Top 100 - More Than This, 10 000 Maniacs # 99

Story by Peter

The 80s for me were a blur: there was so much good music and we had so much fun (and we dressed so badly) but I was so young and naive I had no idea what people were singing about.  I listen to the Smiths now and am gobsmacked at how good Morrissey’s lyrics are.

But to 1997 and More Than This. This song means a lot to me. While I love the Brian Ferry original the 10,000 Maniacs version came out in 1997 when I turned 30. 

My late 20s were, shall we say, slightly turbulent personally: that’s probably not unusual for the self indulgent Seinfeld generation. I could spell out my own drama in all its difficult, occasionally catastrophic and often trivial detail but let’s just say things didn’t quite go to plan.

But time flew, I met some different people and had some fun. And now 15 years on I’m happily married with two beautiful kids and a great job. I’m enjoying the moment. So some things didn’t go to plan in the 90s (including the Republic ... grrrrr...) but the noughties were kind. 

Now I have to write this verse because whatever your philosophy about life—be it religious, atheist or agnostic—it is eternally true and might give you some comfort in your travels (particularly with Mary Ramsey’s sublimely soothing tones):

It was fun for a while

There was no way of knowing

Like a dream in the night

Who can say where we're going

No care in the world

Maybe I'm learning

Why the sea on the tide

Has no way of turning

More than this - there is nothing


Artwork by Karin

Top 100 - Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps, Doris Day # 98

Story by Bronwyn

It was summer 1992, I was nine years old.   I remember it being so hot.  My next door neighbour, and best friend, and I went to the movies for the first time I can remember.  We went to Electric Shadows feeling so grown up.

Do you remember the old dual coloured cinema, one blue one red? I think we were in the red one, our bare thighs sticking to the cheap vinyl, ice cold cokes and buckets of popcorn resting precariously on our knees, the air conditioner choking to life, the whir of the projector - the excitement and anticipation almost overwhelming.

We were seeing Strictly Ballroom, I remember walking out loving it so much, wanting to watch it again right there and then.  For weeks I saved my pocket money and bought my first CD – the Strictly Ballroom soundtrack.  Over and over again I would listen to it, the crescendos, the cheesiness, revelling in it all.

But there was one track that I would always go back to, Doris Days’ Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps.  Maybe I missed something, at nine years old I probably did.  But I’d dance around my room anyway.

It may be a song about not wanting to be broken-hearted, but I reflect and think isn’t that what life is made up of? Perhapses? Perhaps I’m no good at this, perhaps he’s the right one, perhaps this is the wrong decision.  There’s always another perhaps waiting around the corner, waiting to unnerve you.  When it does, singing a mindless 1960’s pop song is sure to make you feel better!            

Top 100 - Journey Of The Sorcerer, The Eagles # 97

Story by Mark

There are no charities, telethons, or fun runs for the eccentrics of this world.  We narcissistically feel like we are a breed unto ourselves even though – statistically – there must be millions of us in the world.  Growing up eccentric is an isolating experience and it’s not helped by the language in which we describe ourselves.  Most of our terms for describing solitary people usually imply some sort of pejorative: ‘alone’, ‘antisocial’, ‘private’.  Even a Greek word for ‘private’ migrated into the English language as ‘idiot’.

So when you grow up as an eccentric – as I did – it feels like you have no place in a world filled with the well-adjusted.  It’s not miserable or upsetting, just unsettling and disquieting.

The escape for most of us is literature, quirky cult classics filled with wordplay and esoteric ideas.  When I was twelve, I was introduced to The Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.  The librarian very helpfully tipped me off to the radio series which inspired the novels, the theme for which was Journey of the Sorcerer by the Eagles.  It’s not the best song ever written, but it captures the feeling, the mood, and the joy of being an eccentric.  It opens with the uncertainty and insecurity of the banjo, gathering strength as it goes, until it unleashes the other instruments in a grandiose symphony, a sound expanse, a musical map of cosmic enormity.

And if a banjo – the instrument of choice for hillbillies – can find a place in a song as grandiloquent as Journey of the Sorcerer, then a twelve year old eccentric can find a place in the world.

I’m yet to find that place, but I’m still holding out hope...


Artwork by Karin

Top 100 - 16,16.Six, The Drips # 96

Story by Alanna

Like many songs this one brings up many different memories some good and some bad.

Like many other songs one of the best memories this one conjures up, is me and my beautiful sister screaming along until our throats bleed... drunken nights out and roadtrips...  


Artwork by Karin

          

Top 100 - Memories Are Made Of This, Dean Martin # 95

Story by Frank

This song reminds me of arriving in Sydney in the 1950’s.

Artwork by Karin

Top 100 - Knocked Up, Kings Of Leon # 94

Story by Henry

Between finishing university and starting full time work, I had a glorious 10 week period that involved working night shifts at a pokies venue, heading to Falls Festival and generally doing nothing.  I had just moved into a place with two really good mates from university.  We had no furniture, milk crates for sitting on and a record player. 

While there was a stack of pretty sweet old school jazz and hip hop records laying around, all we listened to was Kings of Leon (and America, the best of - probably the greatest 'greatest hits' album of all time).  Knocked Up, the first track on Because of the Times, has nothing on the majority of songs from Aha Shake Heartbreak but I must have heard it about 300 times over that 10 week period.  The spooky opening beat and the never ending guitar riff that monotonously drones in the background immediately brings to mind some of my best memories - laying on the floor, December heat dripping from the ceiling, and my friends and I waiting excitingly for the rest of our lives to arrive.

Artwork by Karin

Top 100 - The Scientist, Coldplay # 93

Story by Helen


A story about a boy. We all have one of those; a story about a boy who stole your heart. I moved away with mine for a fresh start - to start our lives together. But nothing changed. I worked to support us. He hung around strip clubs. Then he chose her over me. I gave him 10 days notice. In 10 days I posted all my stuff home. As I was leaving for the airport he came home and told me to listen to this song. It was the 1st time in 4 years that I felt appreciated in that relationship. 9 months later, I got into his car and he put this song on. He told me she was having his baby and this was my last chance to come back... I chose to move forward...


Artwork by Karin