MFC: These Women Work
When I started this list, one of my secondary concerns was the potential for an imbalance between songs sung by men and those sung by women. Although it may not significantly matter in a personal top 100 context, it's fair to say that I aimed for diversity. My intention was not to fill this list with hundreds of songs by Radiohead, The Strokes, classic rock bands, and rappers alone. I wanted this list to be timeless, featuring an eclectic mix of genres, artists, and overall vibes. So, this might not be my top 100 favorite songs of all time, but rather 100 of my favorite songs.
I apologize if you were led to believe otherwise, and I assure you I set out to do one thing. Art is transformation, and I am nothing but a stone in the river. I am a mere conduit of creation.
Ever since its inception in November, the list has been fluid. Just this morning, I removed a song that had likely been a contender since January 8. After nearly six months of enjoying it, I finally decided it would not make the cut. Such is the nature of list-making, especially when it's a personal endeavor. Today, I will highlight what I believe are the remaining songs sung by women. By the end, I'll provide metrics on the male-to-female ratio, which I estimate to be around 70 to 30. C'est la vie.
One song that will not make the list but has been instrumental in shaping my thoughts around theme is Kate Bush's "This Woman's Work." Admittedly, I don't know much about Kate Bush and couldn't pick her out of a lineup, but I do know She gained renewed attention a few years ago when her song featured in "Stranger Things." It became popular with kids on TikTok, leading to her resurgence, but for the wrong song IMO. During that period, I saw a tweet that suggested Kate Bush had never even seen a hill, let alone run up one.
In all fairness, when I was in high school, our soccer team had to run hills, which was terrible. Then, in college, I had to traverse Bascom Hill daily, which was also terrible.
Hills are not fun to run up. Bush may have been talking about the physical nature of running up one, but it's just as easy to imagine she's suggesting that doing hard things is daunting before you even get into the physical nature of it.
This is how I view this list: a conceptual hill that I am nearly at the top of, which is important to me. I aimed to publish these weekly and, for the most part, managed quite well. I missed a week here and there, publishing every ten days instead of seven, but the intention was clear.
I challenge any of you to write about 100 different yet connected things.
It requires 100 anecdotes. I won't go back to see if I've repeated anything. Still, I hope you've learned something about the music and, more importantly, about me.
I've rambled on, but before I turn to the songs, I just wanted to express my appreciation for the female artists featured, even those not featured: Taylor Swift, Adele, Joan Jett, Mama Cass, Dianna Ross, Mariah Carey, Cher, and so on.
You are truly remarkable. Good job, women. Even if you didn't crack my top 100, I'm proud of you.
Song 88
Maps
Artist
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Released
2004
Lyric
Wait, they don't love you like I love you
One Word
Tragic
|More Than One Word|
In 2004, Yeah Yeah Yeah's frontwoman Karen O told Spin magazine that she wanted this song to be listened to by kids in parking lots all summer long. As we begin summer in earnest, I hope you take her advice. I've just returned from my local parking lot (Walgreens/H&R Block), where I blasted this song to see what sort of response I could elicit from the local public.
There were no kids nearby, and I was the only one listening to Post-Punk Revival classics, but it was an experience I hope you all go for at least once this season. In my research for this song, I learned that super-producer Max Martin was so obsessed with this one that he couldn't figure out why it hadn't blown up into the chart-topper it deserved to be. This drove him to elevate the chorus and urgency in Kelly Clarkson's (banger) Since U Been Gone, which owes its creation to O's work on Maps. More frustrating for Martin was that Karen O wrote the entirety of this song in five minutes. I took months to create average work, and Karen did this in under five minutes. Impressive.
If neither Maps nor Since U Been Gone is in your top 100, I am not certain we'd get along on a social level, but that's okay. Not everyone has to be friends.
Maps was written about Karen O's lover, Angus Andrew, the lead singer of the band The Liars. I could not tell you a single song by the Liars, but as Maya Angelou says, 'When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time." Dude named his band the Liars. I have a feeling I know how things went with Karen O and Mr. Liar himself.
There are two theories about the title: One suggests that the song was titled Maps because the two artists were constantly on tour and looking at maps to see where the other one was; Karen was saying to Angus that the fans in those destinations do not love him like she does (and so he should come to her). The other theory is that the title is actually an acronym: My Angus Please Stay.
I wouldn't say I like the acronym story, but how the lyrics work makes that pretty compelling. Take a listen (preferably in a parking lot) and decide for yourself.
Song 89
No More Drama
Artist
Mary J Blige
Released
2001
Lyric
Only God knows where the story ends for me/But I know where the story begins/It's up to us to choose/Whether we win or lose/And I choose to win
One Word
Resilient
|More Than One Word|
I bet you didn't have "a song inspired by the Young and Restless theme" on your checklist as you tried to figure out which songs were left in the 100. The joke is on you because Mary J keeps us on our toes. I haven't watched any of her recent work on Power Book II: Ghost, but I bet she's killing it.
I don't know if Mary is still releasing music or has just pivoted entirely into acting as she goes for her EGOT. For me, she is more impactful as an artist than an actress. Specifically, her work on No More Drama is worthy of study. I don't know what Mary J was going through when she wrote this song. I'm sure there was strife, trials and tribulations, and just a lot of... drama. She sat down and wrote a song that was mantra-like in its creation.
No more drama.
When you say it, you're probably saying it despite being in the middle of an incredibly dramatic situation. You're more willing to be true than stating it to be true. For me, my no-more drama situation comes in the form of Legos. Recently, Eliot has become a fan, and when I say "become a fan," I mean he asks me to build Legos, and he watches.
His being a fan and me being a fan are not the same.
I made the mistake last week at the library of finding a book that combines two of his passions – Legos and animals - and telling him verbatim, "Wow, you're going to go bananas for this book." I lacked the forethought thought to realize that I, in fact, was the one who was going to go bananas over the book because I was now asked and tasked with creating animals from Legos each and every day.
The problem is that we need more Legos to make many of these creations. The other day, Leen was assigned this task and had to build a canary that looked nothing like a canary. Yesterday, I started building a shark, but we didn't have nearly enough blue or gray to make this happen, so the shark has lots of yellow, orange, and pink. It is far taller than long and looks like a fat multicolored blob.
But Eliot loves it. So that's the important thing.
Often times I'm sitting there on the floor digging for a specific piece that looks like the piece that the shark directions tell me I need, and I mutter something like, "holy shit, what the fuck." What I should be saying is, "No more drama." Like I said, it's a mantra, and I recommend you use it for anything that causes you stress. In the middle of negotiating with the toddler to put on a pair of socks? No more drama. Dealing with a coworker who's giving you terrible feedback? No more drama. Asking a grandparent to babysit for you, and they tell you they're busy because they have to go to bingo? No more drama. Got a neighbor who recently passed away and his spouse wants you to do all their landscaping? No more drama. Mary J was inspirational in creating a universal, aspirational, realistic phrase, and I encourage you all to use it whenever you see fit.
Song 90
Tennis Court
Artist
Lorde
Released
2013
Lyric
Pretty soon I'll be gettin' on my first plane/I'll see the veins of my city like they do in space
One Word
Precocious
|More Than One Word|
I don't have any proof that this is true. Still, I like to imagine whenever I hear the song Tennis Court by Lorde that she is, in fact, talking about the famed tennis court at the Palace Versailles. For those who don't know, the tennis court at Versailles was foundational in the early days of the French Revolution.
I assumed that the tennis court at Versailles was, you know, an actual tennis court, but after doing some research on this theory, I realized that the tennis court as featured at the Versailles is actually a room within the palace. The French are famed for playing tennis on clay courts, but I had never really considered that historically, they also played indoors. I played indoor tennis in high school; the courts are fast when you play inside. I wonder what the surface speed was like at Versailles? Regardless, Lorde sings about heading down to the tennis court, and I think that's pretty cool.
It's a good place for congregating. The French knew it; Lorde knows it.
If you are ever looking for a place to meet with some of your friends, I suggest heading down to the tennis court.
I haven't really kept up with any of Lorde's recent work. In fact, the other day, I had to Google if she was also still putting out music. I found that a recent album cover of hers featured what I have to assume is her butt prominently displayed on the cover, which you know, good for her.
Butts are great.
Can't speak to the music didn't listen to it; only saw the butt album cover and moved on.
I think for a minute, she was in Taylor Swift's squad, but I like to imagine that Lorde came to America, as mentioned when getting on her first plane in this song, and realized that New Zealand is pretty nice! I assume she hangs out in New Zealand, releases music, and just has a nice Kiiwi life.
I love that for her. I don't really have much else to say about Lorde, or tennis courts.
I want to discuss pickleball with you if you have a moment. I think Pickleball is fake. A bubble. I'm not sure it will be around in three years, but I see cities transforming all their tennis courts into Pickleball venues. When the American Revolution starts up to overthrow the wealthy, we will be congregating at Pickleball courts. Makes you think, huh? (I recently saw that the wealth disparity is now far greater than it was at any time during the days leading up to the French Revolution.)
The problem with that, of course, is that Pickleball is just financed by venture capitalists. Don't get me wrong. I'm all in favor of more people playing more sports; I'm just wondering if this sport is really that much fun. The other day, I talked to a friend who said he owns multiple pairs of Pickleball shoes. Again, consumer capitalism. Everyone should spend their money on whatever they want to, but like, you need multiple pairs of Pickleball shoes? I don't buy it. I bet that Mark Andreeseen and other venture capitalists whom I can't name off the top of my head have mainly invested in the sport, which grosses me out. They're not interested in the fitness. They're just interested in the bottom line. So if Lorde ever releases a remix to the song and calls it Pickleball Court, then I will have to remove it from the top 100 and assume that Lorde has sold out.
Sold out to the Pickleball Masters. The Pickleball overlords.
On that note, though, have you heard about a sport called Padel? That's the one that was taking off in Qatar right before we left. I haven't really tracked its growth or know anything about it. It might just be a shittier version of Pickleball, and in which case I hate that too, but again, I'm all in favor of people playing sports, especially racket sports. Seems like Lorde is, too.
Song 91
Chaise Lounge
Artist
Wet Leg
Released
2021
Lyric
Is your mother worried?/Would you like us to assign someone to worry your mother?
One Word
Bawdy
|More Than One Word|
There aren't enough people named Hester in the world. However, Wet Leg, comprised of Hester Chambers and Rhian Teasdale, aims to change that. Not literally, of course, but having one prominent Hester today is more than we had yesterday, which is progress. This song wasn't intended to catapult the band to fame. They stored it in a computer folder labeled "High Jams," which is quite self-explanatory. I enjoy reading profiles of bands, particularly those from the U.K., that share stories about their formation. Franz Ferdinand mentioned they wanted to write danceable songs, a tradition Wet Leg continues by aiming to have a set long enough to gain free access to festivals. Essentially, they wrote music to get into Glastonbury, which is as good of a reason as any for starting a band, in my opinion.
My experience with this song came from listening to the radio; I don't do much anymore. I first heard many of these songs on 89.3 The Current between 2009 and 2012. However, the radio has become irrelevant to my experience with music in the last decade. I should go longer on this thought as well, but not here and not now. That could be how I wrap this all up.
It makes sense that there aren't many "new" songs in the top 100.
Time plus repetition equals favoritism.
This is the most recent song in the top 100, released about three years ago. According to The Current, they were the first radio stations in the country to give the band any significant airtime, which helped Wet Leg rise higher than imaginable.
I stopped supporting The Current financially in 2011 when they negatively impacted a tour by an artist called Youth Lagoon. Youth Lagoon ended up headlining a tour with Father John Misty as his opener. There's no world where FJM should be opening for anyone other than a legacy act, so Trevor Powers of Youth Lagoon was SOL. FJM was debuting a big album, and The Current played his songs incessantly. Youth Lagoon was a big blog band then, and I was really into his songs. It crushed me when pretty much everyone left after FJM's opening set, and no one stuck around for Youth Lagoon.
I wrote a letter to The Current and expressed my displeasure. I thought they were responsible for disproportionately promoting one artist over the other. I took my monthly donation, stopped listening, and moved to Qatar.
Back to Wet Leg and The Current: I would link to the article on The Current's site detailing how they learned about the band. However, the last time I tried linking anything besides YouTube videos, I ended up in everyone's spam folder. Plus, a subject line that read like it was written by a robot spelled doom. However, check out my five songs on the word "the."
So, Wet Leg is a duo from the Isle of Wight who writes music while high to enter festivals and ends up penning a great guitar-driven song that is sardonic, catchy, and fun. This is one of those songs you might have never heard because, even in a world where an artist has "blown up" (we're talking New York Times features), in today's stratified landscape, I have no reason to believe they blew up in your timeline or on your algorithm. One headline discussing the song's debut dubbed the hit "catchier than the Delta variant," which is a very 2021 headline and really works. I recommend listening to the song while lying horizontal on a chaise lounge and drinking warm beer.
Song 92
Work
Artist
Rihanna
Released
2016
Lyric
No body text me in a crisis
One Word
Anti-work
|More Than One Word|
The other day, Leen and I sat through Roman's parent-teacher conference. It may be silly to have such a thing for a three-year-old, but hearing anything about your kid from the people he spends eight hours a day with is nice. Roman is in a big no phase. The teacher expressed that she was having difficulty getting him to let her do some basic helping, instead opting to say No or, more dramatically, explode into a no tantrum.
When I asked Roman about it later in the day, I said, hey Roman, what is your favorite word. He thought about it for longer than I would have expected and then told us, "Work."
I do not want to write about Drake anymore. Really, I don't. But here we are. It seems useful for you to know that he got absolutely bodied on the beef front. While no receipts have appeared confirming any of the allegations laid out by Kendrick, there are not many pundits out there who would claim Drake won the whole thing. So then, acknowledging that Drake is a loser, let's also again come back to the fact that he "writes" or features on fun songs.
Case and Point: Work.
I won't bore you too much with the back and forth on this song or the Rihanna-Drake discourse (and the ASAP Rocky Drake discourse by proxy), but know that Drake has disavowed this song (but probably still collects royalties or whatever on streaming) because he's still really sad that Rihanna ended up with A$ A.P. and not him. Undeniably, the two had really great musical chemistry, and when Drake says: YOU NEED TO GET DONE DONE DONE AT WORK, COME OVER, I ascend to a higher plane. When we're talking about doing it, saying doing it instead of banging or fucking, or sexing is just a superior way of discussing doing it. I think it's a great double entendre, and Drake should thank his ghostwriters.
Additionally, Rihanna saying no one texts me in a crisis is heartbreaking and relatable. Who is your emergency contact? Are you anyone's emergency contact? It's a big job. Rihanna wouldn't be good at being an emergency contact. She's always doing something wild. Like, if I needed a ride home from the doctor because they drew blood and I passed out, I can't call Rihanna to come get me! She's probably golfing on the moon or some cool shit I've never even heard of. I would not text Rihanna in a crisis. Way too much pressure. I also want to avoid being in a situation where I owe her money. But you know why that is.
Notably, this song just helped Rihanna reach a musical milestone. She surpassed Michael Jackson on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 as the artist with the fourth most U.S. number one and the most diamond-certified singles for a female artist. Not bad for a song that the other bozo won't even acknowledge he was a part of.
Song 93
The Book of Right-On
Artist
Joanna Newsom
Released
2004
Lyric
I killed my dinner with karate/Kick 'em in the face, taste the body
One Word
Peculiar
|More Than One Word|
I went back and forth about whether to include this in the top 100—not because it's not a top 100 song but because it's not on Spotify. It's one thing to write about a song and another to put it on the list. I would have forever been frustrated by the My Favorite Century playlist only having 99 songs.
But I figured out how to kill two birds with one stone (sort of) and have included it for your musical pleasures. Except it's fair to say that you might hate it and find no joy in it.
If Destroyer is the red wine of music, then Joana Newsom is the Malort. Loved by those who love it, but is loving it all just part of a bit? Who is to say!
Joanna is married to Andy Samberg, one of my favorite random celebrity couples (Paul Thomas Anderson and Maya Rudolph are number one, Ezra Konig and Rashida Jones are two). I like to imagine them sitting around the house as he says lines from Hot Rod while she plays the harp.
The harp can be polarizing. Joana's voice is definitely polarizing (or mesmerizing, depending on who you ask.) I like this one because the story she tells is cryptic and contradictory. It's a rewarding experience to sit down and listen to a Joanna song, and I wear being a Newsom fan as a badge of honor. This one isn't for everyone, but for the real heads who stuck around this far, you'll dig it.
Bonus points for having an opportunity to put a Roots song on the playlist because even ?uestlove and the boys knew this song was awesome!
