Eight years ago, a Facebook friend asked me to put together a list of my 100 favorite songs. For some unknown reasons, I did it. Then six years later, on this site, I added 42 more songs.
I don’t think I’ll ever change those lists — too much work for just opinions –, but at some point I may add more to the 142.
Here are links to the original lists — 1-25. 26-50, 51-75, 76-100, and 101-142.
Still, I thought it might be nice to take a look at my original top 10 songs.
One thing I get a kick out of in that 10. There is only one group or artist to have two songs in the top 10, and while it’s a great group and I like them very much, they would not be in my to 20 groups.
Here are the original 10. Surprisingly, not Beatles songs, although “Here Comes the Sun” just missed at No. 12.
My 10 favorite songs ever.
10. “GOD ONLY KNOWS,” the Beach Boys — Paul McCartney calls this the most perfect pop song ever written and says he wishes it was his. Brian Wilson wrote it for the “Pet Sounds” album, Carl Wilson sang it and at least one survey called it the very best song of the 1960s. It’s still heard all the time. I don’t think it will ever die.
9. “TAKE IT EASY,” The Eagles — Jackson Browne and Glenn Frey wrote it, and it became the encore for a generation of Eagles concerts. The Eagles had a lot of great songs, but this one seems to the the first one that comes to mind with a smile. “Standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona, such a fine sight to see. It’s a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed Ford, slowing down to take a look at me.”
8. “LIKE A ROLLING STONE,” Bob Dylan — This was the song that changed everything. Rolling Stone magazine put it at No. 1 on its last of the 500 greatest songs of the rock ‘n’ roll era. This song is why Dylan mattered as so much more than just a folk singer. It’s a song that brings a smile to my face every time I hear the intro. Also: Songs like “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “The Times They Are a Changin'” will last forever.
7. “SOUNDS OF SILENCE,” Simon and Garfunkel — This song was so different than anything we had heard before, telling us the “words of the prophets were written on the subway walls …” It started Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel on a great five year run and gave us some of the smartest lyrics of the ’60s. They even did cool things like singing “Silent Night” as a news broadcast describing all the horrible news in the world got louder and louder. I also loved “The Boxer,” a big hit of theirs in the summer of 1968, and “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”
6. “I CAN’T HELP MYSELF,” the Four Tops –– This one and the next one are my two favorite Motown songs, performed by a group that was truly unique. They stayed together with the same lineup from 1953 to 1997, and the only reason they changed then was that one of the members died. This song, also known as “Sugarpie Honeybunch,” was their first huge hit and would be high on nearly every list of the best of Motown. And then came …
5. “(IT’S THE) SAME OLD SONG,” the Four Tops — This was the followup to the first one, and it had every bit as great a sound. This one tells the story of a breakup, saying the songs are the same but their meaning is different without love. They had plenty more terrific songs and remember, they were together for 44 years.
4. “DO YOU BELIEVE IN MAGIC,” the Lovin’ Spoonful — Could there have been a happier, more feel-good anthem in the mid ’60s? The Spoonful burst on the scene with that song, a song it was impossible to ignore and impossible not to enjoy. They were also the first rock band I saw live in concert in the fall of 1967. “Daydream,” “Six O’Clock,” “Rain on the Roof” and their powerhouse hit in the summer of ’66 — “Summer in the City.”
3. “TINY DANCER,” Elton John — This would be my pick for best pop song of the ’70s. “Hold me closer, tiny dancer …” I don’t know if I could ever figure out the lyrics, but to me this was the best song by a guy who has shown incredible longevity in a truly great career. There are better versions of this song on YouTube, but this was the one I took when I saw Elton John in Atlanta this past September.
2. “BROWN EYED GIRL,” Van Morrison — This is a different type of song than nearly anything else Morrison did. It’s such a great, happy song with a great ’60s feel to it. Of course, it never hurts when Jimmy Buffett takes your song and makes it his own. It’s a song of memories, of a guy remembering his girlfriend and a time when they were both younger. “So hard to find my way now that I’m all on my own. I saw you just the other day, My, how you have grown! Cast my memory back there, Lord, sometimes I’m overcome thinking about making love in the green grass behind the stadium with you, my brown-eyed girl.”
And finally, at long last, we reach No. 1. Our top song is one I always liked, but one that never would even have made my top 100 until I saw 42 years old. I met the love of my life on Sept. 12, 1992, and married her 51 days later. We’re going on 31 years together now, and from the beginning, one song was ours. The singer had 17 different No. 1 songs between 1956 and 1969. This one only reached No. 2 in December 1961, but here it tops the list …
1. “CAN’T HELP FALLING IN LOVE,” Elvis Presley — I’m not sure there was ever a better song about love at first sight. It came from the movie “Blue Hawaii,” and while it didn’t reach No. 1, it topped the Easy Listening charts for six weeks in late 1961. This was another one of those songs that ought to remind us that Elvis really was The King and that he could sing practically anything and sing it well. It has been more than 37 years since he died, but his records still sell. And just as there was never a “new” Beatles or a “new” Dylan, it ought to be obvious to everyone that when Elvis Presley died in 1977, there was never going to be anyone who could take his place.