Just a simple song but God I love it Embedded in me, so bittersweet I’m addicted, I’m a melancholic Sing it again, I’ll be your Poll forever: THE BOO RADLEYS - ILM artist poll #60 or new numbering #65

I'm pleasantly surprised by New Brighton Promenade's high placing. It's tucked away in the last third of C'Mon Kids and rarely gets mentioned as a stand out, but it's really sweet and great and goes to prove the Boos' greatest moments were never necessarily their most prominent.

xpost Oh yeah, I never listen to Free Huey whenever I play that album.

Take WUB and It's Lulu out the equation and the Wake Up album is an incredibly bleak record; on a par with The Bends for quiet, contemplative miserabilism mixed witht he odd flourish of sixties psychedelia. Makes for slim pickings in following up WUB, admittedly, but Twinside was indie-club friendly and rocked quite a lot, so I'd have had that over It's Lulu anytime.

I think of Twinside being the lead single like Lenny being the lead single from I Should Coco. Instead of putting Alright out straight away they went with a harder sounding song probably knowing Alright would be a massive hit later on that kept the album selling for the rest of the year.

Wow, Kingsize is really effing good without that horrible song on it. Just constantly doing different things and yet a steady vibe flowing through it. It's a fine album.

bloody hell, i am worried about the next two songs. evidently everyone knows what #1'll be

if it's Barney & Me, I'll feel very deflated.

Wish I Was Skinny was my #10! It's indeed as musically and lyrically straight-forward as possible (like a few other Boos pop gems), but not everything has to be so complicated. Carr had (and still has) the tendency to go all weird at some point in most of his songs, which is one thing that made The Boos such a great band, but every now and then he also managed to keep things simple which was also cool. I always thought that The Boos found the perfect balance between that weirdness and the simplicity.

Wow, Kingsize is really effing good without that horrible song on it. Just constantly doing different things and yet a steady vibe flowing through it. It's a fine album.

this makes me very happy. wonder if you would ever see the day. :-)

Feel like it's pretty obvious what the top three will be now. I really want to know which album your number one is from.

two and one will be revealed together, as there probably won't be much mystery.

amazing how much one song can put you off the album. Free Huey came out the day I got my A-level results and I went out and bought both CD and vinyl versions. I Can only remember being disappointed and I don't think it put me in good stead for the album. It's not that I didn't like Kingsize, but it was all the more hard to love with this weak shouty already-dated dance tune on it.

i honestly don't know what 3 and 2 are going to be.

I think my number one might not place (assuming the three songs left are three from Giant Steps that I took it for granted would place).

I don't mind Free Huey, to be honest. I'm listening to it now and it sounds surprisingly good actually, I think it could have been a hit under different circumstances. But while Kingsize needs something a little more uptempo between Old Newsstand and Monuments, Free Huey is just a little too different. It could have worked better as a standout EP or something.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-0zWbfrQF9b4/VTqdMuyIfbI/AAAAAAAAAgw/4PMNW5c3rG4/s400-no/Giant%2BSteps%2Bm.jpg

3. Butterfly McQueen
From: Giant Steps
Released: Aug 31, 1993
398 Points, 13 Votes

YouTube

What?

of course! my #2

Wow, I thought the top four was going to be the four Giant Steps singles. Did not expect to see this up here.

I'd forgotten about that.

This one caught me off guard. I definitely didn't expect this to be in top 3. It's an interesting song for sure, but it's not even in my top 10 tracks on Giant Steps!

yeah i just don't like those singles (the inevitable #1 excluded) as much as the album tracks. Butterfly McQueen is one of these quintessential Boos tracks for me - psychedelic, dubby, jazzy, noisy, rooms-within-rooms... Whoever said Rodney King is kind of 'part of the song' upthread is right - they work great together and the transition between them is my favourite moment on the album.

I'd be happy to see Thinking Of Ways as a shock number two as well.

Thinking Of Ways is amazing.

I'm really surprised it missed out.

we don't know yet.

Whoever said Rodney King is kind of 'part of the song' upthread is right

That was me.

Assuming we all know what the number one is, I'm really confused as to what the number two is. I can think of several candidates and for each one of them, they're either number two or didn't even make the top forty.

yeah that is OTM, it does sound incomplete without the other song.

xpost

I'm pretty sure that I know what #2 is. It's the #7 from my list and the second best track from its album.

Oh no, it isn't... That was #9 already. Duh.

Erm... Nevermind. Was looking at the wrong poll! I'll shut up now until the final two are announced...

I think it's going to one of the singles from Giant Steps.

lol, it's crazy how many good songs there are.

xpost

"Butterfly McQueen" was my number five, so i guess i helped it get to this position. it really does deserve it though.

Pretty excited for the big reveal.

I'll have to find out in the morning...

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-jtevYzX9f9o/VT1irU3LGJI/AAAAAAAAAuM/R_KziTv2EEA/w1459-h821-no/reads.png

i guess this was a successful poll. it will have over 400 replies. excellent job ILx.

it's coming Nasty, Brutish & Short.

This suspense is killing me. The Internet will soon break because I'm refreshing the page every five seconds right now... Even though it's quite obvious what the winner is, but I think it'd be pretty cool if it wasn't that one.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-2G7OIINGcvQ/VT1bT1dKMNI/AAAAAAAAAtc/DUW0CEb_LAA/s400-no/I%2BHang%2BSuspended%2Bm.jpg

2. I Hang Suspended
From: Giant Steps and Single
Released: July 1993
455 Points, 455 Points

YouTube
I Hang Suspended (the Beat)

Aw. I was hoping that it would be the winner.

You messed up the points, by the way.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-_BPxGUU0W4Q/VTqykDfVn9I/AAAAAAAAAkI/Lx-rYlJuNL4/w400-h398-no/Lazarus%2Bm.jpg

1. Lazarus
From: Giant Steps and Single
Released: Nov 16, 1992
641 Points, 19 Votes, 6 Number Ones

YouTube 12 inch
Lazarus Glastonbury 94

2. I Hang Suspended
From: Giant Steps and Single
Released: July 1993
455 Points, 15 Votes

hope everyone had fun!

that Glastonbury clip is classic. seeing Sice smash his guitar is great, seems so out of character.

Had Lazarus as my number two. Incredible song.

This poll has been so much fun Bee, thanks for putting it together.

I Hang Suspended was my #7, and Lazarus was my #17.

So... Lazarus. Who would have thought?!
6 number ones... Was it the only song that was more than one person's favourite?
19 votes... The only song that almost everyone (19/21) agreed on. Does this mean that The Boo Radleys have only one good song, or have they simply got too many good songs? I think I'll go with the latter!

correction: Laz was my #16