1. If I Fell- The Beatles

• "So I hope you see that I, would love to love you, and that she will cry, when she learns we are two, cause I couldn't stand the pain, and I would be sad if our new love was in vain." What a great song. "If I Fell" is 2 minutes and 20 seconds of pop perfection. It comes from 1964's "A Hard Day's Night" album where none of the 13 songs stretch to 3 minutes. When it's this good you only need two minutes because it's so intense. We don't often talk song structure, but let's talk song structure! "If I Fell" is beautifully constructed and in a unique way. It starts with a lengthy 8 measure non-repeating intro section, then the remaining verse sections never give way to a chorus or a bridge. For good measure there is also a key change so subtle you almost have to believe it's there to hear it. Lyrically the song is a male-perspective precursor to Carole King's "Will You Love Me Tomorrow". John Lennon wants to know that if he gives it to this wag she won't run off with some other bloke. Lennon and McCartney deliver a vocal performance that conveys sincere insecurity despite the fact that by 1964 their pimp hands must have been very strong.

2. Hallelujah- Jeff Buckley

• "Well I heard there was a secret chord, that David played and it pleased the Lord, but you don't really care for music, do ya? Well it goes like this, the fourth, the fifth, the minor fall and the major lift, the baffled king composing Hallelujah." This is one of the greatest recordings of all time. Period. It's gorgeous. Sexy. Spiritual. Other-worldly. I don't want to over-sell it but it's better than 10 Super bowls. "Hallelujah" is many things, but it is not Jeff Buckley's song. Leonard Cohen penned and released the original version in 1984. He is said to have written over 80 verses for the song. His live versions of "Hallelujah" would feature lyrics not in the original recording; lyrics that would go on to form the basis of most cover versions. The Jeff Buckley cover is from his 1994 full length debut "Grace". It has to be the definitive version of the song. As I've said before songs get bonus points for Old Testament references and "Hallelujah" has a few- Sampson and Delilah and my namesake King David. There are more great lyrics here than you can shake a stick at. "Well maybe there's a God above, but all I've ever learned from love, was how to shoot somebody who outdrew ya" Amen. If I had to come up with a top 5 all time songs list I'd have to put Jeff Buckley's version of "Hallelujah" on it. I'd put The Band's "The Weight" and The Beatles "Hey Jude" on that list as well. I'm not sure what the other 2 songs would be to round out that list, but they're on my iPod somewhere.

3. The Boomin' System- LL Cool J

• "Cause my system is pumpin' loud, like Rakim said I want to move the crowd, I warm it up with Kane, fight the power with P.E., tell the cops you've gots to chill with EPMD." Back in my college days I was known to tear up a dance floor or two with my partner in crime Mike D. One of our favorite spots was The Den, which in those days had an actual (slightly elevated) dance floor. My all time favorite memory there was approaching the dance floor with Mike D and the people on the floor actually spread out so we had room to do our thing. Picture Moses and the parting of the Red Sea only more epic. My second favorite memory involves "The Boomin' System". I spent my senior year spring break in Los Angeles with might mighty VR. On said trip I purchased a bucket Kangol hat (the kind LL Cool J helped make famous in the 80s) and wore it from time to time the rest of the semester. One night at The Den the DJ went on the mic to acknowledge that LL (me) was in the house and put on "The Boomin' System". My friends formed a circle around me on the middle of the floor for the "C to the O to the O to the L to the I to the N to the F to the R to the O to the N to the T to the I to the N...that means I'm chillin'" breakdown and (for a moment) I was a superstar. My personal glory aside I love "The Boomin' System" for it's notable hip hop references. Not only the songs quoted above but the direct nod ("like Spoonie Gee said my seats are soft like a bed") to rap pioneer Spoonie Gee's 1980 classic "Love Rap" is awesome. The Beastie Boys paid homage to Spoonie Gee two years later with 1992's "So What'cha Want" ("I'm like Spoonie Gee, I'm the metro-politician").

1. Breaking the Girl- Red Hot Chili Peppers

• "She was a girl, soft but estranged, we were the two, our lives rearranged, feeling so good that day, a feeling of love that day." In the fall of 1991 the Red Hot Chili Peppers dropped "Blood Sugar Sex Magik", an album many consider to be their best. The album offers hits galore; "Breaking the Girl", "Suck My Kiss", "Give it Away" and "Under the Bridge". Listening to these songs takes me back to high school. It's not a place I'd ever want to go back to but in this case the memories are pleasant. Looking back the interesting thing is that "Blood Sugar Sex Magik" hit it big during the grunge explosion yet there is nothing all that grunge going on here. The Peppers alt-rock music is more rooted in funk than anything else. Speaking of 1991, that was the year James Cameron gave us Terminator 2, a cautionary tale of artificial intelligence gone awry. 20 years later we celebrate as "Watson" bests our foremost trivia experts on Jeopardy. How long before Watson seeks to enslave mankind? I can't imagine it will take long.

2. Rockin' the Suburbs- Ben Folds

• "Let me tell ya'll what it's like, being male middle class and white, it's a b*tch if you don't believe, listen up to my new CD (sha-mon). It wasn't my idea, it wasn't my idea, never was my idea." What could I possibly say about "Rockin' the Suburbs" that would be more hilarious and amusing than the song itself? Not much. It's a regular party in the USA with this song- "and the Ben Folds song was on". In 2000 Ben Folds parted ways with his band mates (the "5") and went solo. His first official solo album, "Rockin' the Suburbs" was released on September 11th 2001. If that's not creepy enough, how about this- in the song Ben Folds references a number of popular 80's artists; Michael Jackson, Quiet Riot, and Jon Bon Jovi. These days Michael Jackson and Kevin DuBrow (lead singer of Quiet Riot) are dead which can only mean that Bon Jovi's days are numbered.

3. B-Boy Bouillabaisse- Beastie Boys

• "New York New York it's a hell of a town, you know the Bronx is up and I'm Brooklyn down. I'd like to butter your muffin I'm not bluffin', serve you on a platter like Thanksgiving stuffin'." A traditional bouillabaisse features various kinds of fish, vegetables, herbs and spices in a hearty stew. This "B-Boy Bouillabaisse" is fortified with 9 mini songs (strung together in 12 and a half minutes) and closes out the classic "Paul's Boutique" album. If you were to pick up the 20th anniversary remastered version of "Paul's Boutique" you'd see all the ingredients; "59 Chrystie Street", "Get On the Mic", "Stop That Train", "A Year and a Day", "Hello Brooklyn", "Dropping Names", "Lay It On Me", "Mike On the Mic" and "A.W.O.L.". "B-Boy Bouillabaisse" probably isn't for the casual fan but "Paul's Boutique" songs like "Shake Your Rump" and "Hey Ladies" belong in your collection if they aren't already there. Getting back to "B-Boy Bouillabaisse" I can't believe "butter your muffin" never found it's way into the parlance of our times.

1. Come on Eileen- Save Ferris

• "At this moment you mean everything, with you in that dress my thoughts I confess, verge on dirty, ah come on Eileen. Come on, Eileen too-loo rye-aye come on, Eileen too-loo rye-aye, toora toora-too-loora...wooaah Eileen." Poor old Dexy's Midnight Runners. They never were able to muster up another hit single and faded into oblivion. They now qualify as one of the greatest one hit wonders of all time. "Come on Eileen" would have to rank among the ten best singles from the 1980s. Save Ferris gave "Come on Eileen" the royal ska treatment in 1997. More specifically they gave it a 3rd wave ska reworking. You know, 3rd wave ska building on the 1st wave and 2 Tone ska movements. My favorite part of the original (the whole thing is brilliant) is the breakdown. The tempo slows, the instruments take a back seat to the Eileen too-loo rye-aye vocal round, then the tempo swells and climaxes into the chorus. The Save Ferris remake doesn't give us the same tempo build in the breakdown but in general it matches the frenetic energy of the original.

2. A Beautiful Mess- Jason Mraz

• "Although you are biased, I love your advice, your comebacks they're quick and probably have to do with your insecurities, there's no shame in being crazy, depending how you take these, words I'm paraphrasing this relationship we're staging." Sometimes it takes hearing a song live to realize that it's good or to realize just how good it is. I never realized how sweet BNL's "Jane" was until I heard it live and everything clicked. Another case in point is Jason Mraz's "A Beautiful Mess". The 1st time I heard it live would have been in 2008 at the historic Tower Theatre in lovely Upper Darby, PA. I can remember after that show hearing a fellow concert goer on a cell phone say "I just saw Mraz...that sh#t was bangin' yo". Indeed that sh#t was bangin'. "A Beautiful Mess" was the emotional high point of that show and plays the same role on the "We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things" album. This song is easy to play on guitar but the vocal is pretty impossible to pull off well. Any attempts I've made at performing "A Beautiful Mess" have been a hot mess.

3. Elizabethtown- Ryan Adams

• "Well I was born (in) Elizabethtown and I moved on a west bound freight train, with everything to prove, everything to prove, and nothing to lose but the sound of the thunderstorms breaking, breaking all over Elizabethtown." Ryan Adams released 3 albums in 2005; "Cold Roses", "Jacksonville City Nights" and "29". In his spare time he recorded another album's worth of material so he could lend a song or two for the soundtrack to the motion picture "Elizabethtown". The unreleased "Darkbreaker (Elizabethtown Sessions)" collect these recordings. The collection features a number of songs that were re-recorded for "Easy Tiger" ("Two", "Everyone Knows") and for the recently released "III/IV" ("The Sewers At The Bottom of Wishing Wells", "Cemetery Hill"). I adore the version of "Everyone Knows" (later known as "Everybody Knows" on "Easy Tiger") found here. The one song from these sessions that did make it's way onto the movie soundtrack is "Words"; the rest remains unreleased. I don't own the soundtrack and despite rumors to the contrary I have never seen the film.

Then There Was A Ever-Present Football Player Rapist Edition

Staff Notes- This week's edition, a nod to the Superbowl, comes with a dash of Pepper. On an unrelated matter, I recently used part of a work-from-home snow day to listen to Michael Jackson's "Thriller" LP on vinyl. I must say that it scared the hell out of me, and that was just "The Girl Is Mine" featuring Paul McCartney.

1. Flashdance...What a Feeling- Irene Cara

• "Now I hear the music, close my eyes, I am rhythm, in a flash it takes hold of my heart, what a feeling, bein's believing, I can have it all, now I'm dancing for my life, take your passion and make it happen, pictures come alive you can dance right through your life." Does anyone want to drop a bucket of water on me? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? This song is brilliant. Sheer genius. There are no shortage of 80's pop songs with synthesizers but did any of them use the instrument this well to create a mood? The song structure is also brilliant; the verse, middle eight/bridge, and chorus all build on one another gorgeously. Irene Cara (who co-wrote the song) delivers a great vocal performance. Of course "Flashdance...What a Feeling" was written for the film "Flashdance"; the tale of a young steel worker who tries to dance away the pain associated with living in Pittsburgh. For hip-hop heads, the film "Flashdance" is noteworthy for bringing breakdancing to the masses. The film featured the legendary Rocksteady Crew, including Crazy Legs and the late Frosty Freeze. Breakingdancing (or b-boying) was an underground NYC phenomenon until "Flashdance". Overnight the dance style hit the west coast and every suburb in between (remember seeing cardboard on the streets?) with a fury. "Flashdance...What a Feeling" won an Oscar, a Grammy, and it makes me wish my life was more like 1983.

2. Return of the Mack- Mark Morrison

• "Return of the mack (it is), return of the mack (come on), return of the mack (oh my God), return of the mack (here I am), return of the mack (once again), return of the mack (pump up the world), return of the mack (watch my flow), return of the mack (here I go)." I'm not saying this song should come on every time I walk into a club, but I wouldn't complain if it did....every superhero needs his theme song. The main sample here is taken from "Genius of Love" by the Talking Heads side project band Tom Tom Club. "Return of the Mack" is far from the first song to sample "Genius of Love". Hip-hop pioneer Grandmaster Flash jacked the beat in the early 80's in the song "It's Nasty" and Mariah Carey's "Fantasy" did the same in 1995, a year before Mark Morrison took his turn. For some reason iTunes doesn't have Mark Morrison's "Return of the Mack". However for years they have offered a cover version by Mo Reese Marks which has to be heard to appreciate how bad it is. Until a year or so ago the only version of "Electric Avenue" available in the iTunes library was a cover by To Kool Chris. Once Mark Morrison's "Return of the Mack" is added to iTunes I imagine Mo Reese Marks and To Kool Chris will form a murder-suicide pact.

3. Who Did You Think I Was (live)- John Mayer Trio

• "I got half a smile and zero shame, I got a reflection with a different name, got a brand new blues that I can explain, who did you think I was. You got my number but I always new the score, who did you think I was." The debut of the John Mayer Trio in 2005 was a serious left turn for casual John Mayer fans only familiar with his pop material. The blues-rock trio features Mayer on guitar and vocals with heavyweight session musicians Pino Palladino on bass and Steve Jordan on drums. Palladino also holds the distinction of being The Who's bass player since the death of the band's original bassist John Entwistle. "Who Did You Think I Was" is a perfect introduction to the JM3 lyrically and sonically. In 2005 Rolling Stone magazine labeled the "Who Did You Think I Was" single as a "vanity project". If that's the case I would like more artists to embark on vanity projects. My favorite lyric in this number is "I am a shifter of the shape I'm in" simply because it reminds me of the shape shifters you'd see on the X-files back in the day or on Fringe nowadays. On the "Where The Light Is Live in Los Angeles" album the trio performs 8 songs including "Who Did You Think I Was". Here it features a fake ending followed by the band jamming on the Jimi Hendrix Band of Gypsy's tune "Power To Love". That song taught us that with the power of soul anything is possible....sounds like the trio to me.