Five Guilty Pleasures - Music

Five songs I adore (but don't often brag about!) and why...

Say You, Say Me - Lionel Richie

The echo on his voice, the way the big reverby drums come in, that whole bit in the middle where it speeds up then slows down again for the final verse... And the vaguely ridiculous but somehow deeply profound "people in the park / playing games in the dark / and what they played / was a masquerade / from behind a wall of doubt / a voice was crying out..."

"Say it for always / aah / that's the way it should be..."

Waiting For a Star To Fall - Boy Meets Girl

The helpless soppy romanticism of it all, the boy and girl voices together, the sax solo that sets up the final part of the song, the way the music pauses and the voices all go up an octave...

"carry your heart into my arms / that's where you belong / in my arms baby yeh..."

She's Gone - Hall & Oates

The fluidity and smooothness of it, right from the outset, the guitar then "ooooh ooh ooh ooh ohh" of the intro, the soaring strings, the tense musical build up then release to "she's go-o-o-o-ow-ow-awn..."

"my face ain't looking any younger / now I can see love's taken her toll on me"

Dancing Queen - ABBA

Yeh it's a bit obvious I know, but what a tune...

The genius idea of STARTING with the chorus, the way it's somehow impossibly young and happy yet poignant at the same time, the way they pronounce "mew-sic", the "de-dun de-dun de-dun" piano stabs in the chorus, the whole shimmering slinky beautiful POP-ness of it!

"Dancing queen / feel the beat of the tambourine..."

Say Hello, Wave Goodbye - Soft Cell

The way he sounds out his depth at times and doesn't seem to quite know the melody, both vocally and in the relationship, the wit and knowing of lines like "you're used to wearing less / and now your life's a mess", the still futuristic and majestically layered synths, and that unequivocally magnificent chorus...

"Standing in the door of the Pink Flamingo / crying in the rain..."