very sappy line is delivered in a very non-sappy way, with snappy piano playing and ‘little band’ sounds, which make me want to dance a bit, and sing along, and generally feel like having a good time.

The Whitlams are also a lot of fun to see live, and are much better suited to seeing in the flesh as you get to watch Tim Freedman spill more and more red wine down his front as the night goes on, and it all gets a bit rowdy and a lot like a really fun lounge room party full of people more fun than you except that you’re there and it’s someone else’s lounge room and you don’t have to clean up.

26.  Straight Lines, Silverchair

From the opening bars to the opening lyrics (yes you are a good looking cad Daniel, albeit a rather thin one) to the ‘belt it out at the top of your lungs with everyone else’ chorus which sees you set yourself on fire and waking up and doing very mundane yet difficult things like walking in straight lines… I think this is one of the best Australian pop songs to be written in a very, very long time. I’m also annoyed it didn’t make number 1 in the triple J (no, I promise they don’t give me cash for comment) Hottest 100 Countdown in 2008 so I am putting it in my top 31 songs among people like Lennon/McCartney and Tom Waits and Nina Simone because I think Daniel Johns has that ‘it’ factor which is so hard to come by. Oh fuck, I sound a bit like Dicko from idol, don’t I?

27.  Cry Baby, Janis Joplin

Once again, a song that opens with a bang, or rather a throaty/scratchy/desperate lament that makes me wince and fall apart just a little bit until she brings me back in with the ache of the blues.

Despite my love of Radiohead and The Cure and more recent bands like The Wombats and The Grates, I will always be more than a little bit disappointed I wasn’t alive for the summer of ’67 when Sgt Peppers was released, and I missed out on tickets to Woodstock, and that I missed free love before things like AIDS and LSD before Jim Morrison and crocheted hats before… Ok, that last one is a lie. I also note that both Janis and Jim are part of ‘Club 27’ which in 17 days I will never be able to become a part of, which is a good thing. 

But, if I could get a time machine and go back anywhere, it would be to the late 60’s/early 70’s when there was so much going on that would inspire so much that is going on right now. I definitely want to be a hippie WAY more than I want to be an emo. Instead I will just satisfy these cravings with hours spent being dragged through heartache and back with Janis rolling around in my ear canal. Gross mental image, isn’t it?