No doubt I’ll get told off for putting this on the list as I have been for some other choices. People love to put Diana Ross down for some reason – she’s not ‘authentic’ enough, she has a thin voice and so on. We should all be so thin and inauthentic. She’s one of my absolute favourite singers, and in terms of soul and emotion she wipes the floor with a lot of the more cool, credible competition. I loathe coolness, credibility and authenticity anyway. Rant over. I’m Still Waiting is a pop classic, it’s my favourite of a whole bunch of early 70s soul hits, it’s got a lovely tune and clever lyrics and it’s even got a spoken section, which is always a plus. And for a song that starts off so gently, it sure gets cooking towards the end. Diana Ross recorded more obviously tragic songs (Love Child, for instance, or the fabulous I’m Livin’ in Shame) but this will always be my favourite.
Rupert Smith 