2011’s top 5 songs, according to jessica barlow
LMFAO – ‘Sexy and I know it’
I never thought that such a stereotypically ‘clubby’ song like this would make my top five, but here it is. LMFAO has officially contaminated my brain, enough that if I’m at a club and it comes on… just try and keep me off of the dance floor. I dare you. With the lyrics “wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, YEAH” it is ultra fun, as well as being a cinch to dance to. The rest of the lyrics are nothing original and I don’t really know them but the beat is good and man, I love to wiggle.
Laura Jean – ‘Valenteen’
When a song tells a story and I can relate to it then it’s pretty much a winner in my eyes, but ‘Valenteen’ by Laura Jean is something altogether more exciting. My favourite part of the song goes like this: “no great beauty I stayed a child while my friends were going wild. As they paired off two by tow, the secret garden overgrew”. I love it because the imagery is so rich and at times, painstakingly honest. Paired with the lilting melody of her guitar and the occasional piano accordion the result is nothing short of beautiful.
Ball Park Music – ‘It’s nice to be alive’
Some songs make me happy from the moment the first note plays and this is one of them. Beginning with the words ‘boring as batshit’ and continuing on “happy as Larry and riding sheep on clouds” this song goes pretty much everywhere and nowhere all at the same time. It is as upbeat and as enthusiastic as the title “it’s nice to be alive” suggests it could be. My only criticism of the song is that it gets a little repetitive but it hasn’t stopped me blasting it from my car stereo every time I need a little pick-me-up.
Simone Felice – ‘Don’t wake the scarecrow’
‘Don’t wake the scarecrow’ is the perfect brooding song for a chilled out Sunday afternoon. In the current climate of digitally enhanced and created music, the simplicity of a man and his guitar is truly refreshing. Felice sings with reckless abandon about sleeping and falling in love with a prostitute using barely decipherable lyrics. I’m not kidding, I played this to my parents and they nodded along, not realising that the lyrics were about “giving head when the sad days of winter have set in”. The perfect rebellion.
Blackfield – ‘Go to hell’
This is my go-to song for indulging a bad mood or ironically, cheering myself up. The predominant lyrics are “fuck you all”, “I don’t care” and “go to hell”. That’s pretty much all it’s about and it does it brilliantly. The drums contrast well with the guitar without being too hard-core and the layers of sound are amazing. For me it is kind of like a mellowed out version of ‘Black Betty’ but that could be put down to my being a bit of a musical oddball. It is great to blast it nice and loud but isn’t so abrasive that it can’t pass for background music. Winner!
