“Here in my car I feel safest of all”(Part Five)

Raindrops keep Fallin’ on my head – Manic Street Preachers

The first song they recorded without Ritchie. I always loved the song as a kid, so this one has bittersweet memories for me. This is a very “Un-Manic like” song, and just works beautifully. A Sad song for a Sunny day (Which makes no sense really, but it does…so there)

Stupid Girl – Garbage

Another of the bands that did really well at around this time, but seem to have been forgotten about. I loved Shirley, and her sneering delivery. I liked the tone of this song, and always hoped my daughters would pick up on the attitude…I think they did.

Why Does it always Rain on me? – Travis

This was always a singalong favourite. It’s amazing how many songs we sang about rain on our holidays. A peculiarly uplifting song given the lyrics. I’m sure there is an intelligent musical reason for that to do with chord structures, but I just like it.

Dakota – The Stereophonics

Strange band, who I liked for a while, and then fell out with rather quickly. This was a number one single (Remember when that was important?). It’s perfect driving music….Well I say that….but at the grand old age of 54 I still can’t drive, so I can only take my wife’s word for that. I like the line “You made me feel like the one”…It’s stupidly romantic.

Everybody’s Changing – Keane

Another band who were touted to be the next Smiths, and ever really managed that. Not that any band should aim for that. It’s a stupid target. I liked their first album, from which this came, and I liked it’s lack of guitars. However, I feel they became a bit samey. I’m probably entirely wrong about that, but there never seems to be enough time to find out. This is a beautiful song, which I do not have the range to sing along to, but try anyway