Many evenings of my youth were spent listening to Radio Caroline's "Personal Top 30s", from 6-9pm and 9pm-midnight on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings. My friends and I would write down, swap, be inspired by and gently criticise each others' choices, but none of us ever got round to posting ours in, and our chance vanished into the North Sea with the Mi Amigo in March 1980.
However, since 2008 I have listened almost constantly to Caroline, which plays "Personal Top 15s" every weekday at 10am CET, but again, I've not summoned the nerve to send mine in.
Here, instead of a countdown and in no particular order, I will gradually build a record (no pun intended) of songs that mean/meant (few of my tastes have changed down the years) much to me, with the merest hints - without getting too personal - about the emotions they give rise to in me.
The Day Before You Came - Abba; Longing, Love, Sadness.