Heart of Rock and Soul Poll: the 1001 Greatest Singles Part 22: 451-475

ack! wanted to vote for the Pistols enthusiastic racket here but couldn't resist going for the good Rev. Green's weary longing instead.

Ok let's see if we can get through one of these w/o tearing at each other's throats.

Yeah Pistols/Green are my two choices too. Al Green signifies more as an album artist for me partially because radio/Muzak/whatever programmers seem completely unaware of any other hit besides freakin' "Let's Stay Together." But for some reason, "Tired of Being Alone" has always felt the most singley of his singles so I voted for that. Maybe it's the high note after he folds him arms that makes it stand out. Or the name checking of an earlier hit. Or the final return of the chorus. All for the pop taking.

Rumble.

I'm glad I get to vote for the Joan Jett song under its true title, "I Love Rock'n'roll, K?"

"Save The Last Dance For Me" for me, then Al Green and Aretha.

Seven things here I don't know, at least offhand (unfamiliar with both Buddy Holly tracks, for instance).

Love about a handful of titles -- Drifters, Joan Jett, Link Wray, Pistols, Chuck Berry (which will likely get my vote), Al Green -- with a number of close runners-up -- Carole King, Faye Adams, Little Richard, Aretha, Eddie Floyd -- plus a bunch of things I like fine but don't necessarily love.

There isn't one thing on here I can say I dislike, though, or anything I'm too sick of to hear again (at one point, the Jett might've qualified, but it came back to me recently). Not the most remarkable of lists, but pretty damn consistent.

Quite a few I don't know, nothing I particularly love. I'm leaning towards Eddie Floyd or Chuck Berry, but I suppose I should make an effort to hear the unfamiliar ones before I consider voting.

"Holidays in The Sun Virgin" sounds like a Sun Ra or Yma Sumac album title

BTW, will have to check when I get home -- unless anyone cares to accommodate in the meantime! -- but I'm curious to know if Marsh's thoughts on "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" in any way mirror Christgau's, who insisted (and I agree) that "eyed" was code for "skinned." One of Christgau's greatest coups as a critic, though maybe that was a common reading at the time, I don't know.

i thought that was the standard reading of "brown eyed handsome man." pretty sure it's not original to christgau, anyway. but yeah, that's my vote. maybe chuck's greatest lyric, which is saying something.

yeah, what tipsy said, but i'll check my copy anyhow.

Yeah, Marsh refers to it as "Brown-Skinned Handsome Man" and speculates whether the ballplayer in the lyric was meant to be Jackie Robinson or Hank Aaron.

final sentence in Marsh's Berry entry:

Here, Chuck fakes nothing--except for his substitution of "-eyed" for "-skinned," of course.

xp

Thanks, appreciate it. I guess Christgau was giving (ahem) voice to what was already in the air.

yeah, but Marsh wrote that in what, '88/'89? whereas Xgau's Berry piece was from the early-'70 i believe.

ok, sez '76 here:

http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/music/berry-76.php

No, there's no question Christgau said it in print first (I mean, compared to Marsh or other rock critics I'm aware of). But had the idea been entirely original to Christgau, I'd like to think Marsh would've acknowledged that, but who knows? I give him the benefit of the doubt here; he's merely seconding something that was already discussed among music fans.

i'd be surprised if that song's subtext wasn't well understood by contemporary audiences when it came out. (of course it was blunted to some degree by all the cover versions by white artists, but still.)

i mean, i'm sure it was understood by black audiences; i guess whether white teenagers got it is another question, at least if they first or primarily encountered it via buddy holly or whoever.

"Holidays in The Sun Virgin" sounds like a Sun Ra or Yma Sumac album title

I know we throw 'lol' around a lot but LOL @ this - I nearly spit out my coffee. Thank you for making my morning, MVB!!!

In the running for me: Link Wray, Joe South, Pistols, Dion, Carole King, Chuck Berry, maybe Joan Jett, maybe Drifters. Tempted to go with "It's Too Late" just to prove I could, but I think I gotta vote for the Pistols.

i thought that was the standard reading of "brown eyed handsome man"

That's what I've always assumed to. The opinion itself strikes me as public domain! (Agree it's a great lyric, too, but probably not close to my Chuck favorite.)

I think my ears have a weird relationship to Al Green. I almost always like him a lot; almost never love him. (Favorite is "Belle," probably, which I do love. "Tired Of Being Alone" has never really killed me.)

When these 40 polls are done, somebody's going to do a poll of the 40 winners, right? That should be fun in a clusterfuck sort of way.

sounds bloody.

Joan Jett, Link Wray, everything else.

wow, that's such an odd thing for you to say about Al Green, Chuck. i naturally assumed you really dug his stuff on account of what you wrote in one of the Sir Lord Baltimore entries (wasn't it?) in STH--you know, that along with Sam Cooke, Al had the most amazing voice on the planet. so does that mean you love his voice but aren't so crazy about his songs/records?

Hmmm...I guess? (Plus I wrote that a long time ago. Assuming I really said it that way. I'd take Russell Thompkins Jr. and Merle Haggard over him, now. And Dion DiMucci. And probably a few other people. Some of them possibly from Brazil, I dunno.) (Not sure if Mark E. Smith counts in this competition or not.)

"Save The Last Dance" easy. Gives me chills everytime.

yeah, that's probably no. 3 or 4 for me here.

Three in the running for me: Al Green gets the vote, followed closely by Carole King and the Sex Pistols. Close: Link Wray, Chuck Berry, and Buddy Holly (for "Think It Over"). Speaking of Carole King, I've been intermittently working my way through Girls Like Us for a few months. I got to the part a couple of weeks ago where one of Carly Simon's old boyfriends talks about how much she loved sex. I've had a hard time functioning since reading that.

No one else is repping for Junior Walker? That's a pretty great version of a song that's totally become part of pop fabric, e.g. Modern Lovers, M.I.A.

Voting Link Wray. Also like Carole King, Waylon, Pistols, Joan Jett, Clarence Carter, Eddie Floyd, Marley.

the modern lovers' "roadrunner" doesn't really have anything to do with junior walker's, tho junior's is a great track.

I should have added the Drifters to my "like" list. But I still voted "Rumble".

"Holidays in the Sun" just a half notch before "Tired of Being Alone" and Carole King.

again, a lot of stuff on here i like but only a few tracks i love. some good stax singles, but very far away from my favorite stax singles (which tend to be the ballads, although if eddie floyd's "big bird" was on here, i'd vote for it).

the drifters win this by about 10,000 miles. but al green is great do. and i love that waylon jennings single.

anyway here are my top 10 in order:

1960 Drifters Save the last dance for me Atlantic
1971 Al Green Tired of being alone Hi
1979 Waylon Jennings Amanda RCA
1961 Impressions Gypsy woman ABC-Paramount
1958 Link Wray Rumble Cadence
1965 Marvelows I do ABC-Paramount
1968 Clarence Carter Slip away Atlantic
1956 Chuck Berry Brown eyed handsome man Chess
1958 Buddy Holly Think it over Brunswick
1955 Little Willie John All around the world King
1971 Carole King It's too late Ode

i haven't heard the pistols track in 15 years. don't know if i'd still like it.

i really appreciate marsh's devotion to kennedy-era rock and roll. that was going against the grain in the 1980s.

Sex Pistols, with Al Green and Carole King very close behind.

Jr. Walker, just ahead of this n that (Joan Jett, Eddie Floyd, Link Wray, etc.)

think I like "Pucker Up Buttercup" off that Jr. Walker record better tho

If you feel you have to jump back on here in order to retract a runner-up non-vote, does that qualify as "needlessly obsessive"? I'm really not that big on "Think It Over"--I think I was confusing it with "Tell Me How," or "Look at Me," or "Listen to Me." I love a number of Buddy Holly's imperative songs, but not "Think It Over."

So much good heartfelt soul singing on this list. Waylon narrowly over Curtis, Aretha and Dion.

pistols, over great chuck berry and al green songs

aretha and joan jett songs are amazing too, it's a really good list

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

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

Hmm, I love Rev. Al too, but this is nowhere near his best.

Heh. I wonder if I forgot to vote, seeings as Roadrunner only got one, and contenderizer upped it too. I've been known to space.