9 down, 9,096 to go.

Sometimes, the littlest thing really makes or breaks a song for me.

Take song number 9, which is "Beautiful World," by Colin Hay -- you'll know him as "that guy who liked vegemite when he was with Men at Work", although maybe he didn't like vegemite. I can't remember how that song went, exactly. It was something about a woman who just smiled and gave him a vegemite sandwich.

I guess, in the end, the song leaves it kind of up in the air as to whether the singer liked vegemite or not. I got the impression that he did, but on reflection, I'm not so sure. I'm also not sure what vegemite is, but I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't like it, because the root of the word is "vegetable," and so I can't say that I'm inclined to like it right off the bat, even if the "vegetable" in vegemite is, say, corn or radishes, vegetables that I like.

Radishes may not be a vegetable. I'm not sure about that, either.

The point of all this is that Colin Hay sings "Beautiful World," and the song is peaceful and quiet and conjures up sunny afternoons driving in a convertible down a tree-lined road with the shadows flickering faster and faster over you, and the colors are the colors of summer just before it turns into fall: lush green with a hint of yellow on the edges, and the sharp shadows of August 31.

With all that going for it, what really makes the song is just one line, a phrase that pushes it over the top for me. Listen to the song and see if you can guess which one it is:



Did you get it?

It's "Where a man can still be free, or a woman if you are one."

That's the line that makes that song for me.