Top Ten Favorite Songs

Okay, I've been to the therapist a few times this week over the betrayal that I feel for torturing myself with choosing a Top Ten Favorite Songs List. The most painful acknowledgment is that there are ten songs I would place above Donnie Hathaway's "A Song For You." Ouch!! That hurts my fingers to type such craziness so I'm sure you can imagine what my head feels like. And so I don't have to visit the therapist three or four more times soon, let me go ahead and mention Boyz To Men "I'm Doin' Fine" which didn't cause as much stress as most artists on my list have songs recorded in the 70s. This is almost a requirement for a Top Ten Song list. With that said, here goes an attempt at such disloyalty. This should come with a "Do Not Try This At Home" warning. At least not without psychological help. Contact me first if you're needing help with finding a therapist that specializes in this area of expertise.

1. Desree's "Kissing You"
2. Alexander O'Neal's "Crying Overtime"
3. Aretha Franklin's "Hurts Like Hell"
4. Chante Moore's "As If We Never Met"
5. Jennifer Holiday's "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going"
6. Shirley Murdock's "Go On Without You"
7. Prince's "How Come You Don't Call Me"
8. Harold Melvin and The Bluenotes featuring Teddy Pendergrass "I Miss You"
9. Patti Labelle "If Only You Knew"
10. Alanis Morrisette's "You Outta Know"

Almost all songs, with one exception "You Outta Know" are songs that regularly bring me to tears when I listen to them. And Alanis Morrisette's entire CD has moved me so over the years countless times. For that song, it's not as much about bringing up the emotion all over for me, but more about how she captured the emotion so well with honest, raw lyrics. When I'm moved to tears over that song, it's more about the artistry of creating and that someone is so open, they can put together such lyrics and meloday to capture the emotion. And this emotion is not an easy one to admit to having and she just gave it like "WHOA!"

Surely in my Top Twenty list in no order would be Prince's "I Love You In Me", Teena Marie and Rick James with "Fire and Desire" and Billy Ocean's "Suddenly" - just to name a few more.

If you've never heard Prince's "I Love U In Me," pick up Prince's "B-sides" off of "The Hits." I first came to know this song in London as a bootleg. Then it was included on "The Hits" - the "B-sides" CD. Prince writes from a female perspective about his female partner saying to him "I love you in me." The "in" me meaning "inside" me and he sings it with such passion and layers of harmony that I imagine him singing it to me. I can't help but to go there in my head that His Purple Badness is underneath me singing...

Okay, that's my fantasy and I'm sticking to it.

A Song For Q

I've been to so many parties in my life and times
I've heard a lot of songs
I've heard some bad rhymes
I've acted out a flirt in stages
10,000 people watching

And now that I'm alone,
I'm thinking of a song for Q

Thanks for reminding me of what I should already know.

My Top Ten Favorite Album/CDs

How hard is this to do? What music means to me is impossible to capture by words. With that said, my attempt to create my "Top Ten" list of favorite albums/CDs will probably most serve as a reminder to me, what the soundtrack of my life has been. Surely, there have been certain songs (Top Ten Song List soon to follow) but this is the definitive, bench-mark albums/CDs for my life. These are the must-have full length efforts that if I were deserted on an island, I would chose to have with me. These are the CDs, that when listened to, changed and continue to change my life.



1. Aretha Franklin's "Sparkle"
2. Stevie Wonder's "Song In The Key of Life"
3. Sheila E's "The Glamorous Life"
4. Janet Jackson's "Control"
5. Michael Jackson's "Dangerous"
6. Prince "Sign O' The Times"
7. Bon Jovi's "Slippery When Wet"
8. George Michael's "Faith"
9. Sandra St. Victor's "Mack Diva Saves The World"
10. Alanis Morrisette's "Jagged Little Pill"

1. Aretha Franklin's "Sparkle" - I truly should say Aretha Franklin and Curtis Mayfield's Sparkle because Curtis Mayfield wrote the HELL out some songs and Aretha Franklin kills everyone of 'em. The best 30 seconds of recorded singing EVER to me is the background singers (Cissy Houston included) on song 1 - the title track "Sparkle" - towards the very end of the song with Aretha's untouchable hollars of adlibs. It's one of those moments in recorded music history that the industry should have shut down for at least a year in honor of what Aretha and the collective delivered. This woman's voice has yet to be touched and is one of our National Treasures. Sure, she has delived too much music to choose from that could end up on this list (any Aretha Franklin's Greatest Hits "pre-1980" and Aretha's "A Rose Is Still A Rose" included) however, "Sparkle" is my definitive all time favorite album ever.