21. Knee Socks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQeQd5HHn-A Artist: Arctic Monkeys Album: 'AM' Year: 2013 Best lyric: "The ghost in your room that you always thought didn't approve of you knocking boots / Never stopped you letting me get hold of the sweet spot by the scruff of your / Knee socks." There are guitarists - Graham Coxon comes to mind - who are architects of the unwinding ending, the echo that spirals from a guitar like the misty sleepiness you feel before you hit the pillow. Josh Homme however can moan in a darkened room, and it has the same effect. It's a perfect culmination for 'Knee Socks', a buoyant yet mystical track that melds a falsetto chorus to some of Alex's deepest vocals, via a lovely reference to 'R U Mine?'. Somehow, it's perfect that the former mentor of the band should ghost over the outro, add enigmatic smoke to the catchy melody and show us all how far the band have come since he produced 'Humbug'. He may be have made it so, but 'Knee Socks' proves that Homme can make a Monkeys cameo without stealing the show.
20. The Time Has Come Again
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDg2626ZHKc Artist: The Last Shadow Puppets Album: 'The Age of the Understatement' Year: 2008 Best lyric: "Without permission / His face became wet / He thought that he learned / How to not get upset." 'The Time Has Come Again' may be the saddest Alex Turner song ever. Even the title is heartbreaking. Just a plucked acoustic, some soaring violins and a shedload of reverb keeps Al company, as he waves goodbye to the observational songwriting that made his name. This is a full stop on a part of his life, and whilst '505' does much the same thing, 'The Time Has Come Again' perhaps has the edge in the tearjerking stakes, as its criminally underplayed. It's almost as if this song was too upsetting to make a big deal of. Because let's face it, it's good enough to make a big deal of.