“99″ Songs
Numbers are an interesting subject for songs. They can represent all kinds of things, and as such, can be used as a lyrical device to give significance without over speaking. Here at the Radish we’ve already done playlists on the numbers 666, 3 and 7. Most of us are aware of the significance these three numbers have, mostly because of their religious or spiritual context.
For this playlist I have chosen songs that use the number 99 to get their points across. The most obvious use of 99 is to convey a sense of impending change as in Prince’s 1999, which looked forward to the year 1999 as an event that would spur serious celebration. 99 can also be used to convey a sense of being close to perfection. If 100% is a perfect score than 99% is just a hair shy of perfect. If someone is 99% sure, they are conveying certain odds while leaving themselves room to be incorrect.
It’s also interesting because it’s a palindromic number, a repdigit and a Kaprekar number. However, finding these characteristics as the focus of a songwriter are few and far between.
Sadly, 80’s one-hit-wonder Nena’s classic song “99 Luftballoons” was not available when I created this list, so I had included two different cover versions of it in this 30 song playlist. After re-checking today I discovered that Nena's English version of the song is now available on the compilation Club Epic Vol. 5. You can hear it here.
Some other interesting trivia around the number 99 includes:
- 99 is the only jersey number retired across the entire National Hockey League in honor of the great Wayne Gretzky
- 99 is the number of Hershey’s kisses in one pound
- 99 is the number of tracks available to be recorded on a music compact disc
- 99 is the atomic number of einsteinium
The Playlist:
4. 99 Red Balloons - Van Nuys
5. Get Off My Cloud - The Rolling Stones
6. 99 - Toto
9. 99 - Sloane
11. 99 - Londonbeat
12. 99 - Oranges
13. Ninety-Nine Pounds - Humble Pie
15. 99 Days In Jail - George Thorogood
16. 99 Red Balloons - Goldfinger
17. Johnny 99 - Bruce Springsteen
18. 99 Miles From L.A. (Live) - Johnny Mathis
19. Other 99 - Big Audio Dynamite
21. The Ninety And Nine - Tennessee Ernie Ford
22. Candle 99 - Big Head Todd & The Monsters
23. 99 (Instrumental) - Bobby Rush
25. Perversion 99 - Rob Zombie
27. Keep On '99 - Redman
28. Discipline 99 Pt. 1 - Wildchild
29. Pensacola 99 - New Duncan Imperials
30. 99 Ways To Die - Megadeth
