THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.
287-Gary’s Gang-Keep On Dancin.’
1979-Number 8 single.
Best Bit-At 3.41.This Gary will not want to be confused with the other Garry who was the leader of a completely different and infamous gang.
This is one of the great Disco records of the 1970’s,you wouldn’t be too far wide of the mark if you described the song as ‘cheesy-ish,’ but it is for all that, still definitely cool to like it.
Gary’s Gang were formed in Queens,New York in 1977 by Joseph Tucci and Gary Turnier,they were active until 1985.
The song was written and produced by Tucci he also played all the instruments apart from the drums which were played by Turnier,he also sang the vocals.
Tucci went on to produce other dance records in the early 1980’s,I would recommend a song called ‘Beat Street’ from 1982 sung by Sharon Redd.’
‘Touch my body,make it funky,got a feeling like I wanna fly.’
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THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.
288-Lew Stone & His Band-I Get Along Without You Very Well.
1939-Has never charted in the UK.There was no UK chart until 1952.
Best Bit-At 0.20.The lyrics were written 15 years before the music was added and the lyricist died before hearing or seeing the songs success.
The music was written by Hoagy Carmichael(November 22,1899-December 27,1981,) he is regarded as among the greatest songwriters of the 20th Century.
Back in 1924 a friend of Carmichael’s showed him a magazine clipping of a poem he thought he might like,Carmichael did and scribbled it down on the back of an envelope.Fifteen years later while having a clear out he came across the envelope and this time decided to write music to the words,but he couldn’t release it until tracking down the poems author.
Jane Brown-Thompson an amateur poet who had written the lyrics and sent them into ‘Life’ magazine in 1923 was eventually tracked down,she was now a widow in her 70’s.
It was planned that radio presenter Dick Powell would play the song for the first time on radio on January 19th 1939,unfortunately Mrs Thompson died the day before on January 18th.
‘I’ve forgotten you just like I should,of course I have,except to hear your name, or someones laugh that is the same.’
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THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.
289-Elbow-One Day Like This.
2008-Number 35 single.Peaking at Number 4 in 2012.
Best Bit-At 3.23.’Cause holy cow I love your eyes,’ is possibly not the greatest of chat up lines.
Elbow were formed in 1990 by Guy Garvey,Craig Potter,Mark Potter and Pete Turner.They were originally called ‘Mr Soft,’then changed the name to ‘Soft’ before deciding on ‘Elbow’ in 1997.The name is inspired by a line in the BBC drama ‘The Singing Detective’ in which the character Philip Marlow describes the word elbow as the loveliest word in the English language.
The songs writer Guy Garvey has said that the line ‘One day like this a year would see me right’ was written when he was a teenager and because he liked it so much he saved it in his diary until the right song came along.Garvey has also stated that he thinks the song is similar to The Beatles ‘Hey Jude’ and Primal Screams ‘Loaded.’
‘So throw those curtains wide,one day like this a year would see me right.’
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THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.
290-Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five featuring Melle Mel and Duke Bootee-The Message.
1982-Number 8 single.
Best Bit-At 3.44.The song which changed Rap forever.Before this song MC’s only told people to take to the dance floor and put their hands the air.
‘The Message’ was the first Hip-Hop song to provide a social commentary rather than the self congratulatory boasting or party chants of earlier Hip-Hop.It’s influence cannot be stressed enough as it paved the way for artists such as Public Enemy(see also best songs 578) and N.W.A(see also best songs 564). In 2012 ‘Rolling Stone Magazine’ named the song the greatest Hip-Hop song of all time.
The song was released on the legendary ‘Sugar Hill’ record label whose owner Sylvia Robinson(see also best songs 597 and 523) is given writing credit along with Edward Fletcher who was employed by the label as a songwriter and Clifton Chase who was employed as a producer.The only member of Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five given a writing credit is Melle Mel.
‘A child is born with no state of mind,blind to the ways of mankind.’
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THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

COMING NEXT THE BEST 290.

Academic inspiration you gave me none
But you were Michael the lover the fighter that won
But now just look at me I’m looking down at you
No I’m not being flash it’s what I’m built to do.

THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.
291-The Maytals-Monkey Man.
1969-Number 47 single.
Best Bit-At 0.47.This songs writer and lead singer Toots Hibbert is responsible for the word ‘Reggae.’
Frederick ‘Toots’ Hibbert was born in May Pen,Jamaica in 1942,he has been honoured by the Jamaican government with the ‘Order Of Jamaica’ which is the equivalent of a British Knighthood.
In 1968 Hibbert wrote a song called ‘Do The Reggay,’ which led to what was then a new style of music being given a name.Reggae Music developed after Ska Music,blending Blues,Calypso and Rock ‘N’ Roll often with lyrics of social protest.
In Jamaica a ‘Monkey Man’ is a slang word for a doorman or a bouncer.In this song the singer hears of his ex-girlfriend flirting with a very large man.
‘I’ve seen no sign of you I’ve only heard that you huggin’ up the big monkey man.’
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THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.
292-Foo Fighters-Everlong.
1997-Number 18 single.
Best Bit-At 1.27.David Grohl is down on record as saying that one of his musical influences was the Scottish boy band The Bay City Rollers,I honestly don’t know if he is pulling our legs or not.
After the demise of Nirvana(see also best songs 788) David Grohl formed the Foo Fighters(see also best songs 999) in 1994. Grohl chose the name from the UFOs and various aerial phenomena that werereported by Allied aircraft pilots in World War 2.
‘Everlong’ was written just after the breakup of Grohl’s first marriage to Jennifer Youngblood,he wrote the lyrics after falling for Louise Post of the band Veruca Salt,she can be heard singing backing vocals on this.
Of the song Grohl said ‘It’s about a girl that I’d fallen in love with and it was basically about being connected to someone so much,that not only do you love them physically and spiritually,but when you sing along with them you harmonise perfectly.’
‘And I wonder when I sing along with you,if everything could ever feel this real forever.’
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THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.
293-Hank Mizell-Jungle Rock.
1958-Did not chart.Re-released in 1976 reaching Number 3.
Best Bit-At 0.10.It took 18 years for this song to become a hit,so it appears the ‘Jungle Drums’ were communicating very slowly.
Hank Mizell was born William Mizell in 1923 in Dayton Beach,Florida and died in 1992,he was nicknamed ‘Hank’ after the Country singer Hank Williams.
Mizell wrote ‘Jungle Rock’ in 1958 and released it on the small independent record label ‘Eko’ where it failed to make any impact despite favourable reviews in Billboard Magazine.Some eight months later it was re-released on the major label ‘King’ records,but once again failed to chart.Around 1962 due to a lack of a breakthrough Mizell gave up his music career and became a Preacher.
In the mid 1970’s British DJ Roy Williams began playing the song and it was picked up by ‘Charley Records’ and this time it took off all over Europe including a peak of Number 1 in The Netherlands.
The news of the songs success took some time to reach Mizell as nobody knew where to find him.He was tracked down several weeks later in Tennessee and flown over to England to record ‘Top Of The Pops.’
‘Oh well the fox grabbed the rabbit and they hit the bunny rug and all the beasts that fly was a-cuttin’ the rug.’
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THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.
294-The Clash-The Call Up.
1980-Number 40 single.
Best Bit-At 0.16.The song opens and closes with a U.S. Marines traditional call and response marching or running song.
The song is about ‘The Draft’ and war in general.It also tells of things that a soldier may miss out on,’There is a rose that I want to live for.’
The Clash(see also best songs 867 and 638) were formed in 1976 and recorded under that name for the next ten years.The original line-up was Joe Strummer who died in 2002,Mick Jones,Paul Simonon and Topper Headon. They are recognised as one of the most influential bands of all time,starting out in the Punk era and widening their style to incorporate Reggae,Rockabilly,Dub and R&B.
Artists who have cited them as an influence include U2 and The Manic Street Preachers.
‘All the young people down the ages,they gladly marched off to die.’
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THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.
295-Artie Shaw and his Orchestra-Begin The Beguine.
1938-Has never charted in the UK.There was no official chart until 1952.
Best Bit-At 0.59.The songs author Cole Porter christened the dance that is performed to this song,he called it the ‘Beguine.’
Cole Porter(June 9.1891-October 15,1964) was one of the most prolific and respected songwriters of the 20th Century.Unlike many successful Broadway composers he wrote the lyrics as well as the music for his songs(see also best songs 944 and 655.)
Porter had written the song in 1936 but it wasn’t successful until being rearranged by bandleader Artie Shaw as a extended ‘Swing’ orchestra version,reaching Number 3 on Billboard in 1938.
The song has been recorded by hundreds of different artists down the years,other notable versions include Ella Fitzgerald in 1956 on her ‘Cole Porter Songbook’ Album and Julio Iglesias who took the song to Number 1 in the UK in 1981.
‘And down by the the shore an orchestra’s playing and even the palms seem to be swaying.’
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