My Top 1000 Songs #395: To Be Someone

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

Returning to The Jam's third album, 1979's All Mod Cons; and like "Down In The Tube Station," "To Be Someone" exhibits the amazing growth & maturity developed by Paul Weller over a remarkably brief yet prolific period. This one's a bit more straightforward, some classic post-Kinks pop-rock hooks, yet akin to the Who's "A Quick One" (at about a third the length) manages to squeeze a sprawling multi-part mini-opera into a sprightly two and a half minutes.

I mean, really, the balls on this kid, barely a year into his career, hoisting out a densely-packed take on celebrity rise & fall, the riches and the fame and the drugs and the big comedown, not to mention nicking George Harrison's "Taxman" riff (not for the last time). Not a note is wasted. Absolutely exhilarating.

Live:

Oasis' Noel Gallagher with a nice acoustic version: