I Love Rock and Roll . . . Put Another Dime In The Jukebox Baby
I’ve been thinking a lot about music lately. Let me clarify, thinking about music in an analytical way, rather than just an idle way.
This personal music appreciation phase has actually been prompted by my inability to find a notebook. You see, a few years ago I decided to compose my own top 100 rock ‘n roll song list. I would put names of songs and artists down in my notebook as they occurred to me, with my ultimate goal being to arrange the list, thereby forming my own Top Ten for posterity.
But I cannot find the notebook. I’ve been doing a lot of de-cluttering and throwing away, but I haven’t come across the notebook anywhere. I have a feeling that it might be packed up with my office stuff since I kept said notebook pretty handy for those instantaneous recollections from my past.
Anyway, without the notebook, I’ve been re-compiling the list in my head, but I thought that I might offer up some entries in a post to see what other people remember and whether or not there are any big disagreements on entries or placements.
So, without any further ado, here is my work-in-progress of the best rock n roll songs from the last four decades (or so).
1. “Born to Run,” Bruce Springsteen
2. “Cry Baby,” Janis Joplin
3. “Hotel California,” The Eagles
4. “Imagine,” John Lennon
5. “Doctor My Eyes,” Jackson Browne
6. “Baba O’Reilly, The Who
7. “Lola,” The Kinks
8. “Sweet Dreams (are made of this),” Eurythmics
9. “Whiter Shade of Pale,” Procol Harum
10. “Brown-eyed Girl,” Van Morrison
11. “Layla” acoustic, Eric Clapton
12. “No Woman, No Cry,” Bob Marley and the Wailers
13. “American Pie,” Don McLean
14. “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay,” Otis Redding
15. “When a Man Loves a Woman,” Percy Sledge
16. “Somebody to Love,” Jefferson Airplane
17. “Major Tom,” David Bowie
18. “Have You Ever Seen the Rain,” Creedence Clearwater Revival
19. “Layla,” Derek and the Dominos
20. “Red House,” Jimmi Hendrix
21. “Bobby McGee, Janis Joplin
22. “Star Spangled Banner,” Jimmi Hendrix
23. “Jungleland,” Bruce Springsteen
24. “The Long and Winding Road,” The Beatles
25. “Oh Darlin’” The Beatles
26. “Into the Mystic,” Van Morrison
27. “With a Little Help From My Friends,” Joe Cocker
28. “Our House,” Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
29. “Lawyers, Guns and Money,” Warren Zevon
30. “Maybe I’m Amazed,” Paul McCartney
31. “Every Breath You Take,” The Police
32. “Brown Sugar,” Rolling Stones
33. “Roundabout,” Yes
34. “Nights in White Satin,” Moody Blues
35. “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” Simon & Garfunkel
36. “Dark Side of the Moon,” Pink Floyd
37. “Romeo & Juliet,” Steely Dan
38. “Allison,” Elvis Costello
39. “Maggie May,” Rod Stewart
40. “Fields of Gold,” Sting
41. “Bell Bottom Blues,” Eric Clapton
42. “Silent Lucidity,” Queensryche
43. “Cecilia,” Simon & Garfunkel
44. “Money,” Pink Floyd
45. “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” Ray Charles
46. “You Are So Beautiful,” Joe Cocker
47. “Melissa,” Allman Brothers
48. “Can’t Always Get What You Want,” Rolling Stones
49. “Light My Fire,” The Doors
50. “Respect,” Aretha Franklin
51. “Stairway to Heaven,” Led Zeppelin
52. “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” Marvin Gaye
53. “Another Brick in the Wall,” Pink Floyd
54. “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Queen
55. “Losing My Religion,” REM
56. “Sultans of Swing,” Dire Straits
57. “I Can See Clearly Now,” Johnny Nash
58. “Desperado,” The Eagles
59. “I’m The Only One,” Melissa Etheridge
60. “Purple Rain,” Prince
61. “Soul Man,” Blues Brothers
62. “Walk on the Wild Side,” Lou Reed
63. “Big Yellow Taxi,” Joni Mitchell
64. “Kashmir,” Led Zeppelin
65. “Life’s Been Good To Me So Far,” Joe Walsh
66. “I Can’t Make You Love Me,” Bonnie Raitt
67. “Southern Cross,” Crosby, Stills & Nash
68. “I Feel Good” (I Got You), James Brown
69. “Freebird,” Lynrd Skynrd
70. “Over and Over,” Fleetwood Mac
71. “Unchained Melody,” The Righteous Brothers
72. “Low Rider,” War
73. “Everybody Hurts,” REM
74. “Daughter,” Pearl Jam
75. “Go Your Own Way,” Fleetwood Mac
76. “Mama Told Me Not To Come,” Three Dog Night
77. “Proud Mary/Rollin on the River,” Ike & Tina Turner
78. “California Dreamin’” The Mamas and the Papas
79. “Time is on My Side,” Rolling Stones
80. “Who Do You Love?” George Thorogood and The Destroyers
81. “Joker,” Steve Miller Band
82. “Sunshine of Your Love,” Cream
83. “War,” Edwin Starr
84. “Black Magic Woman,” Santana
85. “Night Moves,” Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band
86. “Dream On,” Aerosmith
87. “Papa Was a Rolling Stone,” The Temptations
88. “Wild Horses,” Rolling Stone
89. “Can’t Hurry Love,” The Supremes
90. “My Girl,” The Temptations
91. “Legs,” ZZ Top
92. “Landslide,” Stevie Nicks
93. “Glycerine,” Bush
94. “Born to be Wild,” Steppenwolf
95. “Uncle John’s Band,” Grateful Dead
96. “Sunday, Bloody Sunday,” U2
97. “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” Elton John 
98. “White Room,” Cream
99. “Long December,” Counting Crows
100. “American Woman,” The Guess Who
101. “God Was One of Us,” Joan Osborne
102. “Let Her Cry,” Hootie and the Blowfish
103. “All Right Now,” Free
104. “It’s The End Of The World As We Know It,” REM
105. “Shine,” Collective Soul
106. “Iris,” Goo Goo Dolls
107. “Better Man, Pearl Jam
108. “Walk of Life,” Dire Straits
109. “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” Nirvana
110. “Jeremy,” Pearl Jam
111. “Horse With No Name,” America
112. “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” The Band
113. “That’s All,” Genesis
114. “House of the Rising Son,” The Animals
115. “In-a-gooda-da-vida,” Iron Butterfly
Of course, one of the truly great things about vinyl was looking at the album cover for the first time. Album covers went from just basic pictures of the artists to bold creations full of symbolism and decidedly risqué images. I’ll close now with what has often been called the best album art in history: The Beatles: Sergeant Peppers’ Lonely Hearts Club Band.
So that’s my list. It has 115 entries because I have some artists listed two or three times, so in the Lola system of counting, those listings only count as one, which results in my top 100 (approximately) Rock and Roll songs and artists, spanning about four decades (have to leave room for hedging).
In the meantime, please feel free to drop me a line as to how you feel about my choices and the order in wich they are listed. More later. Peace.
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Lola's Curmudgeonly Musings 