I certainly do have an affinity for songs written primarily by John Lennon, but how can you not love this one by Paul? This song is hands down the greatest sing-a-long song of all time. Any time this song is played in public, it always ends in a crowd of people singing “Naaaa, naaaa, naaa, na-na-na-na.” The song is simple enough in structure, and who doesn’t love it when Paul McCartney plays the piano, but the song contains the greatest gang vocal of all time. As far as the content of the song, it is common knowledge that Paul wrote the song for Julian Lennon, but John once remarked in an interview that the song was about John himself. I have to say when you read the lyrics, it actually makes sense that Paul is encouraging John: “You have found her, now go and get her.” I will leave the interpretation up to you, but I must say that John’s argument has some validity.

14. “Sluttering (May 4th)” by Jawbreaker

Only Blake Schwarzenbach could successfully get away with creating a word in a song. I am still waiting for the word to catch on in our vernacular, and I will probably be waiting awhile, but I have decided if ever the occasion arises, I will definitely use the word “Sluttering.” The lyrics are great, in fact, the best that Jawbreaker has to offer in my opinion. Some of my favorite lines are the super-catchy chorus: “I got this dress. I’m hiking it around this waste of laughter./ Slow dance alone with no one to the sound of four hands clapping./Congratulations to you both, I hope someway you’re happy./ If there’s a moral to this story then I wish you’d show me.” The song really is a very hard-rocking song. Any time I listen to it, you better believe that I repeat several times.

13. “The Bleeding Heart Show” by the New Pornographers

This song is still kind of a new classic to me, and was definitely one of the more recent songs in the chronology of my own life to make the list. I think that A.C. Newman and Neko Case achieve male/female rock vocal perfection in this song. It is also one of those great songs that has three very specific parts: the intro, the “hey-la” section, and the end where Neko Case is belting “We have arrived too late to play the bleeding heart show.” Now I know that the song was used in a commercial and is still probably today the most great to blame for the amount of commercial success they have received. I also hate to say it, but pop culture can have this song, and I will still love it. I also simply love the title. I think that we all, myself included, have moments in life that we might construe as our very own bleeding heart show.

12. “Sun in an Empty Room” by the Weakerthans

The Weakerthans have never stopped growing on me, and they are still putting out great music when they have time to put out an album. I would classify this song as the greatest break-up song I have ever heard. In fact, I need to write a film script just to have this song in it. The imagery is fantastic, “Now that the furniture’s returning to its Goodwill home,” “Parallelograms of light on walls that we repainted white.” I can just picture a guy holding his last box while moving out of a place that he shared with his lover and thinking back to the times that were had and the love that was lost. The chorus is really catchy and really easy to sing along with, especially with the repetitive “Sun in an empty room.” Keep writing great songs, Mr. Samson.

11. “A Day in the Life” by the Beatles

It is almost a shame that this one didn’t crack the top 10. This is by far one of my favorite Beatles songs, and also one of my favorite last songs on an album, and let me tell you, I am an aficionado of final songs on albums. The song developed out of a puff piece: John Lennon just trying to write. I love the dream imagery. I especially love it when the song goes from an awake Paul back into John’s dream. It is John’s song, to be sure, but Paul’s bridge piece simple gives the song meaning and structure. The orchestra parts are also great. I know the instructions given to the orchestra was to play from the bottom of their instrument’s range to the top. The discordance is akin to something you might find in John Cage or the like. This song is truly a piece of art.

One of my favorite songs by one of my favorite bands. So many of my other favorite bands have fizzled out or broken up and moved on to other (less epic) things. Nada Surf has refused to go away over 15 years now. The thing is, they just keep putting out great music. This song has all the sing-a-long-ability that seems to be intrinsic and assumed when it comes to Nada Surf. Robert Caws writes so personally. This song speaks of a journey to me. A journey of self discovery and the discovery of something bigger than self. The chorus, to me, is an anthem, and I sing it at the top of my lungs when I listen in the car. The song also comes equipped with a memorable bridge that contains some of my favorite lyrics: “All the tales with paper heroes/ The ones who dyed the sun/And called it yellow/ The ones who made you run.” I’ve said this before and I will say it again. If you aren’t familiar with Nada Surf– get familiar. Get intimate.

19. “Gone for Good” by the Shins

The Shins and James Mercer have been big in the indie scene and found their way in to the mainstream in movies and TV shows. I would be tempted to call almost anyone else a poser or sellout, but the Shins have musical chops to back up the hype. This song, in my opinion, is their strongest lyrically and musically. I love the steel guitar work in so many Shins songs, but the steel guitar just sets a beautiful backdrop for this song. The song speaks to the kind of self-hindrance that I can definitely associate with: “You wanted to jump and dance /But you sat on your hands /And lost your only chance/ Go back to your hometown/ Get your feet on the ground/ And stop floating around.” Check this one out if you like a great indie-rock song with a little twang to it (though how twang made it to Portland, Oregon is beyond me).

18. “23″ by Jimmy Eat World

Best Jimmy Eat World song in the last decade. Period. Amazing still it seems, that this song actually came out when I was 23, or at least close to 23. The song for me means moving on and moving forward. It contains warnings about lying idle and failure, while at the same time acknowledging the present. The guitar work is some of their best best, and, as it seems with most great Jimmy Eat World songs, goes on forever. The song spans over seven minutes, yet I find my self repeating the song over and over. The chorus begs to be sung at the top of your lungs. I usually oblige. The song takes me back to the days around my engagement and wedding, and will therefore always have a nostalgic place, but even without the place of the song in my life, it will still easily make my top 25.

17. “The Scientist” by Coldplay

If I were a person that often slow danced, this would always be the song that I would request. I know a lot of people who think that Coldplay is overrated. I just can’t seem to see it; these guys are for real. I love the way that the each of the instruments join the song that starts out with just a guy (Chris Martin) and his piano. Then you get the guitar and finally the drums and the bass. The song is easy to sing to, easy to tap your foot to, and most embarrassingly, easy to close your eyes to while listening. I like the almost nostalgic reference of stars (“I’m going back to the stars”) that throws me back to their first single, “Yellow.” The vocals are, of course, amazing. Chris Martin’s voice is simply one of the best of our generation. The background vocals also do a lot to contribute to this song that I don’t have to tell you to check out because you’ve probably already heard it.

16. “Sweet Avenue” by Jets to Brazil

So this is what happens when you deconstruct and mature the first wave of emo. Blake Schwarzenbach is and will remain one of my favorite songwriters for the rest of my life. The music is of course great. I particularly like the keyboards/organ that join in at the end of the song. The song itself is personal and  pure poetry. This will be the only time in the countdown that I post a song’s lyrics in their entirety and let them speak for themselves. Forgive the lack of capitalization; I have copied this from elsewhere and damn those indie kids and their refusal to adhere to capitalization rules:

tasting you and rain I walk down to the train
try not to look down
this day could one day be an anniversary
everything is light and sound
facing forwards going slowly wait for you to show me
where this train wants to go
living by the hour I stop for every flower
everything is soft and slow
now all these tastes improve through the view that comes with you
like they handed me my life
for the first time it felt right
thank you for making me see there’s a life in me
it was dying to get out
holding you we make two spoons beneath and April moon
everything is soft and sweet
this cigarette it could seduce
a nation with its smoke
crawling down my tired throat
scratches part of me that’s purring
softly stirring
I’m a captain of industry smoking famously
feet up on the windowsill
look at all these trees I feel affinity with
everything so soft and still
budding at my fingertips
touching you I start to bloom
alive with trains and passing ships
soft and sweet along your lips now
I go “oh wow”
thank you for taking me from my monastery
I was dying to get out
with tears of gratitude
I like my latitude
cross town train to you
now all these tastes improve
through the view that comes with you
like they handed me my life for the first time it felt worth it
like I deserved it

There are two alum recordings of this song. The one that actually makes the countdown is the version on Jealous Sound EP. I also had problems picking my favorite song from the EP itself, which is one of the finest EPs that I own. The guitar work on this song is fantastic, and I think that Blair Shehan piqued at the moment in time that this song came about. The lead parts accompany the distorted rhythm parts perfectly, and the parts are perfectly mastered and perfectly balance.  First, I have always loved his vocals that somehow border on a scream and a whisper at the same time, while at the same time being sing-a-long-able.  Blair’s lyrics resonate with me more in his Jealous Sound work than they ever did with Knapsack. My favorite lines come near the end of the song: “You give what you have when it’s all that you’ve got. You hope it’s enough, but you know that it’s not, and you say, well please don’t worry.” For me the whole song is a message from God or something bigger than me, telling me not to worry. I don’t know exactly where the Jealous Sound stands on the God issue, so it is hard to say what the lyrics really mean, but that is what they mean to me, and that’s good enough for me.

24. “Parking Lot” by Mineral

So usually Christian music and artistry don’t go hand-in-hand, even to me, an open follower of Christ, but Chris Simpson has always exemplified the ability to make art in all his endeavors.  He has never signed to a Christian” label and has always been on the cutting edge. He brought the second wave of emo (not the crap that those goth kids listen to) to Austin, Texas  of all places in the early 90s. The lyrics are great, as they are in all Mineral songs. They speak of the realistic and painful reality that is life, and sure, all that pain will one day end, but that everything here is not going to be great all the time. In the end, Chris welcomes the pain”So come on with the darkness, And come on with the fear, Cause I gotta start somewhere, and it might as well be here.” In the end, we will all laugh at all the foolishness of our lives, as we look back. This lead guitar that intersperses the verses also just screams out of the speakers. It is an ingenious guitar riff.

23. “Secret of the Easy Yoke” by Pedro the Lion

Oddly, another song written by a Christian (or formerly-Christian) artist. Sure, David Bazan has had very public and outspoken problems with God, and those struggles are never more apparent than they are in this song that paints the picture of a real person struggling with the concept and person of God. “Somedays, I don’t love you at all,” Bazan croons at the end of each chorus. I feel this way sometimes in passing phases, and maybe the way I can relate to the song makes it great, but there is comfort (unlike the lack of comfort in Bazan’s current work) at the end of the song : “If this is only a test, I hope that I’m passing, Cause I’m losing steam, but I still want to trust you.” And then a voice that comes from somewhere else,  “Peace. Be still.” The “Be still” section of the song resembles the serenity that I must seek when I myself feel the way the speaker in the song does. The gentle and simple guitar coupled with the ride that builds to the end is just phenomenal. As with most Pedro songs, the beat is down-trodden, but you find yourself singing along with every word, and furthermore, singing along with passion.

22. “Here Comes Your Man” by the Pixies

I really hate selecting singles, especially famous singles that define bands for countdowns like this (unless it is the Beatles, in which case, that is impossible), but the Pixies knew what they were doing when they put out this catchy tune. To me, the Pixies ushered in the “indie” sound, mentality, and strangeness. Sure the songis “Here Comes Your Man,” but you kind of get the impression that the man is a hobo or some deadbeat (or perhaps a drug dealer). I love Pixies lyrics, because I never know what the hell Frank Black is really talking about, but it is fun to speculate. The song is simply a sing-long. The guitars are a throwback to surfer music, reminiscent of the Beach Boys’ Endless Summer, but the vocals are in direct opposition to the guitar line, with the gruffness of Black’s and the edge that Kim Deal’s voice has.  The is a scene in 500 Day of Summer where Joseph Gordon-Levitt sings the song in karaoke, and sure, I loved the song years before the movie came out, but it did make me think that in the rare instance I would step up to a karaoke mic, I might just look under “Here Comes Your Man” first.

21. “Sierra” by Cursive

This is one of those songs that kind of creeped up on me. I love the album The Ugly Organ, and all the tracks are so great that forever, I found myself falling in love with this song or that, but now that years have gone by since the album came out, this is the one that sticks out most to me. I love the imagery of this poor orphaned girl that the father has abandoned. The song expresses the hurt and pain the father character has of not knowing his daughter, and according to the father, he doesn’t deserve to. This is probably the best story all packed in to three minutes that you can tell, especially in the restriction of a song. As with most songs on the album, the cello elevates the song to another level. The build in each chorus that launches into each chaotic verse is brilliant. If you haven’t hear this one, find it, listen to it, and pay attention to the story it tells.

It was actually hard to figure out which Decemberist songs I liked the most. Colin Meloy is a powerhouse. His music just keeps staying great. I chose this song because it is really a great closing song to any album, but especially for a concept album. The song is a story all in itself. It kind of has that “star-crossed lovers” thing going for it. I think there are multiple interpretations to the song, but my interpretation is that our two lovers will find peace together in death. The water imagery is great. One of my favorite lines, repeated at the end of each chorus is “these hazards of love never more will trouble us.” I love the steel guitar work and the acoustic guitar work is simple and beautiful.

29. “In Other Words” by Ben Kweller

Ben Kweller’s debut solo album never ceases to amaze me. He was 20 years old and had already seen the signing of his defunct band, Radish, by a major label. The band splits and the music only gets better. I could wax romantic about the whole album for hours, but I will talk about the song instead– my favorite from the album. The song starts with just Ben and his piano, and as the song progresses layers pile upon layers: guitar, steel guitar, bass, drums, and banjo toward the end. The song has three very distinct movements. At the beginning you think, “This is a nice song, for sad bastard music.” During the middle you start thinking, “This might be going somewhere.” And by the end you are singing along at the top of your lungs, “Oooo, oooo, ooo, ooo. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.”

28. “Watching the Wheels” by John Lennon

First of all, let me state that Double Fantasy is vastly underrated. Even some of the Yoko songs are good. This song for me sums up John’s housedad years perfectly. The song epitomizes the balance in life that he finally discovers at home with his son. The vocal work is also some of John’s best.  I do love it when the the keyboards/piano build into the chorus. John proves to us he is still the same old smartass that raised hell in Liverpool and Hamburg, insulting those who call John lazy and believe that the years he has spent with his son to be a waste. The lyrics are as sarcastic and pointed as ever, but in the end, John realizes, “I just had to let it go.” It’s a true testament to the fact that people, even the stubborn John Lennon can plain out. I also think this song often has a place in various stages of my life, and the relatability only helps solidify the song in my mind.

27. “Aside” by The Weakerthans

The Weakerthans were a band that I discovered in college that have stuck with me (and actually stuck around) ever since. “Aside” is one of their most punk-influenced songs. It is fast and a straight out rocker. John Samson does lean toward his folk side in the song though, and the distortion (or lack thereof) in the guitars is refreshing. The lyrics are fantastic. Samson is incredibly under-recognized for his poetic abilities. I mean, where else can you get a great lyric like, “I’m leaning on a broken fence, between past and present tense.” This song is one that I can’t help but play air guitar to whenever I hear it.

26. “Tiny Dancer” by Elton John

So I know what everyone is thinking. Really Shelby? Elton John? That’s about as indie rock as Garth Brooks. I fell in love with this song the moment I saw the movie Almost Famous, which is still one of my favorite movies and a movie that gave me a vast desire to write. The scene in the movie where the band has been arguing and having hard times, but this song comes on in the tour bus and all is forgiven. Nothing needs to be said– the camaraderie that the band finds through the song is enough. The song is great in itself. It tells a story of vulnerability, love, and comfort. I also got the pleasure of seeing Sir Elton perform it live last year, and it made me love it even more. This song is piano rock at its best.

This is my favorite song written my second favorite Beatle. I did think about putting “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” somewhere in the countdown, but I think part of what makes “Guitar” so good is the contributions by Eric Clapton on guitar. George stands alone in this song, and pulls off his only Beatles number one.  I do love the lyrics in this song. For Abbey Road this song becomes the “I Want to Hold Your Hand” or “She Loves You, ” but the love song has evolved since the early days of the Beatles. I love that George Harrison evolved as a songwriter as the Beatles evolved, as he could have very easily been left behind (like for instance, say, Ringo was). The choruses of the song also comprise of George’s best Beatles vocal work.

34. “Spit on a Stranger” by Pavement

Pavement (who I consider the godfathers of indie music) should probably be in this countdown way more, but alas, there is only room for 50. First of all, I love Terror Twilight, and this song starts the album off right. It is everything a Pavement song should be: great lyrics laced with sarcasm and a certain cynical seriousness. I don’t understand how Pavement songs can be so catchy, they really shouldn’t be, but there it is, and you find yourself singing along anyway. Of course the guitar work is always great when Malkmus and Spiral Stairs get together, and “Spit on a Stranger” definitely doesn’t disappoint.

33. “Rock Revolution” by Piebald

If I had to pick my top 3 songs to cover acoustically, this would be there. In fact, it might be number one. I just love the simple story this song tells of a girl who inherits her fathers guitar and becomes a modern day hippie activist, complete with an FBI file and all. Sure, the rest of the band comes in after the first verse, but the song might as well have just stayed acoustic. It escalates and repeats to an end with gang vocals, which I usually enjoy, and certainly do in this song. It definitely builds into a sing-a-long. Every time at the end of the song, I just have to play one…or two… or three more times.

32. “Slow Down” by Nada Surf

Nada Surf is simply one of my favorite bands. Period. Every time I hear this song, it’s like I am hearing it for the first time again. I think it is because I forget how great it actually is. It is a straight on rocker with a punk backbeat. I love that I can differentiate it from their newer stuff and can tell that Matthew Caws was definitely younger when he wrote it, but it is still intrinsically Nada Surf. It may in fact be one of the best song to practice my air drumming. It is sing-alongable and has a message that is very important to someone like me:  “Slow down. Why you wanna move so fast? Why you wanna walk so far?”

31. “Strawberry Field Forever” by the Beatles

Caution: from this point in the countdown forward, you may get a little tired of seeing the name The Beatles and John Lennon. For me, this song cannot be denied its marked ingenuity and innovation. From the opening mellotron through the weird end bit that always seems to be cut off by the radio, the song changed what you could do when writing a rock song. The songs speaks back to John’s childhood, while at the same time reflecting his psychedelic experimentation with LSD. If I were to define the word ethereal, I might just refer you to “Strawberry Fields.” The song always takes me into a different universe where the gravity is less and the air is light.

I do so love the Dismemberment Plan. This song has everything I like about the Dismemberment Plan, too: a very strange time signature, good lyrics, keyboards, and a song that just appears to run away with itself. First of all, the strange time changes in a song called “Gyroscope” is simply ingenious. When most bands try to do the offbeat thing, it is disorienting, but when the Dismemberment Plan does it, the song is still catchy, and I can still tap my foot along with the song. This song is one of the best to come out of my days as a college radio DJ.

39. “Styrofoam Plates” by Death Cab for Cutie

Before Death Cab was writing songs for Twilight soundtracks (sellouts!), they actually made some really good music. “Styrofoam Plates” has some great things going for it. I love how the music starts very bare and stripped down (a guitar plucking single notes and a voice) and how it builds to a cathartic ending. The other thing I truly appreciate about the song is that it is a song that tells a story effectively. The story of a son’s bastard of a father, who left him and his mother eating Thanksgiving dinner at shelters and churches, and that father’s death. It is a powerful story that fits the music.

38. “You Will. You? Will. You? Will. You? Will.” by Bright Eyes

For me, this song epitomizes how simple songs can be. There aren’t a lot of chords to the song, not a lot of instrumentation, but it is a great song. The song has the classic build to intensity found in all of Conor Oberst’s truly great ones. I like the different interpretations that you can take out of the words of the choruses (also, the title of the song). Finally, I like the metaphor of a seemingly unhealthy and possibly oppressive relationship being equated to a book. I guess I pretty much like it when a book can be a metaphor for anything.

37. “Tonight We’ll Light Ourselves on Fire” by Cross My Heart

If the title doesn’t speak to why this song is great, then nothing will. Cross My Heart is a very little known band that made some great music for a few years. Their projects since haven’t been nearly as good. Their guitar work is great, and I can’t find a place that I like their guitar work than in this song. Usually I hate it when bands that can actually sing resort to screaming, but Cross My Heart songs just require the yelling to hit that level of intensity in so many of their songs. My theory is that this song is about the search for God or the meaning of life or for self, but it makes that journey so effectively.

36. “Does He Love You?” by Rilo Kiley

This is the second song in this block that very effectively tells a story. The story is a heartbreaking tale of two women: a wife whose husband has a mistress “out in California” and his mistress. Both the women are grossly deceived and in the end, I end up feeling sorrier for the mistress. The song is a slow starter that explodes into a fitting climactic end. I also think that this song is by far one of Jenny Lewis’s superior vocal performances.

This song quickly became my favorite Braid song in college, and not a lot changed thereafter. I like how the song meanders. It packs a punch, gets calmer, explodes, gets ever calmer, and then climaxes. The lyrics are also classic Bob Nanna: cynical and ironic with just a pinch of humor. One would, of course, think that the song might be romantic from the title, and there is a certain romance to it, but it is the romance of being alone and pining.

44. “Paper Thin” by Hot Water Music

I do love a lot of Hot Water Music songs, but I often have trouble comprehending what they are saying, not the message, but the actual singing of the lyrics. I think I might like this song most because I can sing along to the whole thing. It has a great chorus and great guitar parts, which is saying a lot in a band that receives its musical clout froma formally trained jazz bassist and drummer.  I think the song is about how temporary and unimportant the things we deem important can end up being.

43. “B is for Bethlehem” by The Promise Ring

It was especially difficult deciding which songs were my favorite Promise Ring songs. This song is ultimately the catchiest song from Nothing Feels Good, which is what initially caught my attention when I heard it many moons ago for the first time. I initially believed the song was some kind of evangelical song, but upon further examination, I believe the song to be a condemnation of people throwing out the name of Jesus on a whim. I don’t think it makes any judgement of Jesus either way. I also get a bit of a sympathetic approach to the devil through the irony of the song. I am thinking here of a somewhat heroic devil like in Paradise Lost. I may be completely wrong. I really don’t understand about half of Davy von Bohlen’s lyrics anyway. When all else fails, there is always the uber-catchy chorus.

42. “Fell in Love at 22″ by Starflyer 59

This song epitomizes what Starflyer is to me. I think I also may like it a bit because…well…I fell in love right there around the age of 22. I also don’t know of a song with fewer lyrics that tells a complete story. Ultimately, the outcome of the song is reflected by the shoegazer tone that Starflyer always sets out: John at 42 seems to not be having a great life. Hopefully, my life will be marginally better than the character in this song when I am 42. I think it is a lot about responsibility, but also a reminder to pursue our dreams: a cautionary tale, if you will.

41. “New Slang” by the Shins

Okay. I know what you are thinking. This song has been everywhere: movies, television, RockBand, and you would be right, but I just can’t seem to get sick of the song. I maintain that it was my favorite when I heard the album back in 2001 or 2002 before it was whored out to the media masses. The song is very cyclical in nature and never really gets anywhere musically. It is mellow and very easy to listen to in any mood, and hey, the first line is about a pirate (at least that is how I interpret it). I am not really sure how all the lyrics connect. All I know is that the persona singing the song is really pissed off at the world, I mean all of it, wishing butchers to cut their thumbs and all. I think ultimately, the song is probably a really creatively worded song about a girl that’s rejected the narrator.

50. “Currents” by Sleeping at Last

For me, this song is packed with metaphors and very catchy. What I think I most appreciate about Sleeping at Last is that they are a band of Christians that never really existed in the “Christian” music scene that actually talks about God while making actual art. I think the metaphor of trying to swim to shore when currents are too strong for us to handle is a great metaphor for life and needing God.

49. “Repeater” by Fugazi

I didn’t have the heart to remove Fugazi from the list. They are simply too influential, and I know that without their music, much of the music that I love would not have ever been made. “Repeater” is simply a classic song with a great sing-a-long/yell-a-long chorus that always leaves me counting to three. The song also epitomizes the post-punk attitude: there is no future and “to you I’m nothing but a number.” The downfall of man is certainly here, but at least I have this three minute hard rock song.

48. “Adventures in Solitude” by The New Pornographers

The New Pornographers are certainly one of the bands that have become favorites over the past few years, but they climbed the charts very quickly. This song is serene, but contains a powerful message. I picture a friend long lost to some addiction or some bad relationship who I don’t ever see any more, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. “Welcome back,” I say to my long lost friend. The bridge to this song is amazing. Neko Case’s voice echoed by the rest of the Pornographers soars and is simply magnificent. The bridge is what makes the song.

47. “Accident Prone” by Jawbreaker

When I first got in to Jawbreaker, this was my favorite song. I think at the time I was simply amazed that any band could put out a 6 minute song that was good all the way through. This song certainly is good all the way through. I don’t know if Blake Schwarzenbach wrote the song about his time in the hospital in Europe when he had to have polyps removed from his vocal chords, but I don’t think that is what it is about. In fact, I think our narrator in this song is insane. I think the hospital is one of a mental variety, and I think accidents certainly do not refer to bumps and bruises but instead all of the ways that we fuck up our own lives. Regardless,  I love listening to this song when I am on a road trip driving through a rainstorm. It just makes it more powerful somehow.

46. “Sleep the Clock Around” by Belle and Sebastian

It must be the bagpipes, I might initially think, but this song as so much more than that. The song fades in from nothingness but with a beat that keeps me bouncing in my seat for the whole song. I like the lyrics, as I do with all of the songs on this list.  I know for me, there are periods in life when I feel like I am sleeping the clock around, even when I am awake. Little do I know that when I show up, “everybody is happy, they are glad that I came.” And yeah, there are awesome bagpipes at the end of the song. Hooray for a little indie-pop.

The parallels to Arsenal’s (his team) season and the seasons of Hornby’s life are certainly there and certainly not veiled, but in fact, are often pointed out by the author. The humor is classic Hornby, especially classic in the sense that his memoir sets out the humor that we, the readers, are to see in his later books. The biting wit and sarcasm comes through the page as bright as ever.

The book certainly features the character of Nick Hornby, but I would argue that perhaps bigger characters are the Arsenal squad, the Arsenal pitch, and the Arsenal crowds. Hornby’s name as a character is mentioned but a few times in the book. Hornby tries to convey himself through the events at the matches that he is chronicling. I found that it was important after each section to consider what the football event could mean for Hornby.

I am certainly no more interested in soccer than I was at the beginning of the book. I think watching soccer is as boring as hell, if truth be told, but I would still recommend this book to most anybody. In all reality, I was excited to see the names of English soccer teams tick across the bottom of ESPN the other day and see that I retained some knowledge of the events and teams that participated in the book.  It is really one of the best memoirs I have ever read, and any Hornby that is new to me is good Hornby.

Let me first of all say that I have romanticized New York in my mind for as long as I can remember. I would like to think that my love for New York comes from Catcher in the Rye, and certainly Catcher does influence my love for the city, but I know that I thought how great it would be to go to New York long before that: probably since elementary school. I don’t know what initially engendered my interest, but what I have learned during my short vacations to New York is that it doesn’t disappoint.

First of all, I love any city that you can just walk and go find places and watch people without even trying. I also find myself vastly enjoying with public rail systems (thinking also of London). If I ever move to some place with public rail, I vow to drive my car into the nearest river when I get there (or maybe I could sell it, I guess).  Owning a car in New York just seems pointless. I simply enjoy traveling by rail more than driving my car. Sure, I might miss driving with the windows down and blasting music when the weather is pleasant, but for the most part, I could do without a car.

During this visit to New York we visited many places that we did not visit on our honeymoon (when we spent a great deal of time sleeping off the exhaustion and stress that comes from a wedding and reading the newest Harry Potter book). One place that we revisited was Times Square. Normally I would probably not enjoy a neon jungle like Times Square, but I find myself loving just to watch people and watching the strange yet entertaining performances that go on in Times Square. What I enjoyed even more about Times Square this visit was Times Square at night. It truly does not sleep. It seems a living organism, changing throughout the day. When visiting Times Square at night, I couldn’t help but watch all of the people (mostly tourists like myself) taking pictures and craning their necks upwards toward the once static displays that are now constantly changing screens of media overload. (Surprisingly, a lot of this has happened just over the past five years).

Having developed a love for all things Lennon over the past five years, I couldn’t go back to New York without visiting Strawberry Fields in Central Park. I enjoyed watching the people walk by and listening to music despite a sign that states that musical instruments were not allowed and also despite the fact that many of the songs being played were Beatles songs written primarily by Paul (which just didn’t seem quite right to me).  I can imagine that Strawberry Fields is often very quiet and calm, but when the “mayor” of Strawberry Fields arrived all sorts of hell seemed to break loose. At first I was a little offended by this lunatic calling himself the mayor. I don’t have a problem with the strange people one often sees in large city parks and walking large city sidewalks. In fact, quite to the contrary, I often watch and wonder what is going on in the minds of these people. I was offended at the time the “mayor” showed up, stopped the guitar player, and addressed everyone sitting in peace at their respective park benches because I believed that it should have been a quiet peaceful place. In retrospect, I actually found the interruption and tumult endearing. This peace interrupted by conflict and tension mirrors John Lennon’s life in so many ways. It is fitting that his memorial reflect who he was (or who it  seemed he was to me from all I have read and seen). Next time I go, I will have to bring a notebook and get some writing done.

A much more laid back place for me was Washington Square Park. There was a little less foot traffic. Liz and I sat there, eating lunch and listening to a jazz quartet while watching a man dance and jive to the music. It was relaxing and entertaining. Walking around the park and listening to the various music and watching artists make their art was wonderful. I also vow that I will one day be good enough at chess to sit down for a game with the old men who sit in the park and play all day long. Maybe I even want to be one of the old men who sit all day and play chess in Washington Square Park.

If I were to plan another vacation in the U.S. next week. I might very well find myself back in my romantic New York.