If you were absolutely forced to pick your 5 favorite Soul Asylum songs; what would they be? Now pick 5; not top 5 with ties or a top 6 or 7, stick with 5.

I know this is difficult because of the choices and plethora of great songs; start with your favorite and go to number 5. I will start.

Sometime to return
Cartoon
Marionette
Veil of tears
Success is not so sweet.

Now; that was easy.

Wow—tricky question. If someone put a gun to my head, here's what I would say (and just because I felt like it, I've also included my favorite lines from each of the songs):

• Runaway Train – "Like the madman laughing at the rain"
• Standing Water – "You're like a sitting duck waiting for the summer rain to come"
• I Did My Best – "Holed up in the dressing room / Without a dress"
• Blood Into Wine – "Back on my feet, but the night's getting long / Do you think about me too?"
• Homesick (of course) – "'Cause I just can't live like this / In a world like this / I just want a kiss goodbye"

All of those are "emotional" songs—as I define them—since those are the ones that stick with me the most. All of them are post-GDU, too; I sincerely believe that the band has consistently improved their songwriting over the years.

I haven't ranked them, though. For that, they'd have to torture me first.

Closer to the Stars
Never Really Been
Stranger
Without a Trace
Sometime to Return

The top three are no-brainers for me. It gets much harder after that. I went back and forth between "Sometime to Return" and "Ain't That Tough" for my final selection. In the end, I went with "Sometime to Return" because it is such an adrenalin rush and remains one of my favorite songs to see them do live. But I continue to think that "Ain't That Tough" is one of their best and most underrated songs.

Never Really Been
Cartoon
Bittersweetheart
All Is Well
Oxygen

Never Really Been
We 3
Freak Accident
Black Star
Lonely For You

This was a tough one... Is it sad that 3 of my favorite songs were never really released? It was hard narrowing down the list, and leaving off closer, stranger, cartoon, sometime etc was difficult.

Of course, if you ask me again in 3 weeks my answer might be different.

Phil

Misery
Success Is Not So Sweet
I Did My Best
Veil Of Tears
Spinnin

Never Really Been
Cartoon
Closer to the Stars
Watcha Need
No Mans Land

Well, if someone would DEMAND only five SA songs (not necessarily favorites), then I would say:

Runaway Train
Just Like Anyone
Misery
Cartoon
Black Gold

Those are the songs that first popped to my head.

Sometime To Return
Losin' it
String of Pearls
See You Later
Die In Your Arms

Promises Broken
We 3
Cartoon
Closer to the Stars
Freak Accident

I like the emotional songs too, but I had to throw in rockers too.