The second consecutive duet in my countdown couldn't be further away from the gangster rap of Dre and Eminem. Eel Pie Island natives, Mystery Jets teamed up with Hampshire folk-pop singer, Laura Marling, to record one of the loveliest songs of this, or any decade. Criminally, it only sold enough copies to hit #34 in the charts, but it's a song beloved by many.
It's a difficult record to define, by virtue of a tune that sounds as though it was written in the 70s, but with the "woah woah" backing vocals so popular in the 80s, and yet somehow sounding unmistakeably contemporary. The key to the loveliness of this song though are the vocal harmonies achieved between William Rees (Mystery Jets' lead guitarist, who took over vocal duties from singer Blaine Harrison for this track) and Marling.
Singing a story that has been told a thousand times previously, Rees and Marling each recall a one night stand from a different perspective. Rees is desperately seeking the woman he met that night. "If I only knew your name I'd go from door to door" he sings, before bemoaning the fact that "you wrote your number on my hand but it came off in the rain". Marling is more pragmatic, remembering that "young love, it never seems to last" before noting that what was supposed to be "one night of love, nothing more, nothing less" has actually had a profound effect - "that left my heart in a mess". It's a classic 21st century urban love story - the one night stand that could have been so much more. But put in on your stereo, and you'll be humming along and smiling before too long.
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