This post is part of a series counting down my favorite songs of all time. Follow the links at the bottom of this post to read related posts.
80. Harry Nilsson – I Guess the Lord Must Be In New York City
The Beatles named Harry Nilsson one of their favorite musicians. John Lennon liked Nilsson so much, the two became drinking buddies. Basically, what I’m getting at is that Nilsson was probably good people. What’s more, next to maybe Sam Cooke, I think Nilsson has the most perfectly pure voice I’ve ever heard. He was more than just a pretty voice, though. He had the range to pull off a tempestuous rocker like “Jump into the Fire” as easily as a winsome ballad like “Without You.” Or he could do a cozy little folk-pop tune like this one. This song almost became the theme for the film “Midnight Cowboy,” but the movie men passed over this song in favor “Everybody’s Talkin’. “ Nilsson performed that song, too, but this one gets the edge because he actually wrote it.
79. Gene Clark – Full Circle Song
Gene Clark is one of two former members of The Byrds represented on this list. As a solo performer, Clark has largely lived in the shadows of both his career as a Byrd and the careers of his former band mates. The man always knew how to write a charming folk rock melody, though. His solo career delves deeper into the Americana influences and focuses on his cosmic, pseudo-spiritual lyricism. This tune is a perfect example of that aesthetic. As Clark philosophizes about life over a classic Byrdsian jangle, someone breaks out the fiddle and then it’s a jam.
I’ll take Roy Orbison over Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash or any of his other Sun Records buddies. They all have classic tunes, but I really can’t relate to most of those guys. Orbison, on the other hand, was just weird. Along with Buddy Holly, he was the prototypical rock and roll nerd. He wasn’t svelte like Presley or tough like Cash. He was kind of chunky and he always wore those damn shades. He was the chronic loser, the type of guy left holding up the wall at the end of the night. Catch a whiff of the desperation on a song like “Blue Angel” and maybe you can start to understand. Frequently depressing, dorky and too sincere, Orbison was like Droopy on Prozac wearing a pair of fucking prescription Ray-Ban Wayfarers.
77. Can – Mushroom
The last few songs on this list have been fairly middle-of-the-road. On some days, I think that’s a fairly accurate description of my tastes. On other days, I listen to “Mushroom.” I think you can spend a lifetime unearthing obscure Krautrock bands, but Can is still on the top of the heap for me. They were the first Krautrock band I ever heard. I bought a tattered copy of the album “Tago Mago” at Amoeba Records during a weekend in San Francisco a few years back. The remastered CD reissues came out not long after that, so I was able to snap up a lot of their other stuff. But “Tago Mago” is still a favorite largely thanks to the epic 18-minute “Halleluhwah” and this song. Here, Jaki Leibezeit hammers out a staid, Teutonic rhythm while winding guitar plucks lull you into hypnosis. And then Damo Suzuki lets out his primitive yelp to remind you that it’s not safe to lie down in the middle of the road.
76. Hüsker Dü – New Day Rising
No need to wax poetic for this song. Suffice to say, sometimes I’m very easy to please.
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