Best Pavement Songs Ever?

17dots, a blog authored by Emusic employees, spent this week counting down the 20 best Pavement songs ever (NOTE: I had provided links to their separate lists, but they've since aggregated their week-long countdown into a single post).

Naturally, I've started thinking about my own list. Just thinking about it turns my brain to mush. Even without taking any tracks from Brighten the Corners or Terror Twilight (I'm not a fan of either record), I'd have a hard time winnowing down my love for Pavement into just 20 songs. That's because their first three records, and just about all their singles, are flawless to my flawed ears. I mean, Wowee Zowee alone has 18 tracks, all of them genius. It's probably my favorite record EVAR. Add in their first two records and their innumerable singles and EPs, and there's an embarrassment of riches.

Really, I think 17dots is a pretty good proxy for my own list. Like me, Yancey (the 17dots guy) doesn't much dig on those last two records. And he seems to draw the most material from Wowee Zowee. So our take on SM, Spiral Stairs, and Co. seems to meld pretty well. A few obvious changes I'd make:

• Grounded would be #1, not #4. That's a quibble, but as hard as it is to make a list of 20, making a list of one is pretty easy. Grounded is the best song that band ever did. Period.
• I'd remove Shady Lane. Don't get me wrong, that song is probably the prettiest, catchiest melody SM ever wrote. But he poisoned it with vacuous lyrics. Can't stand it.
  
• In the place where Shady Lane was, I'd insert Father to a Sister of a Thought.
  

Hmm. Now that I'm thinking of it, I'd probably make some other changes too. I feel a mix comin' on cuz. I feel a mix comin' on cuz...