Top 50: 20-11
By Jake Vigliotti
11/15/10
To see the previous 10 selections, click here.
This may seem surprisingly low to some fans. It surprisingly fared well with the message-board fans, despite the fact that it was a radio release (usually a no-no for the hard-cores). No fans voted for the early incarnation of Leave Me Praying, and no one got cute and tried for the Weight Of The World version either.
The song scored amazingly well among all fans, catching top 10 votes from the message-board crowd, the more casual fan, and both men and women. Pretty much everyone likes You Never Know. It’s a deep and smart song; with a time change early in the song (which has to do with its origins, it was two songs joined together in studio). This is the least played live top 20 song, with a mere 70 plays through 2009. Zero plays in 2010.
The song finished consistently in the top 20 on most ballots, with only a few fans opting to leave it off completely. Bartender may very well hold the distinction of being the most popular DMB song to debut at a Dave and Tim show. The song was already popular with fans in 1999 when it made it to the studio for the aborted Lillywhite Sessions. The song to many fans is nostalgic as well; no one can forget Leroi’s wonderful pennywhistle playing, with his iconic “If I Only Had A Brain” interpolation. It has become a live-show staple for fans to sing along as Jeff carries on the tradition of playing the interpolation.
This is the lowest-placed song to receive more than one first place vote. This song is another radio release that scored well with the internet crowd, although most of them probably knew it from its 2000 debut. A few fans specifically mentioned the now-absent “third verse” version, but there still aren’t too many complains when the band strikes up Grey Street at a show.
In early 1991, when a nervous (by his own admission) Dave gave a mix tape to Leroi and Carter to hear, to ask if they’d join him to put a band behind his works, the two elder musicians agreed; there was some potential in the song Recently. Many fans might not realize that technically it was their first radio single, getting play on college stations with a radio cut of a live version of the song. The song has been very long, truncated, and in 2010 picked up in its jam. It’s also featured a plethora of interpolations, from Al Green to Blood Sweat And Tears. Fans still dig it, but it did better with the 30 year old + crowd.
It’s the 2010 song of the year for fans. It seemingly came out of nowhere in West Palm Beach, and then worked its way into rotation on the fall tour. It’s always been popular with fans, but reached mythic proportions in recent years. As you can guess, it’s the doppelganger of Recently. Younger fans, especially who had not heard the song during its heavy-rotation years of 1998-99 scored the song considerably higher than those who heard the song in those years.
In the short list of identifying songs for DMB, Tripping Billies is certainly one of them. It received a fair amount of top 10 votes, with only a few ballots leaving Billies off completely. The song seems universally respected by fans, to the point of perhaps underrating it.
The song has been a fan-favorite since its first play in 1998. Look around a crowd next time it’s played, and you’ll probably find a couple singing (or screaming) it to each other. Across all spectrums of fans, the song placed in the top 20, and had a strong showing in the top 10 on a few ballots.
In 2006, it was the present-time Last Stop. Fans were very hungry for the song, and when it finally got played, the message-board crowd loved it. The song is easily a top 10 song among those who frequent the internet, but for others… not so much. You know how sometimes when a great song is being played, and you see fans sitting down, and you’re screaming “Get up!” Well, they just don’t like Dreaming Tree that much. We can try and ridicule them, and call Dreaming Tree the Radiohead of DMB songs, but it’s not going to change the fact that some people just don’t care for it.
To some fans, it was the first song they heard from DMB, as the opening track from Under The Table And Dreaming. To some older fans, it’s the song that Dave used to play solo, and dedicate to his mom (the title comes from a phrase she uttered occasionally). Everyone likes “Best”, it made its way onto every ballot. It got a few top 10’s and a few bottom 10’s, but the song appeals to everyone.
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