My Favorite Century Part I
Sometime in the fall of 2023, a woman I work with commented on “You’re Beautiful” by James Blunt and said it was a top 10 song.
My mind raced. A Top 10 what?
Top 10 songs sung by James Blunt? Top 10 songs from 2004? Top 10 songs by artists with incredible blue eyes? Top 10 songs that feature a man taking off his clothes and jumping into a body of water in the music video?
It raised many questions for me, but mostly, I think she meant, “I consider this a top 10 song of all time.” To each their own. People are entitled to absurd opinions, especially regarding art (case and point: this entire exercise).
Ever since that James Blunt mention, though, I couldn’t stop thinking about the songs we come to like, the songs we use to define places, eras, and memories. I created a playlist titled My Favorite Century and have curated my 100 favorite songs. The process was slow going. How many songs per artist is too many? Is my 11th favorite song from band X more favorite than my only favorite song from artist Y? Songs that made the list were replaced if I heard them on the playlist and decided they weren’t actually up to par.
To be clear, I left many good songs off the list. Did any singles from Justin Bieber’s Purpose album make the cut? We’ll find out! Did I spend much time considering which one would, if only one could? Assuredly.
In many cases, it came down to: how do I capture my enjoyment of this band down into one or two songs? Or questions of letting one song stand in for an entire album with no singles but more of a collection.
This list is not definitive. I’ve seen too much movement and listened to too much music in the past few months to think that, but I think it’s a good snapshot of songs I enjoy, memories I hold, and opinions I want to share.
These songs are not ranked 1-100. That would be insane.
Instead, enjoy my favorite 100 songs (a century of music), a few at a time.
Song
For Emma
Artist
Bon Iver
Released
2008
Lyric
Go find another lover/ to bring a/To string along
With all your lies/You’re still very lovable
One Word
Forlorn
More Than One Word
Hard to listen to this song and not think back on when I dated a girl with a boyfriend in college. I was the other guy for way too long. And like many a side-piece, I kept thinking she would wake up one day and choose me.
And boy, oh boy, did she never do that.
I made so many different excuses that justified why she couldn’t or why it wasn’t the right time for her to do it, and so when I heard Justin Vernon say: With all your lies, you’re still very lovable, I just thought, “Same.” Years have passed, and water is under the bridge.
I have grown, matured, and aged out of feeling so sad, but this song really hit me. The fact that Vernon was a Wisconsin boy and this song had a whole “sad, winter cabin” vibe to it really brought it all home for me.
Song
Weird Fishes/ Arpeggi
Artist
Radiohead
Released
2007
Lyric
Everybody leaves
If they get the chance
And this is my chance
One Word
Ambiguous
More Than One Word
One of the recent joys of parenthood has been introducing my kids to songs I like in exchange for driving them everywhere and listening to the songs they like. You may think there'd be some hemming and hawing as I play them my favorites, but for the most part, they listen, occasionally ask questions (‘Is this almost over?' for example), and not infrequently really come to love a song. Weird Fishes is one of those songs. I have no idea what it means. I have no idea why he pluralizes fishes when fish would suffice. I don't know how there are seemingly 15 arpeggios being played at once. I just know this song is so fucking cool.
If the big debate of this endeavor was: Will Remix to Ignition make it in the top 100? The second biggest debate was: How many Radiohead songs can I include?
If the number is only one, then Weird Fishes is it. If there are more, so be it, but this one was a no-brainer for me.
