I Want a Name When I Lose - Another Meme
Today's meme is from Daimnation as found on Accordion Guy:
...go here to find the Top 100 songs from the year you graduated from high school, list 'em on your site, highlight the ones you like and cross out the ones you hate. You underline your favorite, and ignore the ones to which you're kind of indifferent.
I'm one of those who graduated early. I could go with 1977, but I walked with the class of 1978. Either way I'm screwed...
I made my favorite bold, put my top ten in italics, and struck through the ones I really disliked. The others I liked well enough to turn the radio up when they played.
1. Shadow Dancing, Andy Gibb
2. Night Fever, Bee Gees
3. You Light Up My Life, Debby Boone
4. Stayin' Alive, Bee Gees
5. Kiss You All Over, Exile
6. How Deep Is Your Love, Bee Gees
7. Baby Come Back, Player
8. (Love Is) Thicker Than Water, Andy Gibb
9. Boogie Oogie Oogie, A Taste Of Honey
10. Three Times A Lady, Commodores
Oh my god, the first eight would be on my list of the worst of 1978. At 9 Boogie Oogie Oogie is at least listenable. I refuse to even grace 3 with a note.
11. Grease, Frankie Valli
12. I Go Crazy, Paul Davis
13. You're The One That I Want, John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John
14. Emotion, Samantha Sang
15. Lay Down Sally, Eric Clapton
16. Miss You, Rolling Stones
17. Just The Way You Are, Billy Joel
18. With A Little Luck, Wings
19. If I Can't Have You, Yvonne Elliman
20. Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah), Chic
Better ten this time. I actually purchased "The Stranger" so I could listen to it at Wendys. The Stones stopped making muisc I really liked in the late 60s, but I could listen to Miss You. Lay Down Sally isn't one of my favorite Clapton songs, but I liked it then. I'll note here that I was saying Yowsah, Yowsah since 1969.
21. Feels So Good, Chuck Mangione
22. Hot Child In The City, Nick Gilder
23. Love Is Like Oxygen, Sweet
24. It's A Heartache, Bonnie Tyler
25. We Are The Champions / We Will Rock You, Queen
26. Baker Street, Gerry Rafferty
27. Can't Smile Without You, Barry Manilow
28. Too Much, Too Little, Too Late, Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams
29. Dance With Me, Peter Brown
30. Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad, Meat Loaf
I have often argued that Hot Child in the City was the worst song of the Seventies. I became so sick of We Will Rock You at sporting events that I stopped going to basketball games. I believe Baker Street only played after midnight in my hometown. I remember hearing it as we'd play basketball under the lights outside the community center. Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad by Meat Loaf wasn't as good as Paradise by the Dashboard Light.
31. Jack And Jill, Raydio
32. Take A Chance On Me, Abba
33. Sometimes When We Touch, Dan Hill
34. Last Dance, Donna Summer
35. Hopelessly Devoted To You, Olivia Newton-John
36. Hot Blooded, Foreigner
37. You're In My Heart, Rod Stewart
38. The Closer I Get To You, Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway
39. Dust In The Wind, Kansas
40. Magnet And Steel, Walter Egan
Even before they were popular in Australian movies I liked Abba. It gained me as much respect then as it does now. I'll admit also to once purchasing a front-row ticket to a Donna Summer concert. (She canceled due to illness. I didn't repurchase.) Kansas was the headliner at my first concert, but I preferred the opening act, Pablo Cruise.
41. Short People, Randy Newman
42. Use Ta Be My Girl, O'Jays
43. Our Love, Natalie Cole
44. Love Will Find A Way, Pablo Cruise
45. An Everlasting Love, Andy Gibb
46. Love Is In The Air, John Paul Young
47. Goodbye Girl, David Gates
48. Slip Slidin' Away, Paul Simon
49. The Groove Line, Heatwave
50. Thunder Island, Jay Ferguson
Yes, I laughed when I saw Randy Newman sing short people on SNL. I'm surprised Pablo Cruise charted so high. There finally is a song that I listen to often to this day; Paul Simon wrote very few hits I didn't like.
51. Imaginary Lover, Atlanta Rhythm Section
52. Still The Same, Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band
53. My Angel Baby, Toby Beau
54. Disco Inferno, Trammps
55. On Broadway, George Benson
56. Come Sail Away, Styx
57. Back In Love Again, L.T.D.
58. This Time I'm In It For Love, Player
59. You Belong To Me, Carly Simon
60. Here You Come Again, Dolly Parton
Everytime I hear "On Broadway" I remember the Radio Free Europe commercial. And, yes, I didn't strike through Dolly Parton.
61. Blue Bayou, Linda Ronstadt
62. Peg, Steely Dan
63. You Needed Me, Anne Murray
64. Shame, Evelyn "Champagne" King
65. Reminiscing, Little River Band
66. Count On Me, Jefferson Starship
67. Baby Hold On, Eddie Money
68. Hey Deanie, Shaun Cassidy
69. Summer Nights, John Travolta and Olivia Newton-john
70. What's Your Name, Lynyrd Skynyrd
Linda Ronstadt in the 70s was one of my most-listened to vocalists. I can't say I listen to her a lot now, but she had a few tunes I liked then, of which Blue Bayou was one of my favorites. Steely Dan is easily one of my top ten artists. And, yes, I struck through Lynyrd Skynyrd. Twice.
71. Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue, Crystal Gayle
72. Because The Night, Patti Smith
73. Every Kinda People, Robert Palmer
74. Copacabana, Barry Manilow
75. Always And Forever, Heatwave
76. You And I, Rick James
77. Serpentine Fire, Earth, Wind and Fire
78. Sentimental Lady, Bob Welch
79. Falling, LeBlanc and Carr
80. Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood, Santa Esmeralda
Finally one I don't remember at all. How did "Falling" go? At least the Santa Esmeralda remake of Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood led me back to the Eric Burton version.
81. Bluer Than Blue, Michael Johnson
82. Running On Empty, Jackson Browne
83. Whenever I Call You "Friend", Kenny Loggins
84. Fool (If You Think It's Over), Chris Rea
85. Get Off, Foxy
86. Sweet Talking Woman, Electric Light Orchestra
87. Life's Been Good, Joe Walsh
88. I Love The Night Life, Alicia Bridges
89. You Can't Turn Me Off (In The Middle Of Turning Me On), High Inergy
90. It's So Easy, Linda Ronstadt
In my lifetime no one has written songs I feel more politically in tune with than Jackson Browne. Putting friend in quotes makes me think he didn't mean it. Joe Walsh's "Life's Been Good" was almost my favorite song for the year. It easily was the one I felt most in tune with for the next few years.
91. Native New Yorker, Odyssey
92. Flashlight, Parliament
93. Don't Look Back, Boston
94. Turn To Stone, Electric Light Orchestra
95. I Can't Stand The Rain, Eruption
96. Ebony Eyes, Bob Welch
97. The Name Of The Game, Abba
98. We're All Alone, Rita Coolidge
99. Hollywood Nights, Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band
100. Deacon Blues, Steely Dan
There it is. What you've been waiting for (and wading through) to find. My favorite song for the year was Deacon Blues by Steely Dan. If you lived in Louisville, Kentucky in the `80s and you participated in the BBS scene you either argued with or ignored a user named "Deacon Blues." That was me. "They've got a name for the winners in the world. I want a name when I lose. They call Alabama the Crimson Tide. Call me Deacon Blues." How could that fabtastic song only ranked 100th?
