Here Comes The Sun

I'm melting. I think I might be physically fused to my chair. But I'm not bitching. I love this time of year more than any other. It's been beautiful outside with plenty of sun. So I thought of some "sun" songs to celebrate. (Also, I've had Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun by Pink Floyd in my head for days now. Not a Pink Floyd song I'm very fond of.)

The only problem is that I originnaly came up with a list of 30 songs. There had to be some difficult cuts. I decided to make up a few rules to make room for new guys and to level the field a bit.
No double dipping: Seven Days In The Sun by Feeder and Walking In The Sun by Travis have been used before.
No Beatles: Here Comes The Sun, Sun King, and I'll Follow The Sun aren't allowed. The Beatles are just in a different atmosphere. I'd still put my top 2 of my list above even Here Comes The Sun, but for the most part, it's just unfair for anybody else. When competition is tight, it's easier to just take them out and remind you that they're The Beatles. This rule also applies to solo Beatles, so no Hot As Sun by Paul and no Rising Sun by George. Nothing personal, boys. I hope giving you the title suffices.
"Sun" only. She Gave Good Sunflower by The Black Crowes, Sunshine Of Your Love by Cream, Hail To Whatever You Found In The Sunlight That Surrounds You by Rilo Kiley etc. etc. would be nice to include, but I saw a way to give myself an excuse to cut them.
Yeah, it's slightly cheap, but these lists are hard enough as it is. It's easier to take a list of 13 songs, narrow it down to 10, and put em in order. So here's my now obviously admittedly half-assed list... (Give me a break. It's fucking hot.)

10) Till The Sun Turns Black - Ray LaMontagne
I'm not as big a fan of Ray LaMontagne as I probably should be. I just can't listen to him very long without needing to breathe. He's got a great voice, but it gets old on me kinda quick. This song, the title track of his second album, is basically the first part of the two tracks that make a beautiful medley to close the album. Within You, the final track, reminds me of something else and it's been bothering me for 4 years now. I love the song, but that nagging that it sounds like a specific other song has been driving me crazy. If you have any idea what song it might be, if you can help me figure it out, I promise you a free CD. How's that?

9) Catch The Sun - Doves
Doves' second single. I was most proud of myself for working out the chords to this one without any help. Back then, I was so used to just getting tabs, so working out a song on my own was unheard of. Now I do it for most songs I play. Anyway, it's just one of the poppier songs they've done and especially coming from an album of trance-y stuff, it sticks out a little too much. It's a great song, but that bit that makes it stick out like a sore thumb has always felt weird to me. It works on a singles compilation, though, which they have just released. So there ya go.

8) Bring Back The Sun - Our Lady Peace
Gravity was a bit of a departure for OLP in several ways (new guitarist, produced by Bob Rock) but it still worked for me. I'm not that big on this song, but it's a great song all the same. I just liked it even less when it made it onto the live album that followed the album in favor of a few much better tracks that were played that tour. I think the bass is just a little boring for me. (Sorry, Duncan!) Classic Raine vocals in the last two minutes, though.

7) Lying In The Sun - Stereophonics
This is one of the most relaxed Stereophonics songs. It's great songwriting, maybe one of the better written songs from J.E.E.P., but it's sandwiched between Vegas Two Times, one of my favorite songs to play to just beat the shit out of my drums, and Mr. Writer, one of my favorite bitter (and it's really bitter) rock tracks. It gets a little lost in there.

6) Staring At The Sun - U2
I was a huge fan of U2 once. They've lost me a bit in the last 10 years or so. I think I preferred when they were still huge, but slipped a little off the radar both in music charts and charity stuff. (I love what they do for all the causes they support, it's just a bit of oversaturation at the same time. It's a very confusing situation for me.) Anyway... Staring At The Sun has always been one of my favorite U2 songs. And that's all I have to say about that.

5) In The Absence Of Sun - Duncan Sheik
When I bought Duncan's debut album, this was one of the songs, maybe the song to really shock me, realizing he wasn't what I expected. He was something better. He became one of the biggest musical influences on me, even though he's not someone I listen to every single day. His writing style and even his spirituality (Buddhism) have both crept into my life. I'd really love to hang out with Duncan. It seems like we'd get along swimmingly.

4) Turn Up The Sun - Oasis
When Don't Believe The Truth came out, I wasn't that excited. The first single, Lyla, sounded a little too similar to Heathen Chemistry's first single, The Hindu Times. Fortunately, though, the albums were much different, not that I don't love both of them. Every Oasis album has had the perfect track to start off the album just right. I could almost make a list just for Oasis' first tracks. If only they had a few more studio albums.

3) You Stole The Sun From My Heart - Manic Street Preachers
Song title aside, it's not as depressing as it sounds. (Here's a vid to prove it!) I love that verse riff. If I'm holding a guitar and not paying attention (i.e. watching TV or on the phone), I tend to play it over ad nauseum. The video is one of my favorite MSP videos, too, despite being a simple performance video for the most part. I just worry so much about the bunny. Nicky looks so evil and the bunny is so close to his foot. And we know how much Nicky loves to jump.

2) Sun Child - The Vines
I've included The Vines in other lists and mentioned how underrated they are and how much the more impressively written songs get overlooked. I guess they broke through around the time of the "garage rock" era of White Stripes and The Strokes. But listen to this song and you'll understand why that annoys me so much. The melody of the chorus is so beautiful. There's a quality to this song that nails what I love about music, something in the arrangement where every instrument from beginning to end adds something crucial once you pick up on it.

1) The Sun Also Sets - Ryan Adams
Unlike the last one, it's as depressing as it sounds this time. But it's one of my favorite songs. Ever. Here's a good video of a performance from KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic. A little more acoustic than the album, but still does it justice. (But I've watched just about every video on YouTube and love them all.)
Ryan's vocals are just perfect here. One of the best shows I've ever been to was Ryan & The Cardinals just before Easy Tiger came out, so that's where I heard most of the songs, including this one, first. For that brief tour, Ryan didn't play any guitar on most of the shows, instead just sitting on a stool and putting all the focus on his vocals. This one, more than any other, hooked me. The day Easy Tiger came out, I bought three, yes THREE, copies just to make sure I had one every where I went. I knew it would be an all-time favorite album. The way his vocals sounded at the one show I saw before the album's release convinced me of that much.
The chorus kills me. The way he sings "Oh be sure... You're gonna tear someone apart" in the second verse even moreso. It's no wonder he's a god to me.

By the way, the list I've been working on in my head longer than any other is "most depressing Ryan Adams songs." But it's taking forever and might never come. Why? Because it's basically just making a list of my favorite Ryan Adams songs. Damn. Near. Impossible. The Sun Also Sets is near the top of that list. Goddamn. I love you, Ryan.