Part Six as I pick two songs from every year of my life based on the songs that were important to me at the time or have had a lasting impact on the me. The ground rules are in the first entry. Rest of the list is here.

1983
“Radio Free Europe” - R.E.M.
Plenty of R.E.M. songs are better and nothing tops meeting the band in Ireland with my older daughter right after her high school graduation. But in '83, not knowing who they were and seeing them open for the English Beat, I was immediately hooked.

“Let's Say Goodnight” - Los Lobos
From their EP “... And a Time to Dance,” a record I played at least twice a day for three months. I could listen to it at 6 in the morning or during dinner for this was the music I had heard in my head for years that did not exist yet in the real world. 

1984
“Jesus & Tequila” - The Minutemen
“Unsatisfied” - The Replacements

My first real taste of indie rock — in attitude and sound — and I was instantly hooked. Nothing was as dogmatic and liberating as the Minutemen; nothing connected as viscerally as the Replacements. For a good while “Unsatisfied” and “I Will Dare” were my theme songs; the Minutemen was the band I wanted to be in.

1985
“Makes No Sense at All” - Husker Du
“Walking around with my head in the clouds”: There's not a better line to define the year, one of significant change, owing mainly to the birth of my first daughter, two job changes and finally settling in a place I rather liked, Connecticut.

“Sorrow, Tears and Blood” - Fela Kuti
Not sure why it was happening but in 1984 and '85 African musicians were making their way to  Boston to perform. (I was living in New Hampshire). The one time I saw Fela was in some god-forsaken club and I could not tell you what year it was but the experience was unbelievable — I just remember the album out at that time was from Shanachie and this was on it. Years later, seeing his son Femi perform was another eye-opener.

1986
“Levi Stubbs' Tears” - Billy Bragg
Woody Guthrie is not a name you toss around lightly in my book and nor is Levi Stubbs, the ferocious lead singer of the Four Tops. A rarity in the songwriting world - a man who writes with conviction about romance and politics - Bragg was a great chronicler of the Reagan-Thatcher years. Wordsmith as a thorn in the side - a brilliant concept that has not been topped since.

“Sledgehammer” - Peter Gabriel
The “So” show was one of my all-time favorite concerts; “Sledgehammer” one of the great car radio jams that never seems to age; and Nick Park's video was my favorite of the 20th century. (Also vying for the top: David Bowie “Ashes to Ashes” and the Clash “This is Radio Clash”). 

1987
“Ngicabange Ngaqeda” - Mahlathini & the Mahotella Queens
The Howlin Wolf of South Africa, “Graceland” and “The Indestructible Beat of Soweto” led to an African feeding frenzy. It was not until 1990 that I got to see the act - with West Nkosi on guitar - and at that time they seemed to be one of the more invigorating acts on the planet.

“Have a Little Faith in Me” - John Hiatt
I interviewed John when this album came out, phone on my shoulder, pen in hand and a squirming daughter on my lap. “Having children,” John said, “is the only time one plus one does not equal two. It comes out somewhere around 3.2 in terms of how many people you feel like you're watching.” So true. P.S. Great as his version was on the album, it was even more riveting in performance on the tour that accompanied.