happyThe A to Z movies meme was fun, especially on those letters for which there wasn't an obvious choice. And the beautiful thing about the A to Z concept is that it can be applied to almost anything.
- All My Loving (The Beatles) - Listening to their performance of this on the Ed Sullivan show, it's not wonder to me they were an instant smash.
- Beyond The Sea (Bobby Darin) - Is there a classier singer than Bobby D?
- City Of New Orleans (Arlo Guthrie) - The Seldom Scene did a bluegrass cover of this that's just as good as the original.
- Dear God (XTC) - When the local alt-rock station played a rap remake of this song a few years ago, I was so offended that I stopped listening to the station cold turkey.
- Earn Enough For Us (XTC) - This was featured in a first season episode of Gilmore Girls, which I found unreasonably exciting.
- Foggy Mountain Breakdown (Flatt and Scruggs) - One of the greatest bluegrass instrumentals ever written.
- Girlfriend (Matthew Sweet) - My favorite song of 1992.
- Hell (Squirrel Nut Zippers) - The highlight of the mid-90s swing revival.
- If I Had $1,000,000 (Barenaked Ladies)
- Julianne (Ben Folds Five) - The song that made me love Ben Folds Five.
- Kiss From a Rose (Seal) - I was pleasantly surprised when this won Song of the Year and Record of the Year Grammys a few years ago, because songs I like usually lose.
- Layla (Derek and the Dominoes) - My favorite rock song ever.
- Magic Touch (Mike Oldfield) - Even though it's credited to Oldfield, it's sung by Max Bacon of GTR.
- Never Let Me Down Again (Depeche Mode) - On the soundtrack of my life, this song represents the two years I was at College of DuPage.
- One After 909 (The Beatles) - One of the Beatles earliest recorded songs, but it didn't make it onto an album until Let It Be.
- Paint It Black (The Rolling Stones) - My favorite Stones song.
- Queen of Hearts (Juice Newton) - It's catchy! And it starts with Q!
- Ring of Fire (Johnny Cash) - Only Johnny Cash could make falling in love sound so dangerous.
- Someday, Someway (Marshall Crenshaw) - Probably my favorite song released in the 1980s.
- Twisting By the Pool (Dire Straits) - Little more than an amusing trifle, but when I was in college, it was more or less my group of friends' theme song.
- Under The Sea (Sebastian) - I was thrilled when I this won the Best Song Oscar.
- Vogue (Madonna) - For some reason, I always wanted to hear Ben Folds Five cover this song.
- Working My Way Back To You/Forgive Me, Girl (The Spinners) - I like this two-for-one cover better than either of the originals.
- X Marks the Spot (Sherlock Hemlock) - This is a song from a Sesame Street album, Sing the Alphabet.
- Young Americans (David Bowie) - I love that toward the end of the song, the backup singers suddenly sing a line from the Beatles's "A Day in the Life" for no apparent reason.
- Zanzibar (Billy Joel) - A jazzy little track from </cite>52nd Street</cite>.
Watch this space for further variations on this theme!
