I thought it was time to do something a little more lighthearted for a change. Been thinking to myself, what are my top five songs in the world ever (of all time, etc). Why do I like them so much? Here they are, in no particular order…

One – U2

This is kinda weird, since as a rule, I don’t like U2 overly much. This song, though, is one that I can listen to over and over again without ever hitting “next” on the iPod. There’s just something about the lines “Have you come here for forgiveness?/Did you come to raise the dead?/Or did you come here to play Jesus to the lepers in your head” that gets me every time. There are also a number of decent covers around – REM do one which you can find on Youtube, or there’s Mary J. Blige’s RnB-ish version which I think is almost better than the original. The song is also spliced into the end of the Lighthouse Family track “I wish I knew how it would feel to be free”, also a superb song.

Hallelujah – Leonard Cohen

This is one that is on the verge of being done to death, ever since it was “discovered” by one of the nameless, faceless X-Factor perpetrators but it remains a classic song. The Cohen version is for serious fans only, but there are (at least) two absolutely superb more mainstream interpretations out there, of which Geoff Buckley’s is arguably the better-known. My favourite version, though, is Rufus Wainwright’s which is to be found on the “Shrek” soundtrack, although interestingly enough, the version featured in the film was performed not by Wainwright, but by Jon Cale. I have some other versions in my collection too, by artists as diverse as Bon Jovi and kd lang. The amazing thing about this work is that I still haven’t quite come to grips with what it means, although I’m pretty sure the central theme about how love and being in love can seem a futile and lonely pursuit. “Love is not a victory march – it’s a cold and it’s a broken hallelujah”. Stirring stuff indeed.

To Where You Are – Josh Groban

This is simply a majestic piece of music and Groban one of my all-time favourite artists. It’s apparently dedicated to those who died in the 911 attacks, but is about coping with loss and needing to believe that those who die are not really gone forever, but just in another place – I guess Heaven, if that’s what you believe in. “Isn’t faith believing all power can’t be seen” is a line that I like so much, I have it in my email signature!

Goodnight Elisabeth – Counting Crows

This is a song that I just didn’t really get at first, until I just happened to listen to it at a particular point in my life when I was clearly in exactly the same place as Adam Duritz was when he wrote it. Does that make sense? The whole “we couldn’t all be cowboys/some of us are clowns” thing just completely described me to a T! It’s just such a “lost” song, about a guy who seemingly doesn’t know who he is or where he should be and yet really thinks he can love somebody from the bottom of that mess.

Never Ever Ever – Wonderboom

The only song by a South African band and also the only upbeat one on my list, this is just a feelgood sing along as loud as you can kind of song. I remember spending a week late in December with an old friend in Plettenberg Bay and going to a gig where Wonderboom were one of the acts. The atmosphere was simply electric and when they got his number out, you felt like the place was just going to explode. A simple song, yet a powerful one and a great one to bang your head to, assuming you still have any hair. Oh well…

There are a number of songs that came close to making this list but just narrowly lost out, inter alia:
Bridge Over Troubled Water – Simon and Garfunkel
Barrel of a Gun – Depeche Mode
Cause – Rodriguez
Father and Son – Cat Stevens
I Wanted to be Wrong – REM

So, those are mine. Which are yours?