so we hold each other tightly

Before we finally consign 2005 to the archives, here's one last retrospective from me. As sort of requested by Ben, here's the complete list of Earworms for 2005 - either nominated as an Earworm of the Year, or as selected by one of the Guest Editors.

As you'll see, we're a pretty diverse bunch aren't we?

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ABC – King Without A Crown; Ryan Adams – 1974; Akon – Lonely; Alabama 3 – Flag; Amadou and Mariam – Beaux Dimanches; Amerie – 1 Thing; Julie Andrews – Do Re Mi; Arcade Fire – Wake Up, Crown of Love; The Arctic Monkeys – I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor; Louis Armstrong – Basin Street Blues; Art Brut – Bad Weekend; Ash – Orpheus, Envy; Audioslave – Doesn’t Remind Me; Bach – Cantata 140; Basement Jazz – Oh My Gosh, Jus One Kiss; Beastie Boys – No Sleep til Brooklyn; The Beatles – Hey Jude; The Beatles & The Monkees – Paperback Believer; Belle & Sebastian – The Boy With The Arab Strap; Berlin – Take My Breath Away; Brendon Benson – Life in the D, What I’m Looking For; Beyonce – Crazy in Love; Hildegard von Bingen – O Quam Mirabilis Est and O Virtus Sapiente; Black Eyed Peas – My Humps, Hey Momma; Blind Willie Johnson – Nobody’s Fault But Mine; Bloc Party – This Modern Love, So Here We Are; Blondie – Goldenrod; James Blunt – Goodbye My Lover, You’re Beautiful; Bodyrockers – I Like The Way; Bon Jovi – Runaway; Asha Boshle – Dum Maro Dum; David Bowie – Space Oddity; Laura Branigan – Ti Amo; David Brent – Free Love Freeway; Bright Eyes – Road to Joy; British Sea Power – Please Stand Up; Brother Beyond – The Harder I Try; BRMC – Shuffle Your Feet, White Palms; Carbon Leaf – Life Less Ordinary; Mariah Carey – All I Want For Christmas Is You; Johnny Cash – Unchained, Daddy Sang Bass; Chicago OST – All That Jazz; Tony Christie – (Is This The Way To) Amarillo, I Did What I Did For Maria; Circus Themes; Eric Clapton – Layla; Kelly Clarkson – Because of You, Since You’ve Been Gone, Beautiful Disaster; Clearlake – It’s Getting Light Outside, Finally Free; Climie Fisher – Love Changes Everything; Coldplay – Speed of Sound, Fix You, Everything’s Not Lost; Paula Cole – Feelin’ Love; The Coral – Arabian Sand; Elvis Costello – Oliver’s Army; Crazy Frog – Axel F; The Creation – Making Time; Dangermouse – 99 Problems; The Darkness – One Way Ticket; Del Amitri – Spit in the Rain; Depeche Mode – Personal Jesus; Devdas OST – Dhola Ray; Ani Di Franco – Out of Habit; Disneyland Paris – It’s A Small World; Disturbed – Land Of Confusion; Divine Comedy – Gin Soaked Boy; Dixie Chicks – Top Of The World; Mike Doughty – Ways & Means; Dresden Dolls – War Pigs; Drowning Pool – Bodies; Bob Dylan – Bob Dylan’s Dream; The Eagles – Hotel California; Editors – Blood, Munich; The Egg – Venice Beach; Elbow – Forget Myself; Enter The Haggis – Casualties of Retail; Eurythmics – Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This); Faithless – Insomnia; Sabah Fakhiri – Al Ouzoubia; Fallout Boy – Sugar We’re Going Down; Flypside – Revolutionary Beats; Folk Round – Row Row Row Your Boat; Foo Fighters – Virginia Moon, The One; JD Fortune – Pretty Vegas; Foundations – Build Me Up Buttercup; Futureheads – First Day, Hounds of Love; Franz Ferdinand – The Fallen, Do You Want To?; Peter Gabriel – In Your Eyes; Garbage – Sex Is Not The Enemy; Marvin Gaye – Let’s Get it On; Sophia George – Girlie Girlie; Astrid Gilberto – Girl From Ipanema; Philip Glass – Another Look At Harmony Part IV; GLC – Your Missus Is A Nutter; Go Home Productions – Ray of Gob; Going On A Bear Hunt; Gomez – Do One; Gonzales – The Joy of Thinking; Matthew Good – Lullaby For A New World Order; Gorillaz – DARE, Feel Good Inc.; David Gray – The One I Love; Green Day – Wake Me Up When September Ends, Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Holiday; Buddy Guy – Feels Like Rain; Har Mar Superstar – Transit; Hard Fi – Living For The Weekend, Hard To Beat; Ben Harper – Pleasure and Pain; Haysi Fantasi – John Wayne is a Big Leggy; Murray Head – One Night In Bangkok; Heart – All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You; Heaven 17 – Temptation; Holy Grail – Hunters & Collectors; Hoobastank – Running Away; John Lee Hooker – Boom Boom; Whitney Houston – I Will Always Love You; Hot Hot Heat – Jingle Jangle; Howlin’ Wolf – Smokestack Lightning; Idir – Fable; Indigo Girls – Love’s Recovery; Interpol – Not Even Jail, Evil; Into The Woods OST – No One Is Alone; Jackdaw4 – The Day I Wrote The Book; Michael Jackson – The Lady In My Life; Kalyl Jag – Suki Romnyl Gogyaver; The Jam – Tied Up Too Tight; James – Say Something; Jem – Just A Ride; Norah Jones – Ruler Of My Heart; Joy Zipper – 1; Jungle Book OST – The Bare Necessities; Kaiser Chiefs – I Predict A Riot, Every Day I Love You Less and Less; Valery Kalistratov – Tan’u, Tan’ushka; Kelis – Millionaire; Kid Carpet – Nelson Street Space Invaders; The Killers – Mr Brightside, All These Things That I’ve Done; Kings Of Leon – King of the Rodeo, Day Old Blues; David Kitt – Strange Light; KLF – Justified & Ancient; Patsy Kline – Crazy, South of the Border; Chantal Kreviazuk – Weight of the World; Kris Kristofferson – The Taker; Lacuna Coil – Entwined; kd lang – Helpless; The Las – Looking Glass; LCD Soundsystem – Losing my Edge; Led Zeppelin – When The Levee Breaks; Ben Lee – Cigarettes Will Kill You; Leftfield – Phat Planet; Ute Lemper – Ne Me Quitte Pas; Little Spanish Flea; Andrew Lloyd Webber – Memories; Lobo – Me and You and a Dog Called Boo; Low – Broadway (So Many People); Lyrics Born – I’m Just Raw; Jamiroquai – Feels Just Like It Should; John Lennon – (Just Like) Starting Over; Jack Johnson – Where Have All The Good People Gone?; Joy Division – Transmission, Love Will Tear Us Apart; Magic Numbers – Love Me Like You, Forever Lost, Wheels On Fire; Manu Chao – Merry Blues; Willy Mason – Oxygen; Matisyahu – King Without A Crown; Maximo Park – Apply Some Pressure, Once A Glimpse; Dave McCormack & The Polaroids – The Faith Healer; Tom McGraw – Live Like You Were Dying; MC Hammer – You Can’t Touch This; Mercury Rev – Secret For A Song; Mew – Special; Metallica – The Outlaw Torn, One; George Michael – One More Try; Kylie Minogue – I Believe In You, Shocked; Missy Higgins – The Special Two; Modern Groove Syndicate – Big Business; Modey Lemon – Tongues (Everybody’s Got One); Moulin Rouge OST – Come What May, Elephant Love Medley; Mudvayne – Fall Into Sleep; Muse – Time Is Running Out; Anna Nalick – Paper Bag, Breathe; Nelly – Ride Wit Me; New Order – Regret, Waiting For The Sirens Call; Nickelback – Photograph; Nickel Creek – This Side; NIN – Closer, The Hand That Feeds; Nirvana – Heart Shaped Box; No Mercy – Missing; Notorious BIG – Warning; Offspring – Staring At The Sun; OK Go – Do What You Want; Mike Oldfield – Tubular Bells part I; Ozomatli – Como Ves; Dolly Parton – Jolene; Peter, Paul & Mary – Gone The Rainbow; Pink – Gone To California; The Pixies – Krackity Jones, Gigantic; The Police – Every Breath You Take; Elvis Presley – If I Can Dream, Kentucky Rain; Primus – Ballad of Bodacious; Prince – The Beautiful Ones; Public Enemy – Hell No We Ain’t Alright, Gett Off My Back; Pussycat Dolls – Don’t Cha; R Kelly – I Believe I Can Fly, Ignition; Radiohead – Go To Sleep; Razorlight – Somewhere Else; Leon Redbone – Up A Lazy River; Re-Flex – Hurt; REM – Losing My Religion; Revolting Cocks – Do Ya Think I’m Sexy; Rhianna – Pon De Replay; LeeAnn Rimes – Probably Wouldn’t Be This Way; Royksopp – Only This Moment; Roxette – Joyride; Roxy Music – On The Radio; The Saints – The Music Goes Round My Head; Savage Garden – I Want You; Max Sedgefield – Happy; Silver Sun – Immediate; Simon & Garfunkel – Mrs. Robinson, America; Nina Simone – I Love You Porgy, Ain’t Got No (I Got Life); Nancy Sinatra – These Boots Are Made For Walking; Bob Sinclair – Love Generation; Siouxie Sioux – Dear Prudence; The Smiths – Sweet And Tender Hooligan; Snoop Dogg – Drop it Like It’s Hot; The Soggy Bottom Boys – Man Of Constant Sorrow; Something Corporate – I Woke Up In A Car; Sonic Youth – Sugar Kane; Spandau Ballet – Gold; Speedstar – Unbreakable; Spice Girls – Goodbye; Dusty Springfield – Son Of A Preacher Man, If You Go Away; Bruce Springsteen – The River; Candi Staton – You Got The Love; Gwen Stefani – Luxurious, Hollaback Girl, If I Were A Rich Girl; Stereophonics – Dakota, Rewind; The Stone Roses – Breaking Into Heaven; Soundtrack of Our Lives – Mind the Gap; Rod Stewart – Handbags & Gladrags; Sugababes – Ugly, Hole in the Head, Push That Button; Supergrass – Richard III; System of a Down – Lost In Hollywood, Violent Pornography; JodyTalbot – So Long And Thanks For All The Fish; Thomas Tallis – If Ye Love Me; Tchaikovsky – 1812 Overture; The Tears – Refugees; Teenage Fanclub – I Don’t Want Control Of You; Sebastian Tellier – La Ritournelle; They Might Be Giants – Alphabet of Nations; Richard Thompson – Taking My Business Elsewhere; Traditional – Angels We Have Heard On High; KT Tunstall – Suddenly I See, The Other Side of The World; Twisted Sister – We’re Not Going To Take It; U2 – Vertigo, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Miracle Drug; Keith Urban – You’ll Think of me; Luther Vandross – Never Too Much; Van Halen – Why Can’t This Be Love; The Vapours – Turning Japanese; Giuseppe Verdi – A Terra Addio; The Verve – Bittersweet Symphony; Richard Wagner – O Sink Herneider, Nacht de Liebe; Rufus Wainwright – Gay Messiah, I Don’t Know What It Is; The Wedding Present – Everyone Thinks He Looks Daft; Weezer – Undone (the sweater song), Beverly Hills; Gilian Welch – Revelator; Kanye West – Gold Digger; White Stripes – I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself, Blue Orchid, My Doorbell; The Who – 5.15; Wildhearts – Nita Nitro; Brian Wilson – Good Vibrations; Andrew Winn – Goodbye Yesterday; XTC – Major of Simpleton

phew!

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For the record, I also attended something like 19 gigs this year: The Dears (Rescue Rooms, 7th Feb), Thirteen Senses (Rescue Rooms, 5th March), Athlete (Rock City, 9th March), Rufus Wainwright (Royal Concert Hall, 14th April), U2 (Twickenham, 19th June), The Glastonbury Festival (24-26 June), Coldplay (Bolton Reebok Stadium, 4th July), REM (Nottingham City Ground, 6th July), JJ72 (Rescue Rooms, 14th Sept), The Editors (Rescue Rooms, 27th Sept), Bloc Party (Rock City, 16th Oct), KT Tunstall (Rock City, 31st Oct), The Bluetones (Rescue Rooms, 13th Nov), Starsailor (Rock City, 15th Nov), The Bravery (Rock City, 20th Nov), Alan Fletcher (Nottingham Walkabout, 27th Nov), Franz Ferdinand (Nottingham Arena, 29th Nov), Embrace (Rock City, 13th Dec) & Verbal Warning (The Old Angel, 23rd Dec).

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Enough lists already.

With that, I'm closing the book on 2005.

All that remains to be said before taking my weary fingers off the keyboard is to wish you all a Happy New Year.... I brought mine in sharing a glass or two of champagne with C. at home. I hope you were as lucky.

Thanks again for all your votes and contributions over the last year, and let's hope there's lots more to come in 2006, eh?

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[The 2005 Guest Editors in full: Flash, The Urban Fox, Lord Bargain, Retro-Boy, Statue John, Ben, OLS, Ka, Jenni, Aravis, Yoko, Bee, Charlie, Tom, Di, Spin, The Ultimate Olympian, Damo, Mike, RedOne, The NumNum, Leah, Le Moine Perdu, clm, Michael, Hyde, Adem, Alecya, bytheseashore, adamant, Earworms of the Year 2005 -- thanks guys! Volunteers for 2006 welcome...]