2011 Top 10 Jim Songs Poll

Mine would be:

1) Big Love
2) If It's true
3) Nighvisiting
4) Long Lankin
5) Dives & Lazerus
6) Lord Willougby
7) Rufford Park
8) Poverty Knock
9) Lucy Wan
10)Fanny Blair

Merry Christmas everyone

Kez

I've been patiently waiting for Martin (bigsnitch) to reveal the result of the poll, but I couldn't bear the suspense any longer (!) so I've broken ranks and worked it out for myself. However, I won't tread on his toes by revealing the result (unless he wants me to). I will make a couple of observations though. I appreciate that it wasn't very scientific as only eight hardy souls (plus Jim) bothered to vote (where were the rest of you ?). Indeed, if a mate of mine had managed to get registered in time then This Is The Sound would have finished in second place - yay!!

Most interesting though is that between the nine of us, we managed to pick no less than 47 (yes, 47) different songs. Even ignoring the five that Jim chose that no-one did, presumably because most people hadn't yet heard them, and he used slightly different criteria anyway, then eight of us chose 42 different songs. I think that's a real tribute to the strength of the great man's output - and a nightmare if any record company execs should ever try to work out his most popular style.

Over to you Martin.

OMG, sorry guys, I forgot all about it. I'll get the results posted asap

Martin

Always room for ice cream
Always time for cake
So much chocolate, so little time

OK, so with apologies for forgetting to let you know the results earlier, here are the top 10 songs of 2011 as voted for by you and Jim himself.

There were 9 responses, a couple down on 2010, but bearing in mind that there wasn't much in the way of new material other than the MHC downloads, they were still enough to make a decent list.

01 (with 38 votes) - William Taylor
02 (with 34 votes) - Lord Douglas
03 (with 28 votes) - Nightvisiting
04 (with 26 votes) - Rufford Park Poachers
05 (with 22 votes) - Lucy Wan
06 (with 19 votes) - Hard, Long Lankin and Poverty Knock
07 (with 18 votes) - If It's True
08 (with 16 votes) - Black Joak
09 (with 15 votes) - Annachie Gordon, Bristol Harbour and Gilderoy
10 (with 14 votes) - Magic When You're Near

Just out of the top 10 were My Sweet Rose (13), Big Love, Spencer The Writer and This Is The Sound (12), Henry's Downfall and Who's The Fool (11).

I was surprised at how highly some of the songs scored (only because I'd not heard them at that time), only for them to turn up on Skulk a couple of weeks later.

So, we've got a new album, possibly more new material later in the year and an extensive tour and summer of festivals, so when we get to running the poll again towards the end of this year, I'd expect to see several of Jim's new songs scoring highly, and I suspect Seven Long Years may do very well (it's currently in pole position for 'douze points' from me at any rate).

Again, thanks to everyone who voted, thanks to Jim for such beautiful music and here's to a year full of live music and festivals.

Martin

Always room for ice cream
Always time for cake
So much chocolate, so little time

I don't think that you've got this quite right Martin.

This Is The Sound got 24 points (rather than 12) and thus should be placed fifth.

I agree with you about Seven Long Years though. It's the one track from Skulk that could well find its way into my future top 10.

I suspect that Lord Douglas will feature in a lot more people's lists next year too, now that we've got the 'finished' version, and must be the favourite to take top spot in next year's poll.

Thanks for pointing that out Matt.

When I looked at the spreadsheet earlier, I had the track on two rows, both with 12 votes, so, assuming I'd added an extra row in error, I deleted one of them. I'll go through the votes again and issue an amended Top 10 shortly.

Martin

Always room for ice cream
Always time for cake
So much chocolate, so little time

Thanks Martin, I'll bear this in mind for tour setlist-choosing time.

And thanks to everyone who voted. Lord Douglas in second place before it was even available is interesting...

Thanks to MATTG for pointing out a basic error in my spreadsheet (believe it or not, I worked in IT for 30 years!)

After a quick review and re-calculation, the Top 10 has changed slightly with Magic When You're Near dropping down to 11th place and This Is The Sound entering the chart at Number 5. The amended chart now looks like -

01 (with 38 votes) - William Taylor
02 (with 34 votes) - Lord Douglas
03 (with 28 votes) - Nightvisiting
04 (with 26 votes) - Rufford Park Poachers
05 (with 24 votes) - This Is The Sound
06 (with 22 votes) - Lucy Wan
07 (with 19 votes) - Hard, Long Lankin and Poverty Knock
08 (with 18 votes) - If It's True
09 (with 16 votes) - Black Joak
10 (with 15 votes) - Annachie Gordon, Bristol Harbour and Gilderoy

I promise to do better in the next poll

Martin

Always room for ice cream
Always time for cake
So much chocolate, so little time

Interesting - I consider myself a bit of a fan of Jim, and have shockingly never heard "This Is The Sound"!! Gonna have to try and get my hands on this!

I wonder how different the list would be now, since Skulk was released!?

Thanks for the effort in putting the list together Martin and collating all the info - I'm pleased that my favourite is at number 1!!

Cheers!
Ali

For Alison, and any others who may be wondering ...

This Is The Sound can be found on the B side of the 7" single of Barbara Allen - it's on purple vinyl too !!

It is my favourite Jim track. It doesn't really fit into any sort of "folk" category, it's actually a wonderful piece of pure pop. It is described in Jim's on-line shop as "Motown-influenced", but I think it sounds more like glam-rockers Wizzard, although this was not Jim's intention I believe. It's the sort of thing that could have been a massive hit in the 70s or 80s.

I suspect that it's not the sort of thing that Jim would really want to play live as it is rather unrepresentative of what he's doing now, or anything else he's ever done to be honest. Anyway it's fantastic - if it comes back into stock again I urge everyone to buy it !!!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/17/2012 01:23PM by MATTG.