My fifteen, not Ethan's fifteen!

Discuss. (And apologies for my bad formatting.)

i would've agreed with beautiful stranger in an instant, maybe even don't tell me, but RAY OF LIGHT?

wrong bessie smith song ( the correct one being put a little sugar in my bowl )
Wrong lesley gore ( the correct one being consaltion prize)
but pretty decent

"Kiss" is funny because it does seem perfect, but it's still not great. It's like perfectly OK. I wouldn't change a thing about it, but it just doesn't go over the top.

Doesn't the "life is very short" thing kind of suck the energy from those "We Can Work it Out" verses? That song is very close to perfection, probably as close as any Beatles song, but it comes up short for me because of that.

"What Goes On" I can agree with. So perfect it can go on for an additional 5 minutes on Live 1969, and it remains perfect.

Also word on the New Order. No way I could argue with that one.

I was just about to say that, without the "Beautiful Stranger" bit. And I wouldn't have added the "Beautiful Stranger" bit.

I can see "Ray of Light", perhaps if Madge wasn't singing it in Evita mode. (Dear god, no.) I think it's the bit where she sounds quite unMadge like (that is, where she shrieks estatically, where she'd usually just sorta hover safely within her range) that makes the song.

That said, I think the best Madonna choice would be something like "Cherish". And my personal pick for the Beatles would be "I'm Only Sleeping". And "Hot Fun in the Summertime", oh YEAH! (Of course, I'm partial to this list over Ethan's; I just can't accept Styx in such a list, I'm sorry, I'm going to hell for it, but I just can't.)

I keep reading Wynonie as Wynonna. Forgive me, please.

the "life is short" bit *makes* the song... it adds tension and is edgy in a melodic way that someone with technical knowhow can enlighten me about... don't know if this defends "kiss" but it's probably the funnest song in the world to sing along too. i'm doing it right now and it makes me happy.

um, i'd have put "cold sweat" on both lists.

"Cherish" is, without doubt, the worst single Madonna ever put out. It's like a hyper-twee version of "True Blue", fer crissakes. I would pay a lot of money for a chance to move to the alternate dimension where that song never existed.

For an explanation of why the "life is very short" bit works so well, try looking at this.

David, and others who don't know the Wynonie Harris song, go track it down (I first heard it on From Where I Stand: The Black Tradition in Country Music, and could not BELIEVE that a song could be so venomous and so joyful at the same time). Trust me, you'll never confuse it with any of the Judds again.

Sorry, weird formatting again. The full "We Can Work It Out" link is http://rmb.simplenet.com/public/files/awp/wcwio.2.html .

Oh, shut up, Dan, you twerp. You probably like "Lucky Star".

Pertinent List Comment: That Prince song is a slab of genius. Note the lack of a bassline, kids. (I learned that from the Prince boxset.) (I need to buy that back.)

1) Sly and the Family Stone, "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" who could argue? I'm also very fond of "Everybody is a Star"--one of the great A/B singles. 2) The Monochrome Set, "He's Frank" don't know this one. 3) Wynonie Harris, "Bloodshot Eyes" nice, but I prefer "Good Morning Judge." 4) Prince, "Kiss" absofuckinglutely. 5) Dog Faced Hermans, "Lie and Swell" oughta track down, eh? 6) The Velvet Underground, "What Goes On" YES. too bad never a single. 7) The Magnetic Fields, "Old Orchard Beach" have heard but can't remember. which album? I'm out of town so I'll have to listen when I get back to NYC Tuesday. 8) Rudimentary Peni, "Cosmetic Plague" another indie/postpunk unfamiliar. not my strongest offhand suit, I'm afraid. 9) Bessie Smith, "St. Louis Blues" oh my yes. 10) New Order, "Bizarre Love Triangle" I like "Temptation" more, but oh my goodness yes. particularly the 12" version. 11) Madonna, "Ray of Light" nnnnnooo, can't agree. too much complacency in the vocals--if she really sounded like she were being born again, yeah, but she just sounds like she read about it in a magazine. so do the beats. 12) De La Soul, "Jenifa (Taught Me)" (the single version!) I'm a much bigger fan of at least four other 3 Feet songs, not to mention "Saturdays" and "Breakadawn." 13) Lesley Gore, "It's My Party" like the idea more than the song (sort of like "Happy Together," see Ethan's thread); "The Loco-Motion," on the other hand, rocks harder than just about anything ever. 14) The Beatles, "We Can Work It Out" love the yin-yang of the traded vocals/lyrics, but it feels a little airless somehow (in comparison, that is, to other Beatles songs I like more, including...oh, don't get me started). 15) The Strokes with Christina Aguilera, "Stroke of Genius" too bad my mom's PC doesn't download. ah well.

wow. that beatles site is pretty um, informative? obsessive? weird...

"kiss" gets bonus points for its fantastic straight-out-of-his-psyche video

they should do a video for the "stroke of genius" song as sung by some computer-generated love child of christina aguilera and julian casablancas: massive lips, freakish blond hair, and negative hip curvature.

Songs are shit.

But, see, airlessness was sort of what I was going for here, Matos! Perfection, as opposed to (say) favoriteness... I like Stick McGhee's "Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee," say, better than a lot of these songs, but it's got too many awkward or slightly out-of-socket moments to make the list. No Smiths or "Keep A-Knockin'" for the same reason. As opposed to e.g. the way "We Can Work It Out" seems like it's slowing down in the bridge but actually isn't.

Many songs on 3FH&R are better than the album version of "Jenifa," but not than the single, I think... And Matos, you being such a fan of "Pam can I get a little scratch right here"/scritchy-scritch/"yeah!" --it reminded me of "Jenifa"'s slightly-out-of-tune-seventh-chord/ scritchity-scritch/"yeh!"

For "He's Frank," I should probably have specified "He's Frank (Slight Return)," the Disquo Bleu version from '78. Reminds me a little of, actually, Bach's "Art of the Fugue" for working every possible permutation out of the tiniest scraps of melodic material--I didn't realize until my band covered it that the guitar break is basically just a single phrase three times in a row.

Rudimentary Peni are hardly post-punk--they're the hardest of the hardcore. Four chords, one minute, POW, plus the melody has exactly one note in it, and the last verse goes"We don't need this cultural cosmetic division/It upholds the self-interest on which the system feeds/A deconditioned consciousness of mutual respect/Is the only way to cure this cosmetic DISEEEEEEASE!"

Dave: that Beatles site is indeed great (and obsessive)--it's actually inspired another topic I want to start one of these days (but not today).

in no particular order:

Prince and the Revolution, "Raspberry Beret"

De La Soul, "Eye Know"

Timbaland and Magoo, "Indian Carpet"

Daft Punk, "Digital Love"

Abba, "Happy New Year"

Pet Shop Boys, "Jealousy"

The Human League, "Open Your Heart"

Destiny's Child, "Say My Name"

The Avalanches, "A Different Feeling"

Scritti Politti, "The Word Girl"

Pulp, "I Spy"

Sparks, "At Home, At Work, At Play"

Skitz, "Inner City Folk"

Young Marble Giants, "Wurlitzer Jukebox"

KLF, "Last Train To Trancentral"

*relurk*

But, see, airlessness was sort of what I was going for here, Matos! Perfection, as opposed to (say) favoriteness...

sure, I understand. I do think they've done other, just as perfect records, though ("Ticket to Ride" comes to mind) that feel less airless.

Many songs on 3FH&R are better than the album version of "Jenifa," but not than the single, I think... And Matos, you being such a fan of "Pam can I get a little scratch right here"/scritchy- scritch/"yeah!" --it reminded me of "Jenifa"'s slightly-out-of-tune- seventh-chord/ scritchity-scritch/"yeh!"

well, I'm not vain enough to think you put that on there with me in mind, but if you did, thanks! again, though, I think I chose songs that were just as flawless (memory knocks wood).

Rudimentary Peni are hardly post-punk--they're the hardest of the hardcore.

should've specified that I meant not genrewise but timelinewise. (basically, year-by-year, ALL hardcore is post-punk, right?)