Help Me Find My Proper Place

This will be a feature at my geocities site within a few weeks, but I can’t go any longer without commenting. Not satisfied with just two QHS lists a year, Pat and Mark decided that we need to name our top 50 songs of all time. An elite group of seven gathered in the greater Saratoga region this weekend and nominated 25 songs apiece, developing a ballot of 174 gems ("A Day in the Life" was named twice). In the five days since the great summit, I’ve listened to every song at least once and every song I hadn’t heard before at least twice, and what do I have to show for it?

56 “in”s
79 “out”s
39 “maybe”s
18 songs tentatively ranked 1-18

While I won’t divulge my top 18 or anything that will or won’t make my list (this list is way too unpredictable for me to spoil anything anyway), I will list the nominated songs that rank at the top of a few important categories:

Three songs that make me want to dance in my underwear:
“Victoria,” The Kinks
“I Saw Her Standing There,” The Beatles
“Daydream Believer,” The Monkees

Three songs that make me want to cry in my underwear:
“Imagine,” John Lennon
“I’ve Been Loving You Too Long,” Otis Redding
“Lover, You Should’ve Come Over,” Jeff Buckley

Three songs that make me want to dance in someone else’s underwear:
“Love and Happiness,” Al Green
“It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World (live),” James Brown
“Get Gone,” Fiona Apple

Three songs I hadn’t heard that blew me away:
“Songs of Love,” The Divine Comedy
“Vitamin C,” Can
“East St. Louis Toodle-oo,” Duke Ellington

Three songs I had already heard that still blew me away this time:
“California Stars,” Billy Bragg & Wilco
“Country Feedback,” REM
“In the Aeroplane Over the Sea,” Neutral Milk Hotel


Three songs that would be better if they were four minutes shorter (read: Rob’s list):
“Why Can’t I Touch It?” The Buzzcocks
“Marquee Moon,” Television
“How Soon is Now?” The Smiths

Three songs from my list that, sadly, have no chance to make the top 50:
“Spottieottiedopaliscious,” OutKast
“A Design for Life,” Manic Street Preachers
“Gone for Good,” The Shins

Three songs I can’t imagine naming one of the 25 best ever:
“Wild World,” Cat Stevens
“Fear,” Sarah McLachlan
“Amoreena,” Elton John

Three Kinks songs that are almost indistinguishable in their excellence:
“Sunny Afternoon”
“Victoria”
“Shangri-La”

Three artists I’ll have a hard time limiting to three songs (a self-imposed limit):
The Beatles
Stevie Wonder
The Velvet Underground

Three songs I love despite their titles:
“Le Pastie de la Bourgeoisie,” Belle & Sebastian
“Jesus,” The Velvlet Underground
“Mayonaise,” The Smashing Pumpkins

Three songs at the top of my list:
Find
Out
Later