Glory Box - Portishead

Every track on Dummy belongs in the list but I can only have one and this is it.

Beth Gibbons is clearly a complete fruitcake and this song is magical as a result.

Glory Box

D'You Know What I Mean - Oasis

Be Here Now was universally panned and rightly so except for three songs  - My Big Mouth, Magic Pie and this one. It's such a big mess of a song and I love it - intro all over the shop, the morse code sfx, outstanding guitar and Liam's voice sounding half way decent (was it engineered?).

I really wanted to sing this Karaoke when I was in Tokyo but mistakenly requested Be Here Now. Big mistake. I had to redeem myself with a big Britney Spears finale.

D'You Know What I Mean?

She's Not There - Santana; Davy's On The Road Again - Manfred Mann

I spent most of my formative years outside school living in or travelling through Holland, Switzerland and France. Musically, that meant either my parents record collection (Neil Diamond, Carpenters, BeeGees...) or the radio.

The radio was a choice between Radio 4 Long Wave and whatever local pop station I could get Dad to tune to. The vast majority of music was instantly forgettable (it was the 70s and Europe after all) but for some reason there were 2 songs that have stayed with me ever since. No idea why as I couldn't name another Manfred Mann song and didn't come across Santana again until Supernatural in 99

She's Not There

Davy's On The Road Again

Castles in the Air - The Colourfield

It was between this and Thinking of You, both penned by Terry Hall, more famous for The Specials and Fun By Three. I love both songs and I especially liked them when I was an angst ridden student.

The hopelessness of unrequited love was a very powerful thought. I can even remember making a mix tape for a girl called Jilly and going for a walk on the beach to discuss my feelings for her. No, really, I did.

Castles in the Air

Mr. Brightside - Killers

I'm not sure this is the greatest song of all time, as voted by xfm listeners, but it's very very good. It still bugs me that an American band was voted top by the UK's only indie music station. We invented this stuff!!!

Back to the song - when I listen to this, I can picture the scene and it's very naughty. Is that wrong? I can remember this kind of paranoia as I made my first steps into the world of sex and relationships. I was usually right!

Mr. Brightside

Ruby - Kaiser Chiefs

I'm not sure this is going to be too high in the list but it's very hard not to sing along as loud as possible to this. No idea what the lyrics are about but as my youngest daughter is Alice Ruby, it's become her song in the family.

Due to lack of interest
Tomorrow is cancelled

Ruby

Bittersweet Symphony - The Verve

Was it worth paying all those royalties to The Rolling Stones? I think so.  Urban Hymns is one of my favourite albums and I know this gets into a few 'best of' lists.

Try to make ends meet
You're a slave to money
Then you die

Richard Ashcroft is such a cheerful chap. It must be all those violins.

Bittersweet Symphony