Some of my favorite songs

These are songs I can listen to over and over without tiring. And have.

The King is Half-Undressed

"She dots her i's with a smiley face
A work of art in all but taste
The fool deserves the bed he's made
Where idiots slumber"

Ah, Jellyfish. Only two albums did they produce before Roger Manning and Andy Sturmer started disliking each other, but, boy, were they good! I'm not exactly sure what the song means, but the lyrics are neat and the drums incredible. Sturmer was the drummer and the lead singer, too...how cool is that?

Our Lips Are Sealed

"Careless talk through paper walls
We can't stop them, only laugh at them
Spreading rumors, so far from true
Dragged up from the underworld just like some precious pearl"

Written by Jane Wiedlin and Terry Hall during their ten-minute love affair and originally recorded by the Go-Go's, this song is great no matter who covers it. Good bass line, singable melody and, in the original at least, you have Jane's pixie-ish bridge vocals. Love. Her.

Troy

"I remember it
Dublin in a rainstorm
Sitting in the long grass in the summer
Keeping warm"

Sinead O'Connor may be many things, but talentless she ain't. This song is both sad and screamy, and she makes both extremes work just fine. She's like that.

Closer to Fine

"I went to see the doctor of philosophy
With a poster of Rasputin and a beard down to his knee
He never did marry or see a B-grade movie
He graded my performance, he said he could see through me
I spent four years prostrate to the higher mind
Got my paper and I was free"

The Indigo Girls are liberalism made flesh and given guitars, and this song is liberalism to music. Still, it's got winsome lyrics and a nice rhythm, and of course Amy and Emily are vocalists without peer.

Revolution Earth

"While the wide arc of the globe is turning
We feel it moving through the dark
Hear the hills scrape the sky
And our eyes fill with the falling sparks"

The B-52's are pretty good at writing songs about nothing (see Hot Pants Explosion), but although this one doesn't exactly tell a story it paints a picture so vivid that I can't help but be transported. They recorded this one without Cindy Wilson, and although Kate Pierson does a fantastic job solo, I wish CW had been involved.

Are You Happy Now?

"I smashed the pumpkin on the floor
Candles flicker at my feet
As goblins flew across the moon
And children peered into the room
A cowboy shivered on the porch
Cinderella checked her watch
A hobo waited in the street
And an angel whispered, 'Trick or treat' "

This is an entry in the (presumably tiny) category of Halloween break-up songs. Richard Shindell gets all of the emotions involved in a parting of the ways just right, and even laments that his departed lover took the damned Halloween candy with her too. Bitch.

Sister Catherine Claire

"Her candy jar was always stocked
Her holy card collection rocked
She had the really gory ones
Like Vincent lanced and Stephen stoned"

Oh how I adore this one! This song really encapsulates Deirdre Flint's music: funny, accessible, and poignant. I defy your heart not to lift a little when "they declare Pope Catherine."

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No favorite lyric today. You just had seven!