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4. Dua Lipa: “Houdini”
My preference, when it comes to the two recent “Houdini” releases (Houdinii?), is this kinetic dance-floor anthem in which Dua Lipa challenges a suitor to give her one good reason not to disappear. I find it superior to Eminem’s “Houdini” for two reasons. First, I have a deep-seated personal aversion to the Steve Miller Band’s “Abracadabra” and, thus, to any song that samples it. But, much more important, Dua Lipa understands that at the end of a chorus it is just very fun to yell, “Houdini!”
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5. Siouxsie and the Banshees: “Spellbound”
I had to include this frenetic tune from Siouxsie and the Banshees’ 1981 album, “Juju,” not only because it’s an occult classic in its own right, but also because Gaga interpolates its melody during the pre-chorus of “Abracadabra,” giving it an extra layer of wild-eyed magic.
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6. The Police: “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic”
Though not as creepy as that other Police song that at first seems to be about a mutually reciprocated love but on closer inspection turns out to be about a guy obsessed with someone from afar (and which also happens to have a title that begins with the word “every”), this one is certainly the more magical of the two.
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7. Pilot: “Magic”
This Alan Parsons-produced 1974 hit from the Scottish band Pilot is technically about supernatural forces, though these days you’d been excused for thinking it is actually an ode to a certain omnipresent diabetes drug. (Sing it with me: “Oh, oh, oh, Ozempic!”) Last year, Craig Marks wrote a highly entertaining story for The Times about this earworm’s second life as an advertising jingle. Shrugged the song’s vocalist and co-writer David Paton, “A lot of people don’t know the name Pilot, but they know the Ozempic song.” The magic of advertising!
▶ Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
8. The Drifters: “This Magic Moment”
Perhaps the most romantic of all the love-as-magic tunes in existence, the Drifters’ sumptuous harmonies give this ballad its otherworldly ambience. (For a completely different kind of ambience, see Lou Reed’s sparse cover, which was featured prominently in David Lynch’s great “Lost Highway.”)
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9. The Lovin’ Spoonful: “Do You Believe in Magic?”
Finally, in this upbeat 1965 classic, the Lovin’ Spoonful posits that music itself possesses the power to cast a spell: “It’s magic,” the band sings, “if the music is groovy.” But, having reached the end of this playlist, you’ve certainly learned that by now.
