Neil from IT

I suppose I better start of with me. I am a Local Gov Web Manager and Norwich City season ticket holder. Buddhist, Baha'i and Bengali all by association. Afraid of Filipino women and the King of Diets.

After 30 years of listening to music these these are the 10 songs that mean the most to me. Try not to judge...

1) Love Me, Love The Life I Lead by The Drifters
Probably the most significant moment of my musical life was when my sister bought my parents a Greatest Hits of the Drifters record around 1982. It was the first record I remember putting on. It was the first record I remember learning all the words to. It was the first (and by no means last) time I pretended to be in an R&B Soul vocal group. It lead me to Motown which has lead me to everything else. The song I have chosen, I found on a record I bought at an antique(?) shop near the Iron Bridge around 1986 for the best part of a pound...

2) In the Middle of it All - Arthur Alexander
A simply beautiful song by another bloke no one has heard of. This song has been second on my list of most played songs for a couple of years (Behind a song by Shaznay Lewis). The piano gets me every time...

3) Red Light Spells Danger - Billy Ocean
One of Billy's lesser known songs but one that reminds me of driving around my home city with my best mates Michael, Fish and Johnny. We used to like listening to stuff no one else would and winding down windows and nod knowingly at pretty, yet disinterested girls or wearing Johnny's mum's sunglasses and shooting passers by with imaginary weaponry.

4) Waltzing Along - James
James are usually the answer I ended up giving when someone asks me who my favourite band are. I love everything. The energy and drive that the band are able to create, the love and passion in the lyrics and the delivery of Tim Booth come together to create something quite rare. I saw them at the Brixton Academy and I went home feeling like i'd been lifted to new heights.

5) F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E - Pulp

If I don't say "James" when someone asks who my favourite band are, I say, "Pulp!" Another band that made my youth. The 90s were precious years for me. I set out on my own and met those who have shaped my life almost entirely for the better. Bar Italia (Another Pulp classic about this cafe in Soho) also do the best Bernard Matthews Turkey Escalope sandwich I've ever had...

6) Across the Universe - The Beatles
This song is one that reminds me of my mum. We used to sing together when I was at College, with me on guitar, and this was a song we loved so recorded on C60 the week before I went to University. She played it to death when I left as she missed me so much. She still sings it...

7) She Crawls Away - Hootie and the Blowfish
A band that is not much more than a footnote these days but for me they were incredible. Beautiful words, melodies and a voice to die for. I could of gone for any number of songs but this one, for me, has the best middle 8 since We Can Work It Out by the Beatles...

8) Suicide is Painless - Johnny Mandel
When I moved to London it was tough and then I moved in with a bloke I met at a party. We didn't say much but in a hungover state the next morning we (and my best mate Michael) invented "Claw Hammer Sock Cricket." The rules were simple. You had to remain seated, the fielder had a baseball mitt, the bowler had a punk Mohawk wig and delivered the sock underarm to a hammer wielding batsman. Well the dye was cast and I moved in with him. Rab and I watched MASH all the time, drunk gin all the time and had a remote controlled jeep to pass sweets and the remote control across the very tiny lounge. God bless you, Derek (The action figure that came with the jeep who was almost decapitated in a Ski Jump accident)

9) What You'll Miss by The Lucksmiths
I have only met two people who have heard of The Lucksmiths and I can't work out why a band who write the most beautiful songs full melancholy and whimsy were never popular. This is a song about post break up and I know far too much about that subject.

What You'll Miss from The Lucksmiths on Myspace.

10) I've Got Dreams To Remember - Otis Redding
The greatest singer of all time singing the most painful song about lost love.