Belle and Sebastian are the dark horse challengers for being, alongside groups like Nirvana or Oasis, one of the most influential groups in the world, albeit for entirely different audiences. These gentle-sounding, deep-thinking indie-pop artists are one of the most important bands in alternative music and indie music overall.

One of the great cult bands of recent decades, Belle and Sebastian, came together by accident and never got unstuck. Their extremely loyal fan base may well have different views on the subject. Regardless, here are, in my view, the 10 best songs by Belle and Sebastian.

The Greatest 10 Songs by Belle and Sebastian

10. “Seymour Stein”

Before you’ve heard a note, it’s easy to see what critics, hipsters and rock fans, for whom Oasis were a bit too low-class, admired about Belle and Sebastian.

These, clearly, are people who adore the history of rock music. Seymour Stein was the great punk-rock agent who worked with Talking Heads, Madonna, or Ramones so well.

The other thing is that Belle and Sebastian haven’t stumbled onto their sound. “Seymour Stein” sounds like a rewrite of several songs by The Velvet Underground and references the lure of the glamour of the late 70s New York art and music scenes. How could critics not like this?

9. “I Don’t Know What You See in Me”

Little has changed about Stuart Murdoch or Belle and Sebastian over the years. This includes the group’s sound, the quality of the songwriting, as well as the uneasiness with which they greet success.

A song about feeling awkward and out of place seemed just right for the group even in 2023. But it also showed that Murdoch and the band have never wasted the patience and faith of their long-lasting fans.

8. “I’m a Cuckoo”

Produced by Trevor Horn, slightly more musically expansive but fixated on familiar themes, “I’m a Cuckoo” is another gem.

Murdoch writes adolescent songs in the same way that J.D. Salinger wrote novels. The main character, a Japanese culture obsessive prone to deep dream analysis, faces an inevitable break-up on “I’m a Cuckoo.”

It’s clear, however, that Murdoch’s characters would all rather take their bookish obsessions over their amorous pursuits anyway. That, perhaps, makes the story in “I’m a Cuckoo” less of a tragedy.

7. “Like Dylan in the Movies”

Famously, it was Stow College in Glasgow that financed Belle and Sebastian’s first album. The sense is that this was a generous act from the school and a great fluke for the band.

The people who make up Belle and Sebastian are perceived as smart, well-read musicians who would’ve never tried out to join a rambunctious rock band. That’s probably true. And, there’s some romance in that notion.

“Like Dylan in the Movies” was the tune that many frustrated rock critics wish they’d written. It’s a perfect guitar pop composition filled with angst, which mentions a side of pop-rock culture that not everyone will be familiar with or care about.

6. “It Could Have Been a Brilliant Career”

Belle and Sebastian is the favourite band of quirky rock fans who possess a library card and check out books often. But Stuart Murdoch wasn’t just a songwriter who reminded the audience of themselves. Murdoch possessed the skill to fit complex ideas that you’d expect to find in a novel into a pop song.

The group also maintain a dark, dry sense of humour. “It Could Have Been a Brilliant Career” references upstarts cut down by misfortune. It’s one of the band’s finest tunes.

5. “Sleep the Clock Around”

It’s one of the great stories of self-made rock stars. Belle and Sebastian’s fame grew through word of mouth, and because of their gentle, heartfelt songs.

But these weren’t typical rock stars. The music was quirky, and every sung line seemed to remind you that these were not people who welcomed being gawked at by fans.

“Sleep the Clock Around” is a great, lo-fi acoustic-rock track about having only a few friends and losing them as well. This is music that many have embraced while growing up, and continued to function in their lives as a kind of musical “Catcher in the Rye.”

4. “Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John”

It’s easy to assume who the heroes of the musicians in Belle and Sebastian are. They reference and take inspiration from them in plenty of songs.

Even on this Norah Jones collaboration, the band’s music typically feels like the soundtrack to a love affair between pop culture-obsessed hipsters. But why not? Reed, Kerouac and Lennon would be proud of this kind of intricate attention to books and pop songs.

3. “Expectations”

“Expectations” is a wonderfully written song, and, arguably, the first hint of greatness produced by the Scottish musicians. Of course, by this stage, these artists were barely a group to begin with. “Tigermilk,” a debut issued in just 1000 copies, was recorded with money they’d received from a grant targeting unemployed musicians.

All that the group’s supporters would come to expect and love is already present on “Expectations.” A tender tune about a misunderstood girl being forcefully shoved into the world of employment by her parents, “Expectations” signalled the rise of a band thought by many to be just as important and influential as The Smiths.

2. “The Boy With the Arab Strab”

There was a time when rock critics were worth something. And during those days, the endorsement from such a critic could help break a band.

British rock critics, who also waxed lyrically about Liam Gallagher‘s singing at the time, fully embraced “The Boy With the Arab Strap.”

Clever, perfectly written, reminiscent of The Smiths, and, possibly, referencing sex acts by mistake, “The Boy With the Arab Strap” is the band’s most famous song, despite never being a single. It’s enough to make someone want to pick up a guitar and start writing tunes.

1. “Get Me Away From Here, I’m Dying”

The whole of the United Kingdom became Ground Zero for Rock’ n’ Roll once more during the 1990s. Bands presented themselves as working-class or posh, but were nearly always loud.

Belle and Sebastian made beautiful, soft, independent pop music instead. That, along with the great compositions that the band presented reliably, earned them fans who felt no attraction to British stadium rock.

“Get Me Away from Here, I’m Dying” is a gorgeous tune about how gorgeous tunes don’t much exist anymore. It’s an introvert’s fantasy and nightmare about receiving attention.

And it’s Belle and Sebastian at the band’s finest. “Get Me Away from Here, I’m Dying” is one of the great indie-rock songs.