If you want to talk about one of the classiest pop songs of the ’90s, you wouldn’t have to look any further than Annie Lennox’s debut disc Diva, which yielded several top 10 hits around the globe, although she just hit the Top 40 in the US with two singles. In fact, Diva only reached #23 in America, which was a bit stunning to me, given how pervasive that disc was in my life when it came out. While songs like “Little Bird”, “Precious”, and “Walking on Broken Glass” are all great songs, it is “Why” that has to be considered a highlight of Annie’s career.

The first few notes instantly transport me to an isolated room, where a woman rehashes just what went wrong in her relationship, and what she may have done to brought it on. Amazingly, Annie’s first solo video perfectly captures the song, and adds an additional layer of weariness to the protagonist’s story. You’ll have to click through for the original, but the live version shows an additional layer of depth that only comes from a classic song having time to age and live.