My, 10 reasons to listen to Pete Doherty

I came across a blog listing ten reasons to listen to Pete Doherty, the list was good, but I don’t think I agree with the song choice entirely. To make it clear, ‘Pete Doherty’ includes his solo acoustic work, Babyshambles, Babyshambles & Friends and of course the Libertines.

Why you wonder?

Well Pete Doherty is one of the best lyricists and musician to appear in the last decade, and for some reason alot of people have it in for him, mainly the people who read newspapers with red ink and listen to the scummy little men like Pierce Morgan…Anyway, my disgust for the tabloid press aside – the list!

It probably better to start at ten

10 – ‘You Talk’ by Babyshambles, from Shotters Nation. Probably one of my favorite songs from the album, a little more up beat lyrically than the other songs, not your usual fare from Babyshambles, but it is a good change.

9 – Arbeit Mach Frei by The Libertines. This song sounds amazing on the album, fast, short and with no wasted lyrics – the 1 minute 09 second song is about the irony of racism – “He don’t like blacks or queers, Yet he’s proud we beat the Nazi’s. How queer?”. The title is the german phrase that was written on the entrances to concentration camps, meaning Work Brings Freedom.

8 – Cant Stand Me Now by The Libertines. For any Libertines fan, this song is just incredible. Obviously after the 2004 album ‘the libertines’, the band split up, this was the first song on the final album, and the lyrics describe the situation at that point in time with a brutal honesty. Before the band split up, when playing this song Pete apparently ran off stage a number of times and even fought with Carl on stage.

7 – Albion by Babyshambles. This song paints a picture of Pete’s Britain in my opinion, and I think any Brit who listens to this can relate to something in the lyrics. I dont really know how to describe this song, its about Albion really. Albion being an ancient name for Great Britain.

6 – Lost Art Of Murder by Pete Doherty. This song is on Shotters Nation album by Babyshambles, but its Pete’s song and it is performed acoustically by him without the band – so really it is a solo effort. There is rumor at the moment that Pete is going to be releasing a solo album next year, here’s hoping. Apparently the original version of this song was alot darker, but the current version is the only one that has been released. Maybe there will be something on www.frenchdogblues.com in the future.

5 – Janie Jones by Babyshambles & Friends. This was released for the charity Strummerville. It is one of the best covers I have ever heard.

4 – Music When the Lights Go Out by The Libertines. The link for this song, is of an acoustic version performed by Pete Doherty, though this is a Libertines song. There is nothing else to describe this song other than simply poetic. It is not widely known, that Pete Doherty won national poetry competitions and attended Cambridge university, but dropped out before he co founded the Libertines.

3 – Up the bracket by the Libertines. One of the first songs that brought the Libertines their fame. The speed, energy and lyrics of this song pretty much sums up the Libertines. You can still see Carl Barat sporting his jacket from this video at gigs.

2 – Love you but your Green by Babyshambles from The Blinding EP. This is one of the songs from Babyshambles that make you see that Babyshambles are as good as the Libertines. Most Libs fans will agree that a Libertines reunion would be brilliant, but it would be a real shame to see the end of Babyshambles.

1 – Time for heroes by The Libertines. I am pretty sure that any Libs fan would agree that if the band were to play together again, then this would be the song they should play! Listen to it, and enjoy!