This is a list of the what I consider to be the best songs ever created. That single handed change the shape of music for generations to come. In the next posts you will start to see what i consider the greatest songs ever wrote and recorded. These songs are in no particular order. These songs are from the turn of the 20th century until today. This will be in parts so look back often for future updates. This post is meant to stimulate and evoke comment. Maybe you will remember some of your favorite songs and listen to them again. Maybe you will see new songs that become your favorite new songs. However, I hope you enjoy this blog posting and thanks for looking. Long live music!
In no particular order. Each song is accompanied by it's album cover or if no album is available single, sheet music or record label picture. Thanks and enjoy the posts. Feedback is welcomed. However, disagreements are allowed but please be nice and no foul or lewd language.
201. Warren G. Feat. Nate Dogg - Regulate
Wikipedia:
"Regulate" is a 1994 song performed by Warren G and Nate Dogg. Released in the summer of 1994, the track appears on the soundtrack to the film Above the Rim and later Warren G.'s album Regulate...G Funk Era. The song reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and #8 on the R&B/Hip-Hop chart. It is considered the breakout single for both artists and makes heavy use of a four-bar sample of the rhythm of Michael McDonald's song "I Keep Forgettin' (Every Time You're Near)". Warren Griffin III is also Dr. Dre's step-brother.
202. Wayne Newton - Danke Schoen
203. Alison Krauss - When You Say Nothing At All
Wikipedia:
"When You Say Nothing at All" is a country song written by Paul Overstreet and Don Schlitz. It is among the best-known hit songs for three different performers: Keith Whitley, who took it to the top of the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart on December 24, 1988; Alison Krauss, whose version became her first solo top-10 country hit in 1995.
Krauss, already a veteran bluegrass fiddler and vocalist at age 23, recorded "When You Say Nothing at All" with her group, Union Station, in 1994 for a tribute album to Whitley. After the song began to receive unsolicited airplay, BNA Records, the label that had released the album, issued Krauss' version to radio in January 1995.That version, also featured on Krauss' compilation Now That I've Found You: A Collection, peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart, and a commercial single reached No. 2 on the same magazine's Hot Country Singles Sales chart. Its success, as well as that of the album, caught Krauss by surprise. "It's a freak thing," she told a Los Angeles Times reporter in March 1995. "It's kinda ticklin' us all. We haven't had anything really chart before. At all. Isn't it funny though? We don't know what's goin' on....The office said, 'Hey, it's charting,' and we're like, 'Huh?'" While Krauss' version was on the charts, Mike Cromwell, then the production director at WMIL-FM in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, concocted a duet merging elements of Krauss' version with Whitley's original hit version. The "duet" garnered national attention, and it spread from at least Philadelphia to Albuquerque, and has been heard on radio stations in California as well. It was never officially serviced to radio and has never been available commercially. Krauss' recording won the 1995 CMA award for "Single of the Year". The song has been featured a couple of times in the soap opera The Young and the Restless.
204. The Animals - We've Gotta Get Out Of This Place
205. Lovin' Spoonful - Daydream
206. Francis Lai - Theme From Love Story
207. Lovin' Spoonful - Summer In The City
208. Canned Heat - Going Up The Country
209. Mott The Hoople - All The Young Dudes
210. The Rascals - People Got To Be Free
211. The Rascals - A Beautiful Morning
212. The Young Rascals - How Can I Be Sure (Who later came to be know as simply "The Rascals")
213. Crosby, Stills & Nash - Suite: Judy Blue Eyes
214. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Our House
215. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Fortunate Son
216. Marvin Gaye - What's Going On?
217. Peter and Gordon - A World Without Love
218. Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats - Rocket 88
Wikipedia:
"Rocket 88" (originally written as Rocket "88") is a rhythm and blues song that was first recorded at Sam Phillips' recording studio in Memphis, Tennessee, on 3 March or 5 March 1951 (accounts differ). It has been claimed by Phillips and some music critics to be the "first rock and roll song".
The original version of the 12-bar blues song was credited to Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats, who took the song to number one on the R&B charts.The band did not actually exist and the song was put together by Ike Turner and his band in rehearsals at the Riverside Hotel in Clarksdale, Mississippi, and recorded by Turner's Kings of Rhythm. Brenston, who was a saxophonist with Turner, also sang the vocal on "Rocket 88", a hymn of praise to the joys of the Oldsmobile "Rocket 88" automobile, which had recently been introduced. The song was based on the 1947 song "Cadillac Boogie" by Jimmy Liggins. It was also preceded and influenced by Pete Johnson's "Rocket 88 Boogie" Parts 1 and 2, an instrumental, originally recorded for the Los Angeles-based Swing Time Records label in 1949.
According to Bill Dahl at Allmusic:
Determining the first actual rock & roll record is a truly impossible task. But you can't go too far wrong citing Jackie Brenston's 1951 Chess waxing of "Rocket 88," a seminal piece of rock's fascinating history with all the prerequisite elements firmly in place: practically indecipherable lyrics about cars, booze, and women; Raymond Hill's booting tenor sax, and a churning, beat-heavy rhythmic bottom.
219. Prince and The Revolution - 1999 (Album Version)
220. Professor Longhair - Go To The Mardi Gras
221. Public Enemy Feat. rap by Flavor Flav - 911 Is A Joke
222. Public Enemy - Fight The Power
223. Public Enemy - Can't Truss It
224. Queen - '39 (Written and sung by Brian May the guitarist of Queen)
225. Quincy Jones - Streetbeater (Theme from the TV sitcom Sanford and Son)
226. Ray Charles - America, The Beautiful
227. Robert Palmer - Mercy, Mercy Me / I Want You
228. Roberta Flack - Killing Me Softly With His Song
229. Fugees - Killing Me Softly (The above version is the original but the Fugees made there version just as important in the 90s)
230. Rockwell - Somebody's Watching Me (Founder of Motown and Tamla records Barry Gordy's son with Chorus sung by Michael Jackson)
231. Ronnie Milsap - It Was Almost Like A Song
Wikipedia:
"It Was Almost Like a Song" is a song made famous by country music singer Ronnie Milsap. Released originally during 1977 by him, the song became one of the greatest successes of his recording career. His eighth No. 1 song on the Billboard magazine Hot Country Songs chart during July 1977, "It Was Almost Like a Song" became Milsap's greatest success to that time of his career. The song also became his first Billboard Hot 100 chart entry, eventually scoring No. 16. The song also scored on Billboard's Hot Adult Contemporary Singles chart, where it maximized at No. 7.
232. Sade - Soldier Of Love
Wikipedia:
"Soldier of Love" is a single from the English recording group Sade. It premiered worldwide on 8 December 2009, and it was released on iTunes digitally on 12 January 2010. It is also the band's first new material in almost ten years, preceding their long awaited sixth studio album of the same name which was released worldwide on 8 February 2010. The song was #1 on the Billboard Adult R&B. The song debuted at #58 on the Billboard Hot 100 becoming the band's highest debut on the chart. It has peaked at #52, making it the band's highest-peaking single on that chart since 1992's "No Ordinary Love".The track won the Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals at the 53rd Grammy Awards ceremony.
233. Scott Joplin - The Entertainer (1902 Version)
However, "The Entertainer", a ragtime composition by Scott Joplin, which was lightly adapted for the 1973 movie by Marvin Hamlisch (and became a top-ten chart single for Hamlisch, when released as a single from the film's soundtrack). The film's success encouraged a surge of popularity and critical acclaim for Joplin's work.
234. Diana Ross & Lionel Richie - Endless Love
235. Dixie Cups - Iko Iko
Wikipedia:
"Iko Iko" is a much-covered New Orleans song that tells of a parade collision between two "tribes" of Mardi Gras Indians and the traditional confrontation. The song, under the original title "Jock-A-Mo", was written in 1953 by James "Sugar Boy" Crawford in New Orleans. The story tells of a "spy boy" (i.e. a lookout for one band of Indians) encountering the "flag boy" or guidon carrier for another "tribe". He threatens to "set the flag on fire".
Crawford set phrases chanted by Mardi Gras Indians to music for the song. Crawford himself states that he has no idea what the words mean, and that he originally sang the phrase "Chock-a-mo", but the title was misheard by Chess Records and Checker Records president Leonard Chess, who misspelled it as "Jock-a-mo" for the record's release.
"Jock-a-mo" was the original version of the song "Iko Iko" recorded by The Dixie Cups in 1965. Their version came about by accident. They were in a New York City studio for a recording session when they began an impromptu version of "Iko Iko", accompanied only by drumsticks on studio ashtrays. "We were just clowning around with it during a session using drumsticks on ashtrays," said Dixie Cup member Barbara Hawkins. "We didn't realize that Jerry and Mike had the tapes running." Session producers Leiber and Stoller added bass and drums and released it.
The Belle Stars' version of "Iko Iko" is used in a trailer for 20th Century Fox Family Features and in the opening scene of the 1988 film Rain Man. In 1989, the Belle Stars finally had a big U.S. chart hit, when "Iko Iko" reached number 14 on the Billboard Top 100 in March, after it was included on the soundtrack of the film Rain Man, starring Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman. The song had been a favourite of Hoffman's.
236. Chuck Berry - Roll Over Beethoven (From the Rock, Rock, Rock film soundtrack)
237. The Soul Searchers ( Feat. Chuck Brown) - Ashley's Roachclip
Wikipedia:
Released in 1974, this album has become one of the most sampled albums in Hip Hop music with the drum break from Ashley's Roachclip being the basis of many popular songs of the past twenty years.
238. Cilla Black - You're My World (II Mio Mondo)
Wikipedia:
"You're My World" is a ballad originally recorded in 1963 as "II Mio Mondo" ("My World") by Umberto Bindi, who co-wrote the Italian-language version with Gino Paoli. Rendered with English lyrics by Carl Sigman as "You're My World", the song has reached No. 1 in Australia (twice), Belgium, Mexico, Netherlands, South Africa and United Kingdom via recordings by Cilla Black, Daryl Braithwaite, Guys 'n' Dolls and Helen Reddy. (Black's and Reddy's versions reached the US Top 40 in 1964 and 1977, respectively.) The song also went to No. 1 in France and Spain via the respective translations "Ce monde" and "Mi Mundo", both sung by Richard Anthony.
Although the original Italian version by composer Umberto Bindi was not a hit, even in Italy, the song came to the attention of UK record producer George Martin, who commissioned an English version to be recorded by his protégée Cilla Black. Black cut the song — translated as "You're My World" "You're My World" reached #1 in Britain on the chart dated 30 May 1964 and remained there for a total of four weeks, one week more than Black's preceding single "Anyone Who Had a Heart". Although Black would return to the UK Top Ten eight times, "You're My World" would be her final #1. "You're My World" was the first track by Black to be released in the US, where the singer was signed to Capitol Records. Peaking at #26 in August 1964, "You're My World" would become Black's only Top 40 hit in the United States.
Originally a single only track until it was found on the 1968 release "The Best of Cilla Black"
You're My World" became a Top 20 hit in the US in 1977 via a remake by Helen Reddy introduced on her album Ear Candy. You're My World" was a more melodramatic number than was usually associated with Reddy for whom the song represented a considerable comeback: its Billboard Hot 100 peak of #18 in July 1977 (when Cash Box ranked it #16). "You're My World" would prove to be Reddy's last major hit. "You're My World" did give Reddy a #1 hit in Mexico, spending six months in the Top Ten from October 1977 to March 1978.
239. Afrika Bambatta & The Soul Sonic Force - Planet Rock
Wikipedia:
"Planet Rock" is a 1982 song by Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force. The background and hooks featured Marvella Murray, Yvette Murray, Melissa Johnson and Sandra Wheeler. Although it was only a minor hit in the United States, Canada, and UK, it helped change the foundations of hip-hop and dance music. It is credited with developing the electro style, building on the work of Kraftwerk and Yellow Magic Orchestra, and helped pave the way for other genres such as techno, house, and trance. In November 2004, the "Planet Rock" placed at #237 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Planet Rock" peaked at number four on the soul chart and number forty-eight on the Hot 100,and went to number three on the dance charts. The main melody of "Planet Rock" is interpolated from the title track of Kraftwerk's influential album Trans-Europe Express, while the drum pattern resembles "Numbers" from the 1981 Kraftwerk album Computer World, another popular underground club record. The borrowings eventually resulted in an out-of-court settlement between Kraftwerk and Tommy Boy Records head Tom Silverman.
Afrika Bambaataa has acknowledged a debt to Kraftwerk, but has expressed that their contributions to his aesthetic have been over-emphasized. Bambaataa stated that "Kraftwerk was one part of a sound," while citing Yellow Magic Orchestra and Gary Numan as the other major influences on his work. Yellow Magic Orchestra in particular was the first band to utilize the Roland TR-808 programmable drum machine in 1980, and they anticipated the beats and sounds of electro music with "Riot in Lagos" that same year. The influence of "Planet Rock" can still be heard in hip-hop sub-genres such G-funk and in the work of producers such as the Neptunes, which use electro-based sounds in its productions.
240. Kraftwerk - Trans-Europe Express
Wikipedia:
Trans-Europe Express" is the title track of Kraftwerk's 1977 album of the same name, and released as a single at the time.The track is ostensibly about the Trans Europ Express rail system, with technology and transport both being common themes in Kraftwerk's ouvre. The track has since found further influence, both in hip-hop by its interpolation by Afrika Bambaata (via Arthur Baker) on the seminal "Planet Rock"
241. Beastie Boys - (You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party!)
Wikipedia:
The Beastie Boys are an American hip hop trio from Brooklyn, New York City.The group consists of Mike D (Michael Diamond) (vocals, drums), MCA (Adam Yauch) (vocals, bass), and Ad-Rock (Adam Horovitz) (vocals, guitar). The Beastie Boys began as hardcore punk band in 1979, first appearing on the compilation cassette New York Thrash before releasing their first EP, Polly Wog Stew, in 1982. After achieving moderate local success with the 1983 release of their experimental hip hop 12" Cooky Puss, they made the transition to hip hop in 1984 and a string of successful 12" singles followed by their debut album Licensed to Ill in 1986 which received international critical acclaim and commercial success. As of 2010, they have sold 22 million albums in the United States and 40 million albums worldwide. They are one of the longest lived hip hop acts worldwide and continue to enjoy commercial and critical success in 2011, nearly 25 years after the release of their debut album. The group has been selected as part of the 2012 induction class into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, after being eligible since 2007.The band recorded Licensed to Ill in 1986 and released the album at the end of the year. The album was well-received, and was favorably reviewed by Rolling Stone magazine with the now-famous headline, "Three Idiots Create a Masterpiece." Licensed to Ill became the best selling rap album of the 1980s and the first rap album to go No.1 on the Billboard album chart, where it stayed for five weeks. It also reached No.2 on the Urban album charts. It was Def Jam's fastest selling debut record to date and sold over five million copies. The first single from the album, "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)", reached No.7 on the Billboard Hot 100, and the video (directed by Ric Menello) became an MTV staple. The song was later named one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
242. Bill Conti - Gonna Fly Now (Theme From Rocky)
243. Bob Dylaan - The Times They Are A-Changin'
244. Boyz II Men - A Song For Mama
245. Brandy - Brokenhearted
1995 US Billboard Hot 100 #9
and also on the Year-end charts US Billboard Hot 100 #77
Wikipedia:
The idea for a duet version of the album original came up, while Brandy was on a two-month stint as the opening act on Boyz II Men's national tour in early 1995. Both artists were on the airplane on the way to another city, when Morris got his hand's on a copy of Brandy's debut album: "I was listening to her album on the plane and I was like, 'Yo, we should do a duet of 'Brokenhearted'," Wanya told MTV News the following year.
"Brokenhearted" [Soulpower Groove Mix] (Brandy & Wanya Morris) is feated on the album below.
246. Bread - If
The song charted at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 when released as a single in 1971. The song also spent three weeks at number one on the Easy Listening chart.
The Telly Savalas version reached number one on the UK Singles Chart for two weeks in March 1975 and has the shortest title of any song to reach number one in the UK. The Telly Savalas version is a speaking track. The track has the background instrumentation of the song IF with Telly speaking the words of the song instead of singing them.
247. Patsy Cline - Crazy
Wikipedia:
"Crazy" is a ballad composed by Willie Nelson. It has been recorded by several artists, most notably by Patsy Cline. Partly due to the genre-blending nature of the song, it has been covered by dozens of artists in several genres over the years; Nevertheless, the song remains inextricably linked with Cline. Cline's version is #85 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles #2
U.S. Billboard Easy Listening #2
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 #9
U.K. Singles Chart #14
248. Patsy Cline - I Fall To Pieces
Wikipedia:
"I Fall to Pieces" is a single released by Patsy Cline in 1961, and was featured on her 1961 studio album, Patsy Cline Showcase. "I Fall to Pieces" was Cline's first #1 hit on the Country charts, and her second hit single to cross over onto the Pop charts. It was the first of a string of songs that would be written by Hank Cochran and Harlan Howard (not always collaborating) for Cline."I Fall to Pieces" became one of Cline's most-recognizable hit singles. It has also been classified as a country music standard.
U.S. Billboard Hot C&W Sides #1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 #12
U.S. Billboard Easy Listening #6
249. Paul Hardcastle - 19
Wikipedia:
"19" is a song by British musician Paul Hardcastle released as the first single from his self-titled third studio album Paul Hardcastle (1985). The song has a strong anti-war message, focussing on America's involvement in the Vietnam War and the effect it had on the soldiers who served. The track was notable for early use of sampled and processed speech, in particular a stutter effect used on the words "n-n-n-n-nineteen" and "d-d-d-d-destruction". It also includes various non-speech samples such as crowd noise and a military bugle call. "19" features sampled narration (by Peter Thomas), interview dialogue ("I wasn't really sure what was going on") and news reports from Vietnam Requiem, an ABC television documentary about the post-traumatic stress disorder suffered by veterans. In 2009, the song placed at 73 on VH1's 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders of the 80s. Hardcastle was later sued by ABC for his unauthorized use of samples from the documentary. Nineteen topped the pop charts in the UK for five weeks, and reached the top twenty in the US, where it also topped the dance chart. For a while, it was the top selling single in thirteen countries (helped by the fact that versions of the song were recorded in French, Spanish, German and Japanese), and it received the Ivor Novello award for Bestselling Single Of 1985. The song's English language release came in three different 12" versions ("Extended Version", "Destruction Mix" and "The Final Story"), each with an alternative cover design.
1985 Austrian Singles Chart #1
Canadian RPM Top Singles #2
German Singles Chart #1
Irish Singles Chart #1
Italian Singles Chart #1
Dutch Top 40 #1
New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart #1
Norwegian Singles Chart #1 1
Swedish Singles Chart #1
Swiss Singles Chart #1
Top 10 Veracruz Stereo Medellin, Colombia #1
UK Singles Chart #1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 #15
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play #1
250. Pavarotti & Friends For Guatemala and Kosovo - We Are The World
(September 21, 1999)
251. Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas?
Adam Clayton (U2)
Phil Collins (Genesis)
Bob Geldof (The Boomtown Rats)
Steve Norman (Spandau Ballet)
Chris Cross (Ultravox)
John Taylor (Duran Duran)
Paul Young
Tony Hadley (Spandau Ballet)
Glenn Gregory (Heaven 17)
Simon Le Bon (Duran Duran)
Simon Crowe (The Boomtown Rats)
Marilyn
Keren Woodward (Bananarama)
Martin Kemp (Spandau Ballet)
Jody Watley (Shalamar)
Bono (U2)
Paul Weller (The Style Council)
James "J.T." Taylor (Kool & the Gang)
George Michael (Wham!)
Midge Ure (Ultravox)
Martyn Ware (Heaven 17)
John Keeble (Spandau Ballet)
Gary Kemp (Spandau Ballet)
Roger Taylor (Duran Duran)
Sara Dallin (Bananarama)
Siobhan Fahey (Bananarama)
Pete Briquette (The Boomtown Rats)
Francis Rossi (Status Quo)
Robert 'Kool' Bell (Kool & the Gang)
Dennis J. T. Thomas (Kool & the Gang)
Andy Taylor (Duran Duran)
Jon Moss (Culture Club)
Sting (The Police)
Rick Parfitt (Status Quo)
Nick Rhodes (Duran Duran)
Johnny Fingers (The Boomtown Rats)
David Bowie
Boy George (Culture Club)
Holly Johnson (Frankie Goes to Hollywood)
Paul McCartney
Stuart Adamson (Big Country)
Bruce Watson (Big Country)
Tony Butler (Big Country)
Mark Brzezicki (Big Country)
Wikipedia:
Do They Know It's Christmas?" is a song written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in 1984 to raise money for relief of the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. The original version was produced by Midge Ure and released by Band Aid on 29 November 1984. The 1984 original became the biggest selling single in UK Singles Chart history, selling a million copies in the first week alone. It stayed at Number 1 for five weeks, becoming Christmas number one, and sold more than 3.5 million copies domestically.
In the United States, the video was played on MTV frequently throughout the holiday season. It sold more than a million copies in the U.S. but did not reach #1 there, due to the more complex nature of the chart system, which counted airplay as well as sales. Despite outselling the official #1 by four to one, it did not make the Top Ten due to a lack of airplay, ultimately peaking at #13 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Twelve months later, "Do They Know It's Christmas?" returned to the UK charts, reaching #3 in the week after Christmas of 1985, with only songs by Whitney Houston and Shakin' Stevens preventing its return to the top merely 47 weeks after it had left the #1 spot.
252. Band Aid II - Do They Know It's Christmas
A new version was recorded under the name of Band Aid II in 1989, produced by the popular Hit Factory team of Stock, Aitken and Waterman and featuring a number of the year's most accessible artists, including:
Kylie Minogue
Jason Donovan
Lisa Stansfield
Cliff Richard
Jimmy Somerville
Wet Wet Wet
Bros.
Bananarama
Cathy Dennis
D Mob
Kevin Godley
Glen Goldsmith
The Pasadenas
Chris Rea
Technotronic
Sonia
Sarah Dallin and Keren Woodward the only artists to appear on both versions.
The lyrics were rearranged for a more traditional "verse and chrorus" structure, with the opening verse being split in two with a short repeat of the ending chorus being played at the end of both, followed by the "here's to you" section and a final lengthened version of the closing chorus (with commentary by Michael Buerk played over the closing in the music video).
The song again reached #1 for Christmas, raising more money and also making it the final number-one single of the 1980s. It was also the final song to be played on Top of the Pops in the Eighties.
253. Band Aid 20 - Do They Know It's Christmas?
Keane
Paul McCartney
The Sugababes
Sky(Morcheeba)
Robbie Williams
Dido
Bono(U2)
Jamelia
Justin Hawkins(Darkness)
Chris Martin(Coldplay)
Fran Healy(Travis)
Beverley Knight
Busted
Ms. Dynamite
Danny Goffey(Supergrass)
Katie Melua
Will Young
Natasha Bedingfield
Snow Patrol
Shaznay Lewis
Joss Stone
Daniel Bedingfield
Rachael Stevens
The Thrills
Roisin Murphy(Moloko)
Lemar
Estelle
Neil Hannon(Divine Comedy
Feeder
Dizzee Rascal
Wikipedia:
Band Aid 20 recorded a third version of the song in November 2004 for the twentieth anniversary of the original recording, and again got to #1. The idea was prompted by Coldplay singer Chris Martin, although Geldof and Ure both got quickly involved. Geldof did the publicity and educated the younger artists on the issues (some of the artists weren't born when the original was recorded) while Ure assisted producer Nigel Godrich and filmed the event for the corresponding dsocumentary.
While the 1989 and 2004 versions of "Do They Know It's Christmas?" had notable chart success (despite both being criticized for their very "pop" oriented sound which lacked the earnestness of the original recording), the popularity of the 1984 recording has remained unmatched and the record has seen numerous re-releases in small numbers around Christmas over the years.
254. The Who - Pinball Wizard
Wikipedia:
"Pinball Wizard" is a song written by Pete Townshend and performed by the English rock band The Who, and featured on their 1969 rock opera album Tommy. The original recording was released as a single in 1969 and reached No. 4 in the UK charts and No. 19 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
255. Paul McCartney - Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey
"Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" is a song by Paul and Linda McCartney from the album Ram. Released in the United States as a single on 2 August 1971, it reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in September 1971. Paul McCartney won the Grammy Award for Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists in 1971 for the song. The single was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of over one million copies.
256. Pink Floyd - Another Brick In The Wall Part 2
Australian Singles Chart #1
Austrian Singles Chart #1
Canadian RPM Singles Chart #1
Danish Singles Chart #1
French Singles Chart #1
German Singles Chart #1
Italian Singles Chart #2
Spanish Singles Chart #1
Swedish Singles Chart #1
Swiss Singles Chart #1
UK Singles Chart #1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 #1
257. Young Jezzy Feat. Nas - My President Is Black
"My President" is the fourth official single from rapper Young Jeezy's third studio album, The Recession. The song also features rapper Nas and is produced by Tha Bizness. This song was number 16 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Best Songs of 2008.[2] Jeezy and Nas recorded the song on the day Barack Obama clinched the Democratic nomination for the Presidency. "My President" also is notable for the unified collaboration between the two artists, who had been having a feud since the 2006 release of Nas' album "Hip Hop Is Dead", which contained statements to which Young Jeezy took offense.
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 #53
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs #45
U.S. Billboard Hot Rap Tracks #13
258. Billy Joel - We Didn't Start The Fire
Wikipedia:
"We Didn't Start the Fire" is a song by Billy Joel. Its lyrics are made up from rapid-fire brief allusions to over a hundred headline events between March 1949 (Joel was born on May 9 of that year) and 1989, when the song was released on his album Storm Front. The song was a number-one hit in the US, and has often been parodied since.
The song and music video have been interpreted as a rebuttal to criticism of Joel's Baby Boomer generation. The song's title and refrain mention "the fire", an allusion to conflict and societal turmoil; Joel asserts that these can't be blamed on his generation alone - "we didn't start the fire, it was always burning since the world's been turning".
What The Lyrics Mean:
1940s
1949
Harry Truman is inaugurated as U.S. president after being elected in 1948 to his own term; previously he was sworn in following the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt. He authorized the use of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan during World War II, on August 6 and August 9, 1945, respectively.
Doris Day enters the public spotlight with the films My Dream Is Yours and It's a Great Feeling as well as popular songs like "It's Magic"; divorces her second husband.
Red China as the Communist Party of China wins the Chinese Civil War, establishing the People's Republic of China.
Johnnie Ray signs his first recording contract with Okeh Records, although he would not become popular for another two years.
South Pacific, the prize-winning musical, opens on Broadway on April 7.
Walter Winchell is an aggressive radio and newspaper journalist credited with inventing the gossip column.
Joe DiMaggio and the New York Yankees go to the World Series five times in the 1940s, winning four of them.
1950s
1950
Joe McCarthy, the US Senator, gains national attention and begins his anti-communist crusade with his Lincoln Day speech.
Richard Nixon is first elected to the United States Senate.
Studebaker, a popular car company, begins its financial downfall.
Television is becoming widespread (in black and white format) and becomes the most popular means of advertising.
North Korea and South Korea declare war after Northern forces stream south on June 25.
Marilyn Monroe soars in popularity with five new movies, including The Asphalt Jungle and All About Eve, and attempts suicide after the death of friend Johnny Hyde who asked to marry her several times, but she refused respectfully . Monroe would later (1954) be married for a brief time to Joe DiMaggio (mentioned in the previous verse).
1951
The Rosenbergs, Ethel and Julius, were convicted on March 29 for espionage.
H-Bomb is in the middle of its development as a nuclear weapon, announced in early 1950 and first tested in late 1952.
Sugar Ray Robinson, a champion welterweight boxer.
Panmunjom, the border village in Korea, is the location of truce talks between the parties of the Korean War.
Marlon Brando is nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in A Streetcar Named Desire.
The King and I, musical, opens on Broadway on March 29.
The Catcher in the Rye, a controversial novel by J. D. Salinger, is published.
1952
Dwight D. Eisenhower is first elected as U.S. president, winning by a landslide margin of 442 to 89 electoral votes.
The vaccine for polio is privately tested by Jonas Salk.
England's got a new queen: Queen Elizabeth II succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth Realms upon the death of George VI of the United Kingdom and is crowned the next year.
Rocky Marciano defeats Jersey Joe Walcott, becoming the world Heavyweight champion.
Liberace has a popular 1950s television show for his musical entertainment.
Santayana goodbye: George Santayana, philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist, dies on September 26.
1953
Joseph Stalin dies on March 5, yielding his position as leader of the Soviet Union.
Georgy Maksimilianovich Malenkov succeeds Stalin for six months following his death. Malenkov had presided over Stalin's purges of party "enemies", but would be spared a similar fate by Nikita Khrushchev mentioned later in verse.
Gamal Abdel Nasser acts as the true power behind the new Egyptian nation as Muhammad Naguib's minister of the interior.
Sergei Prokofiev, the composer, dies on March 5, the same day as Stalin.
Winthrop Rockefeller and his wife Barbara are involved in a highly publicized divorce, culminating in 1954 with a record-breaking $5.5 million settlement.[9]
Roy Campanella, an African-American baseball catcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers, receives the National League's Most Valuable Player award for the second time.
Communist bloc is a group of communist nations dominated by the Soviet Union at this time. Probably a reference to the Uprising of 1953 in East Germany.
1954
Roy Cohn resigns as Joseph McCarthy's chief counsel and enters private practice with the fall of McCarthy.
Juan Perón spends his last full year as President of Argentina before a September 1955 coup.
Arturo Toscanini is at the height of his fame as a conductor, performing regularly with the NBC Symphony Orchestra on national radio.
Dacron is an early artificial fiber made from the same plastic as polyester.
Dien Bien Phu falls. A village in North Vietnam falls to Viet Minh forces under Vo Nguyen Giap, leading to the creation of North Vietnam and South Vietnam as separate states.
"Rock Around the Clock" is a hit single released by Bill Haley & His Comets in May, spurring worldwide interest in rock and roll music.
1955
Albert Einstein dies on April 18 at the age of 76.
James Dean achieves success with East of Eden and Rebel Without a Cause, gets nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor, and dies in a car accident on September 30 at the age of 24.
Brooklyn's got a winning team: The Brooklyn Dodgers win the World Series for the only time before their move to Los Angeles.
Davy Crockett is a Disney television series about the legendary frontiersman of the same name. The show was a huge hit with young boys and inspired a short-lived "coonskin cap" craze.
Peter Pan is broadcast on TV live and in color from the 1954 version of the stage musical starring Mary Martin on March 7. Disney released an animated version the previous year.
Elvis Presley signs with RCA Records on November 21, beginning his pop career.
Disneyland opens on July 17 as Walt Disney's first theme park.
1956
Brigitte Bardot appears in her first mainstream film And God Created Woman and establishes an international reputation as a French "sex kitten".
Budapest is the site of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution.
Alabama is the site of the Montgomery Bus Boycott which ultimately led to the removal of the last race laws in the USA. Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr figure prominently.
Nikita Khrushchev makes his famous Secret Speech denouncing Stalin's "cult of personality" on February 23.
Princess Grace Kelly releases her last film, High Society, and marries Prince Rainier III of Monaco.
Peyton Place, the best-selling novel by Grace Metalious, is published. Though mild compared to today's prime time, it shocked the reserved values of the '50s.
Trouble in the Suez: The Suez Crisis boils as Egypt nationalizes the Suez Canal on October 29.
1957
Little Rock, Arkansas is the site of an anti-integration standoff, as Governor Orval Faubus stops the Little Rock Nine from attending Little Rock Central High School and President Dwight D. Eisenhower deploys the 101st Airborne Division to counteract him.
Boris Pasternak, the Russian author, publishes his famous novel Doctor Zhivago.
Mickey Mantle is in the middle of his career as a famous New York Yankees outfielder and American League All-Star for the sixth year in a row.
Jack Kerouac publishes his first novel in seven years, On the Road.
Sputnik becomes the first artificial satellite, launched by the Soviet Union on October 4, marking the start of the space race.
Chou En-Lai, Premier of the People's Republic of China, survives an assassination attempt on the charter airliner Kashmir Princess.
Bridge on the River Kwai is released as a film adaptation of the 1954 novel and receives seven Academy Awards.[10]
1958
Lebanon is engulfed in a political and religious crisis that eventually involves U.S. intervention.
Charles de Gaulle is elected first president of the French Fifth Republic following the Algerian Crisis.
California baseball begins as the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants move to California and become the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants. They are the first major league teams west of Kansas City.
Charles Starkweather homicides capture the attention of Americans, killing eleven people before he is caught in a massive manhunt in Douglas, Wyoming.
Children of Thalidomide: Mothers taking the drug Thalidomide had children born with congenital birth defects caused by the sleeping aid and antiemetic, which was also used at times to treat morning sickness.
1959
Buddy Holly dies in a plane crash on February 3 with Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper, in a day that had a devastating impact on the country and youth culture.
Ben-Hur, a film based around the New Testament starring Charlton Heston, wins eleven Academy Awards.
Space Monkey: Able and Miss Baker return to Earth from space aboard the flight Jupiter AM-18.
Mafia are the center of attention for the FBI and public attention builds to this organized crime society with a historically Sicilian-American origin.
Hula hoops reach 100 million in sales as the latest toy fad.
Fidel Castro comes to power after a revolution in Cuba and visits the United States later that year on an unofficial twelve-day tour.
Edsel is a no-go: Production of this car marque ends after only three years due to poor sales.
1960s
1960
U-2: An American U-2 spy plane piloted by Francis Gary Powers was shot down over the Soviet Union, causing the U-2 Crisis of 1960.
Syngman Rhee was rescued by the CIA after being forced to resign as leader of South Korea for allegedly fixing an election and embezzling more than twenty million U.S. dollars.
Payola, illegal payments for radio broadcasting of songs, was publicized due to Dick Clark's testimony before Congress and Alan Freed's public disgrace.
John F. Kennedy beats Richard Nixon in the November 8 general election.
Chubby Checker popularizes the dance The Twist with his song of the same name.
Psycho: An Alfred Hitchcock thriller, based on a pulp novel by Robert Bloch and adapted by Joseph Stefano, which becomes a landmark in graphic violence and cinema sensationalism. The screeching violins heard briefly in the background of the song are a trademark of the film's soundtrack.
Belgians in the Congo: The Democratic Republic of the Congo was declared independent of Belgium on June 30, with Joseph Kasavubu as President and Patrice Lumumba as Prime Minister.
1961
Ernest Hemingway commits suicide on July 2 after a long battle with depression.
Adolf Eichmann, a "most wanted" Nazi war criminal, is traced to Argentina and captured by Mossad agents. He is covertly taken to Israel where he is put on trial for crimes against humanity in Germany during World War II, convicted, and hanged.
Stranger in a Strange Land: Written by Robert A. Heinlein, is a breakthrough best-seller with themes of sexual freedom and liberation.
Bob Dylan: After a New York Times review by critic Robert Shelton, Bob Dylan is signed to Columbia Records.
Berlin: The Berlin Wall, which forcibly separated West Berlin from East Berlin and the rest of East Germany, was erected on August 13 to prevent citizens escaping to the West.
Bay of Pigs Invasion: Failed attempt by United States-trained Cuban exiles to invade Cuba and overthrow Fidel Castro.
1962
Lawrence of Arabia: The Academy Award-winning film based on the life of T. E. Lawrence starring Peter O'Toole premieres in America on December 16.
British Beatlemania: The Beatles, a British rock group, gain Ringo Starr as drummer and Brian Epstein as manager, and join the EMI's Parlophone label. They soon become the world's most famous rock band , with the word "Beatlemania" adopted by the press for their fans' unprecedented enthusiasm. It also began the British Invasion in the United States.
Ole' Miss: James Meredith integrates the University of Mississippi
John Glenn: Flew the first American manned orbital mission termed "Friendship 7" on February 20.
Liston beats Patterson: Sonny Liston and Floyd Patterson fight for the world heavyweight championship on September 25, ending in a first-round knockout. This match marked the first time Patterson had ever been knocked out and one of only eight losses in his 20-year professional career.
1963
Pope Paul VI: Cardinal Giovanni Montini is elected to the papacy and takes the regnal name of Paul VI.
Malcolm X makes his infamous statement "The chickens have come home to roost" about the Kennedy assassination, thus causing the Nation of Islam to censor him.
British politician sex: The British Secretary of State for War has a relationship with a showgirl, and then lies when questioned about it before the House of Commons. When the truth came out, it led to his own resignation and undermined the credibility of the Prime Minister.
JFK, blown away! What else do I have to say?: President John F. Kennedy is assassinated on November 22 while riding in an open convertible through Dallas.
1965
Birth control: In the early 1960s, oral contraceptives, popularly known as "the pill", first go on the market and are extremely popular. Griswold v. Connecticut in 1965 challenged a Connecticut law prohibiting contraceptives. In 1968, Pope Paul VI released a papal encyclical entitled Humanae Vitae which declared artificial birth control a sin.
Ho Chi Minh: A Vietnamese communist, who served as President of Vietnam from 1954–1969. March 2 Operation Rolling Thunder begins bombing of the Ho Chi Minh Trail supply line from North Vietnam to the Vietcong rebels in the south. On March 8, the first U.S. combat troops, 3,500 marines, land in South Vietnam.
1968
Richard Nixon back again: Former Vice President Nixon is elected in the 1968 presidential election of the United States
1969
Moonshot: Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing, successfully lands on the moon.
Woodstock: Famous rock and roll festival of 1969 that came to be the epitome of the counterculture movement.
1970s
1974
Watergate: Political scandal that began when the Democratic National Committee's headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, DC was broken into. After the break-in, word began to spread that President Richard Nixon (a Republican) may have known about the break-in, and tried to cover it up. The scandal would ultimately result in the resignation of President Nixon, and to date, this remains the only time that anyone has ever resigned the United States Presidency.
Punk rock: The Ramones form, with the Sex Pistols following in 1975, bringing in the punk era.
1977
(Note that these two items, while later chronologically than the two 1976 items, come immediately before them in the song.)
Menachem Begin becomes Prime Minister of Israel in 1977 and negotiates the Camp David Accords with Egypt's president in 1978.
Ronald Reagan: President of the United States from 1981 to 1989; first attempted in 1976 to run for president.
1976
(Note that these two items, while earlier chronologically than the two 1977 items, come immediately after them in the song)
Palestine: a United Nations resolution that calls for an independent Palestinian state and to end the Israeli occupation.
Terror on the airline: Numerous aircraft hijackings took place, specifically, the Palestinian hijack of Air France Flight 139 and the subsequent Operation Entebbe in Uganda.
1979
Ayatollah's in Iran: During the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the West-backed and U.S.-installed Shah is overthrown as the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini gains power after years in exile.
Russians in Afghanistan: Following their move into Afghanistan, Soviet forces fight a ten-year war, from 1979 to 1989.
1980s
1983
Wheel of Fortune: A hit television game show which has been TV's highest-rated syndicated program since 1983.
Sally Ride: In 1983 she becomes the first American woman in space. Dr. Ride's quip from space "Better than an E-ticket", harkens back to the opening of Disneyland mentioned earlier, with the E-ticket purchase needed for the best rides.
Heavy metal suicide: In the 1980s Ozzy Osbourne and the bands Judas Priest and Metallica were brought to court by parents who accused the musicians of hiding subliminal pro-suicide messages in their music.
Foreign debts: Persistent U.S. trade deficits
Homeless vets: Veterans of the Vietnam War, including many disabled ex-military, are reported to be left homeless and impoverished, the country unable to yet handle its failure to succeed.
AIDS: A collection of symptoms and infections in humans resulting from the specific damage to the immune system caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). It is first detected and recognized in the 1980s, and was on its way to becoming a pandemic.
Crack cocaine use surged in the mid-to-late 1980s.
1984
Bernie Goetz: On December 22, Mr. Goetz shot four young men who he said were threatening him on a New York City subway. Goetz was charged with attempted murder but was acquitted of the charges, though convicted of carrying an unlicensed gun.
1988
Hypodermics on the shore: Medical waste was found washed up on beaches in New Jersey after being illegally dumped at sea. Before this event, waste dumped in the oceans was an "out of sight, out of mind" affair. This has been cited as one of the crucial turning points in popular opinion on environmentalism.
1989
China's under martial law: On May 20, China declares martial law, enabling them to use force of arms against protesting students to end the Tiananmen Square protests.
Rock-and-roller cola wars, I can't take it anymore!: Soft drink giants Coke and Pepsi each run marketing campaigns using rock & roll and popular music stars to reach the young adult demographic.
Of the 56 individuals mentioned by name in the song, the following nine are still alive as of January 2012: Queen Elizabeth II, Brigitte Bardot, Fidel Castro, Chubby Checker, Bob Dylan, John Glenn, Doris Day, Sally Ride, and Bernhard Goetz.
Johnnie Ray, Joe DiMaggio, Richard Nixon, Roy Campanella, Mickey Mantle, Floyd Patterson, Marlon Brando, Menachem Begin, Ronald Reagan and J. D. Salinger were all alive when the song was released but have died since.
Two individuals, John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, are mentioned by name twice in the song.
The U.S. Presidents in office from 1949 to 1989 not mentioned in the song are Lyndon Johnson, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and George H. W. Bush.
The Dodgers are mentioned twice, but only in reference to their homes rather than by name: "Brooklyn's got a winning team", concerning their 1955 World Series victory, and "California baseball" about the Dodgers' and Giants' move from New York to California in 1958.
259. Ben Bernie and His Hotel Roosevelt Orchestra - Sweet Georgia Brown
Later spawned the below hit that was eventually used as the theme to the exhibition novelty basketball team the Harlem Globetrotters.
260. Bobby Caldwell - Take Me/I'll Follow You
261. Cannon's Jug Stompers - Walk Right In
Spawned the popular version by the rooftop singers
262. Carpenters - (They Long To Be) Close To You
263. Carpenters - Only Yesterday
264. Carpenters - Top Of The World
265. Cat Stevens - Morning Has Broken
266. Nat King Cole - Smile
First vocal version of the composition written by Charlie Chaplin for the film Modern Times
267. Neil & Dara Sedaka - Should've Never Let You Go (Neil and Dara are father and daughter)
268. Natalie Cole and Nat King Cole - Unforgettable (Natalie and Nat are father and daughter)
269. Billie Holiday - God Bless The Child
Wikipedia:
In her autobiography Lady Sings the Blues Holiday indicated an argument with her mother over money led to the song. She indicated that during the argument she said the line "God bless the child that's got his own." The anger over the incident led her to turn that line into a starting point for a song, which she worked out in conjunction with Herzog. references the Bible while indicating that religion seems to have no effect in making people treat each other better. The lyrics refer to an unspecified Biblical verse: "Them that's got shall get, them that don't shall lose, so the Bible says, and it still is news. . . . " This likely refers to Matthew 25:29 or Luke 8:18.
270. Michael Jackson - Heal The World
271. Michael Jackson - Earth Song
272. Green Day - Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)
273. Hoagy Carmichael - Georgia
a.k.a. Georgia On My Mind. This is the original version as made popular later by Ray Charles
274. Living Colour - Open Letter (To A Landlord)
275. Etta James - At Last
276. Golden Gate Quartet - Preacher And The Bear
277. Dinah Shore - Buttons And Bows
278. Louis Armstrong - West End Blues
279. Bing Crosby - Beautiful Dreamer
280. Martkia - Toy Soilders
281. Carpenters - Sing
282. Marion Harris - It Had To Be You
Recorded March 28, 1924
283. Marvin Gaye - Mercy, Mercy Me (The Ecology)
284. Guns N' Roses - Civil War
285. Kix - Don't Close Your Eyes
286. Phil Collins - Another Day In Paradise
287. Earth, Wind & Fire - System of Survival
288. John Mellencamp - Pop Singer
289. XTC - Dear God
I do however believe in God but the song does make ya think.
Wikipedia:
The first verse and closing line are sung by the then eight-year-old Jasmine Veillette, the daughter of a friend of producer Todd Rundgren.
In the video a boy lip-syncs her vocals. The lyrics are addressed to
God, and vividly describe the range of human suffering, which the
narrator attributes to God. The singer concludes every verse with the
line "I can't believe in you". Despite the prayer-like quality, the lyrics strongly imply doubt as to the existence of God ("Did you make mankind after we made you?"), omnibenevolence ("The wars you bring, the babes you drown, those lost at sea and never found"), and the value of the Bible as God's word ("Us crazy humans wrote it Still believin' that junk is true / well, I know it ain't and so do you").
In the UK, when the song was originally released as a single many
record shops refused to stock the track, fearing a religious backlash.
It is ranked #62 on VH1's 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the 80s despite never having charted on the Billboard Hot 100 and despite peaking at #37 on the Billboard Album Rock Chart, and the band had larger hits on both charts and the later Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart.
290. Tears For Fears - Sowing the Seeds of Love
Wikipedia:
The song is a pastiche of The Beatles and was produced in a style reminiscent of their late 1960s output. The song was written in 1987, during the week of the 1987 General Election in the UK, in which Conservative leader Margaret Thatcher
won her third term in office. The election prompted Roland Orzabal who
comes from a working class background to take an interest in politics
and socialism, and at the time of its release, he considered this to be
the most overtly political song that Tears For Fears had ever recorded.
The song's title was inspired by a radio programme that Orzabal had
heard at the time about a man who was putting together a collection of
traditional English folk songs. One of the more obscure songs was called
"The Seeds of Love" which he had learned about from a gardener called
Mr. England (reflected in the lyric "Mr England sowing the seeds of
love"). The song borrows synthesizer elements of the 1971 piece "Sekoilu Seestyy" by Finnish artist Pekka Pohjola, also sampled by DJ Shadow for his track "Midnight In A Perfect World".
291. Rudy Vallee & His Connecticut Yankees - Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries
292. Rudy Vallee - Brother Can You Spare A Dime?
Wikipedia:
"Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?", also sung as "Buddy, Can You Spare a Dime?", is one of the best-known American songs of the Great Depression. Written in 1931 by lyricist E. Y. "Yip" Harburg and composer Jay Gorney, "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" was part of the 1932 musical New Americana; the melody is based on a Russian lullaby Gorney heard as a child. It became best known, however, through recordings by Bing Crosby and Rudy Vallee. Both versions were released right before Franklin Delano Roosevelt's election to the presidency and both became number one hits on the charts. The Brunswick
Crosby recording became the best-selling record of its period, and came
to be viewed as an anthem of the shattered dreams of the era.
293. Green Day - American Idiot
294. Mr. Mister - Kyrie
Wikipedia:
The words to "Kyrie" were written by lyricist John Lang who co-wrote
the songs on all of Mr. Mister's albums. The music was composed by Richard Page and Steve George while on tour with Adam Ant.
- "Kýrie, eléison, down the road that I must travel
- Kýrie, eléison, through the darkness of the night"
Kýrie, eléison means "Lord, have mercy" in Biblical Greek, and is a part of many liturgical rites in Eastern and Western Christianity. Kýrie, eléison; Christé, eléison; Kýrie, eléison is a prayer that asks "Lord, have mercy; Christ, have mercy; Lord, have mercy". According to Page the entire song is, essentially, a prayer.
295. The Wailers - Get Up, Stand Up (Pre Bob Marley & The Wailers feat.
Robert Nesta Marley (Bob Marley), Peter Tosh & Neville Livingston (Bunny Wailer)
Wikipedia:
Marley wrote the song while flying out of Haiti, deeply moved by its poverty and the lives of Haitians, according his then-girlfriend Esther Anderson.
296. R.E.M. - Everybody Hurts
297. Everlast - What It's Like
Wikipedia:
Structurally, the song consists of three verses, a chorus and a
bridge. The last line of the chorus varies in accordance with the
particular situation faced by the character in the preceding verse. Each
character is presented in a sympathetic light as a victim of
circumstance and as being an object of derision. Each verse ends with
the line God forbid you ever had to walk a mile in his/her shoes (in the third verse, "...you ever had to wake up to hear the news") and Cause then you really might know what it's like to,
with the action varying depending on what the character has to do (sing
the blues, have to choose, and have to lose, respectively).
The characters are:
- A beggar (the man at the liquor store beggin' for your change)
- Mary, a pregnant girl who decides to have an abortion (Mary got pregnant from a kid named Tom who said he was in love);
when she goes through the door of the clinic, she gets called a
"killer", "sinner", and "whore", reflecting criticism thrown to her
namesake, Mary Magdalene
- The life of Max, a man with violent friends and an alcohol problem (He liked to hang out late, he liked to get shit-faced and keep the pace with thugs)
At the end of the music video
for the song, all of the characters (along with other people) are
crowded around a window. Behind the window, an idyllic family is having
an enjoyable dinner, oblivious to the less fortunate who are outside.
298. The Youngbloods - Get Together
Wikipedia:
The song was originally recorded as "Let's Get Together" by The Kingston Trio and released on June 1, 1964, on their album Back in Town.
While it was not released as a single, this version was the first to
bring the song to the attention of the general public. The Kingston Trio
often performed it live.
The song is an appeal for peace and brotherhood, presenting the polarity
of love versus fear, and the choice to be made between them. It is best
remembered for the impassioned plea in the lines of its refrain, which is repeated several times in succession to bring the song to its conclusion.
299. Alexander Vertinsky - Dorogoi dlinnoyu (Дорогой длинною - By the Long Road)
Wikipedia:
In 1926 Vertinsky made one of the earliest recordings of the song
"Dorogoi dlinnoyu" ("Дорогой длинною" or "Endless Road"), written by Boris Fomin (1900–1948) with words by the poet Konstantin Podrevskii, which, with English lyrics by Gene Raskin, was a major hit for Mary Hopkin in 1968 as Those Were the Days.
300. Sam Cooke - A Change is Gonna Come
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