Tobia Ziklik

Yesterday, I briefly mentioned Leonard Cohen’s “The Traitor” being one of my top ten favorites of all time. I thought I’d share the rest of my list.

The first nine songs are in no particular order:

• Front 242 – Headhunter
  I feel like this was the theme song of my youth
• The Grateful Dead – Days Between
  I prefer Stephen Inglis’ cover
• David Bowie – The Man Who Sold the World
  I prefer Nirvana’s cover
• Leonard Cohen – If It Be Your Will
  I fell in love with this song after hearing only a 10-second snippet in the 1990-film Pump up the Volume
• Heart – Alone
  I absolutely love Heart’s original, but lately I’m really enjoying Kristen Chenoweth’s cover. Celine Dion should be flogged for attempting to cover this 80’s masterpiece.
• Leonard Cohen – The Traitor
  I prefer Martha Wainwright’s cover — pure poetry
• Enrico Macias – Le Fusil Rouille
  My cousin played this for me once when I met her in Korea in 1987, and it took me 17 years to find it again
• Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni – Adagio in G Minor
  When I was in St. Petersburg, Russia in the early 90’s, a ballet company performed various scenes from famous ballets. The one that stands out the most in my memory is the death scene from Romeo and Juliet because the traditional Tchaikovsky score was replaced with Albinoni’s Adagio in G Minor. It was exquisite.
• Enrico Morricone – Gabriel’s Oboe
  The Mission scared me but I loved the soundtrack

As for number ten, I honestly like the following songs equally, so any one of them could take the spot and I’d be happy.

• Iron and Wine – Fightless Bird
• Michael Jackson/Glen Lewis – Fall Again
• Elvis Costello – The Scarlet Tide, sung by Alison Krauss
• Unknown – Long Black Veil, sung by Johnny Cash
• Richard Thompson – 1952 Vincent Black Lightning
• Martin Gore – Never Turn Your Back on Mother Nature
• Sublime – Santeria
• Queen – I Want to Break Free
• Neil Sedaka – Solitaire
• Bob Dylan – She Belongs to Me
• Yaz – Only You
• Beautiful South – Prettiest Eyes
• Simon and Garfunkel – The Boxer
• Oingo Boingo – We Close Our Eyes
• George Michael – First Time

What’s your list?