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Thread: Top Songs of All Time?

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    Top Songs of All Time?

    As some of you may know, I teach high school humanities (and English). As part of my humanities class, I have the kids come up with a list of their Top 20 songs of the Modern Era (1900-now).

    My assignment for you, Redszone, is to come up with a Top 40 (or so) songs of all time. How many Beethoven tracks? Mozart? Does Wagner's Ride of the Valykries trump Tchiakovsky's Suger Plum Fairies? So The Beatles deserve two songs? If so, which ones?

    Songs need to be both representative of an era (ie, Black Sabbath's Iron Man, as the epitome of heavy metal) or the greatest hit of a really, really important composer/ song/ group.

    Because of curriculum and time constraints, I start with The Renaissance.

    Convince me.


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    2009: Fail Ltlabner's Avatar
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    Re: Top Songs of All Time?

    Cruel Summer - Banannaramma ?

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    Re: Top Songs of All Time?

    Quote Originally Posted by Ltlabner View Post
    Cruel Summer - Banannaramma ?
    Curse you for putting that song into my head. :

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    Re: Top Songs of All Time?

    Stairway to heaven.....greatest rock song of all time
    Reds fan since 1970

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    Redsmetz redsmetz's Avatar
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    Re: Top Songs of All Time?

    All time or since 1900? I'll go with some before my time but which would need to be listed because they're just that good

    In The Mood - Glen Miller Orchestra (a friend's dad helped write this, lived right in St. Bernard until his death)

    Rock Around the Clock - Bill Haley & His Comets (just barely before my time - record eight months before I was born) - I always point out that the song's as old as me and it still rocks (me, not so much!)

    Yesterday - The Beatles (it's no accident that it's reputedly the most covered song in history - it might be second). Structurally it's just a well crafted song, very nicely produced.

    I'm hard pressed as to which Paul Simon song (Simon & Garfunkel) I should pick; same for Bob Dylan.

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    Baseball card addict MrCinatit's Avatar
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    Re: Top Songs of All Time?

    Quote Originally Posted by redsmetz View Post


    I'm hard pressed as to which Paul Simon song (Simon & Garfunkel) I should pick; same for Bob Dylan.
    I would go with Bridge Over Troubled Waters for Simon & Garfunkel, hands down.

    Blowing In The Wind perhaps for Dylan - I like Hurricane a lot, but I do not think it would go down as an all-time classic.

  8. #7
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    Re: Top Songs of All Time?

    Quote Originally Posted by Scrap Irony View Post
    As some of you may know, I teach high school humanities (and English). As part of my humanities class, I have the kids come up with a list of their Top 20 songs of the Modern Era (1900-now).

    My assignment for you, Redszone, is to come up with a Top 40 (or so) songs of all time. How many Beethoven tracks? Mozart? Does Wagner's Ride of the Valykries trump Tchiakovsky's Suger Plum Fairies? So The Beatles deserve two songs? If so, which ones?

    Songs need to be both representative of an era (ie, Black Sabbath's Iron Man, as the epitome of heavy metal) or the greatest hit of a really, really important composer/ song/ group.

    Because of curriculum and time constraints, I start with The Renaissance.

    Convince me.
    Well, the thing about those classical selections is that they're not "songs", they're Sonatas, Symphonies, Opera, etc... Songs are basically poems set to music or in the case of modern Hip Hop, "poems" set to "music"

    I kid, I kid...

    Here are a few to get started:

    Some Day My Prince Will Come
    New York, New York
    Summertime
    Take The "A" Train
    In The Mood
    At Last
    I Can't Help Falling In Love With You
    The Twist
    Blueberry Hill
    California Girls
    Blackbird (actually, I agree with "Yesterday" but I love "Blackbird")
    You Are The Sunshine of my Life
    Love Sweet Love
    I Will Survive
    Shining Star
    Old Time Rock & Roll
    Brick House

    A note, based on what I've heard, there will be a tremendous dearth of "Top Songs" from this and (if another Gerschwin/Bacharach/Wonder/McCartney/Lennon isn't born) future decades.
    Last edited by nate; 07-26-2007 at 09:06 AM.

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    Re: Top Songs of All Time?

    I realize that "Yesterday" is one of the most popular and widely recorded songs out of their catalog; but I never really cared much for it. Don't hate the song; but wouldn't have it in my Beatle's Top 10, regardless of it's commercial success.

    As for Simon & Garfunkel - I'd go with "Sounds of Slience".

    Trying to nail down a Top 40 list of All-Time songs from every type of venue and generation would be pretty hard to do for me. My Dad was a huge Big Band Era buff, so I grew up listening to most of that catalog; but my selections would primarily be from the 50's/60's/70's rock n roll era.

    But since it would be a personal list (preferences), the Beatles would dominate.
    "In my day you had musicians who experimented with drugs. Now it's druggies experimenting with music" - Alfred G Clark (circa 1972)

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    Re: Top Songs of All Time?

    "Walk This Way" - Run DMC & Aerosmith. Like it or not, this collaboration ushered in the Rap Era. Twentysome years later, it's still dominating popular music.

    "Don't Stop Believin" - Journey. If it was good enough for the Sopranos, then dammit, it's good enough for you!
    "I prefer books and movies where the conflict isn't of the extreme cannibal apocalypse variety I guess." Redsfaithful

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    Re: Top Songs of All Time?

    Gimme Shelter

    And I think Simon and Garfunkel's best song is The Boxer. Hands down.
    There is no such thing as a pitching prospect.

  12. #11
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    Re: Top Songs of All Time?

    Not one song, but probably the most important album of all time in rock music, IMO.

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    Re: Top Songs of All Time?

    Would have to suggest what is arguably the most popular song ever, "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen.

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    Be the ball Roy Tucker's Avatar
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    Re: Top Songs of All Time?

    Top 40 songs of all time? Gadzooks. That includes a lot.

    Do you mean just songs or are we including all musical genres and pieces (renaissance, baroque, classical, opera, 20th century, etc etc). Gregorian chants, Hungarian folk, Phillip Glass, choir, and all that?

    And since I know really nothing about eastern music styles, are we limiting it to western civilization?
    She used to wake me up with coffee ever morning

  15. #14
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    Re: Top Songs of All Time?

    Lightening Crashes - Live
    Better Man - Pearl Jam
    Alive - Pearl Jam
    Smells like Teen Spirt - Nirvana
    November Rain - Guns n Roses

    I dont care for much before the late 80's or early 90's.

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    Re: Top Songs of All Time?

    Top 20 songs of the Modern Era (1900-now).
    That's tough enough right there. 40 of all time is beyond me.
    I'll go for 25 song/performer combinations and let you decide what to cut.
    I reserve the right to change all of these on reflection.
    In rough chronology

    The Band Played On - Tony Pastor
    You're a grand old Flag - George Cohan
    April Showers - Al Jolson
    Brother can you Spare a Dime - Rudy Vallee
    Happy Days are here again - Leo Reisman
    In the Mood - Glen Miller
    Don't Sit under the Apple Tree - The Andrew sisters
    I'll be seeing you - Bing Crosby
    Somewhere Over the Rainbow - Judy Garland
    Hound Dog - Elvis Presley
    Mr. Sandman - The Chordettes
    Hello Dolly - Louis Armstrong
    Night and Day - Ella Fitzgerald
    Fly Me To the Moon - Frank Sinatra
    The Good Life - Tony Bennett
    A Hard Day's Night - Beatles
    Feeling Groovy - Simon and Garfunkle
    All along the watchtower - Hendrix
    I can't get no Satisfaction - The Rolling Stones
    Good Vibrations - The Beach Boys
    Get Dancin - Disco Tex and the Sex-O-Lettes
    We Will Rock You/We are the Champions Queen
    You might Think I'm Crazy - The Cars
    Walk This Way - Aerosmith and Run-DMC
    Mysterious Ways - U2
    "Even a bad day at the ballpark beats the snot out of most other good days. I'll take my scorecard and pencil and beer and hot dog and rage at the dips and cheer at the highs, but I'm not ever going to stop loving this game and this team and nobody will ever take that away from me." Roy Tucker October 2010


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