Finally i have succumbed, as, eventually, we all must. At last i am forced to have recourse, as every blogger, when the desire to blog outgrows actually having anything to say, or at least being able to say it, to a list. I swore to myself when i read Nick Hornby's 'High Fidelity' that never again would i make a list. But now, here i am, with my List of Seven Songs That Drive Me Well Near Insane. They are not neccessarily my favourites, just seven songs which really do a lot to me. Seven songs i perhaps should not be allowed to listen to in public, as my face contorts something horrid when i fake trying to hit the high notes and i can 'express' myself more freely at home, without fear of ridicule for my frenzied hand gestures. The songs are in no order other than that in which i hear them now as they play randomly in the background. It was hard enough even choosing the songs, nevermind putting them in order. I depressed myself a little determining whether one song (I took this far too seriously.) made the list. It didn't.

Supertramps and Superstars - Simple Kid. Simple Kid is a genius. He really is. Not terrifically well known though. This is because of his, frankly ridiculous, voice. But his voice is more than made up for by the music he writes, which varies from the beautifully touching to the brilliantly funny. 'Supertramps' falls, without doubt, into the first category. It is, as far as i can tell, about a group of faded drag queens, (I base this on the over the top names and the first line "Penelope Prozac, a seventies throwback, and king of the Camden queens.") including such brilliant lines as "Selina Saliva, with eyes like a tiger, but most of her stripes long gone" and "Penelope knows that the world is a passer-by. So caning discreetly, she'll tell you so sweetly, she's dressed up with nowhere to cry". Simple Kid's was actually the first gig i ever went to. It was really good. He played half the songs in a country style and was joined by various other people, "a genuine French chanteuse" who sang 'Supertramps' in French (I was able to translate shamefull little of it.) and two saw players, one of whom, who also played the fiddle, (I liked him more as a fiddler than a violinist. Silly, i know, but fun.) i fell briefly in love with. Marvy

Someone To Touch - Scissor Sisters. Pretty much everybody has now heard some of Scissor Sisters, but this song seems to be one of their least known, (And presumably therefore least liked.) which i don't like, as it's one of my favourite songs. I can't give a proper genre analysis, so i can't tell you what to compare this to, but i love it so much. The intro has these bizarre sounds in, the nature of which i know not, and won't ask for fear of spoiling the mystery. There was a time, a while ago, when the lyrics really helped me: "You're in my heart, even though it fell apart, but all we had to do was try. I still love you, but the pain feels funny now that you're seeing other guys." And, of course, almost any song featuring a chorus of one sound repeated, be it 'doo', 'da' or 'la', will always have my approval.

Pa Pa Pa Palavas - Benoît Charest (Sorry, he doesn't appear to have a website of his own, but all the music you'll hear on here was written by Charest.) This song was originally written for the Belleville Rendezvous soundtrack, and is used a couple of times. It is the only song on actually sung by the man who composed every single one of the pieces of music, including such diverse instruments as a hoover and a fridge. (Though not on this song, i don't think. But there is a suspicious whirring noise at the beginning.) Based on my limited musical knowledge, this song has a sort of fifties style. It's sung almost completely in French, the only words in English being "Make love." in a very thick French accent. Every single line ends in the sound '-asse', pronounced more sibilantly than even seems possible, which i find quite astounding, although i know english is renowned for being inferior to other languages for finding good rhymes. I'm yet to work out cpompletely what the song means, but i sing along as best i can all the same. It is a very summery song, starting and ending with seaside sounds. It constantly evokes, for me at least, images of proper Italian ice cream on the beach. And the chorus, "Pa-pa-la-la-la-la-la-vas", is, basically, erm... fab. So there's my erudite commentary on Palavas. Four left.

Rumba Dub Style - Ojos de Brujo. This song starts off with one of the best trilly Rs i have ever heard: "rrrrrrrrrrumba!" and proceeds quickly into lightning tongued spanish (Well, castillian, but i'm never sure of spelling. And as far as i know it isn't wildly different to the language of which it is a dialect. Perhaps my spanglophone (No, i do not know the prefix for 'Spanish', but i think 'spanglophone' is a pretty marvy word.) reader can help me out.) of which i can understand almost nothing. I have, at various times, picked out the words for 'head', 'time' (Or was it weather?) and 'listen'. I sort of wish sometimes i still did Spanish. But French is my true love. Anyway, this song is another one perfect for my summery moods. It's one of those songs (Though i'll admit there are'nt a huge number of these around at the moment.) that really makes you wish you knew how to dance flamenco, even though i don't quite have the figure for one of those ruffly dresses. It has all the quick fingered guitar playing &c. from flamenco, but is somehow brilliantly modern aswell. I love it.

Rue des Cascades - Yann Tiersen. YannTiersen writes some of the most beatiful music you will ever hear it. He's really quite famous in France and has done collaborations with all sorts of people, including the recently jailed Bertrand Cantat (That's just me showing off that i know a little about French culture really.) and Neil Hannon, of Divine Comedy fame. This particular song features one of Tiersen's favourite instruments, which i promise, in this context, does not sound at all reminiscent of English folk music, the accorion. It also make a lot of use of some harpsichord style instrument, and the woman who actually sings it has a beautiful voice. The actual words, i think, are rather a poor translation, but they make a vague, if slightly repetitive, sense. But the words are less important to this one. There's this one point, towards the end of the song where one of the instruments comes in like the crack of a whip, which drives me wild every single time i hear it. If you look around a bit in the 'discographie' section of Tiersen's site you should be able to hear thirty seconds of this song and loads of his others. You can also hear the full version of "Les Jours Tristes", with Neil Hannon, which damn near made its way onto this list.

I Want You - Moloko. "Why should i face up to another waking day when there's a chance you'll come to me in dreams?" I've felt like this so often, but i just love it when songs are able to deal with rejection in a completely happy way. (Cf. Someone To Touch and The Moon is Mine - Fairground Attraction.) It's a gorgeous song all about being vaguely obsessed with someone, and has one of the best intros ever. It's just a piano with Roisin Murphy singing really slowly and sexily, and then the piano goes tinkly and speeds up and the beat comes in. I love Moloko, and this, without doubt, is one of their best songs. It's definitely my favourite, but i have something of a weakness for vaguely classical elements in a modern song. And i know that i am not, i simply cannot be, the only person who, at the appropriate time, plays a furious 'air violin'. You probably wouldn't tell, from simply looking that that's what i'm doing, but i promise it is.

Put Your Arms Around Me - Texas . This is the song on the list that's been in my head the longest, but i almost forgot to include it. It was only thinking about the song 'Saint', which, back when i was foolish enough to actually believe people who told me E could like me, i'd decided was our 'theme song'. How incredibly sad is it to choose a theme song for an imginary relationship? Anyway, Saint lost out to this song, this gorgeous song. Sharleen Spiteri has a wonderful voice, and on this song it just comes accross as so tender. I used to be able to sing along to it, though it did end up leaving me completely breathless. Now, though, such high notes, virtually a shriek, are completely beyond my range. I miss being able to naturally sing so high. It made me feel so... i don't know, it gave me an imagined power, somehow. I love the lyrics so much on this song, the complete love and adoration they speak of. They make me think of J a little, lines such "let me believe that i am someone else". And, of course, the song has those magical words, "Sha la la la la".


So, there it is. My full, complete and exhaustive list of seven songs that i rather like. I tried so hard to put my newly acquired linking skills to good use, searching for hours to find Benoît Charest's own website to link to. At one point i thought i had it, but that turned out to be a red herring. However, all of the other sited i link to seem pretty good. I especially recommend playing around on Yann Tiersen's site, and the Ojos de Brujos has some great design too, even though the 'English' version of it is so blatantly not in English. I know that on at least five of those seven sites you should be able to hear something by each of my nominated artists, but i'm not sure about the Texas and Moloko sites. Still, please have a look, i don't want all my work to have been for nothing. Thanks.

Now i'm going to try watch the football. Wish me luck.

P.S. Any opinions welcome - i just want people to talk in my comments section. I have dreams of being one of the big bloggers, with their own little community of commentors. I know it's sad. But i would also like to hear what people think.