Darn you VH1. I told myself I would not watch I Love the Millennium because it is too soon (not to mention I have March 2010 in the office pool as to when they would roll out the series. Then a massive thunder storm hit so I was flipping through the channels during it, stopping on the show. I said to myself I would only watch a segment and then do something productive, six hours later I finished off the marathon and felt dirty (crazy astronaut lady: too soon, man, too soon). Alas I didn't write anything for today so instead you can take an hour or so and check out the widget I mad of the best songs of last year. Because not all the songs are on Amazon MP3,where you can buy the songs DRM free, check out the 100 Best Songs of 2007 for the complete list.
And yes I realize the irony of railing against holding a nostalgia fest for stuff that happened as soon as last year only for me to roll out something from last year.
This weekend I will be participating in a charity event so time this week is a little scarce (well, the eighty degree weather is also keeping me from sitting in front of the computer). So I thought I would throw up another widget this time where you can listen to the 100 Best Songs of 2006. Keep in mind you cannot get all the songs on the list at Amazon MP3, so you may want to click the link to see all 100 songs on the list.
A couple weeks ago I started posted in the morning thanks to the new Blogger advanced scheduling and actually stuck to that for a while, but nothing like a three day weekend and perfect weather to keep me from being inside and writing. Another reason is that Amazon MP3 recently created a cool new widget where you can preview songs like a jukebox, if only in thirty second increments. I am going to start including these with my album reviews so you can actually preview the album while reading my review, you may have seen it in my latest review for Jason Mraz (see Our Name Is Our Virtue). I also created one for my list of the Best Songs of 2005, which you can listen to below. Since not all the songs are available to download through Amazon MP3, click the link to see the entire one hundred songs. I hope to have more of these lists up to date soon and back to morning posting tomorrow.
It has become a tradition here at the 9th Green that each January’s lyrics quiz goes back a decade for the best songs from ten years ago. Keep in mind I made this list back at the end of 1998 just like my recent 100 Best Songs of 2007. I am a little worried about next year as I widely regard 1999 as the worst year for music ever and there are going to be some really bad songs I may be a little embarrassed about on that list. But you have a year to wait for that. As always you need to put both artist and title in the comments section (or you can e-mail me) and if you are correct I will un-bold it and give you credit. The Lyrics Quiz is for entertainment purposes only so please do not use anything besides your own meandering mind to help you up with the answers. Now onto the quiz:
Hints:
21. Fun fact: this artist started as a backup singer for Michael Jackson.
1. I don’t make films but if I did they’d have a samurai. (One Week - Barenaked Ladies; guessed by Angie)
2. It's silly when girls sell their souls because of sin. Look at where you be in, fake hair like Europeans. (Doo Wop (That Thing) - Lauryn Hill; guessed by Jo)
3. Now when I wrote graffiti my name was Slop. (Intergalatic - Beastie Boys; guessed by Jo)
4. I watched as sweat ran down your face. Reached up and caught it at your chin. Licked my fingertips. (Stay (Wasting Time) - Dave Matthews Band; guessed by Angie)
5. You’re here, there’s nothing I fear. (My Heart Will Go On - Celine Dion; guessed by Angie)
6. Blue eyed boy meets a brown eyed girl. You can sew it up but can still see the tear. (Sweetest Thing - U2; guessed by Angie)
7. If my corpse can talk then I would tell you I was sorry. (Gone 'till November - Wyclef Jean; guessed by Slaygal1981)
8. Can I hit it in the morning without giving you half my dough? And even worse if I were broke would you want me? (Can I Get A... - Jay-Z; guessed by Slaygal1981)
9. Let’s get real, let’s get heavy ‘til the water breaks the levy. (Hootch - Everything; guessed by Angie)
10. I’m cold and I’m shamed lying naked on the floor. (Torn - Natalie Imbruglia; guessed by Angie)
11. I will build heaven and call this home ‘cause you’re all dead now. (Don't Drink the Water - Dave Matthews Band; guessed by Angie)
12. And everyone here’s to blame and everyone here gets caught up in the pleasures or the pain. (Back 2 Good - Matchbox Twenty; guessed by Angie)
13. Folk don’t even own themselves, paying mental rent to cooperate presidents. (He Got Game - Public Enemy; guessed by Slaygal1981)
14. I just bite it, it’s for the look, I don’t light it. (Gettin' Jiggy Wit It - Will Smith; guessed by abbyjesus1225)
15. Cards and phone calls and photograph, pictures of you. Constant reminders of things that you get used to. (Light in Your Eyes - Blessid Union of Souls; guessed by Slaygal1981)
16. Still have your picture in a frame. Still hear your footsteps down the hall. I swear I hear your voice, driving me insane. (Anytime - Bryan McKnight; guessed by Angie)
17. Whenever we kiss I get to feeling like this. I get to wishing there were two of you. (Can't Get Enough of You Baby - Smash Mouth; guessed by Angie)
18. As my soul slides down to die. How could I lose it, what did I try? Bit by bit I realized, he was here with me. (My Father's Eyes - Eric Clapton; guessed by Angie)
19. Blame us ‘cause we are who we are. Hate us ‘cause you’ll never get that far. And who'd suppose you would go? I've already learned enough to know. (At the Stars - Better than Ezra; guessed by Slaygal1981)
20. No matter how I think we grow you always seem to let me know it ain’t working. And when I try to walk away you’d hurt yourself to make me stay. (Ex-Factor - Lauryn Hill; guessed by Slaygal1981) 21. If anyone should know how to let it slip. Swear I can see you coming up the drive. And there ain’t nothing like regret to remind you you’re alive. 22. A woman is a woman and a man ain’t nothin’ but a man. (Jump, Jive, an' Wail - Brian Setzer Orchestra; guessed by Angie)
23. The shades and shadows undulate in my perception. My feelings swell and stretch I see from greater heights. I realize what I am now too smart to mention. (Never Is a Promise - Fiona Apple; guessed by Slaygal1981)
24. Don’t forget to give me back my black t-shirt. (Song for the Dumped - Ben Folds Five; guessed by Slaygal1981)
25. I wish you could swim like dolphins could swim. (Heroes - The Wallflowers; guessed by Slaygal1981)
This being the Most Mediocre Year Ever, there is no band that sums that up better than Paramore. The bad got a big push from MTV and their record label thanks to being one of the first bands to sign a 360 degree deal. Yet with all the marketing muscle behind their three singles this year, the band wasn’t good enough to show up on this list nor were bad enough to land of the Worst Songs of 2007 list. So congratulations Paramore, with all the mediocre music put out by bland artists such as OneRepublic, Lifehouse, and Sean Kingston, you managed to be the most mediocre of them all. Although the problem with the most mediocre of them all, even though this is the Most Mediocre Year Ever, you will most likely be forgotten by 2009. Sorry.
Onto the songs that did make the list, the reason this is the Most Mediocre Year Ever is the great songs were really thin at the top this year. Most of these songs wouldn’t have cracked the top ten in other years. With that said, even though there was a lacking of great songs, there was an overabundance of good songs this year to the point that there were ten to twenty songs this year that deserved to make the top one hundred when most years ninety through one hundred are an afterthought most years. But here are the ones that made the cut for this, the last post of 2007. Hopefully I will see you all back here in 2008.
Before I get to your favorite songs of the year I first want to mention that just before Christmas I had ordered a gift for someone through Amazon and among the usual spam advertising slips that they stuff into their boxes there was an envelope where you can place old cell phones to send to the troops. So if you got a new cell phone for Christmas or are just like me and is a pack rat who keeps everything for no reason and had three just lying around collecting dust, please check out this website: Cell Phones for Soldiers to see where you can send any of your unused cell phones. They say the phone can be in any condition and don’t even need to still have a battery.
Last year was the first time I ever let you my readers influences the 9th Green (aside from the occasional pandering for comments) and this year I got four times more responses than last. Thanks to each and everyone who took time to compile your favorite songs of the year to make this list possible. With the more responses I think this ended up being a better list for the most part than last year. This year Rihanna was as close to consensus as it got this year being the only artist appearing on more than half of the lists I received. Keep in mind this list is solely your opinions and I in no way influenced it as I will be unveiling my favorite 100 songs of the year coming this Sunday. But here are your favorites:
Long before I even had a blog, at the end of the year I would countdown my favorite songs from the past twelve months and here are my twenty-five songs from a decade ago in their original order from that list (so please don’t mock me for those songs that haven’t quite stood the test of time, you know you liked them back them too). As always leave your guesses in the comment section, both song title and artist (Hint: all songs are from 1997, so make sure you list the artist that recorded the song that year which may not be the most well known version.). If you are correct, I will un-bold the lyric and give you credit. The person with the most correct lyrics will be added to the Winner’s list on my sidebar. Now on to the lyrics:
1. You’re always brilliant in the morning, smoking your cigarettes and talking over coffee. (Foolish Games - Jewel; guessed by Angie)
2. I will follow you down till the sound of my voice will haunt you. You’ll never get away from the sound of the woman that loves you. (Silver Springs - Fleetwood Mac; guessed by Monique)
3. I wipe the spots above the mirror; don’t leave the keys in the door. I never put white towels on the floor anymore. (You Were Meant for Me - Jewel; guessed by Angie)
4. She said, “It’s cold, feels like Independence Day and I can’t break away from this parade." (One Headlight - The Wallflowers; guessed by Angie)
5. Can't no Ph.D. (expletive deleted) hold me down. Cooter schooled me to the game, now I know my duty. Stay humble stay low blow like Hootie. (Mo Money, Mo Problems - The Notorious B.I.G. featuring Ma$e and Puff Daddy; guessed by Tony)
6. I watch you there through the window and I stare at you wear nothing but you wear it so well. (Crash Into Me - Dave Matthews Band; guessed by Angie)
7. My best friend took a weeks vacation to forget her. His girl took a weeks worth a Valium and slept. (The Freshmen - The Verve Pipe; guessed by Angie)
8. I can fill ya wit real millionaire (expletive deleted). Escargot, my car go, one sixty, swiftly. Wreck it buy a new one. Your crew run run run, your crew run run. (Hypnotize - The Notorious B.I.G.; guessed by Tony)
9. If I could find that Heina and that Sancho that she'd found well I'd pop a cap in Sancho and I'd slap her down. (Santeria - Sublime; guessed by Jonas)
10. I should have changed my (expletive deleted) lock, I would have made you leave your key if I had known for just one second you’d be back to bother me. (I Will Survive - Cake; guessed by Tony)
11. It’s kind of hard with you not around; I know you’re in heaven smiling down. Watching us while we pray for you, everyday we pray for you. (I'll Be Missing You - Puff Daddy featuring Faith Evans and 112; guessed by Angie)
12. You know sugar never ever was so sweet and I'm dying for ya, crying for ya, I adore ya. One hit of your love addicted me. Now I'm strung out on you darling. (Honey - Mariah Carey; guessed by Tony)
13. Drove up to Hillside Manor sometime after 2 A.M. and talked a little while about the year. (A Long December - Counting Crows; guessed by Anna)
14. He drinks a whiskey drink, he drinks a Vodka drink, he drinks a Laager drink, he drinks a cider drink. (Tubthumping - Chumbawumba; guessed by Angie)
15. Reason will not reach a solution. I will end up lost in confusion. I don't care if you really care as long as you don't go. (Lovefool - The Cardigans; guessed by Erica)
16. It feels like spring time in winter. It feels like Christmas in June. It feels like heaven has opened up its gates for me and you. (Everytime I Close My Eyes - Babyface; guessed by Tony)
17. Everywhere I go people stop and they see, twenty-five years old, my mother God rest her soul. (Fly - Sugar Ray; guessed by Anna)
18. You give us a tantrum and a know-it-all-grin just when we need one, when the evening’s thin. (Building a Mystery - Sarah McLachlan; guessed by Anna)
19. Referee won’t blow the whistle, God is great but will he listen. I’m nearly great, but there’s something missing. (Staring at the Sun - U2; guessed by Tony)
20. And their kids were hippie chicks all hypocrites because fashion is smashing the true meaning of it. (Walkin' on the Sun - Smash Mouth; guessed by Angie)
21. For those of you that think gospel music has gone too far. You think we got too radical with our message. Well I got news for you, you ain’t heard nothing yet, and if you don't know now you know. Glory, Glory!! (Stomp - Kirk Franklin's Nu Nation; guessed by Tony)
22. After all you been through, I will make it up to you, I promise you, baby. And after all that has been said and done, you’re just a part of me I can’t let go. (Hard to Say I'm Sorry - Az Yet and Peter Cetera; guessed by Monique)
23. I’m not black like Barry White; no I’m white like Frank Black is. (Fire Water Burn - The Bloodhound Gang; guessed by Anna)
24. Finally I figured out but it took a long, long time. But now there's a turnabout maybe ‘cause I'm trying. (All for You - Sister Hazel; guessed by Tony)
25. Trying to make a train at sunrise gonna have to run a red light. Tangling with my Carolina you know the girl kept me up all night. And when my Carolina throw down you know the girl knows how to fight. (Carolina Blues - Blues Traveler; guessed by Tony)
Since 1996, long before I had a blog, I have made of my favorite songs from that year once it concluded. Sometimes songs near the top of those list haven’t stood the test of time while some songs near the bottom have over the years have become some of my favorites. This year I took a list of 162 songs that caught my ear the past twelve months and came back with my top 100 using a complex racking system that makes the BCS look like Middle School algebra. So here are the songs that you should have been listening to this past year:
Now it is time to unveil the 2006 9th Green’s Readers Top 25 and if you disagree with the list, you only have yourself to blame. For the most part I was pleased with this list because only one song from my Worst Songs of 2006 made the list and a few songs that I hyped here on the 9th Green but didn’t really catch on in the mainstream mad the list. Hopefully this means some of you have taken my advice thought the year. As for the list, Gnarls Barkley blew everyone away to take first out of the over sixty songs that were submitted. If I were to nit-pick I would say that Weird Al's parody out shined Chamillionaire's version and if I were to include a song by The Fray it would have been How to Save a Life. But anyways. Now unto the list, thanks to everyone who participated and be sure to check back out tomorrow to see where, or if, any of these songs show up on my Top 100 of the year.
As I mentioned during my Best Songs of 2005, I have been compiling end of the year lists since 1996. That is pretty much because that was the year a buddy of mine got a CD burner to make a Best of… CD for that year. 1996 was also a special year as I have regarded it as the best year for music in my lifetime. So to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the year I’m dedicating to the top 25 songs from that year. Keep in mind I am compiling the songs from the list I made at the end of 1996 so please don’t mock some of the songs that really haven’t stood the test of time but I sure everyone loved them as much as I did back then. As always leave your guesses in the comment section, both song title and artist. If you are correct, I will un-bold the lyric and give you credit. The person with the most correct lyrics will be added to the Winner’s list on my sidebar. Now on to the lyrics:
Hints:
11. This former member of Leaders of the New School is so animated, this, his solo debut, includes an exclamation point in the title. He may be hard to reconize this days as he cut off his iconic dreads.
18. This song was off the last album the band ever recorded as the lead singer overdosed a couple years later. I'm also on the record as calling their song Would? the best song of the Grunge era.
19. Today, this artist is better know for writing operas and being mocked by Dave Chappelle for certain home made videos.
22. This was the hardest lyric to come up with because I can't tell a word that this group is saying most of the time. And it's not because of thier dialect because this rap group grew up about 20 miles north of me.
1. Getting paid is her forte, each and everyday. (No Diggity - Blackstreet; guessed by Jetting Through Life)
2. I don’t believe that anyone feels the way I do about you now. (Wonderwall - Oasis; guessed by Black Eyed Gurl)
3. We’ll mix up hip hop and reggae if we say it’s so. (All Mixed Up - 311; guessed by Russ)
4. Swim out past the breaker, watch the world die. (Santa Monica - Everclear; guessed by Jetting Through Life)
5. But it’s you I fell into. (Big Me - Foo Fighters; guessed by Black Eyed Gurl)
6. All at once you look across the room and see the way that light attaches to a girl. (A Long December - Counting Crows; guessed by Black Eyed Gurl)
7. Strumming my pain with his fingers (One time). (Killing Me Softly with His Song - The Fugees; guessed by Guppyman)
8. I got chills, they’re multiplying. (Grease Megamix - John Travolta and Olivia Newton John; guessed by Black Eyed Gurl)
9. I asked you to go to the Green Day concert. You say you never heard of them. How cool is that? (El Scorcho - Weezer; guessed by Black Eyed Gurl)
10. The cops want someone to bust down on Orleans Ave. (Who Will Save Your Soul - Jewel; guessed by Black Eyed Gurl) 11. Do the bogle dance, I'll do the pepperseed. 12. Your alias says you’re Captain Jean Luc Picard of the United Federation of Planets cause he won’t speak English anyways. (Banditos - The Refreshments; guessed by Black Eyed Gurl)
13. Hold me hold me cause I wanna get higher and higher. (I Go Blind - Hootie and the Blowfish; guessed by Angie)
14. I never put white towels on the floor anymore. (You Were Meant for Me - Jewel; guessed by Angie)
15. I’ve been downhearted baby, ever since the day we met. (Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in My Hand - Primitive Radio Gods; guessed by Howard who also correctly named the sample that the lyric is based on, BB King's How Blue Can You Get? although the group's singer also sings the line at the very end of the long titled song)
16. Pasadena, where you at? (California Love - 2Pac & Dr. Dre; guessed by Russ)
17. “I know,” she said,” Before you met me you were free.” (Sad Caper - Hootie and the Blowfish; guessed by Black Eyed Gurl) 18. Why, why you slap me in my face? I didn’t say it was okay.
19. Something like my bank account, I wanna spend it. 20. I met God this afternoon riding on an uptown train. (Everything Falls Apart - Dog's Eye View; guessed by Black Eyed Gurl)
21. That five-sided fist-a-gon. (Bulls on Parade - Rage Against the Machine; guessed by Black Eyed Gurl) 22. Exactly how many days you got last, you laughing? We passing, passing away. 23. Hike up you’re skirt a little more and show your world to me. (Crash Into Me - Dave Matthews Band; guessed by Angie)
24. Sorry I never told you all I wanted to say. (One Sweet Day - Boyz II Men and Mariah Carey; guessed by Jetting Through Life)
25. I play my enemies like a game of chess. (Ready or Not - The Fugees; guessed by Black Eyed Gurl)
- Jay-Z