Name that tune — before it names you

Thu, 15 Feb 2001 20:00:00 +0000

1. "Gimme Shelter," the Rolling Stones
Foreboding and terror, and a life hanging off the edge of a guitar solo. Bonus: Merry Clayton's ululation of horror at song's end.

2. "Hellhound on My Trail," Robert Johnson
Like the man said, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean you don't have the devil on your ass.

3. "Every Breath You Take," the Police
Beneath its sweet arrangement and lilting rhythm guitar line lies an elegant and powerful hymn to stalking.

4. "Billie Jean," Michael Jackson
Under the nagging, irresistible backbeat of this epochal single, Jackson tells a tale of a one-night stand gone wrong. "The kid is not my son!" the singer yelps. Two things elevate it above a superstar's paranoid fantasy: First, there's the nightmarish tinge of the lyrics, in which the trial, a dream and the singer's memories of the night in question blur and intermingle. ("His eyes were like mine," Jackson marvels -- but it's not clear if it's a dream or not at that point.) And, second, there is the song's eerie prescience; in the end, it's a story about a superstar's paranoid fantasy become horribly real.

Salon.com > Entertainment staff

Name that tune — before it names you