1. Tom Petty | Even The Losers
Supposedly partly written high on speed standing on a bridge throwing rocks at cars. When it was time to record the song Petty still had no chorus but with the record button pushed, just as the song opened up the words came to him: Even the losers get lucky sometimes – The anthem of my life.
2. Peter Bruntnell | By The Time My Head Gets To Phoenix
The son is sitting next to his dying father and the father says: By the time my head gets to Phoenix you'll be on your way to school. A brilliant pop song about not wanting to die, or more precisely about the scientific possibility of one day being able to come back to life.
3. Jackson Browne | Fountains Of Sorrow
One of the best lines ever written is I was taken by a photograph of you. I love the fact that, in one interpretation of that line, the picture takes a picture of the reality. Life becomes art and art becomes life. To me Fountains Of Sorrow is almost the role model of the perfect song.
4. Teenage Fanclub | Your Love Is The Place Where I Come From
The title says it all. Played at my wedding. A simple and beautiful song about the core of love. Taken from Teenage Fanclub's greatest album: Songs From Northern Britain.
5. Matthew Sweet | I'll Be Waiting
These days Sweet is mainly performing as one part of a duo with acoustic cover versions of classic pop songs. Tragically weightwise, even though he shares stage with the always stunning Susanne Hoffs, it is about the same total bandweight as back in the good old days. It may be drug related or due to sickness but Sweet is not as slim and not as good at writing perfect pop songs anymore. We can call it the Elvis Costello-effect but with much greater amplitude. I'll Be Waiting is from his classic 1991 Girlfriend cd.
6. The Byrds | Time Between
I love The Byrds. Great short pop songs with jangling guitars and simple yet pretty harmony vocals... What else could one ask for? Time Between is also the world’s first alternative country song.
7. Creedence Clearwater Revival | Who’ll Stop The Rain
Nobody should be allowed to make a mixtape and leave CCR out. Doing so is just plain ignorant and goes to show that you allow after-ski troubadours to be of greater importance than real musicians. Each and every CCR song is a masterpiece.
8. Ron Sexsmith | In A Flash
That's the one song that I really want played at my funeral. A song about the short life we live here and a tribute to those small meetings that makes up our lives.
9. The Lemonheads | The Outdoor Type
What's not to love about a song about someone who admits he has been lying about his skills as an outdoor person. A song that puts a smile on your face and also actually moves you.
10. The Smiths | There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
Predictable? Hell yeah! And if a double-decker bus crashes into us, to die by your side is such a heavenly way to die. And if a ten-ton truck kills the both of us, to die by your side, well, the pleasure - the privilege is mine. No further motivation needed.
