Top hundred-or-so songs from along the wayside

This list is a non-random list of the 100 'or so' best songs I've heard.
Some are pieces of music, others are rants, but have sliced in through the filters to the core of my being and, like all input, partly become a part of what I am.

Forgive my disrespect for a decimal system too, but I have included well over 100 in my Top 100. And why not?

There are no duds here, but taste makes clowns of us all and they vary from EDM to Ska hits to Ambient, Indie, Prog, Punk, New Wave, Opera, Medieval, Folk, Jazz and more, so just leave the genres you don't like.

Here goes:

A Visit to Newport Hospital - Egg (ignore the couple-of-minutes intro)
I'm ahead if I can quit while I'm behind (live) - Brinzley Schwarz (from Greasy Truckers Party)
Oh Yeah - Can
Slightly All the time - Soft Machine
Too Girly Girly - Sophie George
Days - Television
Birdland - Patti Smith
I Say A Little Prayer - Aretha
Then - Diana Ross, the Supremes & the Temptations
Passionate Friend - Teardrop Explodes
Telegraph - OMD
Stanlow - OMD
Monkey Pilot - Comsat Angels
Journey Through athe Past - Neil Young
Pocahontas - Neil Young
Ohio - Buffalo Springfield/CSN&Y
I'm not like everybody Else - Kinks
It's too late baby - Carole King
Linden Arden Stole the highlights - Van Morrison
Country Fair - Van
Astral Weeks - Van
Madam George - Van
Purple Heather - Van
The club isn't open - East River Pipe (ERP)
Take Back the Days - ERP
Life is born today - ERP
Waltz of the new moon - Incredible String Band (ISB)
Nightfall (ISB)
Invocation - ISB
October Song - ISB / Clare
The Way They Murdered Me - Piskie
Cold Harbour - Robin Williamson
Woodstock - Matthews Southern Comfort
Something in the Air - Thunderclap Newman
Sounds of the Suburbs - Members
Violence Grows - Fatal Microbes
Enough is Enough - Chumbawumba
Bad Dog - Chumbawumba
40 Mark Strasse - Shins
When i Goose-Step - Shins
Pink Bullets - Shins
Night Nurse - Gregory Isaacs
Love of the Common People - Nicky Thomas
Young, Gifted and Black - Bob & Marcia
Past and The Pending - Shins
Supper's Ready - Genesis
Witches Promise - Jethro Tull
Waterloo Sunset - Kinks
Everything Merges With The Night - Eno
Radioactivity - Kraftwerk
Spoon - Can
Ballet Statique - Conrad Schnitzler
Rock n Roll Friend - Go Betweens
Bewley Brothers - Bowie/Piskie
Your Song - Elton John
Hibou, Anenomie & Bear - Soft Machine
Winter Wine - Caravan
Long piece number 3 part 2 - Egg
Knot Comes Loose - MMJ
Evening Over Rooftops - Edgar Broughton Band
Doctor Wu - Steely Dan
Any World That I'm Welcome To - Steely Dan
Transient - Orbital
Remember A Day - Pink Floyd
At last I'm Free - Robert Wyatt
Set the controls for the heart of the sun - Pink Floyd (Ummagumma)
Milk and Honey - Sandy Denny
Ain't got no body to depend on - Santana
Two Sisters - Shakti (about Isis & Nepthys)
Face to Face - Shakti
Wendell Gee - REM
Find The River - REM
Rockville - REM
French Disko - Stereolab
Codex: Cantigas des Amigo #2 - Mandad ei Amigo - Stevie Wishart
De moi doleros vos chant -
On the beach - Neil Young
Get Another Plan - Abstract Truth
You can do it baby - Nuyorcian Soul
Working for Vacation - Cibo Matto
SciFi Wasabi - Cibo Matto
Onion Song - Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell
Abraham, Martin & John - Marvin Gaye
Foreign Accents - Robert Wyatt
Detlef Schrempf - Band of Horses
Mushroom - Can
Sloop John B - Beach Boys
Back to the old house - Smiths/Morrissey
Everyday is like Sunday - morrissey
Everybody wants to rule the world - Tears for Fears
Enjoy the Silence - Depeche Mode
Eberhard Weber - Seriously Deep
Lammas - Robin Williamson (accoustic version)
The Fair - Robin Williamson
Crazy Man Michael - Fairport
Dulciter Somni - Johann Agebjorn
Ten days of blue - John Beltran
Hello, It's Me - John Cale & Lou Reed
Walk on the wild side - Lou Reed
Cloudbusting - Kate Bush
Nervous System - Killing Joke
What time is love? - KLF
3am eternal - KLF
Church of the KLF - KLF
Forgiven - Kurt Ralske
Requiem For Dying Mothers part 1 - Stars of The Lid
Panic On - Madder Rose (amazing song)
Marig ar pollantan - Alan Stivell
Jenovefa - Alan Stivell
La Fille Aux Cheveux De Lin - Debussy's first book of preludes,
Arturo benedetti michaelaneli
Homage a Rameau - Debussy Images, also played by Michaelangeli
Bon iver - RE: Stacks
Bronski Beat - Smalltown Boy
Burning Spear - Columbus
Father & Son - Cat Stevens
Hold Your Head Up - long version (6.20) - Argent
Our World Is Their Heaven - Avrocar
Someday Never Comes - Creedence
The Winner Takes It All - Abba
According to no Plan - Broadcast
Can't Be Sure - Sundays
Suzanne - Leonard Cohen
Last year's man - Leonard Cohen
Golden Days - Mario Lanza (My Mum's favourite song)


Some of these have sentimental value, it's true, but I am happy to attest they are all worthy of a person's precious time.
It occurred to me on the bus one day, when an Aretha song came on the radio, that music brings people together, and touches some part of us that no other art form achieves. It did on that bus. A couple of girls reacted and one was moving her arms in rhythm. Suddenly, people of all ages in that carriage started smiling and talking to their friends : do you remember this one?
For this reason, I think  the pursuit of musical beauty is a high calling, and one worthy of a lifetime's striving. Somehow, I wish I could thank the people who made the records above. They added layers of meaning to my inner world I am still unable to express, but that enrich me every day.


DU 4.5.18