My Top 20 Songs: 2009

Thursday, December 31, 2009

Top 20 New Year's Songs

Wow... It has been a long december, but there's reason to believe next year will be better than the last... 2009 was definately a year of change. 2010 shall be a year of happiness and prosperity. Here are my top 20 songs to usher in the new year.

1. Auld Lang Syne

2. Mecano - Un Año Mas

3. ABBA – Happy New Year

4. U2 – New Year’s Day

5. Rent – Seasons of Love

6. Kate Rusby – Here We Come A-Wasseling

7. Death Cab for Cutie – The New Year

8. Counting Crows – A Long December

9. Barry Manilow – It’s Just Another New Year’s Eve

10. Diana Krall – What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?

11. SheDaisy – A Brand New Year (My Revolution)

12. Zombies – This Will Be Our Year

13. Prince – 1999

14. Cliff Richards – Millennium Prayer

15. Jennifer Lopez – Waiting for Tonight

16. Frank Sinatra – It Was a Very Good Year

17. The Walkmen – In the New Year

18. Tony Carmago – El Año Viejo

19. Los Billos Caracas Boys – Año Nuevo

20. The Skit Guys – This Year Will Be Different

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Top 20 Christmas Songs

Christmas is just around the corner, and there’s nothing like Christmas music. Here, I’m looking at Rock/Pop Christmas Songs that are not necessarily considered traditional carols. In other words, Christmas songs with a twist of eggnog, so to speak. These are my top 20 Rock/Pop Christmas Songs. Merry Christmas, Everyone!

1. John Lennon – Happy Xmas (War is Over)

2. Elmo & Patsy – Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer

3. Jose Feliciano – Feliz Navidad

4. Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band – Santa Claus is Coming to Town

5. Straight No Chaser – The 12 Days of Christmas

6. Hall & Oates – Jingle Bell Rock

7. David Bowie & Bing Crosby – The Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth

8. Band Aid – Do They Know It’s Christmas?

9. Greg Lake – I Believe in Father Christmas

10. Adam Sandler – The Chanukah Song

11. Paul McCartney – Wonderful Christmas Time

12. Leon Redbone & Dr John – Frosty the Snowman

13. John Denver – Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

14. Bryan Adams – Something About Christmas Time

15. The Kinks – Father Christmas

16. Weird Al Yankovic – The Night Santa Went Crazy

17. All I Want For Christmas is my Two Front Teeth

18. Alvin & The Chipmunks – Christmas Don’t Be Late

19. Billy Squier – Christmas is the Time to Say I Love You

20. The Muppets – We Wish You a Merry Christmas

Friday, November 13, 2009

Top 20 Songs about Radio & DJs

The radio has always been part of my life. I was raised on radio. In fact, not many people know that I was a minor radio star when I was 10 years old. I co-hosted a call-in show called "Popular Politics Soccer". We would play some music and people would call in to tell us who they were going to vote for in the following presidential election. Since then, I have always wanted to go back on the air. Some day I just might... These are my top 20 songs about the Radio and DJ's

1. Queen – Radio Ga Ga

I’d sit alone and watch your light / My only friend through teenage nights / And everything I had to know / I heard it on my radio / You gave them all those old time stars / Through Wars of Worlds - invaded by mars / You made ‘em laugh / you made ‘em cry / You made us feel like we could fly / Radio

2. Steely Dan – FM

Give her some funked up music / she treats you nice / feed her some hungry reggae, she’ll love you twice / the girls don’t seem to care tonight / as long as the mood is right / FM - no static at all

3. Miguel Rios – No Estas Sola

No estás sola / alguien te ama en la ciudad / no tengas miedo / que la alborada llegará / No estás sola / te queremos confortar / sal al aire / cuéntanos de lo que vas / La noche es así niña / no olvides sonreír / que mañana empiezas a vivir.

4. Rush – The Spirit of Radio

Invisible airwaves / Crackle with life / Bright antennae bristle / With the energy / Emotional feedback / On a timeless wavelength / Bearing a gift beyond price / Almost free...

5. Charlie Dore – Piliot of the Airways

Pilot of the airwaves / Here is my request / You don't have to play it / But I hope you'll do your best / I've been listening to your show on the radio / And you seem like a friend to me / Any record of your choice / I don't mind / I'd be happy just to hear your voice / Saying this is for the girl / Who didn't sign her name / Yes, she needs a dedication just the same

6. The Buggles – Video Killed the Radio Star

And now we meet in an abandoned studio / We hear the playback and it seems so long ago / And you remember the jingles used to go / Oh-a oh / You were the first one / Oh-a oh / You were the last one / Video killed the radio star / Video killed the radio star / In my mind and in my car, we can't rewind we've gone to far

7. Triumph – Magic Power

She climbs into bed, pull the covers overhead and turns her little radio on / She's had a rotten day so she hopes the DJ's gonna play her favorite song / It makes her feel much better, brings her closer to her dreams / A little magic power makes it better that it seems

8. The Ramones – Do you Remember Rock’n'Roll Radio?

Do you remember Murray the K, Alan Freed, and high energy? / It's the end, the end of the 70's / It's the end, the end of the century / Do you remember lying in bed with your covers pulled up over your head? / Radio playin' so no one can see / We need change, we need it fast / Before rock's just part of the past / 'Cause lately it all sounds the same to me

9. Donald Fagen - The Nightfly

I'm Lester the Nightfly / Hello Baton Rouge / Won't you turn your radio down / Respect the seven second delay we use / So you say there's a race of men in the trees / You're for tough legislation / Thanks for calling / I wait all night for calls like these / An independent station / WJAZ / with jazz and conversation

10. The Guess Who - Clap for the Wolfman

Do Ron Ron and the Duke of Earl / They were friend's of mine / The highway's on my moonlight drive / Snuggled in, said "baby, just one kiss" / She said "no, no, no" / Romance ain't keepin' me alive / I said "hey babe, do you want to coo, coo, coo" / She said "uh, uh, uh" / So I was left out in the cold / I said "you're what I've been dreamin' of" / She said "I don't want to know" / "Oh you know, she was diggin' the cat on the radio" / Clap for the Wolfman / he’s gonna rate your record high

11. Steve Carlisle - WKRP in Cincinnati

Baby, if you've ever wondered / Wondered whatever became of me / I'm living on the air in Cincinnati / Cincinnati, WKRP / Got kind of tired packing and unpacking / Town to town and up and down the dial / Maybe you and me were never meant to be / But baby think of me once in awhile / I'm at WKRP in Cincinnati..

12. Wall of Voodoo - Mexican Radio

I wish I was in Tijuana / Eating barbequed iguana / I'd take requests on the telephone / I'm on a wavelength far from home / I feel a hot wind on my shoulder / I dial it in from south of the border / I hear the talking of the DJ / Can't understand just what does he say? / I'm on a Mexican radio / I'm on a Mexican, whoa-Oh, radio

13. REM – Radio Song

When I got to the show / yo, ho, ho / I could tell that you had been crying, crying / It's that same sing song and the DJ sucks / It makes me sad / I tried to turn it off / To say goodbye, my love / That radio song / Hey, hey, hey

14. David Bowie – DJ

I am a D.J., I am what I play / can't turn around no, can't turn around / I am a D.J., I am what I play / I got believers (kiss-kiss) / Believing me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9mlwcAmEpo

15. Dr. Hook – The Radio

Lately, I've been givin' everything I've got to feeling alone / Baby you got me livin' one of them hard luck songs on the radio / Oh and I know, if I change the station I'll get the same song / Hope it ain't on the top too long

16. Dire Straits – Sketeaway

She gets rock’n’roll from a rock’n’roll station / and a rock’n’roll dream / She’s making movies on location / She don’t know what it means / But the music make her wanna be the story / And the story was whatever was the song what it was / Roller girl, don’t worry / DJ play the movies all night long

17. Robbie Williams – Radio

Listen to the radio / And you will hear the songs you know / Make it effervescent here / And you might have a job my dear / My dear

18. Al Stewart – Song on the Radio

I was making my way through the wasteland / The road into town passes through / I was changing the radio stations / With my mind on you / Oh your friends call you "Lily Paloma" / But that's not the way that you are / It's too much of a gentle misnomer / For a shooting star

19. The Carpenters – Yesterday Once More

When I was young / I’d listened to the radio / Waiting for my favorite songs / Waiting they played I’d sing along / It made me smile / Those were such happy times / And not so long ago / How I wondered where they’d gone / But they’re back again / Just like a long lost friend / All the songs I loved so well

20. Eric Carmen – Make Me Lose Control

Turn the radio up for that sweet sound / Hold me close never let me go / Keep this feeling alive / Make me lose control

Sunday, November 8, 2009

TOP 20 Songs in German

I’m beginning a new thread in this blog. From time to time, I’ll publish my list of top 20 songs in different languages. Even when I do not speak a word of German, I am a big fan of many German bands, especially Scorpions and Rammstein. I invite you all, specially those of you who speak German or who have German heritage, to play along and discover great music you have been missing out for years… Hier sind meine 20 Lieder auf Deutsch!

Rammstein – Engel

Die Prinzen – Deutschland

Falco – Rock Me Amadeus

Nena – 99 Luftballons

Herbert Gronemeyer – Zeit, dass sich was dreht

Peter Schiling – Major Tom

Scorpions – Du Bist so Schmutzig

Tanz der Vampire – Totale Finesternis

Tokyo Hotel – Durch Den Monsun

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtr2c42C-_A

Kraftwerk – Das Model

Falco – Der Kommissar

Trio – Da Da Da

Ute Lemper – Die Moritat Von Mackie Messer

Westernhagen – Freiheit

Band fur Africa – Nackt im Wind

Die Prinzen – Oli Kahn

Marva – Lucky Manuelo

Veirzhen – Stein um Stein

Heino – Blau bluht der Enzian

Rammstein – Links 2 3 4

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Top 20 Halloween Songs

Ah, All Hallows’ Eve is again upon us and I’ve got witches, ghosts, zombies, ghouls, monsters, werewolves, things that go bump in the night, and a couple of really scary tunes to celebrate… These are my top 20 songs for Halloween

Marilyn Manson - This is Halloween

This is Halloween, this is Halloween / Pumpkins scream in the dead of night / This is Halloween, everybody make a scene / Trick or treat till the neighbors gonna die of fright / It's our town, everybody scream / In this town of Halloween

Michael Jackson – Thriller

Darkness falls across the land / The midnight hour is close at hand / Creatures crawl in search of blood / To terrorize yawls neighborhood / And whosoever shall be found / Without the soul for getting down / Must stand and face the hounds of hell / And rot inside a corpses shell / The foulest stench is in the air / The funk of forty thousand years / And grizzy ghouls from every tomb / Are closing in to seal your doom / And though you fight to stay alive / Your body starts to shiver
For no mere mortal can resist / The evil of the thriller

Boris Pickett - The Monster Mash

Out from his coffin, Drac's voice did ring / Seems he was troubled by just one thing / He opened the lid and shook his fist / And said, "Whatever happened to my Transylvania twist?" / It's now the mash / It's now the monster mash / The monster mash / And it's a graveyard smash

Misfits – Halloween

Bonfires burning bright pumpkin faces in the night / I remember Halloween / dead cats hanging from poles / little dead are out in droves / I remember Halloween / Brown leaved vertigo where skeletal life is known / I remember Halloween / this day anything goes / burning bodies hanging from poles / I remember / Halloween, Halloween, Halloween, Halloween, Halloween / Candy apples and razor blades / little dead are soon in graves / I remember Halloween

Fairport Convention – Tam Lin

And at the end of seven years she pays a tithe to hell / I so fair and full of flesh and feared it be myself / But tonight is Hallowe'en and the faery folk ride / Those that would their true love win at Miles Cross they must buy

Carl Off – O Fortuna

Mike Oldfield – Tubular Bells (Theme from “The Exorcist”)

Ozzy Osbourne – Bark at the Moon

Howling in shadows / Living in a lunar spell / He finds his heaven / Spewing from the mouth of hell / And when he finds who he’s looking for / Listen in awe and you’ll hear him / Bark at the moon.

Charlie Daniels Band – The Legend of Wooley Swamp

And that's been fifty years ago / And you can go by there yet. / There's a spot in the yard / In the back of that shack / Where the ground is always wet. / And on summer nights / If the moon is right / Down by the that dark footpath, / You can hear three young men screaming./ You can hear one old man laugh.

Alice Cooper – Welcome to my Nightmare

Welcome to my nightmare / Welcome to my breakdown / I hope I didn't scare you / That's just the way we are when we come down / We sweat and laugh and scream here / 'cuz life is just a dream here / You know inside you feel right at home here

La Union – Lobo Hombre en Paris

Cada noche llaman desde París / en el día en que todo ocurrió / Como un sueño de locos sin fin / La fortuna se ha reído de ti / Sorprendido espiando / el lobo escapa aullando y es mordido por el mago del Siam / La luna llena sobre París / ha transformado en hombre a Denis

Warren Zevon – Warewolves of London

Ya hear him howlin around your kitchen door / ya better not let him in / Little old lady got mutilated late last night / werewolves of London again.

Edgar Winter Group – Frankenstein

The Alan Parsons Project – The Raven

And still the raven remains in my room / No matter how much I implore / No words can soothe him / No prayer remove him / And I must hear for evermore / Quote the raven, nevermore / Thus quote the raven / Nevermore

Squirrel Nut Zippers – Hell

This is a place where eternally / Fire is applied to the body / Teeth are extruded and bones are ground / Then baked into cakes which are passed around.

Johnny Cash – Ghost Riders in the Sky

As the riders loped on by him he heard one call his name / If you want to save your soul from Hell a-riding on our range / Then cowboy change your ways today or with us you will ride / Trying to catch the Devil's herd, across these endless skies

Donovan – Season of the Witch

When I looked over my shoulder / What do you think I see / Summer cat looking over / It shoulder at me / Any strange, sure is strange / You got to pick out every stitch / Beat me its eye to make it rich oh no / Must be the season of the witch

Ray Parker Jr – Ghostbusters

If there's something strange in your neighborhood / Who ya gonna call? / Ghostbusters / If it's something weird an it won't look good / Who ya gonna call? / Ghostbusters / I ain't afraid a no ghost / I ain't afraid a no ghost

DJ Jazzy Jeef & Fresh Prince – Nightmare on my Street

Now I have a story that Id like to tell / About this guy you all know he had me scared as hell / He comes to me at night after I crawl into bed / He’s burnt up like a weenie and his name is Fred / He wears the same hat and sweater every single day / And even if it’s hot outside he wears it anyway / He’s home when I’m awake but he shows up when I sleep / I can’t believe that there’s a nightmare on my street

Theme from the “Addam’s Family”

They're creepy and they're kooky / Mysterious and spooky / They're all together ooky / The Addams Family.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Top 20 Sax Songs

Yep. I said Sax, like in Saxophone... I love it when Pop/Rock songs leverage from non-traditional instruments like Steel Drums or Saxes.. ya know, Sax, Drums and Rock'n'Roll... ja ja ja... To me, the sax is one of the coolest instruments ever.. I wish I could learn to play it and if I had a Rock Band I would definitely add a sax solo here and there... These are my top 20 sax songs...