Michael Doherty's Top Five Songs

I love to make lists. I blame Mrs. Moore, my high school journalism teacher. She loved lists too, and she encouraged me in my list-making. So when Garon, the man in charge of Pop Culture Beast, asked his writers to come up with a list of "the top five songs of your life," I was up for the challenge.

But the top five songs of my life? That's a difficult one, difficult to narrow the great list down to five. After all, music has played an incredibly important role in my life since I was four years old. That was when I got turned on to The Monkees and began begging for a set of drums (I finally got my drums when I was thirteen - it took nine years of me banging on every damn thing in the house before my parents finally accepted the necessity of drums). And I couldn't even fit a Monkees song on this list.

This list also lacks an Ellis Paul song, which is insane. I was a teenager in the late 1980s, which was when the folk explosion happened in Boston. The late 1980s and early 1990s were amazing for folk music. There was so much music, and so many venues. And most of the musicians could be heard playing on the streets in Harvard Square and in the subways (Peter Mulvey even recorded an album down there). I remember seeing Cheryl Wheeler, Jan Luby, Brian Doser, Jon Svetkey, Jim Infantino, Jennifer & Jonatha, Patty Griffin, Ani Difranco, Marty Sexton, Dar Williams, Brooks Williams, Geoff Bartley, Vance Gilbert, Greg Greenway, Don White, The Nields. And it all started for me with Ellis Paul at a venue called The Old Vienna Kaffeehaus in Westboro, Massachusetts. And yet none of those people made the list. That's how ridiculous it is to narrow it down to five.

But here we go...

The top five songs of my life. Songs that I love, songs that have played a particularly important role in my life:

5. "Four In The Morning" by Josh Lederman Y Los Diablos. My brother and I always try to let each other know about great new bands. And one year he sent me a few CDs. I popped on one by Josh Lederman Y Los Diablos, with the idea that I would listen to it while cleaning my apartment. Approximately five seconds into the first track I was so blown away that I just had to sit down and listen to the entire CD straight through. And then again. And then again. I didn't answer the phone. I didn't do anything else. Just listened. The first song on that album - the song that completely blew me away was "Four In The Morning." I loved this band so much that I hired them to play my brother's bachelor party just so that I could get a chance to see them. And there were amazing. For several years, I flew back to Massachusetts and saw this band on New Year's Eve at a place called Tir Na Nog. Those were the absolute best New Years I've ever spent, and I can think of no better band to bring in the new year. Unfortunately, they broke up a few years ago. Josh Lederman has a new band: Josh Lederman & The CSARS. They're really good, but not as good as Josh Lederman Y Los Diablos.

4. "Trouble" by Cat Stevens. My favorite film of all time is Harold And Maude. My grandparents showed me that film when I was like eight or nine years old. And then when I was sixteen, my English teacher played a videocassette of it for the class. A few of us loved the film, and a few of my classmates didn't like it all. I never spoke to the ones that didn't like it again. Cat Stevens did the music for the film, though most of the music had already been recorded. He wrote two new songs for that movie: "Don't Be Shy" and, of course, "If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out." Both of those songs are excellent. But the one that always does it for me, the one that makes me cry every single time I watch that movie, is "Trouble." It's a beautiful song.

3. "Primary" by The Peak Show. The best Los Angeles band ever (yes, I mean it) was The Peak Show. I can't even begin to describe the beauty and intensity and FUN of their live performances. Some of the best nights of music I've ever experienced were in Highland Park at their house parties. Artists like Los Abandoned, Go Betty Go, Mother Tongue, Tre Hardson, Blood Sugar and Bad Vic & The Good Intentions would open for them - at their house. There is even a compilation CD out there called Peak Show Parties that features tracks by these bands. But the main event, of course, was The Peak Show. They very quickly became one of my favorite bands, and I managed to catch forty of their concerts before they broke up in October of 2004. Every show was great, but any show that included "Primary" in the set list was guaranteed to be a killer show. This song is awesome. If you haven't heard it, search for it online. You won't be disappointed.

2. "Heart With No Companion" by Leonard Cohen. Leonard Cohen is the best living songwriter. No question. This is not my opinion. It is fact. In fact, is the only fact that I'm completely sure of. Everything else is up for discussion. But not this. Leonard Cohen is the best songwriter. Oddly, it took me a while to discover him. It wasn't until he released I'm Your Man (1988) that I learned of his existence. That is an excellent album, but one of my favorite Leonard Cohen records is Various Positions (1984). The entire record is phenomenal, but one song I always go back to is "Heart With No Companion." And the first time I saw Leonard Cohen in concert (in Toronto - five of us made the trip out there specifically for the concerts), he played this song during the encores. I saw several more Leonard Cohen concerts, but I never saw him play this one again.

1. "Ripple" by Grateful Dead. My favorite song is "Ripple" from the Grateful Dead's 1970 release American Beauty. That entire record is flawless. It's a beautiful album that features songs like "Box Of Rain," "Brokedown Palace" and "Attics Of My Life." But the best song on it is "Ripple." I saw the Grateful Dead in concert forty-one times, but never did see them perform this song. I probably would have completely lost it if they had suddenly played it. My entire body would have exploded from the joy. They played it a lot in 1980 when they were doing acoustic sets, but not much after that, and I didn't see my first show until April of 1988. This song boasts Robert Hunter's best lyrics (and that's saying something). This song always makes me happy, and I truly believe the world would be a much worse place without this song.

So there you have it.