STONE COLD HAVEN

It seems ages since I was last accused of being as old as a railway line (chuma ya reli) for unleashing an old school play list that brought my age to question. I thought this week, I’d relax with a few easy listening rock classics (yeah! I’m that way inclined sometimes)…so come rock with me.

1. Your beautiful by James Blunt

This is actually my wife’s favourite song. Maybe its her way of getting me to sing the lyrics to her time and time again…and believe me, the effort is worth the while each time round (if you catch my drift). I like the simplicity of the song though…nice and easy and very passionate.

2. Torn by Natalie Imbruglia

Just like with Mary, there’s something about this song that does it for me. In fact, I’ll go as far as saying its one of my all time favourite songs. Don’t know what it is, but perhaps its just Natalie, and especially those lips. I always believed she was a hit even as far back in her days on Neighbours (do folks still watch that show?), but I think its those lips. They’re just designed for action or as Apingo Nyawawa (long story) would say, they’re very nyonyarable…(and wipe that smirk off your face…LOL).

3. Always by Bon Jovi

Very few people will contest that Jon Bon Jovi deserves his legendary status in this wonderful world of rock music. This song is just one reason why. It’s the sort of song you’d love blasting out of the juke box (not too loud, but loud enough for you not to hear the next conversation), while you sit down on a stool by the bar counter contemplating how your day has been…And did I mention that cold pint of beer to go with it?

4. Give into me by Michael Jackson (shorter video clip)

Very rare occasions will beat the “I was there – once in a lifetime” moments that we experience, say for instance, President Obama’s inauguration as the first black resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, or the funeral of Diana Princess of Wales. Me thinks that a good contender for a “I was there moment” is any Michael Jackson live concert. Granted, off the stage, he’s let’s just say, probably on his own galaxy…but on stage, the man deserves due respect for what he did on stage.

Give into me was one of them examples that I was lucky enough to see live as part of his UK Dangerous tour in 1992. I used to wonder how folks were stupid enough to lose the plot coz’ of a performing artist, but my answers came in the form of the 60 something year old grandfather boogying his ass off next to me at Wembley Arena…I didn’t even notice myself screaming….

This is the sort of song you blast full volume when you’re home alone on Saturday, walking around naked and doing some cleaning up while miming to the song…and when the neighbour peeks to confirm to himself if he’s seeing what he just thought he saw….you turn around facing him with the mop – imitating Slash playing that guitar while wearing that “WTF! smirk on your face)…LOL!

5. Ironic by Alanis Morissette

I remember this song intimately because of some dramas of my mis-spent youth. If there’s a dangerous thing to do, its walking into an Australian pub in London to watch Australia play New Zealand in rugby on big screen whilst wearing an All Blacks rugby Jersey. My mitigation was that my Kiwi mates Jimbo and Gary (who dared me to pull this off with them) were also as stupid as I was with their All Blacks Jerseys. Needless to say, the mighty All Blacks won the match and Jimbo, Gary and myself got away with having to perform like Alanis Morissette on tables (blame the alcohol) cheered on by a pub full of Aussies (talk about ironic). Good times those were – if only football fans were as civil as rugby fans.

6. Breakfast at Tiffanys by Deep Blue Something

This is one of them songs that just grows on you and before you know it, you find yourself singing the chorus at the top of your voice. Another pub classic that gets the lads and lasses thinking they’re rock stars after only a few pints. But its the kind of song that makes you not regret going to the pub on a Friday night.

7. More than words by Extreme

This song has kinda got that effect that Bob Marley’s Redemption song gives you. Nice, easy and simple, that’s what I’ve always loved about it. Just two geezers sitting down with a guitar and singing some deep stuff. Listen to this and tell me you don’t find this classic loveable. It’s the sort of song that gets other folks in a traffic jam turning around to look at you when you’re blasting it out loud and singing along to it in the car, and you can see that twinkle in their eyes saying “Damn you…that song is cool…”.

8. (What if God was) one of us by Joan Osborne

This song took its time but it grew on me after a while. I sometimes surprise myself when I find myself just singing out to the lyrics while working or doing whatever. It even made some business associates think I was losing the plot when I was clearly enjoying the night out at Stake Out, a club in Kampala, Uganda. See, they had thought I was upset coz’ I didn’t like the roast pork that is legendary in Kampala (give me proper goat nyam chom any time), so its no surprise when they kept giving me daggers while I enjoyed my rock music….what did they expect taking me out to a rock night on a Thursday evening?

9. (Don’t look back in anger) So Sally can wait by Oasis

The only downside to Noel and Liam Gallagher is that they’re Manchester City fans. If only they were gooners. Never the less, this track is one that you can’t miss in any pub juke box and one of them that you find yourself singing aloud like the guy propped up on the bar stool next to you without even realising it.

10. Don’t let go by En Vogue

Again, this is a song that grows on you after a while. From the destinys children of the 90′s – a nice good solid track that feels good being blasted when home alone or in the car. I like the guitar in it and its prominence in the song, and I think it was the only decent track of the album it was on…but all in all, a nice classic track thats a competitor for one of my other favourite En Vogue songs, Runaway love.

Now doesn’t that just make you feel better?