12 More Songs You Have To Hear

The latest issue of The Word includes another installment of their series "12 More Songs You Have To Hear":

1. Gary Portnoy - "Where Everybody Knows Your Name"

(Chosen by Bob Hardy of Franz Ferdinand, who explains, in part: "It's the theme from Cheers! Whenever my mind is clear and I'm walking down the road in a good mood, it just comes into my head. It's my default song. Probably never fashionable and never gonna be, but it makes me feel good. And no, I don't associate it with Ted Danson's face! I don't even like Cheers that much. The song was the best bit, although it's quite funny to have such a successful sitcom about, basically, a bunch of alcoholics. The Wedding Present did a cover of this song on a singles collection a few years ago and I thought it was really good. So I tracked down the original on iTunes and it's just as good.")

2. The Who - "Baba O'Riley"

(Chosen by Kasabian's Serge Pizzorno, who calls it "such an incredible track for the way it mixes early electronica with this all-out anthemic feel.")

3. Jackson C. Frank - "Marcy's Song"

(Chosen by Bert Jansch who says "it's just the sort of thing I'd sing, actually! In fact, I might do my own version one day.")

4. Les Fleurs featuring Minnie Ripperton - "Les Fleurs"

(Chosen by Lily Allen, who calls it "a beautiful, big sounding song, maybe like a song from a Rufus Wainwright album if they spent a million quid on it.")

5. Otis Redding - A Change Is Gonna Come (available on Dreams To Remember: The Otis Redding Anthology)

(Chosen by Paul Rogers: "There's an emotional depth, an experience of life that comes into it. He's not just singing for himself, he's singing for you. Whatever your challenge is in any situation in life, you stick that on and you can do it. You're not just listening to music, you're being spiritually charged and inspired to go and do whatever you have to do, and that's what I look for in music.")

6. Simon and Garfunkel - "America"

(Chosen by Jon Ronson, who deems it "brilliant" and the lyrics "incredibly good".)

7. Portishead - "Sour Times"

(Chosen by Jim Noir who begins with "I know it's basically a Lalo Schifrin sample with a breakbeat on it and some singing by a miserable cow" -- and this is for a song he loves! He continues -- "but it's a mixture of all these things that make it such a special sounding tune." He praises the drums and bassline and says, "Basically, I wish I had written this song and, to be honest, I hate it for exactly the same reason.")

8. Johnny Boy - "You Are The Generation That Bought More Shoes And You Get What You Deserve"

(Chosen by Word reader Stephen Davies who thinks the song should be "piped on permanent rotation in shopping malls the length and breadth of the land as a public service.")

9. Suicide - "Ghost Rider" (Chosen by Simon Ratcliffe of Basement Jaxx who says it's "subtle and eerie, even if I'm not entirely sure what they're on about. 'Ghost Rider, motorcycle hero, America is killing its youth.' Eh?")

10. Nic Jones - Annan Water (Chosen by James Yorkston who loves the lyrics, "the weary singing and the understated, controlled guitar playing."

11. Antonin Dvorák - "From The New World"

(Chosen by Roger McGuinn, who says Dvorák's "folk influences are all over this thing and I just find that fascinating".)

12. Billy Swan - I Can Help (available on Super Hits of the '70s: Have a Nice Day, Vol. 13)

(Chosen by Shakin' Stevens. He recalls that when he and studio head Dave Robinson first heard it they looked at each other and said, "That's gonna be massive!")