Teenage angst has paid off well, now I'm bored and old ... Photograph: Martin Argles/Guardian
The north will rise again - slowly. After a faltering start which made me fear that this might be the biggest flop since songs about sport (look it up in the archive and witness the tumbleweed for yourself), the pace picked up and we ended up with some great suggestions. Half of the final 10 was new to me. Special thanks to ricb68 for the Wimple Winch tip, to RockingMitch for the back story on Gonna Send You Back to Walker, and to murphsup, whose assessment of It's Grim Up North influenced the final column.
I left out Dream Academy's song because it's really about Nick Drake and doesn't make me think of the north at all. I wonder how many mentions it would have got had it kept its original title, Morning Lasted All Day. I also chose to snub Pulp, the Arctic Monkeys and the Smiths in order to avoid a predictable playlist. As for Jarrow Song, what were you thinking? Awful on every conceivable level, it has now entered the dark corner of my desktop known as the Worst Music Ever folder, where it breathes the same fetid air as Duran Duran's version of 911 Is A Joke, Blue Mink's Melting Pot and that horrible Sandi Thom single. I would rather reenact the Jarrow march barefoot than ever hear it again.
Alan isn't on the B-list but this lot are: One More Grain (Northern), Ewan MacColl (Dirty Old Town), the Beatles (Penny Lane), Dream Academy (Life in a Northern Town), the Bangles (Going Down to Liverpool), Kaiser Chiefs (I Predict a Riot), Luke Haines (Leeds United), the Smiths (Suffer Little Children), Pulp (Sheffield: Sex City), the Stone Roses (Mersey Paradise), and Richard Hawley (Coles Corner).
This week, let's have songs about adolescence. Make them specific please, or else we'll have to contend with practically the entire first decade of rock'n'roll. We've already had the Beach Boys' When I Grow Up (To Be a Man), Steely Dan's Hey 19, Smashing Pumpkins' 1979, Busted's What I Go To School For and Belle & Sebastian's Expectations. Otherwise, get stuck in.
Go to your room and consult the Readers Recommend archive and A-Z. Deadline is midday on Monday. And don't speak to me in that tone of voice. The sacrifices your mother and I have made, etc.
