The TJ Top 5

i thought this task was going to be easy. it was even more difficult than me trying to type this posting with perfect posture. very difficult things for me. one thing i found very interesting was that my top 5 songs weren't necessarily by bands who i would call my top 5 bands... i mean... maybe.... but maybe not... weird that those two don't go hand in hand. while i was compiling the list of 5, it accidentally stretched to about 18 songs or so. so i had to really edit there and i attempted to break down those 18 into categories and not put in more than one from each cateegory - so some great tunes were left out. i must say though, with all this tom waits trashing going on, i was tempted to fill my list with his songs... which could almost be feasible, but i refrained. i would like to retort, however, that the beegees might go on my bottom 5 bands list... so perhaps me and chris/mike make a nice yin and yang here? but still, if i ever ran into a Bee or a Gee, they'd better be carrying cupcakes or be saying something real nice about my mom or something... otherwise i might do something mean like trip them - and i don't want to be a mean person

without further time awaisted: the top 5 (in alphabetical order by the artist name)


martha my dear - the beatles :



here we have 2 and a half minutes of musical perfection. the beatles were really faultless on this whole album... but this particular song just can't be more in the pocket. its a bit wonky, and real happy and i think gives some pretty good advice. at the 1 minute mark when the drums come in i really challenge anyone not to bob their head along. i actually didnt really learn to appreciate this particular song until later on in my beatles enjoyment. it perhaps was an acquired taste. i hope you enjoy... i suggest listening two times in a row. if you put your iTunes on repeat 1 it really does a nice job at swinging it back around.


one down, one up - john coltrane :



this one was too easy for me actually. john coltrane is my hero, and while people often say that live coltrane really outweighs any studio sessions... i sometimes disagree; in particularly with regards to this song. a note before you listen: this is a song that requires your attention. it needs to be loud and you need to actually LISTEN as opposed to just have it on and HEAR it. if you attempt the latter, i think you wont make it through the 15 or so necessary minutes to hear the whole crescendo, decrescendo and then reee-crescendo. the whole band is on point in this song and i used to listen to it over and over focussing on each instrument one time through... now thats a bit much... but if youre really bored and have 75 minutes on your hands its a great idea.


underground - kimya dawson :



kimya dawson recently got quite a bit more popular with the movie JUNO. but her recordings i find great across'd the board. this song, however, is my favorite of hers. she jumps between happy and sad songs, and sometimes straddles that fence with a great happy-sad song; which is the case here. the last verse in particular always gets me, when she talks about sinusitis and waking up in the middle of the night... it's really turns a tj mushy. there is not many musical artists who are more honest than kimya dawson and you really get it here i think


bed for the scraping - fugazi :



this one had to fight pretty hard for seat no. 5 on the list. i really like it a lot, but then again i really like fugazi a lot. this particular song i think nails this genre of music perfectly. these guys just exude the right sort of energy and do so flawlessly in this song. structurally there isn't a whole lot going on here... i think it is just a good reminder that its not necessarily what you say, but how you say it (when it comes to music... not really a love poem or a eulogy or anything)


don't know why i love you - stevie wonder :



speaking of creating the right kind of energy... stevie wonder could really bring it as good as anyone. this particular song starts so gently and just builds and builds until its brimming. there were a few stevie songs i was juggling for this spot, but this short, simple one came out on top. if you like this, i suggest you go watch some stevie wonder youtube clips after this - i just start feeling better when i watch this guy perform or banter with diana ross or something.

so that's my list... i don't know if "OF ALL TIME" is an appropriate ending to the "TOP 5" statement in my case... but these songs are certainly my current TOP 5.


for those songs that were left out - they are also real great and just barely missed the 5 seat, i will just list them here if anybody is interested (this doesn't count for my 5 right? riiiight guys?)

paloma negra - lila downs
persian march - johann strauss
prelude and fugue no. 7 in A Maj - Dmitri Shostakovich
i got a woman - elvis presley (live comeback version)
hummingbird - langhorne slim
come on up to the house - tom waits
shenandoah - keith jarrett from the melody at night with you album
carry stress in the jaw - mr. bungle