Dr. Szlyk's Blog for ENGL 190: July 2008

This spring, in my EN 202 class, we talked about the relationship between song lyrics and poetry...the impulse to create a canon, um, I mean a list of "Best Songs Ever," and one academic's campaign to award Bob Dylan a Nobel Prize for Literature.

Blame it on Richard Thompson & his 1000 Years of Popular Music.

http://www.expressmilwaukee.com/article-748-from-medieval-madrigals-to-britney-spears.html

The list below is my husband (Ph.D., Indiana University)'s pop music canon...I mean...his 16 Best Songs Ever. As he is old enough to remember when John Lennon was alive (or who he is), his list may be different from yours. As he is younger than Richard Thompson, his list is also different from Mr. Thompson's.

Am not sure if these are in any particular order, but he is at work right now, so I won't check.

Number 1 is Anita O'Day and Roy Eldridge's "Let Me Off Uptown" Below are two different versions, both blurry as they are from the mid-20th century. Anita O'Day was that era's Amy Winehouse except that she survived and thrived until the age of 87.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoSAPaThWJE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQiFvTK-kNI

Here is a picture of her at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1958.

Next is Aretha Franklin's "Spirit in the Dark." Hooray for YouTube!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3SBJ57H4yY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UV_LH1VrMo

Below is a picture of Ms. Franklin singing a duet of this song with Ray Charles.

The Beatles come in third with "A Day in the Life" from the Sgt. Pepper Album.

http://www.last.fm/music/The+Beatles/_/A+Day+in+the+Life

Number four is Billie Holiday's "God Bless the Child." Like Ono no Komachi, Ms. Holiday figures in many plays. The actor in the second picture is Dawn P. Hope who looks a bit like Diana Ross in Lady Sings the Blues, a 1970s movie about Ms. Holiday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IYTx60s07A

http://www.last.fm/music/Billie+Holiday/_/God+Bless+the+Child

Song #5 is Bob Marley's "Redemption Song."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7pAvbjChQM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJHgMD1S0bg

Blossom Dearie follows at #6 with "A Fine Spring Morning." Hmmm...I wonder what my husband's favorite kind of music is!!

http://www.last.fm/music/Blossom+Dearie/_/A+Fine+Spring+Morning

Ella Fitzgerald's song (#7) is "How High the Moon." Her version of "Cottontail" is pretty awesome, too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXbXD2y_5ZY
http://www.last.fm/music/Ella+Fitzgerald/_/How+High+the+Moon

http://mp3vector.com/ella-fitzgerald/cottontail/download-mp3-track151966/

We zoom into the late 1970s with song #8--Elvis Costello's "Hand in Hand." The picture below dates from that era, too. I've seen Costello in concert recently, and he is very jovial looking.

http://www.last.fm/music/Elvis+Costello/_/Hand+in+Hand

Also from the 1970s...1974...to be exact is our #9 song...Joni Mitchell's "Same Situation."

http://artists.letssingit.com/joni-mitchell-lyrics-same-situation-z753j43

We zip back to the 1950s with King Pleasure's "Parker's Mood for Love" at #10.

http://www.last.fm/music/King+Pleasure/_/Parker's+Mood

King Pleasure is actually one man and not a band. However, I can't find a picture of him.

Here's "Cottontail" at #11. This isn't Ella's version; it's by Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross, a group from the late 1950s & early 1960s. Recently, I saw Jon Hendricks in concert. At 80+, he is still in good voice and can still fit into his WWII uniform.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3vf-XOAILw

Louis Armstrong appears at #12 with "Basin St. Blues." YouTube never ceases to amaze me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GuDExkBmnU

Would you believe that a very recent song has made it to #13? OK, it's Nellie McKay's "Ding Dong." Does she count? Take a listen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXYgziSxxt8

Ms. McKay is quite charming and quirky live.

The 1980s ring in with...Paul Simon's "Graceland" at #14.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtT7Og2LBbE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXgQtL3aEmQ

Ack! Another 1980s song at #15. But it's okay. It's "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" by The Talking Heads, a group that I wish that I had paid more attention to back in the day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68KLZCVFDQI