Let’s try something just for fun.
If you were a teenager in the 1960s and listened to AM radio, you are doubtless aware that most major stations had very tight playlists. As bizarre as it may sound now. until the mid 1970s, after the movie “American Graffiti” made oldies a big deal, songs on most stations had a very short shelf life.
A real monster hit might be on the air for three months. Then it disappeared for at least a year, only to return as an oldie to be played once in a while.
Oldies stations?
They didn’t exist.
I’ve mentioned this before, but in the late winter of 1965, my sophomore year in high school, a heard the very same song at the same time every morning when my clock radio woke me.
Fortunately, I really liked “Downtown,” by Petula Clark.
At any rate, most stations had playlists of 40 songs or less.
Things changed around 1970, when FM radio became popular. There were wonderful FM stations — WHFS in the D.C. area comes to mind — that played artists you would never hear on the AM dial. WHFS introduced me to John Prine, for which I will be eternally grateful.
In fact, AM radio was essentially killed as a music source, first by FM radio and then by satellite radio. And satellite is pretty well killing FM, but that’s a subject for another day.
But hey, I promised some fun.
These days most of us have streaming devices on which we listen to the songs we want when we want, so let’s create a playlist.
A top 40, such as it is.
But let’s do it a little differently.
Two basic categories. You get 12 groups of three and one of four.
The groups of three are artists — six bands, three solo male singers and three solo female singers. The last group of four can be your wild cards, songs you love that would essentially be one-hit wonders (although they can be artists that had way more than one hit).
I’ll give you can example of the last type. Van Morrison is wonderful, but he wouldn’t make my top three male singers. Still, “Brown Eyed Girl” is one of my favorite songs ever. It will be one of my four wild cards.
Mike, this is going to be more fun for you than for us …
Sad, but maybe true.
I’ll start with the shortest list, and let me say first I am not choosing the best female singers, just the ones that if I could only listen to three the rest of my life, they would be the ones. I started with 11.
First cut — Bette Midler, Rita Wilson, Taylor Swift, Aretha Franklin.
Four down, four more to cut.
Second cut — Joni Mitchell, Susan Nikas (a personal friend), Karen Carpenter, Mireille Mathieu.
Leaving my three, in no particular order …
Linda Ronstadt, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Sarah Brightman. I’ll give you the three songs by each at the end.
Next is male singers and this will be the toughest list to cut to three, since I’m starting with 21. Several of them might end up on the wild card list.
First cut — John McDermott, John McCutcheon, Eric Bogle, Tim Flannery (another personal friend), Phil Ochs, Sam Cooke, Boz Scaggs, Charles Aznavour.
Eight down, 10 more to cut.
Second cut — Bob Dylan, Rod Stewart, Paul Simon, James Taylor, Harry Chapin.
Thirteen down five more to cut. Getting touch.
Third cut — Billy Joel, Elvis Presley, Elton John, Jackson Browne, and the last cut is the toughest, Don Henley.
Leaving my three, in no particular order …
Bruce Springsteen, Jimmy Buffett and John Prine.
Now for the groups. Maybe easier here, a list of 15 to be cut to six.
First cut — Bee Gees, Four Tops, Four Seasons, Lovin’ Spoonful, Ramones.
Ten left, four to cut.
Mamas and Papas, Supertramp, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Who.
Leaving my six, in no particular order (three Yanks, three Brits) …
Beach Boys, Beatles, Eagles, Kinks, Rolling Stones, Simon & Garfunkel.
***
So now we start with the four wild card songs. These aren’t necessarily the greatest songs ever, but they are four songs that while I have heard each one of them literally a thousand times, I’m always happy to hear them.
These are four songs by artists or groups that didn’t make the final cut.
“The Pretender,” Jackson Browne; Tiny Dancer,” Elton John; “Brown Eyed Girl,” Van Morrison; “Can’t help Falling in Love,” Elvis Presley.
Next are the three songs each by my three favorite female artists.
I saw Linda Ronstadt live three times, at the Cellar Door in 1971 and 1972 and at Georgetown University with Jackson Browne in 1974. She has so many wonderful songs in so many different styles. I suppose I would pick “Love Has No Pride” and “Heat Wave,” both covers of someone else’s songs, and “Adios,” from 1990. I could easily name 50 others.
Mary Chapin Carpenter may be a lesser-known performer, but she has excelled at both folk and country. My younger brother told me about her, and she is truly wonderful. If I had to pick three, I think they would be “Down at the Twist and Shout,” “He Thinks He’ll Keep Her” and “Halley Came to Jackson.”
The third was a tough call. I almost went with the wonderful Mireille Mathieu, but decided on Sarah Brightman instead. I first learned of her when I was living in Reno in 1989 and saw her on the Johnny Carson Show. I loved the song she did, and it was more than 20 years before I learned the name of it and found it on YouTube.
So the three songs I would pick for her would be “The Second Element,” “A Whiter Shade of Pale” and that song from 1989, “Capped Teeth and Caesar Salad.”
Moving on to three songs each by the three male artists.
I saw Jimmy Buffett in concert twice, in 1981 and 1983, and for someone who hardly ever has a real hit record, he has had an amazing career. My three favorites of his would all be fairly early songs — “Manana,” “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes” and “Cheeseburger in Paradise.”
The only time I saw Bruce Springsteen live was in 1984 in St. Louis, the “Born in the USA” tour. The first two songs are easy “Born to Run” and “Hungry Heart,” but the third one is a tough call. I’ll take “Jungleland.”
I loved John Prine’s music for nearly 50 years before I saw him in concert in late 2019. Sadly, he died of COVID-19 just a few months later. I credit him for maybe the saddest line ever in a song. “There’s a hole in daddy’s arm where all the money goes” from “Sam Stone” also one of the funniest, “She gets it on like the Easter Bunny” from “In Spite of Ourselves.”
But for the third song by him and to me his best, it has to be “Hello in There.” It’s an amazing song about getting old, written by a very young man.
Moving on to the groups, six of them with three songs each.
Starting with Simon & Garfunkel, “Sounds of Silence” was one of the truly iconic songs of the ’60s, and “America” was one of the best on the classic “Bookends” album. The third one is a bit of a cheat. It was actually on a Paul Simon solo album after they broke up, but they performed it together in several reunion concerts, and “American Tune” from the Watergate era is too good to leave out.
I saw the Eagles’ original farewell tour in 1979 at the Capital Centre and it would be high on my list of most wonderful concerts. They have been one of my very favorites since 1971, and picking only three isn’t easy. “Take it Easy” was their first hit and in some ways the most memorable. I think “Desperado” and “Heart of the Matter” and be the other two I would want to hear again and again.
The Kinks might be one of the most overlooked bands of the British Invasion. I would actually consider them my second-favorite English band. Too many people seem to know them only for “Lola,” but I’ve heard that one enough. I’ll take “Come Dancing” and “A Well Respected Man” along with their best song of all, “Waterloo Sunset.”
I go back and forth on the Rolling Stones. I’ve seen them twice in concert, in 1972 and 1981, and they put on great shows. The first rock album I ever bought was one of theirs, their first greatest hits album. All three songs of theirs I would choose would be pre-1980 — “Brown Sugar,” “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” and “Gimme Shelter.”
The first band I ever loved was the Beach Boys, and I have seen them in concert more than any other act — 1974, ’75 and ’76 in Washington, 2010 in Los Angeles and then Brian Wilson and Alan Jardine in 2015 in Florida. They might be the most difficult to narrow to three songs. I’ll pick one surfing song, one car song and one love song. “Surfin’ USA,” “Don’t Worry Baby” and “God Only Knows.”
Of course we finish with the Beatles, and the last song I mention is the one song I would want if I could only listen to one song the rest of my life. Before I mention the three songs, I want to mention what I think was the single greatest line ever in a popular song.
“And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.”
Paul McCartney wrote it, but John Lennon — often critical of McCartney — said it wasn’t half bad.
Now the three. I’ll take two Lennon & McCartney songs, “Eleanor Rigby” and “Here There and Everywhere,” and then a George Harrison song that would be No. 1 on my eternal playlist.
Ladies and gents, “Here Comes the Sun.”