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The Best 100 Songs of the Decade, 51-60


Here we are, the last batch of Top 100 songs before we enter the top 50 echelon. There are all good tracks, and I'm happy to talk about them, so, here we go...


60. Take You Home / Dido - 2019

One of the more recent songs on the list, it's my favorite Dido track of the decade (and therefore her only entry on the countdown). I like Dido overall, but her songs don't always reach out and grab me, ya know?




59. The Sorrow Tree / Moby - 2018

Good ol' Moby, eh? I like this song, but I like the video version better, with its stuttered vocal effects. Perhaps if the original track would have sounded more like that, it would rank higher here.




58. Bass Down Low / Dev feat. The Cataracs - 2010

Silly, shallow, fun. And, perhaps ironically, the bass isn't nearly as down low as it could be.

You can watch the music video here.



57. Shake It Off / Taylor Swift - 2014

I loved this song when it came out, though it hasn't aged well for some reason. Still, it's a boppy little song that, objectively, is pretty good, and so here it is.




56. Blue Velvet / Lana Del Rey - 2012

Lana's cover of this is moody, gorgeous and hypnotic. The music video for it is like something David Lynch would have directed. This is the first of four songs on the Top 100 list by Lana Del Rey.




55. Romeo / Chairlift - 2015

Somewhat arrogant lyrics aside, this song works on confidence, which it has in abundance.




54. Paradise / Coldplay - 2011

A gem from the early part of the decade, I love how it goes all electronic and bass-y in certain parts. The bridge sections work well, too.




53. King of Everything / Boy George - 2013

The lead vocalist for Culture Club has had ups & downs, for sure. This frank and lush song attempts to address some of that, and is beautiful in its tragedy. I particular like how the backing vocalists glide into his own at the end of the word "cool" in the following lyrical passage...

"Tempted myself time & time again
  Like self destruction was so cool"




52. All the Way Blue / The Ocean Blue - 2019

The second of two songs by this band to make the cute, it was their opening number for their concert in Chicago last month, and my favorite track off their new album. You can lose yourself in it.




51. Beautiful Thing / The Stone Roses - 2016

The Stones Roses only ever released two studio albums, in 1989 and 1994. They came back in 2016 with two new random songs, and this one was the best of the two. It's a 7 minute long, ambling tune whose musical elements really do resemble a beautiful thing. And it features one of my (many) misheard lyrics, where I think the singer is saying, "So so sucky vampire." I won't tell you what the actual lyric is.



Next up, we venture into the Top 50!


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