Skip to main content

Da na na na na na

I was born 28 years ago on this day! And in the way time works, that day was also a Saturday. I'd like to thank my mom and dad, especially my mom!

In celebration I present my Top 10 Favorite Birthday Songs:

10. Neil Diamond - Desiree (I know that in no way is this song about a birthday. It's really about Neil losing his virginity: "The time was right / The night was long". But the second verse begins, "Then came the 4th of June.")

9. 50 Cent -In Da Club (Okay, also not technically a birthday song. But since this was released, how can we get through a birthday without mentioning shorties, Bacardi, and not giving a fuck?)

8. Lesley Gore - It's My Party (Speaking of not giving a fuck: "I'll cry if I want to".)

7. Alice In Wonderland Soundtrack - The Unbirthday Song (A classic! I had this on a vinyl album of Disney's best movie songs and always asked my mom for unbirthday presents after listening to it).

6. Blur - Birthday (Droning Brit-pop for your friends that hate birthdays. "I don't like these days / They make me feel so small.")

5. Pet Shop Boys - Birthday Boy (This is an epic track from their last release, Release. I can't quite figure it out. It may be about Jesus; it might be about being gay. Hard to say.)

4. Stevie Wonder - Happy Birthday (Actually about declaring Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a national holiday. How can you not love that, Arizona?!)

3. Ronnie Milsap - Happy Happy Birthday Baby (Not one of my favorite Milsap songs, but still a great downer of a birthday tune. The narrator writes to wish his ex a happy birthday, even though she broke his heart.)

2. The Beatles - Birthday (Somehow this song has become an acceptable alternative to the actual Happy Birthday, despite the most likely untruthful line: "It's my birthday too, yeah!")

1. No Doubt - Six Feet Under ( First of all I love any song that cops The Cars' sound. And that chous: "Today is my birthday / And I get one every year / And some day... / Hard to believe / But I'll be buried six feet underground". It's the best 23 word summation of adult birthday thoughts ever put to music.)

Comments

Carmamma said…
Well Happy Birthday! One of my favorite birthday songs has always been Concrete Blonde's "Happy Birthday" and the Waitresses's "Happy Birthday"--- The Concrete Blonde song is suppose to be a downer, but it's always the first b-day song I'm playing when the clocks hits May 18th.
Paul V. Allen said…
Thank you!

I don't know either of those two songs. I'll have to seek them out in 51 weeks...

And happy late birthday to you!

Popular posts from this blog

REO Speedwagon: R.E.O. Speedwagon (1971)

REO Speedwagon got its start in the late 1960s on the campus of the University of Illinois in Champaign/Urbana. The band grew out of a friendship between a students Neal Doughty (piano/keyboard) and Alan Gratzer (drums). Joining up with a couple of other musicians, they took the name R.E.O. Speedwagon. It wasn't long before they started getting gigs at parties and bars, doing covers of the hits of the day. The band cycled through several players in its first three years, with Gratzer and Doughty as the only constants. One-by-one they added the members that would form the first "official" lineup: singer Terry Luttrell in early 1968, bassist Gregg Philbin later that summer, and guitarist Gary Richrath at the end of 1970. Richrath was a native of Peoria, 90 miles northwest of Champaign, and had essentially stalked the band until they let him join. It was a good move, as he not only an accomplished guitarist, but also a songwriter. With Richrath the band ascended to the n...

Stuck, or Obsession Cessastion

You may have noticed that things have slowed down around here. I had the summer off from teaching, and I spent it with my 7 month-old son. I gave myself permission to make this blog less of a priority. Well, "less of a priority" is putting it lightly. Initially, I considered an abrupt retirement. But then I reconsidered. Maybe the proximity to Brett Favre is causing this. If you're a long time reader, this is probably not all that surprising to you. Since 2007, it has become an annual ritual for me to soul-search about my waning interest in music. First I blamed an inability to express myself and a lack of quality music . Then in 2008 I cited new technology and the death of the album . Last year I wrote about how my changing life priorities hindered my ability to seek out new music. I've done a lot of thinking about it this summer and in truth I believe this was all just dancing around the issue, a slow realization of something I didn't want to admit to myse...

Billy Joel: Greatest Hits, Volumes I and II (1985)

As you may know, I'm something of a connoisseur of compilations. I have three guidelines that I like my greatest hits to follow, though I am open to these rules being disregarded in certain cases. It's not an exact science. Billy Joel's 1985 Greatest Hits Volumes I and II (an odd title for a set that was never sold separately) is proof of that.  It mostly follows the rules. The songs are in chronological order. There are no remixes, just a couple of single edits; there are two live songs, but those were actually were the versions that charted. And there are two new songs - we'll get to them eventually - but both ended up in the Top 40, so in retrospect that was a good decision. My mom bought the double LP when it came out and then dubbed it to a tape that lived in her car for at least three years. It and An Innocent Man were part of the soundtrack of the second half of my first decade of life. So I have a hard time criticizing something so ingrained in my consciousne...