THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.
404-Tennessee Ernie Ford-Sixteen Tons
1956-Number 1 single.
Best Bit-At 0.07.We all moan from time to time about our working conditions, but at least your not working to pay the company store.
The song is about the terrible conditions coal miners in Muhlenberg County,Kentucky had to work in during the middle of the 20th century.Apart from the dangers to their health and possible injury from faulty machinery they were also paid very poorly.Employee’s were paid in commodities rather than actual money.They would receive credit vouchers which had to be spent at the company run store and their rent would be deducted from their wages,leaving many with little or in debt.
The song was written by Country and Western singer Merle Travis in 1946.Merle’s father had been a coal miner, who would say ‘I can’t afford to die, I owe my soul to the company store.’
In 1955 Tennessee Ernie Ford with his rich bass baritone voice took the song to Number 1 on Billboard for ten weeks and for four in the UK.
‘You load sixteen tons,whattaya get? Another day older and deeper in debt.’
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THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.
405-John Cougar-Jack & Diane.
1982-Number 25 single.
Best Bit-At 0.10.They are probably the most famous musical couple, especially in America,but do you know who sang about these other twosomes? Romeo and Juliet,Bonnie and Clyde,Brenda and Eddie,Tommy and Gina,Judy and Johnny.
At the insistence of his record company he started his career as Johnny Cougar but finally got his own way once successful by adding his real surname Mellencamp.
He is one of the most influential artists in the genres of Folk Rock,Roots Rock and Country Rock,Johnny Cash called Mellencamp ‘One of the best 10 songwriters’ in music.
Jack and Diane is the tale of two American teenagers who take their relationship to levels they are not ready to cope with and they realise that being sixteen and carefree is better than being grown up with life’s responsibilities.
Mellencamp has made a special point of pointing out the importance that the late Mick Ronson made in the overall structure of the song.
‘Jack he sits back,collects his thoughts for a moment scratches his head and does his best James Dean.’
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THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.
406-Robbie Williams-Angels.
1997-Number 4 single.
Best Bit-At 2.52.The song which saved his solo career.
The origins of who actually wrote the song are a little murky.Irish singer/songwriter Ray Heffernan asserts that he wrote the first version of ‘Angels’ in Paris in 1995,after his partner had a miscarriage.
Heffernan says he met Williams in a pub by chance in Dublin.He showed him an incomplete version of the song and later that week the two recorded a demo.Williams confirms he did record a demo but said he rewrote the song significantly with Guy Chambers.
When Heffernan learned that a version of Angels was to appear on the Album ‘Life Thru A Lens’ he accepted an offer from Williams management to buy the songs rights for £7,500.To date it is estimated Angels has earned £9 million and sold over 1.5million copies in the UK alone.
‘And through it all she offers me protection a lot of love and affection whether I’m right or wrong.’
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THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.
407-Zombies-Time Of The Season.
1967-Has never charted in the UK.
Best Bit-At 3.08.This can make you feel nostalgic for an era when you were not even born.
The Zombies were formed in 1961 by principle songwriter Rod Argent and vocalist Colin Blunstone,they split in 1967.As part of ‘The British Invasion’ they achieved most of their success in America with two Number 1 Billboard songs,this one and ‘She’s Not There’ in 1964.
Time Of The Season wasn’t released until after the band had split and didn’t top the American chart until 1969.The songs writer Rod Argent has said that the George Gershwin song ‘Summertime’ was an influence on the lyrics.
The song is taken from the Zombies second studio Album,’Odessey and Oracle;’Paul Weller has stated that this is his favourite Album of all time.
‘Whats your name? Who’s your daddy? Is he rich like me?
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THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.
408-Erykah Badu-On & On.
1997-Number 12 single.
Best Bit-At 1.33. She was the Billie Holiday for the 1990’s generation.
Born in 1971 in Dallas,Texas Erykah Badu is an American singer/songwriter dubbed ‘The queen of Neo Soul.’
Neo Soul is a genre of music that combines elements of Jazz,Funk,Hip-Hop,Electronic and African Music and was coined in the late 1990’s by the then president of Tamla Motown Records Kedar Massenburg.
In this song Badu is saying we are all made in Gods image and we all deserve the same respect.She tells us that most intellects are convinced that God doesn’t exist,but the fear of a higher being or some other unknown force scares us.
‘The man that knows something knows that he knows nothing at all.’
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THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.
409-Clifford T. Ward-Gaye.
1973-Number 8 single.
Best Bit-At 1.13.Before the hits Ward was a school teacher,his pupils included actress and future wife of Sting,Trudie Styler and Underworld singer Karl Hyde.
Clifford Thomas Ward was an English singer/songwriter who died at the age of 56 in 2001 from pneumonia,he had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1987.
Ward’s music career began in the 1960’s releasing six unsuccessful singles with his band Cliff Ward and The Cruisers.It wasn’t until the 1970’s that he finally found success with his critically acclaimed Album ‘Home Thoughts’ which featured this song.
Clive Selwood who was Ward’s manager in the early 1970’s said ‘Clifford should have been a major.major star-he had hits,but he simply wouldn’t perform publicly.’
‘Your the tray of nice things I upset yesterday.’
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THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.
410-Cockney Rebel-Judy Teen.
1974-Number 5 single.
Best Bit-At 1.02 Sh’made us ‘appy.
Steve Harley(born Stephen Malcolm Ronald Nice 27 February 1951) is a singer/songwriter from London best known as the frontman of Cockney Rebel who in the 1970’s achieved five top twenty singles including the 1.5million seller ‘Make Me Smile(Come Up And See Me.’)
In 1973 the band had just recorded their critically acclaimed debut Album ‘The Human Menagerie’ but it wasn’t selling in great quantities due to the lack of a commercial song to release as a single.Harley explained,’The record company said we don’t have a single and I said arrogantly,I’ll write one,now I think what an arrogant young man,fearless!Judy Teen was a boy/girl story,a teenage romance,a bit of sex in there.I was 18 or 19 when I had the experience that that song came from.’
The song was produced by legendary producer Alan Parsons whose significant Album productions include,Abbey Road,Let It Be and The Dark Side Of The Moon.
‘Verbal slang,American twang,you dare not ignore.In from New York,prompted her to talk of Superbowls.’
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THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.
411-Diana Ross & The Supremes-I’m Living In Shame.
1969-Number 14 single.
Best Bit At 2.23.Not all Pop songs are boy meets girl,they fall in love and live happily ever after.
The song is inspired by the plot of the 1959 film ‘Imitation Of Life,’the song was also written as a sequel to The Supremes Billboard Number 1 song of 1968 ‘Love Child.’
The song tells the story of a woman who was born in to poverty and being ashamed of her mother since being a child.She grows up and leaves home and lies about her past in order to move up in to higher society.She marries a man who is well off and tells him her mother is dead,and after giving birth she doesn’t even tell her mother.Then one day she receives a telegram saying her mother has died and she now feels extremely guilty.
Diana Ross(see also best songs 519 and 900) sang lead vocals,but the other two Supremes who at that time were Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong were replaced by Motown’s female session singers ‘The Andantes.’
‘She had a grandson,two years old,I never even showed her.’
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