Day 365 Morecambe & Wise "Bring Me Sunshine"

So this is it, the final curtain....
It’s a sad reflection on myself, I know – I should get out more – but I spent some time considering what to choose as the final song of this year-and-a-half long musical odyssey/ vanity project/ pointless bloody waste of time (delete as appropriate.)

There were a few candidates that did a Devon Loch with the finish in sight...

- The Specials – ‘Pearl’s Cafe’ the final refrain of “It’s all a load of bollocks” seems appropriate somehow.

- A number of songs about things ending, from the obvious (‘My Way’, ‘When The Music’s Over’) to the less so (The Eels’ ‘End Times’ sprang to mind.)

In the end I thought I’d go for the something that means a lot to me for sentimental reasons. And I mean sentimental in a positive way. This is the song that reminds me most of my brother Paul. It was one of his favourites, as well as reminding me of evenings in front of the telly at home and all that. We also played it at his funeral nearly six years ago (where does the time go?)   And while I know it's a hoary old showbiz tune, I can't help but be moved by the simple sentiments in it and the associations it has for me. As Frank Skinner (of all people) said about it, “this is a song that used to make me laugh, and now makes me cry.”

Day 364 Glen Campbell "Wichita Lineman"

Here is my favourite song of all time. Simple and mysterious lyrics, beautifully and mournfully sung, shimmering strings, that incredible bass towards the end (played by Glen Campbell) – it’s just perfect.

One to go....what could it be?

Day 363 Kraftwerk "Europe Endless"

Well, here we go – down to the last three. Had to have some Kraftwerk in here, of course. Like very few other bands, they've created their own world, one which is instantly recognisable and at the same time unique.

I love the “Trans Europe Express” album and this song in particular. With it's Art Deco aesthetic and sense of boundless optimism, it feels like an elegy for what Europe could have been if it weren't for WWII.

Day 362 Ce Ce Rogers "Someday"

I hate it when people say "they were simpler times then." It's normally shorthand for "I was younger and more idealistic/optimistic/ignorant  than I am now."  But this record does take me back to a time when, if the world wasn't simpler, there at least seemed to me a possibility of it getting better. 

I can't imagine the sort of person who isn't moved by the vocal on this. Tories, I expect...

Day 361 Grace Jones "Feel Up"

I can never get enough of this dancefloor oddness.

Day 360 the White Stripes "Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground"

It may have been diminishing returns after this, but for a couple of albums (De Stijl and this one) the White Stripes were supreme (despite all that 'are they/aren't they brother and sister' schtick) Garage rock with tunes and a touch of menace in the lyrics - "If you can hear a piano fall, you can hear me coming down the hall"  Good line.

Day 359 Terry Callier "Sail Away"

Favourite "at the end of a long hard day" song?  Here you go.

Day 358 The Staples Singers "Let's Do It Again"

Seven in the morning on my day off and it's already 25 degrees. Nothing to do but fling open the windows and crank this up, then...

Day 357 SOUL "Burning Spear"

Let's hear it for the flute, a much underrated accessory to dancefloor instrumentals. Or maybe not, but it sounds stupendous here.  I can't get enough of the way this record just builds and builds, layering instruments then dropping into a flute break.  I'll say that agin, a flute break.  Then stops as if they've all realised they're going to miss the last bus.  Marvellous.

Day 356 The Beatles "Taxman"

356 days in and I've finally given in to the temptation and posted a Beatles tune.  This is what happens if you take acid then try and play like Booker T & the MGs.

Day 355 The Jam "Ghosts"

Another formative musical experience - possibly their best song, and never a single...

Day 354 Prefab Sprout "Cue Fanfare"

Excuse me while I go through a bit more formative musical years stuff. I wasn't a huge fan of the rest of their output, but I love this strange off kilter pop of “Swoon”, and this song in particular.

Day 353 Shirley Bassey "Light My Fire"

There are loads of great versions of this song (none of them by The Doors), but this piece of orchestral funk is surely the best?

Day 352 Dan Penn "If Love Was Money"

An exemplary bit of blue eyed country-meets-soul. For those of you interested in that kind of thing, there's a great break near the end of this too...

Day 351 Aphrodite's Child "Four Horsemen"

Funky Greek prog rock plus footage of Demis Roussos getting pissed in a taverna?  I'm in !!

Day 350 Gil Scott-Heron "Winter In America"

America's greatest political lyricist - one who could make the political human and real.  The people know...

Day 349 Hot Chocolate "You Win Again"

Another desolate pop classic, up there with by "The Winner Takes It All".  I can't understand why they look so happy singing this...

Day 348 Echo and the Bunnymen "Ocean Rain"

I had a strange dream last night that I listened to this and realised it sounded exactly like "Purple Rain". The Bunnymen in their pomp.

Day 347 Steely Dan "Showbiz Kids"

Not the coolest gang in town, but this is a great nasty little song anyways.

Day 346 Foul Play "Music Is The Key (Omni Trio Remix)"

Formative musical experience number three: hearing this tumble out of a radio in the early nineties - I remember the question at the time was "drum & bass: the sound of the future or someone rattling a bag of spanners?" I guess the answer was neither...