15. flaming lips, "do you realize??"
on paper, "do you realize??" is a preposterous conceit; i don't think that even bono in a room full of aids-stricken orphans feels this empathetic. listening to it, however, is an altogether different experience. when wayne coyne sings, "do you realize that everyone you know someday will die?" i sit and listen and say, "you know, i didn't realize that"; such is the feeling of revelation. appeals to the part of me that watches the wizard of oz and is held captive by childlike awe; and not the part that comments on how, even in her films, gay men were inexorably drawn to judy garland. "do you realize??" is the lips' latest attempt at crossbreeding "over the rainbow" and "what a wonderful world"-- both of which they've covered -- with puppy dogs and sunshine. it's also their most effective, and affecting.