Saturday, September 26, 2009

Top 20 List Songs

This has got to be one of my all time favorite categories. A "List Song" is basically a song that is totally or partially based on a list, and they are damn cool. Of course, in Spanish, Joaquin Sabina is the undisputed king of list songs. However, there are many other really cool list songs out there. These are my top 20 List Songs.



1. Billy Joel – We Didn’t Start the Fire

Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray, South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio, Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, television, North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe, Rosenbergs, H-bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom, Brando, "The King and I" and "The Catcher in the Rye", Eisenhower, vaccine, England's got a new queen, Marciano, Liberace, Santayana goodbye

2. The Pirates of Penzance – The Very Model of a Major General

I am the very model of a modern Major-General / I've information vegetable, animal, and mineral / I know the kings of England, and I quote the fights historical / From Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical / I'm very well acquainted, too, with matters mathematical / I understand equations, both the simple and quadratical / About binomial theorem I'm teeming with a lot o' news / With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse

3. Rent - La Vie Boheme

To days of inspiration, playing hookey, making something out of nothing, the need to express- To communicate, To going against the grain, Going insane, Going mad, to loving tension, no pension, to more than one dimension, to starving for attention, hating convention, hating pretension, not to mention of course, hating dear old mom and dad, to riding your bike, midday past the three piece suits- To fruits- To no absolutes- To Absolut- To choice- To the Village Voice- To any passing fad, To being an us- For once- Instead of a them- La Vie Boheme, La Vie Boheme

4. REM – It’s the End of the Word (As we Know it)

That's great, it starts with an earthquake, birds and snakes, an aeroplane and Lenny Bruce is not afraid. Eye of a hurricane, listen to yourself churn - world serves its own needs, dummy serve your own needs. Feed it off an aux speak, grunt, no, strength, Ladder start to clatter with fear fight down height. Wire in a fire, representing seven games, a government for hire and a combat site. Left of west and coming in a hurry with the furies breathing down your neck.

5. Joaquin Sabina – Mas de 100 Mentiras

Tenemos caprichos, muñecas hinchables, ángeles caídos, barquitos de vela, pobre exquisitos,
ricos miserables, ratoncitos Pérez, dolores de muelas. Tenemos proyectos que se marchitaron,
crímenes perfectos que no cometimos, retratos de novias que nos olvidaron,
y un alma en oferta que nunca vendimos. Tenemos poetas, colgados, canallas,
Quijotes y Sanchos, Babel y Sodoma, abuelos que siempre ganaban batallas,
caminos que nunca llevaban a Roma.

6. Johnny Cash – I’ve Been Everywhere

I've been to: Reno, Chicago, Fargo, Minnesota, Buffalo, Toronto, Winslow, Sarasota,
Wichita, Tulsa, Ottawa, Oklahoma, Tampa, Panama, Mattawa, La Paloma, Bangor, Baltimore, Salvador, Amarillo, Tocapillo, Baranquilla, and Perdilla, I'm a killer. I’ve been everywhere, man. I've been everywhere, man.

7. Reunion – Life is a Rock

B.B. Bumble and the Stingers, Mott the Hoople, Ray Charles Singers, Lonnie Mack and twangin' Eddy, here's my ring we're goin' steady, Take it easy, take me higher, liar liar, house on fire, Locomotion, Poco, Passion, Deeper Purple, Satisfaction, Baby baby gotta gotta gimme gimme gettin' hotter, Sammy's cookin', Lesley Gore and Ritchie Valens, end of story, Mahavishnu, fujiyama, kama-sutra, rama-lama, Richard Perry, Spector, Barry, Archies, Righteous, Nilsson, Harry, Shimmy shimmy ko-ko bop and Fats is back and Finger Poppin', Life is a rock but the radio rolled me, Gotta turn it up louder, so my DJ told me (whoa whoa whoa whoa), Life is a rock but the radio rolled me, At the end of my rainbow lies a golden oldie

8. Savage Garden – Affirmation

I believe the sun should never set upon an argument / I believe we place our happiness in other people's hands / I believe that junk food tastes so good because it's bad for you / I believe your parents did the best job they knew how to do / I believe that beauty magazines promote low self esteem / I believe I'm loved when I'm completely by myself alone

9. Bob Dylan – Subterranean Homesick Blues

Get sick, get well, hang around a ink well, ring bell, hard to tell, If anything is goin' to sell, try hard, get barred, get back, write braille, get jailed, jump bail, join the army, if you fail, look out kid, you're gonna get hit, but users, cheaters, six-time losers, hang around the theaters, girl by the whirlpool, lookin' for a new fool, don't follow leaders, watch the parkin' meters

10. Joaquin Sabina – La del Pirata Cojo

Al Capone en Chicago / Legionario en Melilla / Pintor en Montparnasse.
Mercenario en Damasco / Costalero en Sevilla / Negro en Nueva Orleans.
Viejo verde en Sodoma / Deportado en Siberia / Sultán en un harén.
¿Policía? ni en broma / Triunfador de la feria / Gitanito en Jerez.

11. Don Williams – I Believe in You

I don't believe in superstars, organic food and foreign cars / I don't believe the price of gold; The certainty of growing old / That right is right and left is wrong, that north and south can't get along / That east is east and west is west and being first is always best / But I believe in love, I believe in babies, I believe in Mom and Dad, and I believe in you.

12. U2 – Numb

Don't move / Don't talk out of time / Don't think / Don't worry / Everything's just fine / Just fine / Don't grab / Don't clutch / Don't hope for too much / Don't breathe / Don't achieve or grieve without leave / Don't check / Just balance on the fence / Don't answer / Don't ask / Don't try and make sense / Don't whisper / Don't talk / Don't run if you can walk / Don't cheat, compete / Don't miss the one beat

13. The Sound of Music – A Few of My Favorite Things

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens, brown paper packages tied up with strings, these are a few of my favorite things / Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels, doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles, wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings, these are a few of my favorite things

14. Chris Gaines – Right Now

Maybe it’s the movies, maybe it’s the books, maybe it’s the government and all the other crooks, maybe it’s the drugs, maybe it’s the parents, maybe it’s the gangs, or the colors that we’re wearing, maybe it’s the high schools, maybe it’s the teachers, tattoos, pipe bombs underneath the bleachers, maybe it’s the music, maybe it’s the crack, maybe it’s the bible, or could it be the lack?

15. Hair – Ain’t Got No

Ain't got no home / So? / Ain't got no shoes / Poor / Ain't got no money / Honey / Ain't got no class / Common / Ain't got no scarf / Hot / Ain't got no gloves / Cold / Ain't got no bed / Beat / Ain't got no pot / Busted / Ain't got no faith / Catholic / Ain't got no mother / Orphan / Ain't got no culture / Man / Ain't got no friends / Lucky / Ain't got no schoolin' / Dumb / Ain't got no shine / Dull / Ain't got no underwear / Bad / Ain't got no soap / Dirty / Ain't got no A-Train / Jump / Ain't got no mind / Lost it

16. Joaquin Sabina – Todos Menos Tu

Nietos de toreros disfrazados de ciclistas, ediles socialistas, putones verbeneros,
peluqueros de esos que se llaman estilistas, musculitos, posturitas, cronistas carroñeros, divorciadas calentonas con pelo a lo madonna, trotamundos fantasmas, soplones de la pasma, pintorcillos vanguardistas, genios del diseño, camellos que te pasan papelinas contra el sueño , marcadores de paquete en la cola del retrete, escritores que no escriben, vividores que no viven, jet de pacotilla, directores que no ruedan, mas chorizos que en revilla con corbatas de seda, muera la locura, viva el trapicheo, tontopollas sin cura, estrategas del magreo, petardeo de terraza, pasarela, escaparate, archy, joy, stella, ¿como vais de chocolate?, tiburones de la noche con telefono en el coche y con fax, caballeros en oferta, señoritas que se quieren casar, caraduras, obsesos, gualtrapas, lameculos, azafatas de congreso del brazo de sus chulos, Superman en camiseta, y en la pista dando brincos , la coleccion de tetas que hacen bulto en telecinco, mulatonas caribeñas que ponen a la peña de pie, Blancanieves en trippie, amor descafeinado, Cenicienta violando al Principe encantado, cicerones de la ruta del mal, mercachifles del vacio total, especialistas en nada, inventores del TVO, Julietas demacradas que no encuentran a Romeo, estaban todos menos tu

17. Hair – Hair

I want it long, straight, curly, fuzzy, snaggy, shaggy, ratty, matty, oily, greasy, fleecy, shining, gleaming, streaming, flaxen, waxen, knotted, polka-dotted, twisted, beaded, braided, powdered, flowered, and confettied, bangled, tangled, spangled, and spaghettied!

18. Alanis Morrissette – 21 Things I Want in a Lover

Do you derive joy when someone else succeeds? / Do you not play dirty when engaged in competition? / Do you have a big intellectual capacity but know that it alone does not equate to wisdom? / Do you see everything as an illusion
but enjoy it even though you are not of it? / Are you both masculine and feminine, politically aware, and don't believe in capital punishment?

19. Weird Al Yankovic – Hardware Store

They've got Allen wrenches, gerbil feeders, toilet seats, electric heaters, trash compactors, juice extractor, shower rods and water heaters, walkie-talkies, copper wires safety goggles, radial tires, BB pellets, rubber mallets, fans and dehumidifiers, Picture hangers, paper cutters, waffle irons, window shutters, paint removers, window louvers, masking tape and plastic gutters, kitchen faucets, folding tables, weather stripping, jumper cables, hooks and tackle, grout and spackle, power foggers, spoons and ladles, pesticides for fumigation, high-performance lubrication, metal roofing, water proofing, multi-purpose insulation, air compressors, brass connectors, wrecking chisels, smoke detectors, tire gauges, hamster cages, thermostats and bug deflectors, trailer hitch demagnetizers, automatic circumcisers
Tennis rackets, angle brackets, Duracells and Energizers, soffit panels, circuit brakers, vacuum cleaners, coffee makers, calculators, generators, matching salt and pepper shakers

20. Tom Lehrer – The Elements

There's antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium, and hydrogen and oxygen and nitrogen and rhenium,
and nickel, neodymium, neptunium, germanium, and iron, americium, ruthenium, uranium, europium,
zirconium, lutetium, vanadium, and lanthanum and osmium and astatine and radium, and gold and
protactinium and indium and gallium, and iodine and thorium and thulium and thallium
 
 

2 comments:

  1. Number 13 is my all-time favorite. I'm still hooked on Julie Andrews. I don´t care if she's now older (and uglier) than Whistler's Mother. She´s still the greatest to me.

    Too bad I can´t hear your selections.

    But thanks for the list anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Super blog and nice to read. I really liked your blog and would like to know more about the topic. Thank you for the post.

    ReplyDelete