Last Pond Street post

This is the last time I'll have a computer at home until Jill moves up to Portland at the end of September (I move tomorrow), and the most pleasant thing on my mind is this year's song list. Individual lists aren't sue for another week due to a CD sharing snafu, but mine's ready to go. Rather than sharing my ballot, I'll share some facts and figures about the nominated songs.

Three artists had three songs nominated:
The Beatles ("I've Just Seen a Face", "Here Comes the Sun", and "Get Back")
Nirvana ("In Bloom", "Lithium", and "Verse Chorus Verse")
Modest Mouse ("Never Ending Math Equation", "Bukowski", and "Float On")
Of the three, only the Beatles were nominated last year (four different songs, one by two voters).

Of the twelve artists with two songs nominated this year, two were nominated by three or more voters:
Neutral Milk Hotel ("Song Against Sex" by three voters, "Holland 1945" by one)
The Pixies ("Gigantic" by two voters, "Gouge Away" by one)

Both of these groups, along with the following four artists, also had at least one song nominated last year:
Bob Dylan ("The Times They Are A-Changing", "Positively 4th Street")
David Bowie ("Conversation Piece", "Sound and Vision")
Elton John ("Your Song", "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road")
Rufus Wainwright ("Go or Go Ahead," "11:11")

The six first time nominees with two songs on this year's ballot are The Flaming Lips, Of Montreal, Prince, Sufjan Stevens, The Talking Heads, and Wire.

Among those artists not nominated last year or this year (out of 328 songs) are Miles Davis, Chuck Berry, Cream, Led Zeppelin, Public Enemy, Pearl Jam, and Supergrass). The only two albums in the 2004 or 2005 QHS200 without a track nominated for either song list are The Rolling Stones' "Exile on Main Street" and Belle and Sebastian's "If You're Feeling Sinister".

The three best songs nominated this year that I'd never heard before are "Chan Chan," by Buena Vista Social Club (courtesy of Pat), "All My Little Words," by the Magnetic Fields (courtesy of Eric), and "John Wayne Gacy, Jr.," by Sufjan Stevens (courtesy of Mark).

The three songs I liked least (of 154 nominated) are Kraftwerk's "Trans Europa Express", Hall and Oates's "Rich Girl," and Barenaked Ladies' "Call and Answer".

Four of the top eleven songs on my ballot are by white artists. I nominated three of them myself.

Besides my own list (from which I pulled 13 of 20 for my ballot), Nick will land the most songs (nine) in my top 50. Eric and Jill have seven apiece. Every voter landed at least two songs in my top 21, except for Shayna, who contributed song number four.