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My Five

RAMYA KANNAN


1 Bob Dylan

Blowin' in the Wind

This stirring number from the 1963 album "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" is like a comfort song that has a calming effect. With its near languorous pace, Blowin' in the Wind is the ultimate soothing melody. Also "spiritual," as Dylan later said, and philosophical. While Dylan adapted an old Black American spiritual for this song, it turned out to be the anthem of the 1960s' Civil Rights Movement in America and an anti-war motif during the Vietnam War. And even as you listen to the strains on the i-pod, there is a strange reassurance in the knowledge that the "answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind."

* * *

2 The Byrds

Turn, Turn, Turn

Pete Seeger’s composition made it to the top of the charts with folk-rock band The Byrds’ rendition in 1965. Again, taking a sombre philosophical note, the lyrics of this song are nearly entirely out of the Bible. The force of this single hit the new world with a thump as it was incorporated in the Oscar-winning movie Forrest Gump. The season began for The Byrds with "Turn, Turn, Turn" and if you listen carefully, the message is that your’s is coming as well.

* * *

3 Queen

Radio Ga Ga

Queen’s drummer Roger Taylor was a visionary with his media commentary in the band’s hit single. The lyrics are an all-time indictment of slipping standards in media content and programming, but if you think that doesn’t make sense to you, Queen’s smart pace and nippy rendition of the chorus is bound to get you to strap on and enjoy the ride. If you are at the wheel on a long drive and trying to focus, slip the disc in and let Queen perk you up with this song, which sounds as if it is always coming across a medium wave frequency.

* * *

4 Simon and Garfunkel

Bridge Over Troubled Water

This is Garfunkel's solo rendition of the song Simon wrote for him. The extraordinary climax of the song is enough to hook one on to Simon and Garfunkel. The duo's grandest-ever performance, it won them six Grammys. As they say, the candle burns brightest before it goes out. It turned out that Simon and Garfunkel's most memorable song in the last album they did together was not quite the bridge over the troubled waters that the duo was venturing into.

5Enigma

Return to Innocence

A haunting combination of audio and video that absolutely ensnares you the very first time you watch it. There is nothing to indicate that Enigma’s most popular song is going to have this effect on you.

While the idea of return to innocence is stunning in its visual depiction, the song’s key feature is the haunting chant that echoes right through, snapping you up in a reversal of experience as we know it. It is a pity though that the aboriginal Taiwanese chant ran the song into choppy weather as its original composers sued Virgin records for a less-than-innocent sampling.

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