The Top 30 Songs Of The Day Of 2013: #20-11

Onward and upward.

20. "Gimme Mick," Gilda Radner (Feb. 17)
Our dearly beloved Gilda's in character as punk parody Candy Slice, those she looks more like Patti Smith (who was punk but not all the time) and the song sounds more like Graham Parker (who couldn't have cared less what we thought he was).

19. "Laisse Tomber Les Filles," France Gall (Mar. 16)
A song that found a measure of indie popularity when it was recorded by American singer April March in English under the name "Chick Habit." Proof that my plan to reanimate the le-le genre of French music is turning ever so gradually.

18. "Train of Thought," Cher (May 22)
A darkly desperate song with a cruel final twist. Featured after the death of skew-pop artiste Alan O'Day ("Undercover Angel"), who wrote it. What Cher was capable of without AutoTune, which is a lot.

17. "It's Just Not Cricket," The Duckworth Lewis Method (Jul. 14)
Also helped by the band's retweets. Social media is the new payola. Except I don't have anything to bribe them with. No, wait, it's the other way around, isn't it? I'd be a lousy white-collar criminal.

16. "Hippie from Olema," The Youngbloods (May 29)
Another Answer Week song -- there will be many more of those theme weeks in 2014 -- was this kindly rejoinder to Merle Haggard's "Okie from Muskogee." Jesse Colin Young tries to Get Together with the 'Necks. Inconclusive results.

15. "The Web of Love," Joi Lansing (Jun. 26)
From Scopitone Week. When production values were king. But then Scopitone wouldn't have settled for any less.

14. "I Want My Crown," Kevin Coyne (Jan. 18)
My favorite "moment" on the blog this year (not including the one that's coming up in two days, hint hint tease tease) was the onscreen, real-time conversation I had with King Dinösaur as we were both hearing the work of the late Kevin Coyne for the first time, simultaneously over selected YouTube videos and Spotify. King discovered a stark similarity between the cover of one of Coyne's albums and that of Eminem's Encore, a finding which blew Coyne's biographer's mind. Click the link, you'll see the whole drama unfold.

13. "The Day That Lorraine Came Down," P.J. Proby (Jun. 27)
Pre-career Led Zeppelin is the backup band on this song, which also set fans of semi-legendary British male solo singers a-twitter. There's our micro-demographic. We did pretty well with the solo Brit troubadours this year. Long John Baldry, your renaissance is coming.

12. "The Gonk," Herbert Chappell (Sep. 9)
From the Dawn Of the Dead soundtrack. Threw a bone to the ComiCon crowd. Plus some brains and a liver.

11. "I Miss You," Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes (Apr. 6)
I will go to my grave wondering what the hell that kid does at the supermarket. Teddy Pendergrass in full-on Philadelphia magic mode. I love you guys for loving this as much as you apparently did.

Tomorrow we trudge forward. Here's #30-21.