Celebrating our incredible local music scene, we’re continuing our countdown of the top 100 local songs of all time.

Reminder of the ground rules: Orange, Durham, and Chatham-based artists only; no more than three songs per artist; covers are allowed but originals are preferred; and the songs have to be radio-friendly. (Though in one case this week, we did stretch that last rule a bit.)

On with the show!

90. Queen Sarah Saturday, “Lift” (1993)

“Sometimes I don’t know why…”

We’ll encounter a bunch of great 90s-era bands on this list, but it doesn’t get much more 90s than this. Ryan Pickett’s guitar riffs, Johnny Irion’s gritty-yet-soaring vocals, Chris Holloway’s bass and Zeke Hutchins’ drums all combine for a sound that, at its best, proudly rivals anything Alice in Chains or Soundgarden ever did. Not bad for a band just a couple years out of Northern High.

“Lift” is my choice, but Queen Sarah Saturday actually had an even bigger hit with “Seems” – which got included on the soundtrack of the film Empire Records. Okay, now it can’t get any more 90s.

  1. Winfield, “Daisy Ridley” (2018)

“I hope I’m wrong about you…”

Queen Sarah Saturday also had a minor hit called “Robert Deniro,” but for great local songs named after famous actors, this one’s the standout. (No, the lyrics don’t have much to do with Daisy Ridley. Just go with it.) “Daisy” explodes out of the gate with a great riff, pulls in Victoria Roy’s stellar alt-rock vocals, briefly flirts with Veruca Salt at the start of the chorus, then jets off again in its own powerful direction. Winfield also released a terrific self-titled EP earlier this year, but this is still their best work – so far.

  1. Rissi Palmer, “Seeds” (2019)

“When they bury our dreams, we push ‘em up through concrete…”

Rissi Palmer burst onto the country-music scene in 2007 with a self-titled album and a hit single, “Country Girl,” which became the first song by a Black woman to make the Billboard country charts in two decades. It took twelve long years for the follow-up (outside of a 2013 children’s album), but it was worth the wait: Revival, released in 2019, combines country, gospel and soul for a powerful, personal, and highly political statement that surpasses everything that came before. “Seeds,” the album’s first single, is Palmer at her best: responding to the murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, Palmer channels her anger and releases it in a hopeful message of uplift that never loses sight of the injustice from which it sprang.

  1. The Comas, “All Over the School” (2000)

“You won’t kiss anybody else but a fool…”

First formed in 1998, the Comas had their biggest success with the 2004 album Conductor, but I always come back to this catchy, affably snarky song (with some pretty gorgeous strings) off their debut LP A Def Needle in Tomorrow.

They are saying “feel the lemur,” though, right? Somebody please confirm I’m not crazy. (Apparently the Comas used to sell t-shirts with a lemur on it? I. Want. That. Shirt.)

  1. G Yamazawa (f. Joshua Gunn and Kane Smego), “North Cack” (2017)

“I’m the safe, the cellar and the vault…”

National poetry-slam champ G Yamazawa’s debut album Shouts to Durham is a full-length tribute to the Bull City, but this one right here is Durham’s anthem: an homage to its food, its accent, its people, its politics, its vibe, its identity, and its soul. “North Cack” also happens to be one of the best songs ever to come out of the Triangle hip-hop scene, from several of the scene’s best artists. (Honorable mention to Joshua Gunn’s “Marathon” – which, like Rissi Palmer’s “Seeds,” crafts a message of empowerment from an outcry against injustice.)

  1. Polvo, “Vibracobra” (1992)

“Maybe on the second try you’ll win…”

The opening track from a seminal 90s-era Chapel Hill band’s best album, with a long instrumental intro and a slow-burn build to a rocking climax? Superchunk’s “Like A Fool” also fits that same description, but Polvo gets the nod here for this Eastern-inflected, killer opening to 1992’s Cor-Crane Secret. (I think the secret is that I don’t know what a cor-crane is.) Ash Bowie and Dave Brylawski get the most ink for their innovative guitar work, but Vibracobra’s star may actually be the late, great Eddie Watkins on drums.

Speaking of that long instrumental intro: if you’re counting, the vocals here don’t kick in until the 1:58 mark. That’s Dandy Warhols territory there.

  1. North Elementary, “Undressed and a Place to Go” (2014)

“Get out of your head, you’ve killed the messenger again…”

John Harrison has been a major presence in the Chapel Hill music scene for twenty years. How do you pick one song? JPhono1’s “Traces All Around” was a strong contender, but we’ll go with this catchy, driving track off North Elementary’s 2014 album Honcho Poncho. This is great work from the entire band: Harrison and Sean Parker lead the way on guitar and Betty Rupp shines on keys and backing vocals. Special shoutout to drummer Chad Coward and bassist Jimmy Thompson, though: as with “Vibracobra,” the rhythm section here is the unsung hero.

John Harrison got his start with the Comas, incidentally. You think he still has one of those shirts?

  1. The Butchies, “She’s So Lovely” (2004)

“I’m scared but not alone…”

Unabashedly queer at a time when queerness was still radically transgressive, Kaia Wilson, Alison Martlew, and Melissa York already had three great albums under their belt when “Make Yr Life” dropped in 2004 – their last, sadly, before Wilson moved back to Portland. “Send Me You” was the single from the album, but we’ll go with “She’s So Lovely” – which, notwithstanding the title, has a slightly more jagged and punky edge. Both songs are great, though: sensual and physically hot, with all the pent-up emotional anxiety of that leap-of-faith moment when you confess your feelings without knowing what’ll happen next – and the cathartic release of learning they feel the same way. Go to hell, Franklin Graham.

  1. Snatches of Pink, “Undead” (1992)

“Things that we left unsaid…”

Michael Rank has carved out a great musical legacy across multiple genres over the last 30 years, but it all started with Snatches of Pink (aka Clarissa, sometimes). And they were never better than this little knockout of a song on their 1992 album Bent With Pray, blending Rank’s gravelly vocals with sweet acoustic guitar work reminiscent of “Wanted Dead or Alive.” (No one said anything about undead.) Again, though, the drums may be the star – no surprise, because SOP had the legendary Sara Romweber behind the kit. This is the first time we’re hearing Romweber on this list; it won’t be the last.

  1. Iron & Wine, “Call It Dreaming” (2017)

“For all the love you’ve left behind, you can have mine…”

At its best (and that’s pretty often), Sam Beam’s music is both smooth and wrenching, and both sad and joyous – sad because it’s joyous, joyous because it’s sad. “Call It Dreaming” is an existentialist masterpiece about embracing the ineffable, transcendent beauty of overcoming a painful past in an uneasy present with nothing ahead but an uncertain and limited future. It’s as close to Albert Camus as the local music scene’s ever gotten – with a much silkier voice than I imagine Camus would have had. (He was quite the smoker, that one.)

Next week: the signature hit of an immortal blues legend; two brand-new songs make the list; the Pressure Boys look to the east.

 


 

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