Glenn's Top 101 Songs of All Time: 40-31

101-91
90-81
80-71
70-61
60-51
50-41

40.
Artist: Imogen Heap
Song: Hide & Seek
Album: Speak for Yourself (2005)
Watch The Video
Talk about fucked up! I love music that is slightly unhinged and deranged, and this is definite that! From the absolutely bizarre lyrics ("trains and sowing machines" why obviously) and the non-stop use of a vocoder and to the just general whackiness of the song. The first time I heard this song it was in a scene from the season 2 finale of "The OC" me and friends were like "WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SONG?" but then the song was used again at the very end (when Marissa shot Trey OMFG!!!) and suddenly it clicked. Ever since I loved this song. The whole thing is just incredible other-worldly and I wish more modern music had this song's ingenuity. Shame that the video is so boring. Why is it only filmed vertically?

39.
Artist: Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Song: Maps
Album: Fever to Tell (2003)
Watch The Video
I remember it vividly. It was 3am-ish and I couldn't sleep so I turned the tv on and put it on "Rage" - that show is usually good to sit back and watch for half an hour or so. On came this song called "Maps" by some group I'd never heard of before call the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Up comes the woman I would later discover goes by the name Karen O. "Pack up I'm straight" huh? And then... "Wait. They don't love you like I love you. Wait." and from then on I have been a rabit YYY fan. This song is easily their finest moment (although several songs on their recent Show Your Bones album like "Cheated Hearts" and "Dudley" were stunning too). And then they finish the song's stunning course with that powerful guitar. The video is a classic too. I sorta want Karen O to become an actress. She emotes more here than any number of under 25 actresses that are out there doing what they call "acting".

38.
Artist: Randy Crawford with The Crusaders
Song: Street Life
Album: Street Life (The Crusaders - 1979)
Watch The Video*
Stunning life-affirming funkified brilliance. Really, how can you NOT fall in love with this song as soon as you hear it? Coincidentally, the first time I heard it was in, yet again, Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown (can you tell what side I fall on when it comes to Tarantino soundtracks?). I just love that string section and the trumpet that comes in every so often and Randy's voice is just awesome!

*Please note, this clip is a live version of the track from 2006 as there was no video I could find. She still sounds marvellous! This version is more jazz though (considering it was performed at a jazz festival, that makes sense), but it's still great.

37.
Artist: Björk
Song: All is Full of Love
Album: Homogenic (1997)
Watch The Video
One of the best albums of all time, Bjork's Homogenic has many brilliant songs on it, this is one of them (there's another coming up later on the countdown). A lush and enveloping song, this just wraps itself around you. It's a powerful song and is a knock out. I would discuss the video, but do you really need me to tell you why it is one of the greatest video clips ever made? I certainly hope not.

36.
Artist: The Velvet Underground
Song: Venus in Furs
Album: The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)
Watch The Video*
"Shiny Shiny. Shiny boots of leather." I'm not entirely sure what this song is about but I love it all the same. Lou Reed's vocals were never beeter and The Velvet Underground as a whole were never better than this album (with the famous banana album cover). I'm not entirely sure what makes it as great as it is, but god it's good. It sounds like some cultish ritual sacrifice song. "Kiss the boot of shiny shiny leather" what are they trying to tell us here?

*Please note, this is a live version from a VU reunion tour in the '90s.

35.
Artist: Aretha Franklin
Song: Ain't No Way
Album: Lady Soul (1967)
While the other two Aretha tracks on the countdown ("Respect" and "Think") have been uptempo feminist leaning tracks that rock the mic, this one is a beautiful motown ballad to Aretha's man that just makes me wish I was sitting in some old style smokey jazz club (drinking a scotch? lol, i don't drink scotch). Bliss, and in my eyes, Aretha's finest moment (the album too is Aretha's best). There was no video, only live performances by other people.

34.
Artist: Aimee Mann
Song: Wise Up
Album: OST Magnolia (1999)
Watch The Video
Fact: I've only ever watched the first 30 minutes or so of Magnolia. I fell asleep and when I awoke I decided I couldn't be buggared watching the whole thing. But, I purchased the soundtrack! I love the soundtrack. Primarily because of this song. It just digs right in and you totally feel it. No clip exists, but instead I've chosen the famous scene from the movie where the cast sings "Wise Up". I had never seen this before (because, as I just said, I haven't watched the whole thing). I really would like to watch Magnolia again though. I really liked Anderson's Hard Eight and Boogie Nights.

33.
Artist: Shawn Colvin
Song: Sunny Came Home
Album: A Few Small Repairs (1996)
If you didn't listen to the lyrics of this song, you would swear it was a nice upbeat tune about a girl returning home or something, listen carefully and you get much much more. "Sunny came home with a list of names." "Sunny came with with a vengeance." "Sunne came home with a mission." Wonderfully written and performed by Colvin, the track is an oddity, but a beguiling one and the end is a wonderfully dark musical bit. Try to decipher it, it's super fun. Apparently there is no video for this? Odd, I've seen it before it's just not on YouTube.

32.
Artist: ABBA
Song: Dancing Queen
Album: Arrival (1976)
Watch The Video
There's a reason why Toni Collette's Muriel uses this song to daydream. It is one of the most perfectly written pop songs you'll ever hear. It's ideas that anybody can be anything (even as trivial as being a "dancing queen") make it uplifting and you wanna sing along, but it has an edge to it. It almost sounds as if singers Frida and Agnetha put all their desperate desire to be respected as artists (they were Eurovision winners 2 years earlier) into the vocals that makes it just that much better. It's still not my favourite ABBA though.

31.
Artist: Cher
Song: We All Sleep Alone
Album: Cher (1987)
Watch The Video
My very favourite Cher song is also taken from her self-titled album (as was #55 "I Found Someone"), continuing the theme of guitar and pop. A sublimely written track, the song has a feel to it that not many others do. It's like some epic tragedy brought down to under four minutes. Cher's voice is so powerful (much like on "I Found Someone), and the music is appropriately moody. I love the repetitive synth cord that runs through the whole track (by itself it is particularly soothing). I just love it so much. I miss '80s Cher.