Whenever I write these lists, I end up talking a lot about lyrics. I've always been a lyrics man, ever since I was a lonely teenager sat with his headphones on studying the Steinbeckian stories of Bruce Springsteen, trying to puzzle out the puns of vintage Elvis Costello or wondering (in my 20s, sadly, as I came to him late) how Morrissey could write so incisively about my life when he'd never even met me.
But... there is an alternative. Those jubilant singalongs where the lyrics don't matter - all you need is a good nananana! Don't even start me on the sha-la-las, lalalas, shooby doos or woo-hoos...
Be warned, this Top Ten starts off scary... and then goes places you really won't want to believe.
10. Bananarama - Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye
Originally by Steam, who had an unfortunate habit of being photographed like this...
...hence why I went with the Bananarama version. Well, that and they have nana in their name.
9. Opus - Live Is Life
Na-na na na-na."Formed in 1973, Opus remain active today."
Just you try to sleep tonight with that little factoid pinging around in your cranium.
8. Blur - Charmless Man
Nana nana naa na-naa-aa...I bet Damon Albarn knows his claret from his Beaujolais.
7. King - Alone Without You
Na-na. Na n-na. Nana na na na n-na.Ah, the 80s. So much to answer for. What do you get when you cross a quiff and a mullet? A quillet or a muiff? Surely you must be paulking!
6. blink-182 - All The Small Things
Nana nana nana na nana naa. Nana nana nana na nana naa.Always loved the video to this, where the pop punk rascals pretend to be NSYNCH.
5. The Beatles - Hey Jude
Little-remembered beat combo from the 60s. Apparently the lead singer went on to form Wings. Don't know what happened to the rest of them.
4. My Chemical Romance - Na Na Na
Before they imploded and Gerard Way converted to pseudo-Britpop solo albums (!) and comic book writing, MCR became one of the more interesting pop bands of the 21st Century. Emo? What's emo?
3. Wilson Pickett - Land Of 1000 Dances
Na. Nana na naa. Nana na naa nana na nana na. Nana na naaa.Already featured (in far more detail!) in My Top Ten Mashed Potato Songs, but too good to miss out.
2. Pink - So What
Nana nana na na naa, nana nana na na.I love Pink. And I don't care who knows it.
She does scare the bejeebus out of me though.
1. J Geils Band - Centrefold
John Warren Geils Jr (pictured above) died earlier this week at the age of '71. He was the lead guitarist of the band that took his name, although lead singer Peter Wolf co-wrote a lot of the bands biggest hits along with keyboardist Seth Justman. In the UK, they're really only known for one song... but what a song!
Na na nana na na. Na na na nana na na na.Their harmonica player was called Magic Dick.That will be all.
This was a re-post (edited somewhat to act as a tribute to the late J. Geils) from my old blog (December 2010). The scary thing is, the original post was a Top 20. So be warned... I have a volume 2 on standby if you say anything too hurtful in the comments section...
