My iPod Top 40, part 2

More of what my iPod tells me are my most-played songs:

11. Rain -- The Beatles: A great sing-along, even if it does strain my voice and have a backward vocal section with which I can't sing along.

12. Hallelujah -- Rufus Wainwright: A fantastic Leonard Cohen song with one of the best opening lines in pop music: "Now I've heard there was a secret chord/That David played, and it pleased the Lord/But you don't really care for music, do you?" I also have versions by k.d. lang, Tim Buckley, Leonard Cohen, and a nice a capella version by the Freshman Fifteen. This too is a good "alone in the car" sing-along, with dramatic intensity and vocal reaching, though the a capella version is closer to my natural pitch.

13. Don't Give Up On Us, Baby -- David Soul (at left): Sorry, but I love it.

14. Nightswimming -- REM: Mysterious and beautiful, words which can describe so many REM songs.

15. That's The Way God Planned It -- Billy Preston: Preston's first pop hit, though not a big one, but it came out during my magical 13th summer of 1969, so it'll be with me until the day I die.

16. I'm Gonna Make You Mine -- Lou Christie: Bubblegum songs could get away with so much in the guise of being "just" teeny-bopper music. This one is peppy and cheery, but it's kind of about a stalker. Still, it's another one from the summer of '69, as is...

17. Love Child -- Diana Ross & the Supremes: Technically, this was a hit in the fall of '68, but I didn't discover it until the next summer, and it's one of the first records (aside from Beatles songs) I remember working out an elaborate lip-syncing routine to. My brother, my neighbor friends and I would sing and play air guitar to lots of songs, but I saved this one for the privacy of my own room, since lyrics like "I started school in a worn, torn dress that somebody threw out" weren't lyrics that junior high boys sang.

18. Burn Down the Mission -- Elton John: Dramatic, bombastic, with wicked piano pounding and cryptic lyrics that seemed like they meant something--that's the best of early Elton in a nutshell, and this is my all-time favorite of his next to "Rocket Man" (which I guess isn't in my top 20 because I hear it so much on oldies radio, I tend to skip it sometimes when it plays).

19. Classical Gas -- Mason Williams: My favorite pop instrumental.

20. Seasons -- Grace Slick: A very unusual song for Slick if you only know her from her work with Jefferson Airplane/Starship. It's primarily driven by an orchestra and a children's choir; it has a weird Russian lilt that always makes me think of Dr. Zhivago, and a fantastic speed-up finale. See below: