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.
301. Original Dixieland Jass Band (later changed to Dixieland Jazz Band) - Livery Stable Blues
Wikipedia:
While a couple of other New Orleans bands had passed through New York City slightly earlier, they were part of vaudeville
acts. ODJB, on the other hand, played for dancing and hence, were the
first "jass" band to get a following of fans in New York and then record
at a time when the USA's recording industry essentially, was centered
in New York and New Jersey.
Shortly
after arriving in New York, a letter dated January 29, 1917, offered
the band an audition for the Columbia Graphophone Company. The session
took place on Wednesday, January 31, 1917. Nothing from this test
session was issued.
The
band then recorded two sides for the Victor Talking Machine Company,
"Livery Stable Blues" and "Dixie Jass Band One Step", on February 26,
1917, for the Victor label. These titles were released as the sides of a
78 record
on March 7, the first issued jazz record. The band records, first
marketed simply as a novelty, were a surprise hit, and gave many
Americans their first taste of jazz. Musician Joe Jordan sued, since the
"One Step" incorporated portions of his 1909 ragtime composition "That
Teasin' Rag". The record labels subsequently were changed to
"Introducing 'That Teasin' Rag' by Joe Jordan".
302. Billie Holiday - Strange Fruit
Wikipedia:
Strange
Fruit" is a song performed most famously by Billie Holiday, who
released her first recording of it in 1939, the year she first sang it.
Written by the teacher Abel Meeropol as a poem, it exposed American
racism, particularly the lynching of African Americans. Such lynchings
had occurred chiefly in the South
but also in all other regions of the United States. The writer, Abel,
set it to music and with his wife and the singer Laura Duncan, performed
it as a protest song in New York venues, including Madison Square
Garden.
In
lieu of the second Obama election to president I can only say I felt
compelled to put up the art work for the foreign release of this song.
If this is what America did to the African Americans back then I can say
that if we do not remember this tragic and utterly sickening time in
America, were will be doomed to repeat it. I must add that what I have
heard people casually say as if they are somewhat on another plane, is
racist comments about Obama when he in fact saved us from another
depression, weeding out the fraud in Medicare, Medicaid, and other
government funded programs and did all this while the phoney Republicans
instead of helping to undo what George W. Bush did fought him tooth and
nail. Have we as a people came so far just to take a 100 mile leap
backwards. If this is the case then we are no better than the Nazi's we
fought in WW2.
Strange Fruit by Billie Holiday
Sonet Records [Sweden] SXP 2800, 45 RPM Extended Play
Originally recorded for Commodore Records [USA] on 20 March 1939
Rerecorded several times by Holiday, mainly for Mercury and Norman Granz’s various labels of the period (Norgran, Clef and Verve)
Sonet Records [Sweden] SXP 2800, 45 RPM Extended Play
Originally recorded for Commodore Records [USA] on 20 March 1939
Rerecorded several times by Holiday, mainly for Mercury and Norman Granz’s various labels of the period (Norgran, Clef and Verve)
303. Louis Prima - Medley: Just A Gigolo / I Ain't Got Nobody (And Nobody Cares For Me)
The below album is an EP
Later a cover version appeared on the David Lee Roth EP Crazy From The Heat.
304. Enrico Caruso - 'O Sole Mio
Wikipedia:
’O sole mio
is a globally known Neapolitan song written in 1898. Its lyrics were
written by Giovanni Capurro and the melody was composed by Eduardo di
Capua. There are other versions of "’O sole mio" but it is usually sung
in the original Neapolitan language. ’O sole mio is the Neapolitan equivalent of standard Italian Il sole mio and translates literally as "my sunshine".
Neapolitan lyrics
Che bella cosa è na jurnata ’e sole,
n’aria serena doppo na tempesta!
Pe’ ll’aria fresca para già na festa...
Che bella cosa na jurnata ’e sole.
Ma n’atu sole cchiù bello, oi ne’,
’o sole mio sta nfronte a te!
’o sole, ’o sole mio, sta nfronte a te,
sta nfronte a te!
Quanno fa notte e ’o sole se ne scenne,
me vane quasi ’na malincunia;
sotta ’a fenesta toia restarria
quanno fa notte e ’o sole se ne scenne.
Ma n’atu sole cchiù bello, oi ne’,
’o sole mio sta nfronte a te!
’o sole, ’o sole mio, sta nfronte a te,
sta nfronte a te!
English translation
What a beautiful thing is a sunny day!
The air is serene after a storm,
The air is so fresh that it already feels like a celebration.
What a beautiful thing is a sunny day!
But another sun that's brighter still,
It's my own sun that's upon your face!
The sun, my own sun, it's upon your face!
It's upon your face!
When night comes and the sun has gone down,
I almost start feeling melancholy;
I'd stay below your window
When night comes and the sun has gone down.
But another sun that's brighter still,
It's my own sun that's upon your face!
The sun, my own sun, it's upon your face!
It's upon your face!
305. Edwin Hawkin Singers - Oh Happy Day
Wikipedia:
Edwin
Hawkins’ funk style arrangement of the hymn "Oh, Happy Day" has a
long pedigree: It began as a hymn written in the mid-18th century ("O
happy day, that fixed my choice") by English clergyman Philip Doddridge
(based on Acts 8:35) set to an earlier melody (1704) by J. A.
Freylinghausen. By the mid-19th century it had been given a new melody
by Edward F. Rimbault, who also added a chorus, and was commonly used
for baptismal or confirmation ceremonies in the UK and USA. The 20th
century saw its adaptation from 3/4 to 4/4 time
and this new arrangement by Hawkins, which contains only the repeated
Rimbault refrain (all of the original verses being omitted).
Wikipedia:
Shake,
Rattle and Roll" is a twelve bar blues-form rock and roll song, written
in 1954 by Jesse Stone under his assumed songwriting name Charles E.
Calhoun. It was originally recorded by Big Joe Turner, and most
successfully by Bill Haley & His Comets. The song as sung by Big Joe
Turner is ranked #126 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
In
early 1954, Ahmet Ertegun of Atlantic Records suggested to Stone that
he write an up-tempo blues for Big Joe Turner, a blues shouter whose
career had begun in Kansas City before World War II. Stone played around
with various phrases before coming up with "shake, rattle and roll". However,
the phrase had been used in earlier songs. In 1919, Al Bernard recorded
a song about gambling with dice with the same title, clearly evoking
the action of shooting dice from a cup. The phrase is also heard in
"Roll The Bones" by the Excelsior Quartette in 1922.
307. Sonny Dae and His Knights - Rock Around the Clock
Wikipedia:
Sonny Dae and His Knights were
an American vocal and instrumental group in the early 1950s. They were
the first artists to record the hit song Rock Around the Clock.
Although first recorded by Italian-American band Sonny Dae and His Knights on March 20, 1954, the more famous version by Bill Haley & His Comets is not, strictly speaking, a cover version. Myers claimed the song had been written specifically for Haley but, for various reasons, Haley was unable to record it himself until April 12, 1954.
The original full title of the song was "We're Gonna Rock Around the
Clock Tonight!". This was later shortened to "(We're Gonna) Rock Around
the Clock",
though this form is generally only used on releases of the 1954 Bill
Haley Decca Records recording; most other recordings of this song by
Haley and others (including Sonny Dae) shorten this title further to
"Rock Around the Clock".
Could not find any album covers or 45/78 covers but here is what the band looked like at that time:
308. Otis Redding - Hard to Handle
Wikipedia:
Perhaps
the most notable cover is that by The Black Crowes, for whom it was
their breakout hit single from their 1990 debut album Shake Your Money Maker.
The melody of the Crowes' version is taken from Buddy Guy's song 'A Man
of Many Words' from the 1972 album Buddy Guy and Junior Wells Plays The
Blues.
Two versions of the song exist, the original album version and the hit
single remixed with an overdubbed brass section. The Crowes' version
reached number one on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart and number 26 on the Billboard Hot 100.
309. Edward M. Favor - Daisy Bell (Bicycle Built for Two )
310. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Ohio
Wikipedia:
Ohio is
a protest song written and composed by Neil Young in reaction to the
Kent State shootings of May 4, 1970, and performed by Crosby, Stills,
Nash & Young. It was released as a single, backed with Stephen
Stills's "Find the Cost of Freedom", peaking at number 14 on the US
Billboard Hot 100. Although a live version of the song was included on
the group's 1971 double album Four Way Street, the studio versions of both songs did not appear on an LP until the group's compilation So Far was released in 1974. The song also appeared on the Neil Young compilation album Decade, released in 1977.
311. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Teach Your Children
Wikipedia:
Nash, who is also a photographer and collector of photographs, has
stated in an interview that the immediate inspiration for the song came
from a famous photograph by Diane Arbus, "Child with Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park."
The image, which depicts a child with an angry expression holding the
toy weapon, prompted Nash to reflect on the societal implications of
messages given to children about war and other issues.
In 1984, Democratic presidential candidate Walter Mondale used the song in a campaign commercial on arms control.
Wikipedia:
Terry
Cashman (born Dennis Minogue, 5 July 1941, in New York) is a record
producer and singer-songwriter, best known for his 1981 hit, "Talkin'
Baseball."
While the song is well recognized today, it was all but ignored by
typical Top 40 radio during its chart life, making only the Billboard
Adult Contemporary chart.
Cashman was the lead singer for a band called The Chevrons in the late 1950s. He also played Minor League Baseball in the Detroit Tigers organization at around the same time. Inspired by a picture he had received of Willie Mays, Duke Snider, and Mickey Mantle, Cashman decided to write a song dedicated to 1950s baseball. The popular choral refrain in the song "Talkin' Baseball" — "Willie, Mickey, and The Duke" — immediately struck a chord with fans in 1981 who were disappointed by the Major League Baseball strike that summer.
Cashman has later redone this song with new lyrics for most of the Major League teams, still featuring the "Talkin' Baseball" refrain. Because of this, he is now known as "The Balladeer of Baseball". He did a parody of the song, Talkin' Softball, for an episode of The Simpsons, called "Homer at the Bat." The song plays over the closing credits.
Me:
As
the Cincinnati Reds were the first MLB team est. 1869. This is, as all
Terry Cashman songs, were stories and history of a particular event or
team. I am a diehard Reds fan as most baseball fans growing up in
central and southern Ohio are. I must confess I have learned more about
the history of the Reds in this one song than I have in my 25 years
collecting Reds items, memorabilia, dvds and baseball cards.
313.
Cleveland Simmons Group - Histe Up The John B Sail
Wikipedia:
The John B. Sails" is a folk song that first appeared in a 1917 American novel, Pieces of Eight,
written by Richard Le Gallienne. The "secret" narrator of the story
describes it as "one of the quaint Nassau ditties," the first verse and
chorus of which are:
- Come on the sloop John B.
- My grandfather and me,
- Round Nassau town we did roam;
- Drinking all night, ve got in a fight,
- Ve feel so break-up, ve vant to go home.
- (Chorus)
- So h'ist up the John B. sails,
- See how the mainsail set,
- Send for the captain—shore, let us go home,
- Let me go home, let me go home,
- I feel so break-up, I vant to go home.
Whether it was an authentic folk song or one created for the novel is not stated.
The Beach Boys' version of the song, titled "Sloop John B", influenced by the Kingston Trio's 1958 version, but with modified minor chord changes by Al Jardine and slightly altered lyrics by Brian Wilson, entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart on April 2, and peaked at #3 on May 7, remaining on the chart, in total, for 11 weeks. It also charted highly throughout the world, remaining as one of the Beach Boys' most popular recordings. It was No. 1 in Germany, Austria, Norway—all for five weeks each—as well as Sweden, Switzerland, Holland, Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand. It placed No. 2 the UK, in Canada, and in Record World, and according to music archivist Joseph Murrells (1978) was the fastest Beach Boys seller to date, moving more than half a million copies in less than two weeks after release. The song was also covered on at least two popular TV shows shortly thereafter, The Wild Wild West in 1966 (Episode 2.3) and Lost in Space in 1967 (Episode 3.14).
314. Wyclef Jean - President (album version)
Similar version but renamed: If I Was President. Issued as a non album track single only version.
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315. P.O.D. - Youth of a Nation
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316. Creed - With Arms Wide Open
319. Pearl Jam - Jeremy
322. Joni Mitchell - Big Yellow Taxi
7.1961
325. The Benson Orchestra of Chicago - Tea for Two
Wikipedia:
The song was first recorded in the field by U.S. musicologists John and Alan Lomax in 1933, performed a cappella by the convict James Baker (also known as Iron Head) and a group at Central State Farm, Sugar Land, Texas (a State prison farm).
The Lomaxes were recording for the Library of Congress and later field recordings in 1934, 1936 and 1939 also include versions of "Black Betty". It was recorded commercially in New York in 1939 for the Musicraft label by Lead Belly, as part of a medley with two other work songs: "Looky Looky Yonder" and "Yellow Woman's Doorbells". Musicraft issued the recording in 1939 as part of a 78rpm five-disc album entitled Negro Sinful Songs sung by Lead Belly.
Lead Belly had a long association with the Lomaxes, and had himself served time in State prison farms.
On the below album cover is a photo of Iron Head taken at work camp prison in
Central State Farm, Sugar Land, Texas
Best known version of the prison work camp field song.
332. Hal McInytre - My Funny Valentine
333. Larry Clinton - Heart and Soul
Wikipedia:
The song was first performed in late 1928 by Helen Kane, who became known as the 'Boop-Boop-a-Doop Girl' because of her baby-talk, scat-singing tag line to that song. This version was recorded right when Kane's popularity started to reach its peak, and became her signature song. Two years later, a cartoon character named Betty Boop was modeled after Kane.
The Real Betty Boop:
Mae Questel (pronounced ques-TELL; September 13, 1908 – January 4, 1998) was an American actress and vocal artist best known for providing the voices for the animated characters, Betty Boop and Olive Oyl. Born as Mae Kwestel in New York City Questel's "Boop-boop-a-doop" routine, done in a style similar to that of the song's originator, Helen Kane, while at the same time evoking something of the naughty allure of film star Clara Bow, was exactly what Fleischer wanted, and he hired Questel in 1931. She began as one of a number of actresses providing the character's voice, but soon took over the role exclusively.
From 1931 until 1939, Questel provided the voice of Betty Boop in more than 150 animated shorts, the longest run for any actress doing that voice. During the 1930s she released a recording of "On the Good Ship Lollipop" which sold more than two million copies. In 1988, she reprised the role in a cameo appearance in Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
Wikipedia:
The Family is a band formed by Prince, and one of the first signed to his record label, Paisley Park Records.
The band's origins started with the disintegration of The Time in 1984. Lead singer Morris Day had left the band to pursue a solo career and guitarist Jesse Johnson became the de facto band leader. Prince suggested restructuring the band with new member Paul Peterson to head the group, but Johnson opposed. However, like Day, Johnson soon left the band to pursue his own solo career. A few of The Tim's newer members followed Johnson to join his backing band (called Jesse Johnson's Revue).
As the band had served as an outlet for Prince to release more music, he wanted to continue this avenue, inviting the remaining members of The Time, Jellybean Johnson, Jerome Benton, and Paul Peterson, to his home and presented them with his new project. They agreed to become a new band called The Family, with Peterson renamed "St. Paul" as the new frontman and bassist. Johnson and Benton reprised their familiar roles from The Time. To the mix, Prince added Susannah Melvoin, the twin sister of Revolution guitarist Wendy Melvoin and Prince's fiancée, as a backing singer and keyboardist. The fifth member was Eric Leeds, the brother of Prince's tour manager Alan Leeds, who provided saxophone and flute. Guitarist Miko Weaver is credited in the album's booklet because he was to be a session player and tour musician band supporter, but was never officially part of the band.
Much like The Time, the band's material was composed nearly entirely by Prince, with the exception of "River Run Dry," which was written by Revolution drummer Bobby Z. Prince wrote and performed all the other tracks and simply overdubbed Peterson's and Melvoin's vocals and added saxophone and flute by Leeds. On several tracks Prince's vocals can be clearly heard. Some of the original demos have surfaced as bootlegs and circulate among fans with Prince's original lead vocals, as well as two outtakes: the instrumental "Feline" and the pop song "Miss Understood". As on other associates' albums, Prince falsely gave credit to the various band members for writing credits, though he kept his name on "Nothing Compares 2 U". The tracks were all recorded in a few weeks' span at the end of the year 1984 after Prince had finished sessions for Around the World in a Day, and just before he started to record music for Sheila E.'s album Romance 1600 and his own album Parade.
Me:
Wrote by Prince for his own group The Family (see above) was not a hit until passed on to Sinead O'Connor who version was a #1 due largely in part to her iconic video. In the video is mostly her face with a black background. However, she is walking in Paris in scenes where she is not singing. In the video you can see her cry. This is fact is real tears that were not expected or planned to happen. Which in my opinion is what makes this video of the best of all time.
341. Beatles - Eleanor Rigby
Wikipedia:
On the Good Ship Lollipop" was the trademark song of child actress Shirley Temple. Temple first sang it in the 1934 movie Bright Eyes. The "ship" in the song is an aircraft; the scene in Bright Eyes where the song appears takes place on an American Airlines Douglas DC-2 which is taxiing. It was especially popular because Shirley herself had choreographed it. In the song, the "Good Ship Lollipop" travels to a candy land. There is a direct reference to an aeroplane in the song: "Someday I'm going to fly/I'll be a pilot, too...". The song was composed by Richard A. Whiting and the lyric was supplied by Sidney Clare. 500,000 copies of the sheet music, published by Sam Fox Publishing Company were sold, and a recording by Mae Questel (the cartoon voice of Betty Boop and Olive Oyl) reputedly sold more than 2 million copies.
Wikipedia:
In 1952, with his band "Edric Connor and the Caribbeans" he recorded the album Songs from Jamaica. This included the song "Day Dah Light", which portrayed the hard life of Caribbean field workers. The song was later recorded by Jamaican folk singer Louise Bennett in 1954, and was later rewritten by Irving Burgie and William Attaway in 1955. The version performed by legendary singer Harry Belafonte became popularly known as "Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)", reaching number five on the Billboard charts in 1957, and was even featured in the popular film directed by Tim Burton, Beetlejuice, in 1988.
349. Harry Belafonte - Banana Boat (Day-O)
Featuring:
Kool DJ Herc, Grandmaster Melle Mel, The Fat Boys, Ruben Blades, Bob Dylan, Herbie Hancock, Ringo Starr and his son Zak Starkey, Lou Reed, Run DMC, Peter Gabriel, David Ruffin, Eddie Kendricks, Darlene Love, Bobby Womack, Afrika Bambaataa, Kurtis Blow, Jackson Browne and then-girlfriend Daryl Hannah, U2, George Clinton, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood, Peter Wolf, Bonnie Raitt, Hall & Oates, Jimmy Cliff, Big Youth, Michael Monroe, Peter Garrett, Ron Carter, Ray Barretto, Gil-Scott Heron, Nona Hendryx, Pete Townshend, Pat Benatar, Clarence Clemons, and Joey Ramone.
Me:
Was a very sampled song throughout the Golden Age of Rap (late 80s - early 90s), from De La Soul to Dr. Dre
The Album version is a funk partying 15 minutes.
(The Whole World Smiles With You)
360. Kyu Sakamoto - Ue o Muite Aruko (Sukiyaki)
361. Cat Stevens - Wild World
Wikipedia:
A South African Zulu musician, singer and composer who wrote the song "Mbube" which later became the popular music success "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"
369. Diana Ross - It's My Turn
370. Roberta Flack - If Ever I See You Again
Wikipedia:
The original version is a poetic vision of the social collapse experienced in Austria after World War I, represented by the figure of a former hussar who remembers himself parading in his uniform, while now he has to get by as a lonely hired dancer. The music features a simple melodic sequence, but nonetheless has a clever harmonic construction that highlights the mixed emotions in the lyrics, adding a nostalgic, bittersweet effect.
The success of the song prompted a Tin Pan Alley publisher to buy the rights and order an English version from Irving Caesar, a very popular lyricist of the time. Caesar eliminated the specific Austrian references and, in the often-omitted verse (but included in the 1931 recording by Bing Crosby), set the action in a Paris cafe, where a local character tells his sad story. Thus, the lyrics retained their sentimental side but lost their historic value.
"Just a Gigolo" appeared in a 1931 film, a 1932 Betty Boop cartoon and a 1993 TV-series, all titled after the song. The song was recorded by many musicians of the time, including Louis Armstrong, Dajos Béla and Richard Tauber (in German).
The film Schöner Gigolo, armer Gigolo, directed by David Hemmings in 1979, was titled after the first verse of the original lyrics, but the "Just a Gigolo" title was used for US distribution. In this film, the song was performed by Marlene Dietrich, in her last film appearance.
376. The Boswell Sisters - Rock and Roll
377. Male Quartette - The Camp Meeting Jubilee
Credit: YouTube User: Wayne King
LITTLE WONDER #339 in 1916, features the first documented use of the
expression 'Rockin N' Rollin', but from a spiritual perspective. "Keep
on rockin n' rollin in your arms...in the arms of Moses." LITTLE WONDER produced 5" phonograph records between the years 1914 and
1923. They sold for ten cents through 5 n' dime stores and made it
possible for those who would otherwise not be able to afford records to
actually have and listen to them.
378. Mamie Smith and Her Jazz Hounds- Crazy Blues
Wikipedia:
She entered blues history by being the first African American artist to make vocal blues recordings in 1920.
Although other African Americans had been recorded earlier, such as George W. Johnson in the 1890s, they were African American artists performing music which had a substantial following with European-American audiences. The success of Smith's record prompted record companies to seek to record other female blues singers and started the era of what is now known as classic female blues.
Although other African Americans had been recorded earlier, such as George W. Johnson in the 1890s, they were African American artists performing music which had a substantial following with European-American audiences. The success of Smith's record prompted record companies to seek to record other female blues singers and started the era of what is now known as classic female blues.
Crazy Blues is a song written by Perry Bradford. It was recorded on August 10, 1920, by Mamie Smith and Her Jazz Hounds, featuring the pianist Willie "The Lion" Smith, and released that year on a grammophone record by Okeh Records, catalogue 4169. Within a month of release, it had sold 75,000 copies.
Because of the historical significance of "Crazy Blues", it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1994.
8.10.1920
379.Vanilla Fudge - You Keep Me Hangin' On
A cover of the Diana Ross and the Supremes hit. In my opinion and after much research is the first truly heavy metal song. Which is hard to describe in itself what makes a song metal or heavy metal as in relationship to the various rock styles of the drug induced rock music of the late 60s. Just being Psychedelic or playing rock chords hard, fast and loud does not necessarily make a song metal. In this sense I describe metal in the late 60s as epic long songs. Songs that the band's singers sing from the soul and gritty. As in the style of 50s blues rock a.k.a. rock as it's first inception. The song must be *Heavy* in the sense as some classical music was heavy as in a-lot of instruments played hard. Heavy here would be playing the guitar hard and blues-ish or as I call it balls to the wall (no pun intended). Thus the rock sound is loud but artistic. The music is over powering the singer at times and causing the band's singer to stretch his vocal chords causing the gritty sound. In following these ideas Vanilla Fudge has the first ever Metal song. Black Sabbath was indeed the first metal band of this genre doing the blues fuled heavy sound but their first album was in 1970 thus leaving Vanilla Fudge as my pick as the first truly *Heavy Metal* band.
380. R.E.M. - Man on the Moon
Wikipedia:
Lyrically, the song is a tribute to the performer Andy Kaufman with numerous references to Kaufman's career including Elvis impersonation, wrestling, and the film My Breakfast with Blassie. The song's title and chorus refer to the moon landing conspiracy theories
as an oblique allusion to rumors that Kaufman's 1984 death was faked.
The song gave its name to a 1999 film based on Kaufman's life, Man on the Moon, and was used in the film's soundtrack. The song's lyrics are a homage to the performer Andy Kaufman, including references to his Elvis impersonation and work with wrestlers Fred Blassie and Jerry Lawler. The song also invokes the conspiracy theories surrounding the moon landing and Elvis Presley as an indirect nod to the persistent rumors that Kaufman faked his own death. Other lyrical references include boardgames, notable people, and the band Mott the Hoople. Regarding the cryptic lyrics, critic Greg Kot wrote that the song "presents a surreal vision of heaven. According to Ann Powers,
"Mentioning Kaufman in the same breath as Moses and Sir Isaac Newton,
Stipe makes a game of human endeavor, insisting that it all ends in
dust. 'Let's play Twister, let's play Risk,' Stipe jokes to the notables
he's invoked. 'I'll see you in heaven if you make the list.
381. Frankie Laine - I Believe
Wikipedia:
I Believe" is the name of a popular song written by Ervin Drake, Irvin Graham, Jimmy Shirl and Al Stillman in 1953.
"I Believe" was commissioned and introduced by Jane Froman on her television show, and became the first hit song ever introduced on TV. Froman, troubled by the uprising of the Korean War in 1952 so soon after World War II,
asked Drake, Graham, Shirl and Stillman to compose a song that would
offer hope and faith to the populace. In addition to Froman, "I Believe"
has been recorded by many others, and has become both a popular and religious standard.Frankie Laine had the big hit version of the song, which still holds the record for the most weeks spent at number one in the UK Singles Chart
382. 2Pac - Dear Mama
2.21.1995
Dear Mama samples the songs "Sadie" (1974) by The Spinners, and "In All My Wildest Dreams" (1978) by Joe Sample.
383. Ozzy Osbourne - No More Tears
9.1991
384. Ozzy Osbourne - Mama, I'm Coming Home
4.1992
Wikipedia:
"Mama, I'm Coming Home" is the third song on the 1991 Ozzy Osbourne heavy metal album No More Tears. The song is about his wife and manager, Sharon Osbourne, whom he nicknames "Mama", and his return to her following his imminent retirement.
385. 2Pac - Keep Ya Head Up
10.28.1993
Wikipedia:
"Keep Ya Head Up" is a 1993 hit by Tupac Shakur.
It addresses issues concerning lack of respect toward the female
gender, especially poor black women. It has a very positive message, and
is often used as an example of Shakur's softer side. Many fans and
critics consider it to be one of the deepest rap songs ever made and is
often referenced by other artists in their work, building Shakur's
persona as a very conscientious and influential rapper. It features Dave Hollister and is dedicated to Latasha Harlins.
386. Eminem - Lose Yourself
10.22.2002
387. Whitney Houston - One Moment in Time
8.27.1988
Theme for the 1988 Summer Olympics and the 1988 Summer Paralympics held in Seoul, South Korea.
388. Prince - Sign o' The Times
2.18.1987
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