Hills and Mountain songs - The Top 10

Ok everyone, welcome back to the top 20 Hills and Mountain songs. In the last post, I mentioned that there would be six hills, and four mountains in the top ten, with six songs by Aussies, two Brits, and two Americans and one group appearing twice in the top ten. How did you go with guessing what they might be?

10 - Kiss the Dirt (Falling Down the Mountain) – INXS
A great song to start off the top ten, this one starts with a simple three note strum and builds from there. Its typical INXS, with a bit of rock in there, but catchy enough to call it a pop song.

9 - Violet Hill – Coldplay
I talked about Violet Hill in the top 10 “V” songs, so I won’t go into this one again, other than to say I really enjoy this track.

8 - King of the Mountain – Midnight Oil
Midnight Oil were great at wrapping up some powerful rock music, with passionate vocal delivery, all in a few minutes of a song. This one is no exception. A great rock track.

7 - Kosciuszko – Midnight Oil
So there you go, Midnight Oil was the group that appears twice, and hey, Kosciuszko is a mountain, so whats wrong with including it on the list?? Another great rock song from the Oils.

6 - King of the Hill – Tim Rogers
One of the stand out tracks on Tim’s 2004 album Spit Polish, this is a great little song that just rolls along. Nice stuff.

5 - Lights on the Hill – Slim Dusty
I once heard this song described (possibly by Slim himself) as the happiest sad song ever written. And that is a pretty apt description for the track, penned by Slim’s wife joy. The song is about a nasty car accident, where a driver is blinded by the lights on the hill and ends up dying. But the music is totally upbeat and cheerful, almost at odds with the lyrical content. I really like the song, I hope that doesn’t say anything about me…

4 – The Fool on the Hill – Beatles
Given their extensive back catalogue, the Beatles seem to make regular appearances on my list. This is a nice little song, with Paul taking the lead vocals.

3 - Middle of the Hill – Josh Pyke
Josh Pyke has been getting a good run in my recent lists, probably more so that my like of his stuff would warrant, but he has had appropriate tracks for the recent themes. This one however, is a genuinely good track, and possibly my favourite Josh Pyke track. I really love the lyrics in this track. As a sample, check out this: “When i was a kid i grew up in a house, On a hill not the top not the bottom but the middle and i still remember where i cracked my head in the vacant lot theres a row of tiny houses there now and we used to light fires in the gutters and i could cool my head on the concrete steps but the girl down the street hit my sister on the head with a stick and we hid behind my father as he knocked on her parents door to tell them what she did but the parents were drunk so they really didn’t give a shit”. And so it goes on, great great stuff.

2- Blueberry Hill – Fats Domino
What a beautiful song, there is just no other way of describing it. Whenever I hear it, it always brings a smile to my face. Even yesterday, I flicked the TV on and there was an old Happy Days episode, and what song should be playing in the background…you guessed it, Blueberry Hill. Lovely lovely stuff.

1 - River Deep, Mountain High – Ike and Tina Turner
My top hills and mountain song goes to Tina Turner’s River Deep Mountain High. A classy rock song, I was first introduced to it via Jimmy Barnes cover, which is excellent, but you can’t beat Tina’s original. The accolades for this song are pretty high – producer Phil Spector claimed it to be his best work, and George Harrison described it as a perfect record from start to finish. Although the song is credited to Ike and Tina, Spector famously paid Ike to stay away from the studio, so that his controlling instincts would not interfere with the recording process, and its only Tina’s vocals that can be heard on the track. It has now become one of Tina’s signature tunes.

So there it is, my top twenty hills and mountain songs. All feedback welcome – what have I left off the list that should be there? And also, suggestions for future topics are also gratefully received.