THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

296-Pink-Get the Party Started.

2001-Number 2 single.

Best Bit-At 0.10. At the age of 14, she chose the stage name ‘Pink,’ she had already had that as a nickname for quite sometime, calling herself after the character ‘Mr Pink’ in Quentin Tarantino’s film ‘Reservoir Dogs’ (see also best songs 524.)

‘Pink’ was born Alecia Beth Moore on September 8th, 1979, in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, United States, with sales in excess of 100 million records, she is one of the best selling artists of all time. At the age of 16 she formed an R&B girl group called ‘Choice’ with two others. A copy of their debut single ‘Key to My Heart’ was sent to L.A.Reid of ‘LaFace Records’ who signed them in 1995, but by 1998 Reid gave Pink an ultimatum, go solo or go home.

‘Pink’s debut solo Album ‘Can’t Take Me Home’ from 2000 was recorded in the R&B genre, eventually selling over two million copies in America, and producing three top 40 singles on both sides of the Atlantic. In total Pink has released eight studio Albums between 2000-2019, and 53 singles. She has achieved 24 Billboard top 40 singles in America, with four of them reaching Number 1, while in the UK, 36 of her singles have made the top 40, with three getting to Number 1. Pink has also released an Album called ‘Rose Ave.’ in 2014 as part of a duo called ‘You+Me,’ with the Canadian Folk singer/songwriter Dallas Green, the Album reached Number 4 on Billboard, and Number 10 in the UK.

‘Get the Party Started’ was the first single released from Pink’s second studio Album ‘Missundaztood’ from 2001. Even so her R&B debut had been a great success, Pink was frustrated with the lack of creative control she had, and was dissatisfied with being marketed as a white R&B singer. Aspiring to pursue a more Rock orientated sound she approached one of her childhood idols Linda Perry. Perry not only wrote ‘Get the Party Started,’ but also wrote and produced eight tracks on the ‘Missundaztood’ Album.

Linda Perry was born on April 15th, 1965, in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States, she first found success as the primary songwriter, and lead vocalist of the American Alternative Rock band ‘4 Non Blondes,’ who were active between 1989-1994, and are best remembered for the 1993 UK Number 2, and Billboard Number 14 hit single ‘What’s Up,’ written by Perry. ‘Get the Party Started’ was written by Perry as an experiment to see if she could write something in a completely different style to what she had previously done. As well as using different instruments, she also wrote the songs lyrics, deliberately using every party cliche she could think of. By the time Perry was approached by Pink, the song had been completed, and had already been offered to Madonna, who had turned it down.

In 2006 the Welsh singer Dame Shirley Bassey (see also best songs 441) covered the song for their Marks & Spencer Christmas television advertising campaign. It was later released as a single in 2007, and reached Number 47 in the UK, giving Bassey her 33rd charting song since ‘The Banana Boat Song (Day-O’) had made Number 8 in 1957. This made Shirley Bassey the first female artist in the UK chart to have had chart entry’s spanning over a 50 year period.

‘Pumpin’ up the volume, breakin’ down to the beat, cruisin’ through the Westside, we’ll be checkin’ the scene.Boulevard is freakin’ as I’m comin’ up fast, I’ll be burnin’ rubber, you’ll be kissin’ my ass.’

THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

297-Swing Out Sister-Where in the World.

1989-Number 47 single.

Best Bit-At 4.14. They took their name from the title of an obscure 1945 musical movie called ‘Swing Out Sister,’ They claim they chose the name because it was the only one they could all agree on, in that they all hated it.

Swing Out Sister were formed in 1985, in Manchester, England, by Andy Connell, (keyboards) and Martin Jackson, (drums) prior to joining forces Connell had performed in other bands, with the highest profile being the Manchester based Post Punk band ‘A Certain Ratio.’ Jackson had also been in other bands, most notably ‘Magazine,’ who were another Post Punk band, also from the Manchester area. The pair recorded demo’s for ‘Phonogram Records,’ who insisted that they added vocals to their Electronic based music, and they turned to the Soul singer Diane Charlemagne. (1964-2015) Due to contractual problems Charlemagne was unable to officially work with the pair, so they approached Corinne Drewery whom they had first met in 1984, to become the groups vocalist, Drewery had previously been a fashion designer.Jackson stayed with Swing Out Sister for the release of their debut Album ‘It’s Better to Travel,’ although he is credited with co-writing two of the tracks on the bands second Album ‘Kaleidoscope World’. Since Jackson’s departure Swing Out Sister have been a duo, bringing in several high profile musicians to perform on their 11 studio Albums to date, which have been released between 1987-2017. They have also released 23 singles between 1985-2007, of which six have made the UK top 40. In America the have had two hits on the Billboard top 40, with ‘Breakout’ from 1986, making Number 6.

‘Where in the World’ was the second single released from Swing Out Sister’s second studio Album ‘Kaleidoscope World’ from 1989. Where their debut Album ‘It’s Better to Travel’ had been recorded with mainly Electronic instruments,’Kaleidoscope World’ was recorded with the addition of an Orchestra, making for a retro sounding sophisticated ‘Easy Listening’ sound. This sound would be continued throughout the duo’s career. Their music is heavily influenced by the ‘Easy Listening’ genre of the 1960’s, you could say they were the Bacharach and David of the 1980’s (see also best songs 902-832-815-740-644 and 224.)

‘Where in the World’ was co-written by Andy Connell (music) and Corinne Drewery, (lyrics) and tells the tale of a woman who for whatever reason has parted from her lover. She is making herself physically and mentally ill because she is missing this person so much. Notable musicians who performed on this track include, Vini Reilly who played the Spanish guitar on the surprise ending to the song. Reilly also features in this countdown, having played guitar and keyboards on the Morrissey song ‘Suedehead’ (see also best songs 940.) The drummer on this song is Chris Whitten who was also the drummer on ‘The Whole of the Moon’ by the Waterboys (see also best songs 755.)

‘Keep telling me my condition hasn’t changed, can’t appreciate there’s no one but myself to blame.’

THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

298-Dire Straits-Romeo and Juliet.

1981-Number 8 single.

Best Bit-At 2.23. Romeo and Juliet is Mark Knopfler’s ‘Play’ on words.

Mark Freuder Knopfler OBE was born on August 12th, 1949, in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom, he moved to Blyth, near Newcastle, England, with his parents, and his brother and sister, when he was seven years old.

Dire Straits (see also best songs 829) were formed in Deptford, London, England, in 1977, by Mark Knopfler,(lead vocals, and lead guitar) his younger brother David, (born 1952) (rhythm guitar) John Illsley, (bass) and David ‘Pick’ Withers (drums.) David Knopfler left the band in 1979 after the recording of their second studio Album ‘Communique,’ and Withers left after the completion of the bands fourth studio Album ‘Love Over Gold’ in 1982. Dire Straits were active between 1977-1988, they then went on hiatus, before reforming in 1990, until finally retiring the band in 1995, In total there have been 10 band members, with Mark Knopfler and John Illsley being the groups only too constants. They released six studio Albums between 1978-1991, with their fifth Album ‘Brothers in Arms’ from 1985 becoming the first Album on Compact Disc to sell one million copies in the UK, where it is currently the eighth best selling Album of all time in that country. They have released 23 singles between 1978-1994, with 11 of those reaching the UK top 40, and four making the Billboard top 40 in America, where ‘Money for Nothing’ reached the Number 1 spot in 1985.

‘Romeo and Juliet’ was written by Mark Knopfler, and produced by Knopfler, and Jimmy Lovine, it was the third and final single released from Dire Straits third studio Album ‘Making Movies’ from 1980. The song is based on Knopfler’s own real life experience of falling in love as a young man. He was dating the American singer/songwriter Holly Vincent, and he felt he was being used by her so that she could further her own musical career. The line in the song,’Now you just say, oh Romeo, yeah, you know I used to have a scene with him,’ refers to an interview with Holly Vincent where she says,’What happened was that I had a scene with Mark Knopfler, and it got to the point where he couldn’t handle it, and we split up.

‘In the song the couple are referred to as Romeo and Juliet, which of course is a reference to the William Shakespeare play. Knopfler also makes a point of mentioning other works involving young love, including the song ‘Somewhere’ from ‘West Side Story,’ which itself is based on the Shakespeare play, and also the 1963 song ‘My Boyfriends Back,’ from the American girl group ‘The Angels.’

‘Juliet when we made love you used to cry. You said I love you like the stars above, said I’ll love you baby till I die, and there’s a place for us, you know the movie song. When you gonna realise it was just that the time was wrong Juliet.’

THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

299-Judy Collins-Both Sides Now.

1968-It didn’t chart in the UK until 1970, when reaching Number 14.

Best Bit-At 1.36. It’s one of Pop Music’s most thought provoking songs, but the great mystery is how a 22 year old could have acquired the knowledge to write about life’s experiences, so accurately, without having lived through them yet.

‘Both Sides Now’ was written in 1966 by Joni Mitchell, (see also best songs 637 and 558) who was born Roberta Joan Mitchell on November 7th, 1943, in Fort Macleod, Alberta, Canada. The exact date she actually wrote the the song is unknown, but it was definitely before November 17th, 1966, because that was when she first performed it live at ‘The Second Fret,’ Folk club, in Philadelphia, the song and the rest of her performance was released in 2014 on ‘All Access Records,’ as the Album ‘Joni Mitchel: Live at the Second Fret 1966.’ Mitchell has said that ‘Both Sides Now’ was inspired by a passage in ‘Henderson the Rain King,’ which is a 1959 novel by Saul Bellow (1915-2005.) Mitchell has said,’I was reading ‘Henderson the Rain King’ on a plane, and early on in the book Henderson is also up in a plane. He’s on his way to Africa and he looks down and sees these clouds too, and I immediately started writing the song. I had no idea that the song would become as popular as it did.’

Judith Marjorie Collins was born on May 1st, 1939, in Seattle, Washington, United States, this song, along with her renditions of ‘Amazing Grace’, and ‘Send in the Clowns’ are considered her signature songs. Her discography consists of 27 studio Albums, four live Albums, at least 24 compilation Albums, three tribute Albums, and 14 singles, since her first release ‘A Maid of Constant Sorrow’ in 1961. As a teenager Collins studied Classical piano under the tutelage of Antonia Brico, (1902-1989) Brico took a dim view when Collins developed an interest in Folk music. Years later after she became internationally known, she invited Brico to one of her concerts in Denver. When they met after the performance, Brico took both of Collin’s hands into his, looked wistfully at her fingers and said,’Little Judy- you really could have gone places.’

In the 1960’s Judy Collins would perform many songs by aspiring Folk music writers such as Eric Anderson, Fred Neil, (see also best songs 388) and Joni Mitchel, well before they became famous. It was Collins who introduced a then unknown Mitchell to the crowd at the 1966 ‘Newport Folk Festival’. Collins recorded the first commercially released version of ‘Both Sides Now’ for her 1967 Album ‘Wildflowers,’ when released a a single in 1968 it reached Number 8 in America on Billboard, and Number 6 in Canada. Joni Mitchell included the song on her 1969 second studio Album ‘Clouds,’ (which was named after a lyric in the song) and again in 2000 she re-recorded the song in an Orchestral fashion, for her 17th studio Album ‘Both Sides Now.’ The song has been covered on numerous occasions down the years by dozens of different artists, including notable versions by Frank Sinatra,(1968) and Herbie Hancock (2007.)

‘Both Sides Now’ is about how your views, and the views and expectations of people you know change as you experience events that happen in your life. The wonderful future you imagined as a youngster may not have turned out as you expected. What seemed a simple path to follow at 16, proved to be fraught with dangers at 66.

‘Bows and flows of angel hair, and ice cream castles in the air, and feathered canyons everywhere, I’ve looked at clouds that way.’

THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

300-Chemical Brothers-Block Rockin’ Beats.

1997-Number 1 single.

Best Bit-At 3.10. Ed Simons left school with 11 ‘O’ levels, and three ‘A’ levels, Tom Rowlands achieved nine ‘O’ levels, and three ‘A’ levels, but I don’t know if any of them were for Chemistry.

The Chemical Brothers (see also best songs 53) are the Electronic Music duo of Ed Simons, who was born on June 9th, 1970, in Herne Hill, Lambeth, London, England, and Tom Rowlands who was born on January 11th, 1971, in Kingston upon Thames, London, England, the pair first met when both were studying at the University of Manchester in 1989. Prior to meeting Simons, Rowlands had been in a band called ‘Ariel’ who had issued a few tracks with little success, and Rowlands felt that the quality of their output was deteriorating. One of the last songs Ariel recorded was a song called ‘T Baby,’ which became the first joint remix by Simons and Rowlands, this was remixed by the duo using the name ‘Dust Brothers,’ in tribute to the American trio of E Z Mike, King Gizmo, and Matt Dike (1961-2018) who were the original ‘Dust Brothers, famed for their work with artists such as the Beastie Boys, and Beck. The Dust Brothers were not happy with Simons and Rowlands taking their name, but eventually came to an agreement. Simons and Rowlands eventually decided on ‘Chemical Brothers,’ which was taken from the title of one of their early songs called ‘Chemical Beats.’

‘Block Rockin’ Beats’ was co-written by Tom Rowlands ans Ed Simons, with Jesse Weaver who is better known by his stage name ‘Schooly D’ also receiving writing credit as he his vocals, and lyrics are used on the track. The song which was produced by the Chemical Brothers was the second single released from their second studio Album ‘Dig Your Own Hole’ from 1997, and as with the Albums first single release ‘Setting Sun’ it also reached Number 1 on the UK top 40 singles chart.

‘Block Rockin’ Beats’ can be filed under the genre of ‘Big Beat,’ which is music that normally consists of heavy and distorted drum beats, as well as synthesizers, and sampled loops of 1960’s, and 1970,’ Funk, Soul, Jazz, and Rock music. The genre was at it’s most popular during the later part of the 1990’s, and early part of the 2000’s. Other notable acts of the genre include The Prodigy, (see also best songs 925 and 151) and Fatboy Slim (see also best songs 760 and 95.)’Block Rockin’ Beats’ was put together from many clever samples. The drums are sampled from a 1973 song called ‘Changes’ which is a track on the ‘Shaft’ soundtrack, (see also best songs 398) and was played by Bernard Purdie. The vocals ‘Back with another one of those block rockin’ beats’ was lifted from the song ‘Gucci Again,’ by the American Rapper Schooly D, of whom fellow Rapper ‘Ice T’ has credited as a major influence on the development of ‘Gangsta Rap.’ Another prominent sample is the tracks bass line which was taken from the British band ’23 Skidoo’s song ‘Coup,’ from 1983. The opening bass riff on ‘Block Rockin’ Beats’ resembles the intro to Pink Floyd’s 1968 song ‘Let There Be More Light,’ while the bass sound has been sampled from The Crusaders 1974 song ‘The Well’s Gone Dry.’

THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

301-Link Wray & His Ray Men-Rumble.

1958-Has never charted in the UK.

Best Bit-At 1.10. Sometimes fact can be stranger than fiction. This song was banned from being played on the radio.’IT’S AN INSTRUMENTAL!’

Link Wray was born Fred Lincoln Wray Jr. on May 2nd, 1929, in Dunn, North Carolina, United States, he died on November 5th, 2005, of heart failure at the age of 76. Wray’s mother was descended from ‘Shawnee,’ and as a result of being indigenous, Wray and his family were always in fear of their lives from the ‘Ku Klux Klan. Wray served in the United States Army during the Korean War between 1950-1953, where he contracted tuberculosis, leading to him having a lung removed, and doctors telling him that he would never be able to sing again.

Link Wray is considered one of the most influential guitarists of all time for his groundbreaking use of ‘distortion,’ and ‘tremolo’ on this track ‘Rumble,’ which enhanced ‘Rock N’ Roll,’ and if not giving birth to ‘Rock’ music, then it certainly gave it a big push. Among the many greats who have acknowledged this are Pete Townshend (see also best songs 926-891-306 and 265) who has said,’He is the king, if it hadn’t been for ‘Rumble’ I would have never picked up a guitar.’ Jimmy Page (see also best songs 135 and 66) said that as a kid he used to listen to anything with a guitar on,’But the first time I heard ‘Rumble’ that was something that had so much profound attitude to it,’ and Bob Dylan (see also best songs 792-621-358-103-36 and 7) has called ‘Rumble’ The best instrumental ever.’

‘Rumble’ was officially written by Link Wray, and Milt Grant (1923-2007) but the chances are Grant had nothing to do with the composing of the song. Grant was a radio and television presenter who probably had his name added to the credits in return for commercial exposure. When Link Wray first came up with the instrumental he called it ‘Oddball,’ and was pleased with the reaction when performing it live. The song was brought to the attention of Archie Bleyer (1909-1989) of the ‘Cadence Records’ label, who being from a previous generation had a very low tolerance when it came to ‘Rock N’ Roll,’ he only agreed to the record being released due to his step-daughters fascination with the song. It was also Bleyer’s step-daughter who suggested the songs title ‘Rumble.’ as it reminded her of the rumble scenes in ‘West Side Story, although there is another story which suggests that it was Phil Everly (1939-2014) who suggested the songs title, the Everly Brothers were signed to ‘Cadence Records’ at that time. (see also best songs 799) The title made the song somewhat controversial because it implied gang violence, with ‘rumble’ being a slang name for street fighting among gangs of youths in America. This led to some radio stations refusing to play it for fear of glorifying juvenile delinquency. The song can be heard at it’s most ‘menacing’ in a scene from the 1994 film ‘Pulp Fiction,’ between John Travolta, and Uma Thurman.

THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

302-David Bowie-Boys Keep Swinging.

1979-Number 7 single.

Best Bit-At 1.30 (Check out the songs official video) I don’t fancy yours much.

‘Boys Keep Swinging’ was the lead single released from David Bowie’s 13th studio Album ‘Lodger’ from May 1979.’Boys Keep Swinging’ was co-written by Bowie, and Brian Eno, who had worked with Bowie on his previous two Albums ‘Low,’ and ‘Heroes.’ This song and the ‘Lodger’ Album were produced by Toni Visconti, who had previously worked with Bowie since 1969 on seven Albums, and would go on to produce another six, including Bowie’s final studio Album ‘Blackstar’ in 2016.

Although the ‘Lodger’Album is the third in the so called ‘Berlin Triolgy,’ following on from ‘Low’ (January 1977) and ‘Heroes,’ (October 1977) the ‘Lodger’ Album was not recorded at the ‘Hansa’ studio in West Berlin, Germany, where the previous two had been, in fact ‘Lodger’ was recorded at the ‘Mountain’ studio in Switzerland, and mixed at the ‘Record Plant’ in New York City.

For ‘Boys Keep Swinging’ Bowie (see also best songs 807-440-334-209-186-118-47-31 and 5) wanted to create a ‘garage band’ sound, so at the suggestion of Brian Eno (see also best songs 766-190-109 and 57) the musicians on the song actually played instruments that they were not totally familiar with, for example the accomplished guitarist Carlos Alomar played the drums on the track, while the lead guitar on the track was played by Adrian Belew, who was told to improvise as he wished. Tony Visconti (see also best songs 386-209 and 118) added bass guitar over the finished song, which many music critics have noted has a similarity to the Beach Boys 1965 song ‘You’re So Good to Me.’ The other musicians on the track were David Bowie, (vocals, guitar, and piano) Brian Eno, (piano, and synthesizer) and Simon House (violin.)

David Bowie was always one step ahead with the latest technological breakthroughs, and the ever changing ways in which new music was promoted. This was two years before the debut of ‘MTV,’ but Bowie knew that the best way to get his music across to the masses was to make a promotional video. The songs memorable video which was directed by David Mallet sees Bowie dressed in drag, as a ‘working class tart,’ the actress Lauren Bacall, and also, in a third guise, as a combination of the actresses Marlene Dietrich, and Greta Garbo. Bowie also promoted the release of ‘Boys Keep Swinging’ with a comical performance on ‘The Kenny Everett Video Show,’ which was also directed by Mallet, that also helped get the song in to the UK top 10 singles chart.Bowie teases us with the lyrics on ‘Boys Keep Swinging.’ It can appear that Bowie is telling us how wonderful it is to be born male, as you can achieve so much with the advantage of being born that gender, but with tongue in cheek he was probably having a dig at the stereo typical male who sees himself as ‘a bit of a lad.’ Bowie has said,’The glory in that song was ironic. I do not feel that there is anything remotely glorious about being either male or female. I was merely playing on the idea of the colonisation of a gender.’

‘Uncage the colours, unfurl the flag, luck just kissed you hello when you’re a boy. They’ll never clone ya, you’re always first on the line, when you’re a boy.’

THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

303-Cab Calloway-Minnie the Moocher.

1931-Has never charted in the UK. There was no UK chart until 1952.

Best Bit-At 0.49. A Hoochie Coochie dancer would even make a twerking Beyonce blush.

Cab Calloway was born Cabell Calloway on December 25th, 1907, in Rochester, New York, United States, he died from pneumonia, and other complications on November 18th, 1994, at the age of 86. His energetic live performances were an influence on future artists such as James Brown, and Michael Jackson. The film director John Landis who produced ‘The Blues Brothers’ film, which was Calloway’s last movie performance in 1980, said of Calloway, when asked about his influence on Rap artists,’Cab Calloway is Hip-Hop.’

Cab Calloway became the first ever African/American to sell a million records from one single, with this song, which was one of his 48 chart entries in America between 1930-1978, as a result of the success of ‘Minnie the Moocher’, Calloway gained the nickname,’The Hi De Ho Man.’He also appeared in 15 films between 1932-1980, including the 1943 movie ‘Stormy Weather,’ where he played himself (see also best songs 634.)’Minnie the Moocher’ was co-written by Calloway, Clarence Gaskill, (1892-1948) and the Jazz music publisher Irving Mills (1894-1985.) The song is based lyrically on the Vaudeville performer Frankie ‘Half Pint’ Jackson’s (1896 or 1897-1953) version of the early 1900’s song ‘Willie the Weeper.’

‘Minnie the Moocher’ tells the story of a woman called Minnie who was a ‘Hoochie Coocher,’ which is a kind of provocative dancer, that was heavily frowned upon in some quarters in those times. The guy she was in love with was addicted to Cocaine, and he took her to Chinatown where he introduced her to Opium. Her dreams of living the good life with this man are shattered when they get arrested for driving while under the influence. Minnie ends up in jail, and further down the line ends up in a mental asylum, where she died. Basically the song is saying that Minnie got in with the wrong crowd, and made some bad decisions, but deep down she was kind, and we should feel sorry for her.

The thing which made the song so popular with the public was it’s call-and-response ‘Scat’ battle that Calloway would engage in with the audience. He would start off with ‘Hi De Hi De Hi De Ho,’ which a crowd could easily repeat, but then his scats would steadily get faster, and more difficult, until finally he would give them a ‘Skeedle-a-booka-diki diki skeedy beeka gookity woop,’ to which the people couldn’t repeat, but would find very humorous.

‘Folks here’s a story about Minnie the Moocher, she was a real live hoochie coocher. She was the roughest toughest frail, but Minnie had a heart as big as a whale. Hi De Hi De Hi De Ho.’

THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

304-Ellie Goulding-Anything Could Happen.

2012-Number 5 single.

Best Bit-At 3.07. In an era when great music is at a premium, here is a song which would stand out in any decade of Popular music.

Elena Jane Goulding was born on December 30th, 1986, in Hereford, England, at the time of writing she has released four studio Albums, 38 singles, and eight EP’s. On the UK top 40 singles chart she has achieved 20 hits as the lead artist, with three of those songs reaching the Number 1 spot. She has also had a further three top 40 hits as the featured artist, and a further two (which both reached Number 1) when appearing on collaborative charity songs. In America on the Billboard singles top 40 she has charted on six occasions, with ‘Lights’ charting the highest when reaching Number 2 in 2011.

‘Anything Could Happen’ was the first single released from Ellie Goulding’s second studio Album ‘Halcyon’ from 2012, the song was co-written, and co-produced by Jim Eliot, who also co-wrote with Goulding seven of the 12 tracks on the first edition release of ‘Halcyon.’ Eliot who was born in London, England, has been a member of the ‘Electropop’ duo ‘Kish Mauve’ with the vocalist Mima Stilwell since 2005. The duo are probably best known for providing several of the songs that appeared on the American television series ‘Dirty Sexy Money’ first aired in 2007. Eliot’s other notable successes include co-writing and producing Kylie Minogue’s 2007 UK Number 4 hit ‘2 Hearts,’ and 2010’s ‘All the Lovers’ which reached Number 3. He also co-wrote the song ‘Jealousy,’ which was a Number 5 hit for Will Young in 2011.

‘Anything Could Happen’ is a song about not taking anything for granted, it tells us to live for today, because tomorrow isn’t promised. Goulding has said,’I suppose it’s one of those songs where I sort of talk about bits of my childhood, but also about my friendship with this person, and um, I suppose it’s a song of realisation. I’m hoping it will make people go out and propose to their girlfriends, or go on that holiday they never ended up doing. I hope it will provoke positivity, as opposed to make people really sad.’ On working with Jim Eliot, Goulding said,’This was fun because Jim’s a really experienced, clever producer, but acts like a child like me. We’re both like little kids, just wanting to create sounds, like ‘Oh that sounds cool,’ and let’s see what happens when we do this. It’s like child play, and that’s how ‘Anything Can Happen’ started, it’s quite childlike and quite innocent.’

‘Stripped to the waist we fall into the river, cover your eyes so you don’t know the secret I’ve been trying to hide. We held our breath to see our names are written on the wreck of ’86, that was the year I knew the panic was over.’

THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

305-Run-DMC and Aerosmith-Walk This Way.

1986-Number 8 single.

Best Bit-At 1.13. ‘Ebony and Ivory living together in perfect harmony.’

Aerosmith were formed in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, in 1970 by Steven Tyler, (vocals) Joe Perry, (lead guitar) Joey Kramer, (drums) Tom Hamilton, (bass) and Ray Tabano, (guitar) Tabano would leave in 1971 to be replaced by Brad Whitford (guitar.) There have been a total of nine different band members come and go, and they remain active. They have released 15 studio Albums between 1973-2012, and 72 singles between 1973-2013, with 22 of those reaching the Billboard top 40, with their only Number 1 being achieved in 1998 with ‘I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing.’ In the UK 12 of their singles have made the top 40 with the highest charting song being ‘I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing’ which made Number 4. With sales in excess of 150 million records they are the best selling American Hard Rock band of all time.

The original version of ‘Walk This Way’ first appeared on Aerosmith’s breakthrough third studio Album ‘Toys in the Attic’ from 1975, and was co-written by Joe Perry (music) and Steven Tyler, (lyrics) the song reached Number 10 on Billboard in 1976. In 1986 the Hip-Hop group Run-DMC (see also best songs 113) heard their music producer Rick Rubin (see also best songs 977 and 610) playing ‘Toys in the Attic’ and they started free styling over the intro of ‘Walk This Way,’ which led to them introducing it to their live shows. It was a friend of Rubin’s called Sue Cummings who was an editor at ‘Spin’ magazine who first suggested a collaboration between Aerosmith, and Run-DMC.

By the mid 1980’s Aerosmith had fallen from grace, their record sales had dropped dramatically, and they were struggling, partly through their drug abuse. Run-DMC were already acknowledged as pioneers of Hip-Hop, but it was this collaboration that brought them to the attention of a much wider audience. Both groups were nervous of what public reaction would be to them joining forces, and neither party had any idea if the mixing of Rock and Rap would even work. ‘Walk This Way’ did break new ground introducing the music genre of ‘Rap Rock.’ and paving the way for bands such as The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Linkin Park, and Faith No More.

The songs lyrics which were written by Steven Tyler are about a teenage boys sexual enlightening, where he has an encounter with not one, not two, but three women at the same time. It is the women who are in charge though, as the line ‘walk this way’ refers to the experienced girl showing the young man where to put his finger, showing him how to walk. The songs title came before the lyrics were written, some of the band had been to see the film ‘Young Frankenstein’ a comedy starring Gene Wilder. There is a scene in the film where ‘Igor’ played by Marty Feldman tells Dr. Frankenstein to ‘Walk this way,’ meaning to follow him. Dr. Frankenstein imitates Igor’s walk which the band thought was hilarious, on their return they told Tyler, and suggested it as a great title for a song. Tyler however has said that his inspiration for the songs title came from watching ‘The Three Stooges’ on television, something the band all did together while getting high.

‘School girl sleazy with a classy kind of sassy, little skirt hangin’ way up her knee. It was three young ladies in the school gym locker, and they find they were lookin’ at D.’