OK Alright Uh Huh Oh Yeah

Everyone has their favourite songs, and probably most of us could come up with mix-tapes (or something IPod-related, I don't go in for this new-fangled technology) for different occasions. It's certainly a common theme amongst my friends to idly consider what songs we might have played at our funerals (as long as it's nothing by James Blunt).

Byron was blogging recently about latent emotions coming to the surface when you become a parent, and while I think this is true for me in many ways (e.g. am now a complete sap), some music has had an impact on me that predates parenting.

There are lots of other songs that evoke an emotional response in people, but these are the ones that, without fail, never cease to elicit a physical reaction from me - something vaguely queasy, excited, nervous, raw.

1. 'From Little Things, Big Things Grow' - Paul Kelly
One of the things that gets me with this is the simplicity of it. It tells a story that's an important part of our history, and the imagery of it is so clearly matched to the images of history that it hits you like a great big kick in the guts. I find it difficult to sing along to this one: the line "through Vincent's hand, poured a fist full of sand" makes me want to weep.

2. 'God Only Knows' - The Beach Boys
Can't say I've ever been a huge Beach Boys fan, and Brian Wilson in his current incarnation creeps me out. But when I saw 'Love, Actually', I was astonished to discover that this song had had a similar effect on someone else. For anyone who has ever entertained romantic notions, this is the zenith, but there is also an implicit sense of loss. If I ever hear it on the radio (unlikely, unless my Dad has tuned the radio in to Gold) I crank it way up and I find it both glorious and sad all at the same time.

3. 'Turn and Run' - Neil Finn
This man has a way with words, there can be no argument. "The tumbleweed runs/over my desert heart". Stunning.

4. 'Song from the Sixteenth Floor' - Paul Kelly
My sister and I once played this song five times in a row just to hear the guitar fill in the middle of the song. I don't know what it is about it, but it gets me every time. It's just so damn cheerful.

5. 'Nature Boy' - as covered by David Bowie/Massive Attack
Nature Boy is a nursery rhyme, a children's tale, that like 'The Little Prince' layers meaning upon meaning. And I think what makes me particularly uneasy about this cover version is the uncertainty in the marrying of Massive Attack's soundscape and the sweetness of the central lyrical theme - there's something faintly menacing about it.

6. Golden Slumbers - The Beatles
And in the end/the love you take/is equal to the love you make.

And that's all I have to say about that.