Yellow

Song: Yellow
Artist: Coldplay
Album: Parachutes
Released: July 2000

Alright all you Coldplay haters, just simmer down when you feast your eyes on this entry. How can a band help the fact that their songs are so infectious that radio stations refuse to stop playing them? Sure, sure many of their songs were over played, and most of them are fairly repetitive, but when your songs are this good, repetition should be encouraged.

Okay, so lets look past the fact that my first make out was experienced with this song playing in the background of my parents' Dodge Intrepid (while they were driving, ba ha ha ha ha). Apparently they thought we were asleep, since it was late and on the way home from a long trip. Yes, I did reluctantly tell my wife about this experience long before I wrote this entry, and as you can imagine, her jealous mind has pushed this particular song out of her own top 100. Standing on it's own it is as good a love song as you can get. In the intro to the song a clean guitar gently clangs and then bounces into a simple and distorted riff, that then transitions into the verse. I love the lyrics, they aren't really a story, but more of a narration of a single moment. Chris Martin's voice sets the mood as he moves in and out of falsetto with all the effort of a bird soaring on the wind. Every note of the verse and chorus is an expression of the feelings he has for his love. Again the lyrics are vague enough that anyone can claim ownership, but explanatory enough that it can fit your situation perfectly. If you ask me that's the very essence of a great song. It's what music should be if you ask me, like a photograph of a feeling, or a memory.

Yellow doesn't really ever hit a peak, instead it follows a smooth figure eight track, from verse, to chorus and back again, avoiding steep hills and valleys. It weaves its way the same way a great love should, consistently. Not to say every relationship doesn't have peaks and valleys, they do, but the love you feel in a great relationship I think, is very consistent from day to day, the big waves can't break it, and strong winds of change can't move it. True love remains the same through all trials. This is what Yellow has become to me, a steady beautiful narrative of the emotion of love. Enjoy

Look at the stars,
Look how they shine for you,
And everything you do,
Yeah they were all yellow,

I came along
I wrote a song for you
And all the things you do
And it was called yellow

So then I took my turn
Oh all the things I've done
And it was all yellow

Your skin
Oh yeah your skin and bones
Turn into something beautiful
D'you know you know I love you so
You know I love you so

I swam across
I jumped across for you
Oh all the things you do
Cause you were all yellow

I drew a line
I drew a line for you
Oh what a thing to do
And it was all yellow

Your skin
Oh yeah your skin and bones
Turn into something beautiful
D'you know for you i bleed myself dry
For you i bleed myself dry

Its true look how they shine for you
look how they shine for you
look how they shine for you
look how they shine for you
look how they shine for you
look how they shine
look at the stars look how they shine for you

Selling the Drama

 Song: Selling the Drama
Artist: Live
Album: Throwing Copper
Released: April 1994

Ah, just seeing that album cover makes me happy. It just screams quality right from the get go. This is easily one of the best album covers of all time, which is fitting for the best album of all time! Well that's my humble opinion anyway. It is seriously hard to limit myself to the number of songs on this list that come from this album. It makes me want to shake my head in unbelief that I even had to rank "Selling the Drama" this low, but every song on Throwing Copper (and what a freakin' awesome name for an album) is just so dang good!

At any rate, number 91 is "Selling the Drama". The first three notes of the song are classic, they just make you feel good, and they bring a flood of great memories to mind. Memories that are both new and old, from my childhood, to high school, to the very recent. For many years I skipped over "the dam at otter creek" (the album's opening track) when listening to Throwing Copper, and so "Selling the Drama" was the opening track for me for a long time. There are too many things that I relate this song to, for me to pick just one to elaborate on. Rather it represents a kaleidoscope vision of, good times with good friends, and family.

"Selling the Drama" is probably the most controlled song off the album, and that's probably why I ranked it lower than any of the other songs from Throwing Copper. I love the passion that Live put into each of the songs on Throwing Copper, and while "Selling the Drama" gives you a sample of their exemplary freak outs at the end of the song, it is short and at the very end of the song, which makes it short, and in my book just not as good. "Selling the Drama" is the perfect opener for the CD though. I still call it the opener because "the dam at otter creek" is more like an extended introduction to the album as a whole. "otter creek" is one big crescendo that is very rough and raw and it transitions perfectly into the beauty of "Selling the Drama".  The song has very poignant lyrics, that question much larger subject matter that I care to take on right now, but they are worded perfectly. The song is highly polished and perfectly represents the quality the album has to offer. From start to finish, this song is simply timeless.

and to love: a god
and to fear: a flame
and to burn a crowd that has a name
and to right or wrong
and to meek or strong
it is known, just scream it from the wall

I've willed, I've walked, I've read
I've talked, I know, I know,
I've been here before

hey, now we won't be raped
hey, now we won't be scarred like that

it's the sun that burns
it's the wheel that turns
it's the way we sing that makes 'em dream

and to christ: a cross
and to me: a chair
I will sit and earn the ransom
from up here

My Hero

Song: My Hero
Artist: Foo Fighters
Album: The Colour & the Shape
Released: May 1997

The drums kick off the song in stadium rocking fashion. The infectious bass line follows to complete the foundation. The guitar tops off the introduction and it's at this point that you know you are about to behold an all time classic. Dave Grohl's transition from legendary drummer to legitimate song writer and front man become fully realized  as he weaves an undeniable melody, shifting from smooth verses to grainy, muscle driven choruses. The song is simple and in my opinion rock at it's very best. My Hero is a song that makes you want to stand up straight, roll  your shoulders back, and dive head long into the maw of life to take on anything it dares throw at you.

My Hero makes my list for two reasons; number one, its freakin' awesome and you can't deny it, number two it is the song that I have designated to represent my father.

My first encounter with this song was while watching Varsity Blues in my freshmen year of high school. Some of you who know how old I am may be amazed by this as that was nearly two years after the song was released. Well what can I say I grew up in Greybull Wyoming where there is not a rock radio station within 100 miles. So that means if it didn't come through word of mouth or from a shot in the dark on ordering a cd through BMG music club, it didn't reach my ears. For those of you unfamiliar with Varsity Blues, it is a movie about high school football, which made the song that much cooler. To be introduced to a song as football players come running out of the tunnel and start cracking heads...well it goes without saying doesn't it? So for a while football is what I associated it with, which was great. Then sometime last year my mom said that she was going to be dividing our old family pics among us kids. I started thinking how cool it would be to put a slide show together highlighting each member of the family, sort of like they do at graduations, with the students. This slide show, would need music. My Hero was the first song I thought of to honor my Dad. He would find the song as nothing more than noise (as is the case with most songs that include any kind of electric guitar) but to the rest of us, I think it would be perfect.

My Father is the greatest example of what it is to be a father, husband, business man, and just a good man, that I can think of. He always gave everything he had (and even more after that) to make sure that all of us were taken care of. He made sure to be to all of our sporting and school events, capture them on film, (even the non competitive, annual Haslem "snow bowl", in negative 13 degree weather), make every holiday and family vacation, or any other event that held value to one of us, memorable and special. My Dad made our youth a conglomeration of adventures and lessons. From summer scuba trips to Oka-Bey lake, to developing legendary paintball reputations, to camping, surprise vacations, scavenger hunts, coyote hunts, wood cutting trips, and a laundry list of other things. Beyond that he taught us through his everyday actions. One thing that stands out was how he worked something like 15 hour days 6 days of the week and then what must have been another 8 on sunday after 5 hours of church meetings, for stretches the exceeded a month at a time. All this at a job he couldn't stand, because the job had to be done right, and it was the job that provided our family with the best medical coverage and standard of living. He hated his bosses, but yet he stayed and didn't just do the job of a good employee. There was a certain standard that he set in his work (whether he liked what he was doing or not) and that standard was damn near perfection. Still even during times when his job was the most taxing he always found a way to make time to attend any event his children were participating in. And he always made time for the Lord, and his church callings. Through it all he gave me a road map to being a man, he gave me a name that I will spend the rest of my life trying to live up to. He "bleeds it out, while the rest of them peter out", and "he's ordinary" to those who don't know him, but to me, he's as good as it gets. He's my hero, hands down.

too alarming now to talk about
take your pictures down
and shake it out
truth or consequence, say it aloud
use that evidence race it around

Chorus:
there goes my hero
watch him as he goes
there goes my hero
he's ordinary

don't the best of them bleed it out
while the rest of them peter out
truth or consequence, say it aloud
use that evidence race it around

(chorus)

kudos my hero
leaving all the best
you know my hero
the one that's all

Far Behind

Song: Far Behind
Artist: Candlebox
Album: Candlebox
Released: July 1993

 Far Behind makes this list for a couple reasons I suppose. I think the biggest reason, besides it being an absolute classic, is that it reminds me of my siblings. None of them committed suicide, as the lyrics suggest, thankfully but they all liked it. I remember first seeing the cover on a cassette tape in my oldest sister's car (which I would later drive and total, ha ha) which, as was family tradition, equipped with a rockin' system. It was, for me anyway, that period when hair bands were being replaced by grunge bands. When I was about 7 I was so into bands like Def Leopard, Firehouse, Warrant, and Metallica. Metallica is not and never was a hair band, I don't care what you say, they were an 80's band yest but if you have ears you can hear, they sound nothing like the other bands who sporting long hair. That's another story entirely though. It all changed so quickly when my sisters and brother started toting home new music like Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, and Candlebox. This was much cooler, and unfortunately much heavier, and thus deemed inappropriate for my young ears. I was limited to dance music for the next several years, and so Haddaway, La Bouche, and Ace of Base were all I was allowed to experience for myself. Well they were a much cooler alternative than my mom's collection of Celine Dion, Gloria Estafan, and Lee Greenwood (that's right, the "God Bless the USA" guy, my brother made fun of me for listening to it, in a very patriotic fashion.). Then in the 5th grade I declared that I hated music and that it gave me a headache. No surprise, considering the options. Still, I would occasionally get a sneak listen in my brother or sister's cars or while they were in there rooms. Despite their attempts to keep me hard rock free, I quickly went back to the music I always loved when I was old enough to rebel a little.

I don't really remember a specific time when I heard Candlebox, I just remember wanting to listen to that "maybe" song. As time went by and napster made music more easily accessible, I soon downloaded Far Behind, and for whatever reason it just always reminded me of my siblings. They all listened to it and because of that it was part of my childhood, whether they wanted it to be or not. With all of them being at least five years older than me I guess they also, always left me far behind. Wow, that was lame.

Far Behind is one of those songs that has such a touching and dramatic theme to it, that even if it isn't something you can relate to, you're still drawn into it. Like Legends of the Fall, a sad bit of entertainment that you just can't stop watching. That's how the lyrics are for me, but again they don't leave me feeling sad because the song is very nostalgic for me, but still the song makes you feel something. That something, whatever it is, is awesome.

Now maybe
I didn't mean to treat you bad
But I did it anyway
And now maybe
Some would say your life was sad
But you lived it anyway
And so maybe
Your friends they stand around they watch your crumble
As you falter to the ground
And then someday
Your friends they stand beside as you were flying
Oh you were flying oh so high

But then someday people look at you for what they call their own
They watch you suffer
Yeah they hear you calling home
But then some day we could take our time
To brush the leaves aside so you can reach us
But you left me far behind
Now maybe
I didn't mean to treat you oh so bad
But I did it anyway
Now maybe some would say you're left with what you had
But you couldn't share the pain

No, no, no
Couldn't share the pain, they watch you suffer

Now maybe I could have made my own mistakes
But I live with what I've known
And then maybe we might share in something great
But won't you look at where we've grown
Won't you look at where we've gone
But then someday comes tomorrow holds a sense of what I feel for you in my mind
As you trip the final line
And that cold day when you lost control
Shame you left my life so soon you should have told me
But you left me far behind
Now maybe I didn't mean to treat you oh so bad
But I did it anyway
Now maybe some would say you're left with what you had
But you couldn't share the pain
No, no, no

Oh no
Oh no no no no...
Now maybe I didn't mean to treat you oh so bad
But I did it anyway
Now maybe some would say you're left with what you had
But you couldn't share the pain
I said times have changed your friends
They come and watch you crumble to the ground
They watch you suffer
Yeah, they hold you down
Hold you down
Now maybe brother, maybe love
I didn't mean to treat you bad
But you left me far behind
Left me far behind
Left me far Behind

Let It Go

Song: Let It Go
Artist: Blue October
Album: Foiled
Released: April 2006

Ah, sadness why does it sound so good? Probably because Blue October is singing it. Let it go is, to me anyway, a song about regret. It might be the only way I have seen regret portrayed beautifully. This is the first song on this list that I have changed. I originally had "Hate Me" (also by Blue October) in this spot, but I think I had it there mainly because I overplay "Let It Go". I have always liked "Let It Go" more than "Hate Me", so it made sense to fix this list even though it isn't on the cd set I burned to accommodate my top 100. Again, there's the reason I called it an attempt.

"Let It Go", begins with a guitar and violin softly setting the back drop for our regret soaked, sad song. The song progresses with awesome subtlties such as the violin being strummed like a mandolin, that crescendos into the first verse and remains throughout the song, and the clang of an electric guitar throughout this primarily acoustic song. A piano accents the chorus, which effectively drives you to feel the deep level emotion of the song. The lyrics of the second verse take the feeling to a whole new place at "follow me home, through the maze and on. I'll show you the road that I led you the wrong way on". How many of us can remember a time when we led someone we hold dear into a place they never should have been? If you can't, when you listen to this song, you'll almost wish you had, just so you can relate to the beauty of the song. The song again escalates with the second chorus, Furstenfeld adds anger through a growl as he sings, "Why did I go that way?", then an honest yearning for truth as he softens on "Why do I steal?" and finally complete sadness as he simply asks himself "Why?". Let It Go soars on from this point, on the notes of a harmonica, whose melody is carried on by the violin to its conclusion, while being infused with Furstenfeld's angry, regretful, and self-incriminating questions.

The song is important to me for a number of reasons, it is beautifully written, and played, and it is way fun to sing. But mainly because it reminds me of a harder time, when my wife and I were first married. That sounds strange, I know.We had an enormous struggle, and I would listen to it and ask myself all of these questions; I would ask myself "why?" and I would feel guilty, but somehow confronting those questions made me search for answers, and that helped. As we worked through things the song took on a different meaning, now it serves as a reminder of how close I came to really letting her go, and now I ask myself "how could I let her go?" as in "how could I" have ever felt the way I did, to make me feel like I was "stealing" from her. It reminds me not to take anything for granted, and that as a human, I am subject harm if I put myself in harm's way. I apologize for all of the vagueness, but the subject is too personal to be very specific about. Let It Go reminds me of how close I came to losing everything that I hold dear, and the joy that came from overcoming my own weakness.

Where do you go
When the day is long
And where does your heart beat
And who is wrong

Why do I feel this way
Why do I kneel
How could I let it go
Why do I feel
Why do I feel
Why

Follow me home
Through the, the maze and on
I'll show you the road
That I led you the wrong way on

Why did I go that way
Why do I steal
How could I let her go
Why do I feel

Oh why did I go that way
Why do I steal
How could I let her go
Why do I feel
Why do I feel
Why

Why
Why did I go that way
Why do I need
How could I let her go
Why do I feel

Oh why did I go that way
How could I steal
Oh how could I
How could I
How could I

How could I
How could I

Frank Sinatra

Song: Frank Sinatra
Artist: Cake
Album: Fashion Nugget
Released: September 1996

Well first off, the song is called Frank Sinatra, if you haven't heard it before, the title alone should give you a clue as to how awesome the song is. Frank Sinatra has no particular personal meaning to me lyrics wise (they are however spectacularly written),but it is more of reminiscence thing. I remember my brother showed "the distance" (another song of the same album) to me while I was playing a computer game called "Lords of the Realm II". I will never forget the moment I discovered Cake. Why on earth would you name a band Cake? Well the sound was definitely something different than anything I had ever heard before. It was fresh, but kinda old sounding, it wasn't rock but then it kind of was, it was weird, but in a good way. Whatever it was, it was freakin' cool, and even my young 7th grade musical palette could figure that out. Fashion Nugget soon became a staple of my 7-10 disc rotation. When I was privileged enough to ride in my brother's blue Chevy S-10 with the rockin' system, Cake was a regular request. Fashion Nugget as a whole was an album that has remained on my frequently played list, mainly because it is just so cool. It's hard to explain, it just makes you feel like...dare I say Frank Sinatra? Yes I do.

Also it seems an appropriate time to tell you that I love to sing, and I love singing along to Cake. Now when I sing I usually am not satisfied with the softly sung melody, weaving in out of falsetto for the high parts, that most people indulge in. I crank the volume up and I belt it out like I'm performing at my very own concert. Yes, I am that guy at the stop light singing at the top of his lungs, that you and your friends stare and laugh at. Don't worry about it though, its cool, I laugh at people like me too. After all I am 26 and still singing to the steering wheel, full throttle. The point of this long explanation is that I love singing along to this song. Yes, it was a huge factor in Frank Sinatra's ranking, and really, it is for a lot of the songs you will see on this countdown.

This song is also my wife's favorite song off the album, and honestly, we both love to rock out to it in the car. Before we had our son, we could turn the volume up and I would sing slash drum the beat on the steering wheel, while she danced. My wife is a dancer at heart, she also sometimes rocks the backup vocals. This scenario played out many times on our way to go shopping or pick up a movie or even to pickup groceries. Ah, good times.

To be quite honest, I don't have it in me to critique the actual music tonight. Suffice it to say that the drums drive the song perfectly, the organ is a very nice touch, and the guitar is suttle but right on. The trumpet also adds very nice overtones through out. I hope you take the time to watch the video at the top of the list as it is done quite well. Enjoy feeling awesome while you listen/watch.

We know of an ancient radiation
That haunts dismembered constellations,
A faintly glimmering radio station.
While Frank Sinatra sings Stormy Weather,
The flies and spiders get along together,
Cobwebs fall on an old skipping record.

Beyond the suns that guard this roof,
Beyond your flowers of flaming truths,
Beyond your latest ad campaigns,
An old man sits collecting stamps
In a room all filled with Chinese lamps.
He saves what others throw away.
He says that he'll be rich some day.

We know of an ancient radiation
That haunts dismembered constellations,
A faintly glimmering radio station.

We know of an ancient radiation
That haunts dismembered constellations,
A faintly glimmering radio station.
While Frank Sinatra sings Stormy Weather,
The flies and spiders get along together,
Cobwebs fall on an old skipping record.

Movin' On

Song: Movin' On
Artist: Default
Album: Elocation
Released: November 2003

Movin' On marks a fairly big event in my life. As is obvious in the lyrics, the song is about a break up. For me I can relate to nearly every word of the lyrics, because this was not just a break up, it was the break up of my life. I'm talking this was my first true love and all that sappy stuff, 5 years worth of sappiness. We had half our wedding planned before I ever left on my mission for the LDS church, picked names for our unborn children, appeared in each-other's family pictures, owned furniture and even a dog together; it was generally accepted by our families and friends that we were one couple that would make it through the two year (no contact save letters, mind you) wait. Movin' On doesn't en-capsule all of the emotions I felt, but it does capture some of them. So, I tell you the part of the story it fills.

About 6 months before I left for New England, I caught my girlfriend (of 3 1/2 years at that point) cheating on me. Now this was not cheating in the sense that she was sleeping or fooling around or anything, she had just kissed some loser a few times, and was planning on dating him. We both held our LDS values and so kissing was as far as we could go before marriage. So to me this was treason in the highest, and we both knew it. Well to make a long story short, after about 10 tumultuous days we decided to work it out and stay together. I think we'd both agree that it happened mainly because of my efforts, but she held up her part of the bargain by sticking to my ridiculously strict terms (which even her parents questioned) so I knew she was committed. I can't be sure, but I think this would come back to bite me hard later on. Over the holidays, our families spent Thanksgiving together, and we stayed at each-other's homes through Christmas and New Year's. I got this CD from her for Christmas that year as a matter of fact. By the end of the holidays things were as good as they had ever been and I had no doubt whatsoever that she would wait. On May 5, 2004 I entered the Missionary Training Center in Provo, UT. Three months later my mail from her stopped completely for 1 month, then resumed as if nothing had happened. 1 year later I found out why when letters again had stopped for another month. Needless to say my Augusts on the mission were worrisome. She had cheated again, this time it was much worse, it was cheating in everyone else's terms. That's why the mail stopped my first august, and that's apparently why it stopped again in my second august. So in the chorus when Dallas Smith sings "the last time I gave in, the next time I'm leaving" you can understand how it fits perfectly. I didn't pursue her when I got home, not because I couldn't forgive her again, or because I didn't care for her anymore. Quite the contrary, I thought I had buried all of my feelings for her during the last 6 months of the mission, but when I got home we spent a day together, and I realized that there was a lot left in the feelings bank "I miss the love that you've misplaced".

Her parents (whom I still love) asked me if I was thinking about trying to patch things up, and her father especially pushed for it. I told them though, that this time, if anything was going to happen, it would have to come from her. I forgave her, I still cared for her, but I couldn't trust her. I knew that if I didn't mean enough to her for her to stick her neck out and pursue me, and put in the work to make things happen, then it wouldn't be enough. It wouldn't have worked. I would've always be wondering/fearing if she was thinking about someone new. "Sharin' trust wore thin, I'm movin' on" that simple statement summed it all up for me.

The song starts out with a soft guitar and slow beat. It sets a very laid back feeling, almost like a chilling out song, but builds towards a valiantly trudging chorus. It gives me the closest thing to closure that I have on the subject matter. The way the guitars are played you get the sense of something extremely difficult, but also an overwhelming calm, that everything is going to be alright. I see this most clearly in the bridge "you pushed me off, you pushed me off, your secrets out. Don't pick me up, don't pick me up, I'll climb out". Even though the event that you feared the most in life has come to pass, there is still a light shining for you somewhere. You just have to be strong enough to find it.

To take not give your only way
You used up all I have each day
Whispers of where your head has laid
It's hard to ignore all the things that they say

The last time I give in
The next time I'm leaving
Sharin' trust wore thin
I'm movin' on

Each time you say you'll be home late
I pray to God that you'll behave
I miss the love that you've misplaced
My love not something to be played with

The last time I give in
The next time I'm leaving
Sharin' trust wore thin
I'm movin' on
You pushed me off
You pushed me off your secrets out
Don't pick me up
Don't pick me up
I'll climb out

The last time I give in
The next time I'm leaving
Sharin' trust wore thin
I'm movin' on