Heart of Rock and Soul Poll: the 1001 Greatest Singles Part 9: 776-800

i feel like i'm making slightly goofy choices in these polls every time, usually the latest song, but yo BORDERLINE

I'm voting for Porter. As Hard Country goes its great. But as a cheating/revenge song its frankness is alarming. As for the rest, Madonna, Supremes (Stop), McCartney, Joy Division, Kim Carnes, Animals, Eurythmics and the overlooked Joe South are all great singles.

this is getting difficult

Love Will Tear Us Apart v. Betty Davis Eyes. Gotta be the former.

Good mash-up potential: Love Will Tear Betty Davis Apart.

I went with "Jet" over "Borderline," "Stop! In the Name of Love," the Flying Lizards number, and Joy Division. I don't understand his affection for THAT particular Eurythmics number.

it's a man's man's man's world

oh yeah -- forgot that one.

I prefer "Heaven must have sent you" and "Devil with the blue dress" in other, more disco versions. "The Cold hard facts of life" is a bit too gangsta for my taste. I suppose suggesting that a modicum of privacy helps all relationships thrive would be missing the point. But, dude, phone first. "Don't say nothing bad about my baby" is pretty punk rock ("So girl you better shut your mouth" = ouch). But "Jenny Jenny" is even more punk rock and perfectly suited to non-existent attention spans such as my own. So JJ 4 me.

"I thought the major was a lady ... suffragette!" over "Things don't happen like that in New York!" and "Whoa-oh, Whoa-oh-oh-oh!"

nelson mandela over joe tex, ian curtis, and diana ross

"Bette Davis Eyes"

where did our love go

^^^^^me too

It's a close one, but I give Madonna the edge over Kim Carnes for not attempting to rhyme "ferocious" with "pro blush".

Other faves: Wings, Ronettes, Joe Tex. Speaking of whom: Exactly what the hell does "One Monkey..." mean, either the standalone phrase or in context of the song(s)? Sounds like it may have originated in the circus, but that's just a guess. (Google is no help.)

Joy Division very narrowly over Madonna.

ronettes (ellie greenwich r.i.p.)

"('Til) I Kissed You" is in the running for my favourite Everly Brothers song, so that's an easy pick for me.

top 10, some order or other:

780 1969 Joe South Games people play
786 1963 Ronettes Baby, I love you
787 1984 Madonna Borderline
788 1980 Joy Division Love will tear us apart
789 1967 Porter Wagoner The Cold hard facts of life
793 1974 Paul McCartney Jet
794 1981 Kim Carnes Bette Davis eyes
795 1979 Flying Lizards Money
797 1964 Supremes Where did our love go
798 1965 Animals We gotta get out of this place

Voting for Flying Lizards.

Joy Division

A fairly modernist edge to this batch (well, I'm thinking Joy Division/Carnes/Flying Lizards/Eurythmics/Madonna). I really like what Marsh writes in his Carnes/Flying Lizards writeup, that "the glory of pop music in the eighties... boils down to electronic percussion."

Anyway...

* The stuff I don't know (and in many cases am curious to know):

Elgins - Mary Wells - Everly Brothers - Lenny O'Henry (he calls it "the male 'Party Lights'") - Gants - Porter Wagoner - Joe Tex

* The stuff I know but don't like enough to consider voting for (and/or stuff I once loved but am currently sick of):

Supremes (I)- Special AKA - John Lennon and Yoko Ono - Solomon Burke - Joy Division - Eurythmics - Supremes (II) (though I much prefer "Where Did Our Love Go" to "Stop in the...") - Animals - Little Richard - Shorty Long (I won't swear that I know Long's version of this, but I don't care for the song itself)

Which leaves the stuff I'm considering:

Joe South - Ronettes - Madonna - Cookies - McCartney - Kim Carnes - Flying Lizards - James Brown

Leaning towards McCartney or James Brown.

James Brown.

mainly 'cause of fond Klaus Kinski s-f flick (Android?) associations. 'tis more than enough.

This batch gives me an excuse to post everyone's favorite album cover:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/6/5739489_6a81453b40_o.jpg

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

i dig these results. still wish "Bette Davis Eyes" had done even better, tho.

I missed this while I was on the road. "Borderline" would have gotten another vote.