6 Months, 10 Songs, 1 Man’s List

It might sound like a put-down to suggest that the lyrics to Pearl Jam’s “Wishlist,” the most memorable single so far this year, could have come from an elementary class homework assignment.

These lines are typical of the song’s almost childlike innocence: “I wish I was the messenger/And all the news was good./I wish I was the full moon/Shining off your Camaro’s hood.”

But it’s such purity of spirit that makes the uplifting record so winning--and it’s all the more remarkable coming from the biggest-selling U.S. rock band of the ‘90s.

With angst and bittersweet irony being the main weapons of rock in this decade, it took both courage and heart for Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder to be this open and sweet.

Meanwhile, contemporary artists continued during the last six months to look effectively to the past in shaping hits.

Once Puff Daddy soared to the top of the pop charts last year with his reworking of the Police’s “Every Breath You Take,” it was inevitable that other record makers would dig through their CD collections for some inspiration.

Still, it’s surprising that the search led to such diverse figures as Jimmy Page, Stephen Stills and Woody Guthrie, the Dust Bowl poet whose underdog social commentaries in the ‘30s and ‘40s were a major influence on Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and the ‘60s folk music scene.

Here are my choices for the most engaging singles or album tracks from the first half of 1998.

1. Pearl Jam: “Wishlist” (Epic). This is the kind of pop daydream that probably could have come only from U2 or R.E.M. a decade ago, and the fact that Pearl Jam produced it helps explain why the Seattle band is well on its way to becoming a band of equal stature.

2. Public Enemy: “He Got Game” (Def Jam). “There’s something happening here. . . . What it is ain’t exactly clear.” Stephen Stills’ classic line from “For What It’s Worth,” the 1967 Buffalo Springfield hit, was aimed at pointing out a social division at the time that was largely marked by age lines. In this extraordinary title song from the “He Got Game” soundtrack, rap’s greatest group revisits Stills’ work in a century-ending social examination that covers all sorts of racial, class and religious lines.

3. Vince Gill: “If You Ever Have Forever in Mind” (MCA Nashville). Gill’s show-stopping vocal on this heartache ballad rivals not merely anything by such country greats as George Jones but also the soulful grace of such country-influenced R&B; singers as Ray Charles and Otis Redding.

4. Puff Daddy Featuring Jimmy Page: “Come With Me” (Epic). Puff Daddy seemed like he was taking creative shortcuts last year when he adopted “Every Breath You Take” for the emotional core of “I’ll Be Missing You,” his tribute to Notorious B.I.G. In this tense, paranoid romp, however, he adds as much to Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” riff as he takes from it.

5. Tricky: “Singing the Blues” (Island). This English studio whiz may be known as the father of moody trip-hop, but he’s really a superb modern blues man, someone who wraps the traditional tales of struggle and desire around jarring and disjointed contemporary beats that convey frustration and confusion far better than worn guitar licks.

6. Alanis Morissette: “Uninvited” (Warner Sunset/Reprise). When this first came on the radio, the intensity and conviction of the vocal made me think it was a stunning new single by Sinead O’Connor, which is a good standard to reach for. For anyone who fell for all the one-hit-wonder whispers after the multi-platinum success of Morissette’s debut album, the writing and singing here (from the “City of Angels” soundtrack) show she’s capable not only of living up to those expectations but of upping the stakes.

7. Wyclef Jean: “Gone Till November” (Columbia). The prolific and high-profile Fugee looks poignantly at the price a man pays for his refusal to walk a straight path. The hip-hop single doesn’t glorify the criminal’s lifestyle but mourns for him and those affected by his ultimately fatal decision.

8. Aretha Franklin: “A Rose Is Still a Rose” (Arista). Another Fugee, Lauryn Hill, wrote, arranged and produced Frankin’s most convincing single in years, a song that includes a touch of “What I Am” (the 1988 Edie Brickell hit), but more significantly is a salute to the survival of the human spirit--a contemporary tip of the hat to “Spanish Harlem,” Aretha’s 1971 hit version of the 1960 song by Ben E. King.

9. Billy Bragg and Wilco: “Hoodoo Voodoo” (Elektra). “Hoodoo voodoo. . . . Chooka chooky choochoo. . . . True blue, how true . . . kissle me now.” It’s hard to tell which is the biggest surprise in the novelty delight of the year: that Woody Guthrie, whose credits include “This Land Is Your Land,” wrote these goofy lyrics or that Billy Bragg and Wilco put music to them and came up in the studio with something that has the charm of an early Beatles rockabilly outtake.

10. Semisonic: “Closing Time” (Universal). There’s a bit of both the bittersweet spirit and solid craft of Paul Westerberg in this anthem for the bar of your choice.