List of the Week

While it still doesn’t exactly qualify as writing, last week’s effort at jumpstarting the creative process by making a list proved such a ratings bonanza that I’ve opted to make it a regular feature.

In 1973, I was watching Sesame Street twice a day and listening to radio religiously. I was an only child at the time, but thanks to the older children of my parents’ friends, I was exposed to a stream of 45 rpm records, mini-platters that mattered, stacks of wax that blew my impressionable mind. For their own sadistic amusement, adults would play singles while I sang into the handle of a curtain string, my imaginary microphone of choice. Trip recently made an off-hand reference to one of my favorite tunes of the era, and I turned wistful, that sense of time and place rushing back. And so here is the list of the ten greatest songs of all-time, as determined by me at age five:

1. The Osmonds – “Down by the Lazy River”
2. Sweet – “Ballroom Blitz” listen
3. Creedence Clearwater Revival – “Proud Mary”
4. The DeFranco Family – “Heartbeat (It’s a Love Beat)”
5. The Rolling Stones – “Brown Sugar”
6. Joe Tex – “I Gotcha” listen
7. Daddy Dewdrop – “Chick-A-Boom”
8. The Jackson Five – “ABC”
9. Melanie – “Brand New Key”
10. Badfinger – “Day After Day” listen

What were your top ten songs at age five? Leave your list in the comments.