The Top Ten Sixes

The countdown continues...

Ten...

Nine...

Eight...

Seven...

And then there were six. Nowhere near as popular a number with songwriters as seven, I even had to resort to using a couple of 60s songs to fill out this list. I mean songs with 60s in the title, not songs from the 60s. Although there is also a song from the 60s, but it doesn't have 60s in the title. Is that clear?

There were some runners up - John Prine, Hot Club De Paris, Larrikin Love, Mudcrutch, Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint, Tom Waits and Half Man Half Biscuit - but none were quite good enough for a Top Ten placing.

I was almost tempted to break my 'numbers in band names' embargo for the sake of The 6ths and Electric Six, but no, I've got play fair.

Ten sixes then...

10. Ash - Princess Six

The opening line to this pretty Ash-by-numbers track appears to be "My heart is a tempest with blood and violency", which is utter bollocks, but we can forgive them because they're Ash.

Having recently sworn off making any more albums, Ash are set to release a new single every fortnight for a year. The first one is downloadable free from their website. They're also embarking on a 26 date UK tour, having chosen one town for each different letter of the alphabet. Astoundingly, they've picked Bradford for the B. If anyone can tell me where the fuck Zennor is, I'd love to know.

(Oh, and I haven't a clue what the amateur-produced video is all about. Some computer game or other.)

9. The Lovin' Spoonful - Six O'Clock

There's always something wonderfully uplifting about a John Sebastian composition. I must track down his theme tune to The Greatest American Hero. I used to have it on vinyl, but it's gone missing from my record collection.

The idea that the band's name is based on a euphemism for the same bodily function that inspired both 10cc and Pearl Jam is apparently an urban legend. Shame.

8. Laptop - Testimonial No. 6

Ah, the wry, urbane tones of New Yorker Jesse Hartman, who's currently in the studio recording his fourth album (or so his website would have us believe - he's been at it some time now). This is from the band's last offering, Don't Try This At Home, about a relationship that cures all ills, until it becomes a dangerous addiction.

7. Liz Phair - 6'1"

Someone on youtube sums this song up as "tall girls are ugly like giant skyscraper..short girls are cute w/nice butts..guys gets rejected and put down by women as well, its not just women". Which is certainly an interesting interpretation.

This is from Liz Phair's acclaimed debut Exile In Guyville. I suppose it's terribly unhip to say that I prefer her later stuff when she'd learnt to sing in tune.

6. Kenickie - 60s Bitch

I can't help it, even after all these years presenting culture programmes and wandering round Glastonbury in her wellies, there's still something undeniably cool about Lauren Laverne. She's not a Geordie, you know: she's a Mackem.

5. The Cure - Six Different Ways

"This is stranger than I thought", sings Robert Smith here. Blimey - imagine that, something stranger than Mad Bob can think of.

Featured in the soundtrack to the movie based on Bret Easton Ellis's Rules Of Attraction, which I thought was pretty damned good, even though it did star James Van Der Berk.

4. Mansun - Six

Reading John Niven's Kill Your Friends, I was amazed how many mentions were given to Mansun, a real Next Big Thing in 1997. Niven of course uses this to show how quickly some stars burn out, but I'll always have a soft spot for Mansun. Their heart was in the right place, even if it did occasionally disappear up their arse.

3. The Indelicates - Julia, We Don't Live In The 60s

Any excuse to play the Indelicates.

2. Kathleen Edwards - Six O'Clock News

I don't know how I discovered Kathleen Edwards. Probably had something to do with Bob Harris. She's a great storyteller anyway...

Copper on the corner and he loaded two rounds
And I can't even cross the line to talk you down
Peter, sweet baby, where'd you get that gun?
You spend half your life trying to turn the other half around

And I tried to come clean, but I guess it's no use
Your face is all over six o'clock news
They cleared the street and then they closed the schools
I can't even get inside

1. The Lemonheads - 6ix

In which Evan Dando writes a prequel to David Fincher's Se7en, and gives away the ending to the later film in the process.

"Here comes Gwyneth's head in a box."

Ah, if only...

So, what's your favourite six position?