The Hot 27 is a list of the Hottest 27 songs.
Remarks by @BizPlej. Posted as a public playlist below. Not expecting there to be much disagreement about any of this.
(December 5, 2021)
Chaise Longue / Wet Leg (2021) “Would you like us to assign someone to worry your mother?” and “All day long all day long, on the [Name of Song].”
Ain’t Nice / Viagra Boys (2021) Always adorable when a young beau puts the ladies on notice by advertising his best qualities. “Collection of vintage calculators” rhymes with “Babe I’ll see you later.”
Run Run Run / Kurt Vile (2021) Great noise. Better than the original, which famously has, of course, great noise too.
Snow is Falling in Manhattan / Karl Blau (2020) An impressive collection of rhymes. “Snow oh woah oh woah oh woah oh woah.”
Bad Kids / Black Lips (2007) “You gotta understand, we only do these things cause all we are are [Name of Song].”
Kids Don’t Know Shit / Islands (2008) Kids are dumb. “[Name of Song], everything they learn is wrong.”
Desire / Dehd (2020) If I had the wonderful vocal qualities on display here, I would scream and yell all day long too.
Shake Sugaree / Elizabeth Cotten and Brenda Evans (2004) Look…I get it. You hate this song. But I just cannot help myself. Strange and beautiful.
The Banana Question / Royal Trux (1998) “Is that a question, man?” Is it? Was it?
Elevator - Demo / Gang of Four (2021) I don’t get the decision to designate this as a demo. What’s the expectation here, a better version next time you’re in studio?
Alligator / The Babies (2012) Back to back songs that mention elevators.
Copper Kettle / Jake Xerxes Fussell (2021) Sentimentality for Bob Dylan is 95% to blame.
Do I Ever Cross Your Mind / Justin Townes Earle, Dawn Landes (2021) “Da do do da do da do, da do do da do da do. Da do do da do da do daaaaa.”
Fuck Me Up / Pokey LaFarge (2020) “If I never come back / Wherever I end up at / Is where I was supposed to be.”
Breakin’ the Law / The Babies (2011) You wanna buy something? Go find some money somewhere. This is the 2nd track from The Babies in this release of The Hot 27, tying the record shared by Dutranc and Pall and the Tall Trees.
Cosplay / Panda Bear (2015) “Marijuana day.” There’s nothing here to get. And you either get it or you don’t.
Exuma, The Obeah Man / Exuma (1970) Get you pumped up for that flag football game. Or get you pumped up for one of those big splash high dive jumps. Next time, go for a dab-opener —> 1) Big ass bounce 2) Dab left 3) Can Opener right leg.
Let’s Do It Again / Reigning Sound (2021) Another come on song, but this one’s sweet and sentimental. “I really miss ya.” “I wanna kiss ya.”
Reservoir Park / The Dutchess & The Duke (2008) Donzardo Chipotle (aka @DonZardo) says it’s in the style of The Rolling Stones, and if you can manage to block out that comparison (which is annoying, for some reason) then it’s a great song.
Worry With You / Sleater-Kinney (2021) “Let’s get fucked baby, and take a wrong turn.”
St Marie Under Canon / Cornershop (2020) The bad old days of colonialism, but chock full of fun and positivity.
Many Roads to Follow (Demo) / The Nerves (2008) The best paths are never straight lines. “Someway someday we might meet again…who knows?”
Creeper / Islands (2008) A peeper anthem? Nobody asked for that. This is the 2nd track by Islands in this edition of The Hot 27…tying the record shared by Dutranc, Pall and the Tall Trees, and The Babies.
Oscar Brown / Baxter Dury (2002) Perfect spot for a Velvet Underground refrain.
Trop de peine / La Femme (2021) Intentional or not, the lyrics of Too Much Pain [aka Name of Song], physically hurt to read when translated into English. One exception being the opening line: “We are tiny spiders, there is no giant to trample on us.” But the rest is quite literally: “save the whales.” However, les mots en Français, c’est magnifique!
Louie Louie / The Sandpipers (1966) Many decades before it became popular to cover old classic songs with slow morose energy — these guys translated gibberish into Spanish.
Dick Johnson / Pussy Galore (2017) Mature content warning pretty redundant in this case. “[Name of Song].”
***The Hot 27 owes its inspiration to my older brother, Matt. Years ago, my brother had an extensive collection of vinyl records. He bought a couple of music store record bins in a going out of business sale, and he organized his collection into them alphabetically, complete with cardboard tabs for each letter. Any album that had just been played was returned to the first column of the bin, and placed in front of a tab marked “The Hot 14”. It always held a minimum of 14 records. When it got too big for it's slot, some records were refiled, but the front 14 stayed there, some of them for months on end. My best guess is that the number of albums under that tab was normally closer to twenty-seven.
ARCHIVED HOT 27 lists
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