Top 5 Cover Songs That Are Better Than The Original Versions

Pretty self-explanatory; the topic came up when we were at a bar and someone said that "Crimson and Clover" by Joan Jett & The Blackhearts was the best cover song ever. A-haha.

Ryan's Top 5:

1. "Everybody's Talkin'" - Harry Nilsson - This is definitely one of my favorite songs of all-time, so you bet your ass it's my favorite cover song. Fred "Not Harry Nilsson" Neil apparently performed a version of this song that pre-dates this one. Go figure!

2. "All Along the Watchtower" - Jimi Hendrix - This is the quintessential example, for me; nothing wrong with the Dylan version, but the Hendrix rendition is iconic rock.

3. "I Fought the Law" - The Clash - Once again, I like older versions of the song, but The Clash definitely knows how to amp up the ass-kickery. I'm fairly sure The Clash could cover anything and I'd like it better.

4. "I Will Survive" - Cake - Cake does the song in their own particular styling. Notably, they amend this lyric: "I should have changed my fucking lock / I would have made you leave your key." See that? They added the word "fucking." Brilliant!

5. "Stand By Me" - John Lennon - This narrowly defeats Van Halen's cover of "You Really Got Me," which loses points because The Kinks are one of my favorite bands. Anyway, I guess it's not a given that this version is incredibly superior--if you're a big R&B fan--and I'm not--so in the end this wins. Also, I like John Lennon. A lot.

Dan's Top 5:

1. Aretha Franklin - Respect (orig. by Otis Redding) - This is the only instance I can think of where the song's meaning is essentially transformed. When Aretha sings it, her womanhood is an essential element of the song.

2. Johnny Cash - Hurt (orig. by Nine Inch Nails) - Easily the newest original on the list to be covered, and by a man who was a living legend. If the Man In Black wants to sing your song, you know it's good.

3. Cream - Crossroads (orig. "Cross Road Blues" by Robert Johnson) - OK, I haven't heard the original, but "Crossroads" is my favorite Cream song.

4. Jimi Hendrix - All Along The Watchtower (orig. by Bob Dylan) - While I agree almost 100% with Ryan's selections, I've allowed myself one overlapping listing. This is it, because Jimi rocked and Dylan's got plenty of other good songs. He can spare one.

5. The Dropkick Murphys - The Fields of Athenry (orig. recorded by Danny Doyle) - Gains the quality of being much more easily adapted to sports scenarios.

Honorable Mention: Van Halen - You Really Got Me (orig. by The Kinks), Gnarls Barkley - Reckoner (orig. by Radiohead) - only omitted because it's not been released, Joe Cocker - With A Little Help From My Friends (orig. by The Beatles), Creedence Clearwater Revival - Heard It Through the Grapevine (orig. by Gladys Knight and the Pips) - omitted because it's too damn long.

Tim's Top 5:

1. If Not For You – George Harrison - The slide guitar on If Not For You works so magically, I don’t even know how to explain it. I think this is one of the greatest love songs ever recorded, not that you’ll be able to tell from that recording. And as much as I love Bob Dylan, his version of his own song just doesn’t measure up. It sounds like he was borrowing some of Hendrix’s work from All Along the Watchtower and makes it a fluff pop song. Harrison’s recording is a sincere and plaintive cry, almost an elegy in advance. The fact that it also works so well on All Things Must Pass means it would be sacrilege to put any lower down the list.

2. Hard to Handle – Black Crowes – I am a fan of Otis Redding’s version, but it’s not even a close contest. The Black Crowes completely reinvent this song and make it sound completely current (both for 1990 and 2009) and I was in disbelief when I actually opened the liner notes of Shake Your Moneymaker and saw that Otis Redding wrote the song. It’s the quintessential Black Crowes song, the best on what is an absolutely phenomenal album, and this song works blissfully well with the country-tuned sounds that they bring to the table on the album.

3. Slut – Big Star* - I include it solely because it’s on a released album, the inaptly titled “Columbia – Big Star Live at Missouri University” album that is inaptly titled, since 1) it’s not really Big Star (hence the asterisk -- it’s the second iteration of Big Star -- Alex Chilton, Jody Stephens, and two members of the Posies (Auer/Stringfellow), since Chris Bell had died long before the “reunion” show), and 2) there is no such thing as Missouri University. Nice try. But it is a phenomenal performance overrun with exuberance that far outpaces the comparatively turgid and horribly produced Todd Rundgren original. A faster tempo and the less enunciated voice of Alex Chilton prove the key here. If I ever put together a band, there is absolutely no way we would not cover this song in the style Big Star does. “S-L-U-T…she may be a slut, but she looks good to me.”

4. Do Ya – Matthew Sweet – Another live cover, this one is documented on Live From 6A, a compilation CD of recordings from Late Night with Conan O’Brien. It’s the lone track on the album that wasn’t actually performed on the show; they did the track as the sound check before the show. It’s a song that’s uniquely Matthew Sweet, perfect for his voice and unassuming tone and captures the superb musicians that he always surrounded himself with for his albums and tours. ELO isn’t a great band, but they are made to create good covers (OK Go almost made the list for covering “Don’t Bring Me Down,” but it’s hard to say their version is definitively better than the original. No such problem here.)

5. I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better – Tom Petty – There’s nothing quite so ironic as getting on this list by covering a band who made their career by covering other people’s songs. But it worked for Tom Petty, who included this version of a Byrds hit on Full Moon Fever. The cleaner digital production is 99% of the reason that this song improves upon the Byrds song, which is one of their best. But the recording is dated, tinny, contains a heavy tambourine and sounds like a hit song played on an AM radio (unsurprisingly). Petty’s song is a much clearer recording and seems a note higher, matching the song more closely with its lyrics.

Honorable mention: 99 Problems – Jay-Z – I exclude this because it’s not really a cover, even though it takes its title and chorus from Ice-T’s cut of the same name. But if it were a cover…oh, it’s on the list; Harvey Danger – Save It For Later – Harvey Danger was way too good a one-hit wonder band to burn out as fast as they did; Draggin’ the Line – R.E.M. – this one-note performance is on the Austin Powers: the Spy Who Shagged Me soundtrack, and is easily the best thing about that horrific movie. Why more people don’t cover Tommy James songs is well beyond me. They’re a guaranteed success – Mony Mony and I Think We’re Alone Now were both hits for later artists, this song is awesome, and Crimson and Clover just begs to be covered (although apparently the Joan Jett fan Ryan mentioned already thinks that job's done); All Along the Watchtower – Jimi Hendrix; It Ain’t Me Babe – The Turtles, Quinn the Eskimo – Manfred Mann - I lump these in because they’re all Bob Dylan covers. Covering Bob Dylan is obvious, but only a few stick out as real successes. The Turtles capture a sardonic taunting tone to a song that Dylan left untouched, Hendrix simply created a new song, and Manfred Mann recorded a ludicrously catchy but still inexplicable song.

Top 5 Songs on the Top 5 Albums by Your Top 5 Artists

By far the most ambitious project we've undertaken on this blog, but for our 100th post, could you expect anything else? I'm going to assume for the sake of variety that all these lists are personal preferences, lest we get three instances of The Beatles at #1. Of course, if anyone else is trying to fool themselves by being be objective, then by all means.

Dan's Top 5:
I'm pretty satisfied with this list, having included less than ten songs out of 125 that I don't listen to regularly. I was really considering adding Bowie instead of Pink Floyd, but I had called Floyd my favorite for so long in high school, and Bowie is just too hard to whittle down to five albums.

1. Peter Gabriel




1. Peter Gabriel 3


1. Games Without Frontiers


2. I Don't Remember


3. Biko


4. No Self Control


5. Intruder


2. So


1. Sledgehammer


2. Red Rain


3. In Your Eyes


4. Big Time


5. That Voice Again


3. Peter Gabriel 4


1. Shock The Monkey


2. I Have The Touch


3. The Rhythm of the Heat


4. San Jacinto


5. Lay Your Hands On Me


4. Us


1. Secret World


2. Come Talk To Me


3. Digging In The Dirt


4. Blood of Eden


5. Kiss That Frog


5. Peter Gabriel


1. Solsbury Hill (my favorite song ever, and it's on one of his worst albums. Really, Up deserves to be here. But whatever.)


2. Moribund the Burgermeister


3. Modern Love


4. Down the Dolce Vita


5. Humdrum




2. Muse




1. Black Holes and Revelations


1. Invincible


2. Knights of Cydonia


3. Take A Bow


4. Starlight


5. Supermassive Black Hole


2. Absolution


1. Stockholm Syndrome


2. Butterflies And Hurricanes


3. Hysteria


4. Thoughts of a Dying Atheist


5. Falling Away With You


3. Origin of Symmetry


1. New Born


2. Plug In Baby


3. Bliss


4. Citizen Erased


5. Micro Cuts


4. H.A.A.R.P.


1. Knights of Cydonia (Live)


2. Butterflies And Hurricanes (Live)


3. Stockholm Syndrome (Live)


4. Hysteria (Live)


5. Invincible (Live)


5. Showbiz


1. Showbiz


2. Falling Down


3. Cave


4. Sober


5. Uno




3. Radiohead




1. The Bends


1. My Iron Lung


2. Fake Plastic Trees


3. Street Spirit (Fade Out)


4. Planet Telex


5. Just


2. OK Computer


1. No Surprises


2. Airbag


3. Paranoid Android


4. Karma Police


5. Climbing Up The Walls


3. Hail To The Thief


1. There There. (The Boney King of Nowhere.)


2. A Punchup at a Wedding. (No no no no no no no no.)


3. 2 + 2 = 5 (The Lukewarm.)


4. Where I End and You Begin. (The Sky is Falling In.)


5. Go to Sleep. (Little Man Being Erased.)


4. In Rainbows


1. Reckoner


2. Bodysnatchers


3. Videotape


4. House of Cards


5. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi


5. Kid A - it took me forever to warm up to this album


1. Optimistic


2. Everything In Its Right Place


3. Idioteque


4. The National Anthem


5. Morning Bell




4. Duran Duran




1. Rio


1. Hungry Like The Wolf


2. Rio


3. Save a Prayer


4. Hold Back The Rain


5. The Chauffeur


2. The Wedding Album


1. Ordinary World


2. Come Undone


3. Too Much Information


4. Breath After Breath


5. Love Voodoo


3. Duran Duran


1. Planet Earth


2. Girls on Film


3. Careless Memories


4. Night Boat


5. Anyone Out There


4. Red Carpet Massacre


1. Falling Down


2. Tricked Out


3. Skin Divers


4. Nite Runner


5. Red Carpet Massacre


5. Seven And The Ragged Tiger


1. The Reflex


2. The Union Of The Snake


3. New Moon On Monday


4. Of Crime and Passion (OK, I don't listen to these last two at all. But what am I going to do, say I like Medazzaland?)


5. The Seventh Stranger




5. Pink Floyd




1. The Dark Side of the Moon


1. Brain Damage


2. Eclipse


3. Time


4. Us And Them


5. Money


2. The Wall


1. Comfortably Numb


2. Run Like Hell


3. Nobody Home


4. Another Brick In The Wall, Part 2


5. Mother


3. Wish You Were Here


1. Wish You Were Here


2. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I - V)


3. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts VI - IX)


4. Have A Cigar


5. Welcome To The Machine


4. Animals


1. Sheep


2. Pigs (Three Different Ones)


3. Dogs


4. Pigs On The Wing (Part One)


5. Pigs On The Wing (Part Two)


5. Meddle


1. Echoes


2. One Of These Days


3. Fearless


4. A Pillow Of Winds


5. San Tropez (I hate this song, but I hate "Seamus" even more.)

Ryan's Top A Lot:

1. The Beatles
   




1. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
   


1. A Day in the Life (again this song pops up in the #1 spot, maybe it IS my favorite song of all-time, I just don't realize it...)
   


2. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
   


3. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
   


4. Getting Better
   


5. Good Morning Good Morning
   


2. Abbey Road
   


1. Here Comes the Sun
   


2. The End
   


3. I Want You (She's So Heavy)
   


4. Because
   


5. You Never Give Me Your Money (note: ranking these was very difficult, esp. due to my refusal to consider the medley one song...otherwise the medley should be anyone's #1) (other note: Mean Mr. Mustard sounds like it could actually be on Nilsson's "The Point!")
   


3. Magical Mystery Tour
   


1. I Am The Walrus
   


2. Strawberry Fields Forever
   


3. All You Need Is Love
   


4. Hello, Goodbye (my dad's favorite, incidentally)
   


5. Penny Lane
   


4. The Beatles (White Album)
   


1. Happiness is a Warm Gun
   


2. Helter Skelter
   


3. Dear Prudence (I freely admit I have problems ranking #s 2 and 3, see the White Album list and the Top 5 Beatles songs list)
   


4. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
   


5. Back in the U.S.S.R.
   


5. Revolver
   


1. Eleanor Rigby
   


2. Yellow Submarine
   


3. Taxman
   


4. Got To Get You Into My Life
   


5. And Your Bird Can Sing (whew--I don't know what I was expecting with this list, but it is definitely proving a lot more difficult than planned... If The Beatles was that hard, I worry about the projects to come...)
   


2. Harry Nilsson
   




1. The Point!
   


1. Me and My Arrow
   


2. Think About Your Troubles (note: so damn good)
   


3. Everything's Got 'Em
   


4. Poli High
   


5. Life Line
   


2. Aerial Ballet
   


1. Everybody's Talkin'
   


2. Good Old Desk (a personal favorite...oh, right, we're doing a list about this)
   


3. Don't Leave Me (excellent scat)
   


4. Daddy's Song
   


5. One (not really one of my favorite songs, but still good...see Coconut below...I originally ranked Nilsson Schmilsson above Aerial Ballet, until I realized this was simply not the case; anyway, I typed up the rant about Coconut before this rant. I'll stop now.)
   


3. Nilsson Schmilsson


1. The Moonbeam Song


2. Gotta Get Up


3. Without You (really overdone, but this song is still good, damn it)


4. Jump Into The Fire


5. Coconut (admittedly not my favorite Nilsson song, but still a good song...I've downgraded it to 5...this song mainly irritates me because whenever you do a search for Nilsson, anywhere--google, limewire, etc.--this is the first song to pop up. I mean, Nilsson had so many better songs than this one. Meh, whatever.)


4. Harry


1. I Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City
   


2. The Puppy Song
   


3. Mother Nature's Son (per wiki, this was the Beatles' favorite cover of one of their songs)
   


4. Mr. Bojangles
   


5. Nobody Cares About The Railroads Anymore
   


5. Pandemonium Shadow Show
   


1. 1941
   


2. Sleep Late, My Lady Friend
   


3. Without Her
   


4. Cuddly Toy (hmm, here's some random Nilsson song titles: cuddly toy, the puppy song, good old desk, the moonbeam song...in many ways he appeals to the 4-year-old in me)
   


5. You Can't Do That
   




3. Ben Folds/Five (nuts to you if you think this is cheating)
   




1. Whatever and Ever Amen
   


1. Brick
   


2. One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces
   


3. Evaporated


4. The Battle Of Who Could Care Less
   


5. Kate
   


2. Ben Folds Five
   


1. Alice Childress
   


2. Philosophy
   


3. Jackson Cannery
   


4. Boxing


5. Julianne
   


3. Rockin' the Suburbs
   


1. Still Fighting It
   


2. Not The Same
   


3. The Luckiest
   


4. Zak and Sara
   


5. Annie Waits
   


4. Naked Baby Photos (this is a compilation CD of previously unreleased tracks, but it has my two favorite BFF songs on it, so I have to include it...see #s 1-2)
   


1. Eddie Walker
   


2. Emaline
   


3. Underground (the best version of it)
   


4. For Those Of Y'All Who Wear Fanny Packs
   


5. Twin Falls
   


5. Songs for Silverman
   


1. Landed
   


2. Time
   


3. Prison Food
   


4. Bastard
   


5. Late (the first of two tributes to Elliot Smith to appear on this list...see BDB below)
   




4. Badly Drawn Boy
   




1. One Plus One Is One
   


1. Four Leaf Clover
   


2. Year of the Rat
   


3. Fewer Words (the other tribute to E.S.)
   


4. Logic Of A Friend
   


5. One Plus One Is One
   


2. About A Boy
   


1. Something To Talk About
   


2. A Minor Incident
   


3. Silent Sigh
   


4. I Love N.Y.E.
   


5. Donna and Blitzen
   


3. The Hour of the Bewilderbeast
   


1. The Shining
   


2. Disillusion
   


3. Once Around The Block
   


4. Pissing In The Wind
   


5. Everybody's Stalking (this song does not sound like a BDB song)
   


4. Born in the U.K.
   


1. Born in the U.K.
   


2. The Time of Times
   


3. Journey from A to B
   


4. Degrees of Separation
   


5. Promises
   


5. Have You Fed The Fish?
   


1. You Were Right
   


2. Born Again
   


3. Have You Fed The Fish?
   


4. All Possibilities
   


5. The Further I Slide
   




5. John Lennon (solo career)
   




1. Imagine
   


1. Imagine
   


2. Oh Yoko!
   


3. Jealous Guy
   


4. How Do You Sleep? (or, "Suck it McCartney!")
   


5. Oh My Love
   


2. John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
   


1. God
   


2. Working Class Hero (he says "fuck" twice. Cool.)
   


3. Mother
   


4. Isolation (hey, according to wiki, this is one of Roger Waters' favorite songs of all-time)
   


5. Remember (man this song takes me back to my Lennon obsession in high school)
   


3. Mind Games
   


1. Meat City
   


2. Mind Games (as sung by Kevin Spacey.) (maybe not.)
   


3. Tight A$
   


4. Aisumasen (I'm Sorry)
   


5. Bring on the Lucie (Freeda People)
   


4. Double Fantasy
   


1. Watching the Wheels
   


2. (Just Like) Starting Over
   


3. Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy) (has "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans" in it)
   


4. Woman
   


5. I'm Losing You
   


5. Rock 'n' Roll
   


1. Stand By Me
   


2. Be-Bop-A-Lula
   


3. Rip It Up/Ready Teddy
   


4. Ain't That A Shame
   


5. Peggy Sue
   

Tim's Top 5:

Given that the formatting would take forever, in part because I'm down to typing with six fingers and because it's blurring lines together, I'm forsaking it for now.

I. The Beatles –

A. Abbey Road
1. Polythene Pam
2. Something
3. Here Comes The Sun
4. You Never Give Me Your Money
5. Golden Slumbers

B. Revolver
1. Taxman
2. Tomorrow Never Knows
3. She Said She Said
4. Eleanor Rigby
5. Got to Get You Into My Life

C. Rubber Soul
1. Run For Your Life
2. In My Life
3. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
4. You Won’t See Me
5. The Word

D. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
1. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (reprise)
2. A Day in the Life
3. Lovely Rita
4. Getting Better
5. Good Morning Good Morning

E. A Hard Day’s Night
1. Things We Said Today
2. Can’t Buy Me Love
3. A Hard Day’s Night
4. You Can’t Do That
5. If I Fell

II. Pearl Jam –

A. Yield
1. Faithful
2. Wish List
3. In Hiding
4. Given To Fly
5. Brain of J.

B. Vs.
1. Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town
2. Rearviewmirror
3. Glorified G
4. Daughter
5. Animal

C. Riot Act
1. Save You
2. Love Boat Captain
3. I Am Mine
4. Thumbing My Way
5. Can’t Keep

D. Vitalogy
1. Corduroy
2. Not For You
3. Spin the Black Circle
4. Last Exit
5. Immortality

E. Pearl Jam
1. Life Wasted
2. Gone
3. World Wide Suicide
4. Come Back
5. Severed Hand

III. Bruce Springsteen –

A. Born to Run
1. Thunder Road
2. Born to Run
3. Backstreets
4. Jungleland
5. Tenth Avenue Freeze Out

B. The Rising
1. Lonesome Day
2. The Rising
3. Worlds Apart
4. Into the Fire
5. Mary’s Place

C. Darkness on the Edge of Town
1. The Promised Land
2. Darkness on the Edge of Town
3. Prove It All Night
4. Badlands
5. Adam Raised a Cain

D. Born In The U.S.A.
1. No Surrender
2. Darlington County
3. My Hometown
4. Bobby Jean
5. Glory Days

E. The River
1. The Ties That Bind
2. Independence Day
3. The River
4. You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)
5. Out in the Street

IV. Elliott Smith

A. Figure 8
1. Stupidity Tries
2. Son of Sam
3. Everything Reminds Me Of Her
4. Pretty Mary K
5. Junk Bond Trader

B. Either/Or
1. Ballad of Big Nothing
2. Pictures of Me
3. Speed Trials
4. Between the Bars
5. Alameda

C. XO
1. Waltz #2 (XO)
2. Bled White
3. Independence Day
4. Baby Britain
5. Bottle Up and Explode!

D. From A Basement on a Hill
1. Pretty (Ugly Before)
2. Coast to Coast
3. A Distorted Reality Is Now A Necessity To Be Free
4. A Fond Farewell
5. Shooting Star

E. Roman Candle
1. No Name #1
2. Condor Ave.
3. No Name #3
4. Roman Candle
5. Last Call

V. Guided by Voices

A. Mag Earwhig!
1. I Am A Tree
2. Jane of the Waking Universe
3. Portable Men’s Society
4. Can’t Hear the Revolution
5. Bulldog Skin

B. Isolation Drills
1. The Brides Have Hit Glass
2. Fair Touching
3. Twilight Campfighter
4. Skills Like This
5. Chasing Heather Crazy

C. Bee Thousand
1. Tractor Rape Chain
2. Echos Myron
3. Smothered in Hugs
4. I Am A Scientist
5. Gold Star For Robot Boy

D. Alien Lanes
1. Game of Pricks
2. Watch Me Jumpstart
3. A Salty Salute
4. Blimps Go 90
5. My Valuable Hunting Knife

E. Under the Bushes Under the Stars
1.Cut Out Witch
2. Don’t Stop Now
3. The Official Ironman Rallying Song
4. Underwater Explosions
5. Your Name Is Wild

Top 5 Songs with State Names (or Similar Approximations) in Their Titles (East of the Mississippi River Edition):

Tim's Top 5:

1. Simon and Garfunkel – The Only Living Boy in New York – Ok, its association with the movie Garden State does take some joy from the song, since it’s lost all its obscurity value to people of my generation, but it's a very beautiful song that captures simultaneous youthful optimism and bitter sorrow.

2. Crosby Stills Nash & Young – Ohio - In my opinion, it’s hands-down the best song CSNY ever did, and it captures both sides of Neil Young really well, while having bitter and cutting lyrics about the inexplicable murder of four Kent State students by the Ohio National Guard.

3. The Strokes – New York City Cops – The best track off an album I’d never been all that into was left by the wayside when September 11 made it inappropriate to write a song about how New York City cops ain’t too smart. There’s not much to the song, and one could make an argument for leaving it off an album in any event…at least until they listened to it.

4. Elliott Smith – Georgia, Georgia – It’s a shame that New Moon was released only after I’d transferred all my music listening onto the shoddy IPod dock in my office, because Elliott Smith just doesn’t work on the system, because he’s ambient in and of himself. So I’m only discovering this song as a matter of research, but it warrants mention. The frantic pace and clear guitar work (you can practically hear his fingers on the guitar) would have made it a superb inclusion on Either/Or.

5. Rolling Stones – Sweet Virginia – It’s one of the more intriguing tracks on Exile on Main Street, which makes it emphatically worth including in this list. They do a good job in producing this to remove Mick Jagger’s from the rest of the track by a good distance, but the chorus really captures a Let It Be sort of feel of the Rolling Stones just being in a studio and working something out live. It sounds a lot like Springsteen’s work on The Seeger Sessions – very authentic. I really don’t listen to Exile nearly enough.


Honorable mention: R.E.M. – Leaving New York – It’s really literal, I know, but I’m okay with being the only person in the world who likes this song; Arrested Development – Tennessee; Countless artists, including Chuck Berry and The Beatles – Memphis, Tennessee; Neil Diamond – Kentucky Woman – yes, I like Neil Diamond.; The Jayhawks- Somewhere in Ohio

Ryan's Top Five

1. "I Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City" - Harry Nilsson - This is probably one of Nilsson's best, and one of his first hits from 1969. Incidentally, it's one of my favorites and it exemplifies what Nilsson's so great at: simple, happy pop songs done to perfection. (See: Me And My Arrow, The Puppy Song, Good Old Desk, The Town, Poli High, Down To The Valley, etc. etc. etc. etc.) Marry the cheeriness and simplicity of the song with Nilsson's vocals and you have a perfect pop song.

2. "Come On! Feel The Illinoise!" - Sufjan Stevens - One of the best songs, and maybe the best song, from one of the best and most complete albums of this decade. Sufjan uses a wide array of instruments and here crafts another cheery song with poignant lyrics that belie its happier exterior. "I cried...myself...to sleeeep last night..." Man, I love this song.

3. "Piazza, New York Catcher" - Belle and Sebastian - Here's a textbook band that I should be more into than, regrettably, I am (or rather, have tried to be). In any event, I love this track.

4. "Mississippi Queen" - Mountain - A great hard rock/proto-metal song from the 70's. Gains bonus points for its association with the Homerpalooza episode of The Simpsons.

5. "Tennessee" - Arrested Development - This was probably my favorite song of 1992, when I was 9. Arrested Development in 1992 could do anything, I'd dig it. A great song from a great album.

Dan's Top 5:

Wow, there's a lot of Georgia in here.

1. Ray Charles – "Georgia on My Mind" – Ray Charles' first #1 song, and for good reason. Forget that it became the state song of Georgia in 1979, or that Ray Charles didn't even write it. Sometimes, certain recordings become immortal. I even included this on one of my mix CDs, which was otherwise populated by rock tracks. Should be noted that it ranks #44 in Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.

2. Frank Sinatra – "New York, New York" – Sure, this song may be a bit cliché, but for me, it's synonymous with the character that's unique to the city. I don't know about anyone else's opinion, but I always enjoy going to New York. Also the only Sinatra song I really like.

3. Brother Bones and His Shadows – "Sweet Georgia Brown" – Harlem fucking Globetrotters. I rest my case.

4. Charlie Daniels Band – "The Devil Went Down To Georgia" – It's rare that a song tells a story this complete. Gains massive points for being a Southern Rock song that's actually known by people who aren't Southern Rock fans (which is because most Southern Rock sucks.) But at the same time, it loses points because, as many people agree, the Devil's band actually rocks harder than Johnny's "winning" performance.

5. Brian and Stewie – "Road to Rhode Island" – I decided to include this song for a number of reasons. First, it reminds us of a time when Family Guy didn't suck ass, or at least not nearly to the degree it does today. Second, it's a decent parody of the classic Hope and Crosby numbers, lest they be forgotten. Third, it makes fun of Rhode Island, and successfully ("like a group of college freshmen who were rejected by Harvard and forced to go to Brown.")

Top 5 Songs With Animal References in the Title

In continuation with our ongoing theme of musical titles... songs with references to animals in the title. Must actually be the name of a general animal, and not a proper name (e.g. if someone were to write a song called "Free Willy," it would not be accepted. Thank god no one has, though.)

Dan's Top 5:

1. The Beatles - Blackbird - Probably one of the best acoustic ditties ever.

2. Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf - The best pop song I've ever heard, hands down.

3. Peter Gabriel - Shock the Monkey - One of my other favorite pop songs ever, it gets more and more points because Peter says "monkey" so many times.

4. The Pixies - Monkey Gone To Heaven - I don't know why, but I really like this one. It also pays to show you like something by the Pixies besides "Where is My Mind?"

5. Cake - Sheep Go To Heaven, Goats Go To Hell - I like the metaphor in this one, as it's effective, yet straightforward enough that any idiot can work it out.

Ryan's Top Five

Some prefacing is in order. You really could do a Top 5 with only Beatles songs and be pretty fine. That said, that would be a bit boring, and there's loads of other worthy songs. Once again, the "honorable mentions" for this list are aptly named.

1. Badly Drawn Boy - Year of the Rat - I don't want to oversell Badly Drawn Boy, but I'll do so anyway: he is a musical genius. This is one of his best; he re-energizes a definitively tired theme--this is, basically, a peace-is-the-answer song that even features a children's chorus. And yet, this song still kicks ass, and manages to sound completely original. His instrumentation is amazing.

2. The Beatles - I Am The Walrus - Even in a list that avoids a lot of Beatles classics, this one deserves special mention. One of those "epic" songs that The Beatles excelled at (A Day In The Life comes to mind). Earns bonus points because Lennon wrote some lyrics intentionally to mess with the minds of English teachers, which is the musical equivalent of Edgerrin James telling a reporter, "You know, I had to score that last touchdown, for the fantasy players."

3. Harry Nilsson - The Puppy Song - A lovely pop song that not everyone has heard. Comes with standard feel-good lyrics, but not too-feel-good--basically, the lyrical attitude that characterized most of Nilsson's masterful career. "I'd take my puppy anywhere / La la la la, I wouldn't care / And we would stay away from crowds / And signs that said 'No Dogs Allowed.'" He repeats this first verse in the second and subs 'friend' for 'puppy.' Did I mention I love Harry Nilsson?

4. The Who - Boris the Spider - One of my favorite The Who songs. Try listening to it and not having "Creeepy, craaawly, creepy, crawly, creepy-creepy crawly-crawly creepy-creepy crawly-crawly..." in your head for the rest of the week.

5. Cake - Sheep Go To Heaven - "Goats go to hell." What can I say, I love Cake, and this is one of their best, maybe their best.

Honorable mentions: The Beatles - Hey Bulldog, Octopus's Garden, Blackbird, Rocky Raccoon, Blue Jay Way, And Your Bird Can Sing (almost made it), Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown), Duran Duran - Hungry Like The Wolf (also almost made it), John Lennon - Cold Turkey (the guitar in this is awesome), Led Zeppelin - Black Dog, Rage Against The Machine - Bulls on Parade.

Tim's Top 5:
A very underrepresented animal tops my list...

1. Cobra Starship - Snakes on a Plane (Bring It) - When I hear this song, I remember the sheer mania that surrounded SoaP in my own mind and apparently in the minds of only a handful of other people when it came to actually seeing the movie. It's the ideal soundtrack song, it's memorable enough to be played on the radio, but it also is so ridiculously transparent that you can't help but think of the movie it's associated with. The rest of Cobra Starship's work is pretty middling to poor, but for one brief moment they got it right...and it'll never be August 18, 2006 anywhere else but in my heart.

2. I Am a Walrus - The Beatles - For many years, this was my favorite song. Now, it's at best my third favorite Beatles song (Rain and It's All Too Much are both superior to me now), but it's still a great one. I've still yet to see Magical Mystery Tour, and I'm not sure how I ever reached such a fate.

3. Three Little Birds - Bob Marley - Don't get me wrong, my reggae phase began and ended in the era of Big Mountain (real reggae band) and Inner Circle (not a real reggae band), but Bob Marley is an intriguing musician if you can get into him for reasons other than your frat brother's poster/your interest in smoking pot and needing to find a kindred spirit in this oh-so-rare desire and are unable to meet any living human beings.

4. Blackbird - The Beatles - For some reason, I keep buying Paul McCartney live albums, as if he was in some way getting better as a musician. Most of the songs sound mediocre at best, but Blackbird is still a masterpiece. It is extremely simple, but it's flawless.

5. Bulldog Skin - Guided by Voices - This spot was handed to Norwegian Wood, but I think the Beatles need to be displaced here. Bulldog Skin was one of the closest things Guided by Voices ever had to a hit, since it had a video that was played on MTV during 120 minutes -- the one time I saw it, it was immediately followed by Paranoid Android. But it was from their greatest album, one that's instantly overlooked because it bridged a period between the lo-fi they're really known for and the move to TVT records with Do the Collapse that offered the world Teenage FBI and little else.

Honorable mention: Hey Bulldog, And Your Bird Can Sing, Everybody’s Got Something to Hide But Me and My Monkey - The Beatles; Bird in a Cage – Old 97’s
Slow Cheetah – Red Hot Chili Peppers; Red Dragon Tattoo – Fountains of Wayne; Eagle Eye – Heatmiser; Red Mosquito – Pearl Jam; Sheep Go to Heaven - Cake

Tory's Top Five

1. Beatles - Rocky Raccoon - This makes the number one as it is by the beatles so it is deserved, as well as being my overall favorite song by the beatles. Yet it is one song that we do not have on our iTunes.

2. Elvis - Hound Dog - I don't know why this wasn't even honorably mentioned by anyone. It is definitely a trademark song of Elvis' and may be his most famous. It's at least also in the top 5 Elvis songs in addition to this list.

3. Flight of the Conchords - Albi the Racist Dragon - A dragon is an animal, let's not forget.

4. Pink Floyd - Sheep - This song is so bad ass. It goes through so many tempo changes and singing styles. When it hits "Did you hear, the dogs are dead" it is so utterly sweet.

5. Culture Club - Karma Chameleon - How did you guys miss this awesome eighties staple.

Honorable Mentions: Once again there are a lot of these. Ben Folds - Rock this Bitch (not necissarily a reference to the animal;) Bright Eyes - Down in a Rabbit Hole and Stray Dog Freedom, they didn't make it as they are not my favorite of Bright Eyes, despite his spot as favorite artist; Primus - Tommy the Cat and Fish On, Sailing the Seas of Cheese was an incredibly album; Damien Rice - Elephant, as with Bright Eyes its not one of my favorite songs by Rice; Pink Floyd - When The Tigers Broke Free, this also isn't a reference to the animal, but to tanks, but the name of the tanks are a reference to the animal, so it could've worked; Samuel L. Jackson - Black Snake Moan, amazing but not his original song and its from a movie and so on; Blink 182 - Mutt (see Ryan's upcoming guilty pleasure list.)