The Third Greatest Love Song

Joan Jett of Arc - Clem Snide (2001)

I first wrote the following on September 6, 2006. It's still true today:

Shakespeare painted the Mona Lisa. DaVinci built the pyramids. Kennedy freed the slaves. Eef Barzelay wrote Joan Jett of Arc:

She’d fix me a dinner of sunflower seeds
And ready-whipped topping inhalers
And take me down south with Hall and Oates in her mouth
My first love, my Joan Jett of Arc

My black heart was heavy
But her mom’s Cougar was fast
As little pink houses were whistles
And it was all you can eat at the Sizzler that night
My steak-burning Joan Jett of Arc

The shopping malls and roller rinks all dimmed their lights
Cicadas and crickets were silent
And the train tracks like stitches skidding bicycle tires
As I slipped in my Joan Jett of Arc

And the birds that were crushed
Once had air in their bones
As oil was refined in her honor

Now here's something I just wrote today:

This song ranks so high because the songwriter beautifully chooses the elements of his most important relationship ("my first love") and tells an evocative story that could easily be a movie. Though some lines could be called "clever," Eef sings with a sincerity that could butter ten thousand pieces of toast. Plus, the last 3 lines are about as perfect as poetry gets.