Top 5 Songs with Colors in the Title

This needs no explanation, but it is good to know that Ryan and I can still come up with list ideas while he's on the phone driving cross-country. (It's also good to know where his priorities lie.)

Dan's Top 5:

1. "Golden Brown" - The Stranglers - The Stranglers released their first album in 1977 and were originally considered a punk group. I mean, just listen to "Peaches" and you'll wonder how they ever came up with a song this chill and... acoustic. On the other hand, the song is about heroin. To quote Wikipedia: "Many buyers were seemingly unaware of the meaning of the lyrics, which contain metaphorical references to heroin. This may have been further confused by different band members claiming that the song was about desertification, imperialism and as said in a recent interview, 'toast'."

2. "Little Red Corvette" - Prince - I don't know how you guys feel about Prince. Actually, let me rephrase that. I don't care how you guys feel about Prince. To me, this is probably the song that epitomizes the 80's. Any imagery that this song elicits has to take place at night, preferably in a big, extra-materialistic city.

3. "White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)" - Grandmaster Flash and Mellie Mel - This is probably the only song in the history of ever that is both (a) blatantly advocating against drug use and (b) cool as all hell.

4. "Yellow Submarine" - The Beatles - "In the TOOOOOOOWWWWWN..." You hear those words emanating from master vocalist Ringo Starr, and you know it's time to grab hands and sit Indian-style on the floor and sing along. It's by far the best children's song for that's also listenable for adults. Also evidence that the Beatles were taking drugs. Not because of the lyrics, but because they let Ringo sing.*

5. "Black Bugs" - Regurgitator - I'm guessing that everyone who's reading this hasn't heard this song before. So here's a Youtube video link. Though it was made in 1997 and the band is an obscure Aussie alternative group, it kicks ass. It's very New Wave, or so it seems to me, with the synthesizer and punchy bass line. Or maybe I can't get over the last list we did. Anyway, the song is about wasting your life playing video games. I can both relate, as I do play video games on occasion, and rejoice, as I don't devote my life to them.

Honorable mention: "Yellow" - Coldplay, "O Green World" - Gorillaz, "Back In Black" - AC/DC, "Black Magic Woman" - Santana, "Red Dust" - Zero 7 (I really, really wanted to put this on the list), "Red House" - Jimi Hendrix, "Red Rain" - Peter Gabriel, "Orange Crush" - R.E.M., "White Light/White Heat" - The Velvet Underground (Already on one of Rob's Top 5's), "Behind Blue Eyes" - The Who, "Blue" - Yoko Kanno, "Mr. Blue Sky" - Electric Light Orchestra

* - joke stolen from Bill Hicks.

Ryan's Top 5:

"Golden Brown" and "White Lines"...well played sir. I'll go with five different ones, but these would probably make my list.

1. "The Village Green Preservation Society" - The Kinks - If there was a better poem crafted last century, I haven't heard of it. "We are the Sherlock Holmes English-speaking vernacular / Help save Fu Manchu, Moriarty and Dracula!" You try rhyming 'vernacular,' gun-slinger. This could be the song that inspired 1,000 fantasy baseball team names...if any of them fit the length. Believe me, I've tried.

2. "Mr. Blue Sky" - ELO - This for me is an ultimate Happy Song, as evidenced by the fact that I put it on my renowned "Graduation Joy" CD. Brilliance.

3. "White Light/White Heat" - The Velvet Underground - This is also one of the best Side A Track 1's, along with "Radiation Ruling the Nation" by Massive Attack. Cough. Ironically, I may be the only person who prefers "Who loves the Sun?" (one of my all-time favorite songs), which was also a Side A Track 1--and in "High Fidelity."

4. "White Riot" - The Clash - This would have been a pretty cool concert.

5. "Paint It, Black" - The Rolling Stones - In retrospect, seeing songs 3-5 behind song #2 seems a bit odd... Fortunately for ELO I am a lazy, lazy man. Anyway, this song deserves all the accolades it can get, but I'll add one: it's the only song on "Singstar Rocks!" that I am good at. (Actually, is that an accolade?)

Honorables: "Golden Brown" by The Stranglers, "White Lines (Don't Do It)," "Supermassive Black Hole" by Muse, "White Room" by Cream, "Golden Years" by David Bowie, "Purple Haze" by Jimi Hendrix Experience, and any number of songs I am probably forgetting.

Tim's Top 5:

I had initially had five different colors in my list. Screw that.

1. Bob Dylan - Tangled Up In Blue - It's one of my favorite songs ever, I've discussed it before, I have little to add except that the word blue definitely fits this category.

2. Muse - Supermassive Black Hole - Yeah, I love this song too much for words. It's one of the few songs I have to blare. The music is fantastic and begs to be played at supermassive volumes and the lyrics also demand to be belted in the car.

3. Rolling Stones - Paint It, Black - It's one of my favorite tracks on Guitar Hero III, it's a song that has a title involving a comma, it's a perfect track for the Full Metal Jacket soundtrack, and aside from possibly the electric version of Layla, I can think of no song that more accurately defines and somehow personifies classic rock.

4. CCR - Green River - This is one of the songs that defines CCR, and frankly, it defines CCR as amazing. It's no "Fortunate Son", but that's about the only problem I have with it. It masters that down-home country feel that made CCR so readily accessible to people who aren't generally into rock.

5. The Cyrkle - Red Rubber Ball - It's one of my favorite 60s pop songs ever, even though it's embarrassingly simple and pretty juvenile. This wards "Pink Moon" off the list only because Red Rubber Ball is at least a bit semi-respectable because it's co-written by Paul Simon.

Honorable mention: Pearl Jam - Yellow Ledbetter - a non-album track that somehow still became a recognized song for alternative radio. I think it's better than anything that made the Ten album and I have a hard time believing it came from the same era of Pearl Jam; The Jayhawks - Blue, if I hadn't adopted the different color thing, this is #4 on the list.; Nick Drake - Pink Moon, George Baker Selection - Little Green Bag, R.E.M. - Orange Crush, Jimi Hendrix - Purple Haze, The Who - Behind Blue Eyes; Fountains of Wayne - Red Dragon Tattoo