What Songs Could You Live Without?
Actually, what I want to know is: what songs could you not live without?
I think it was John Peel who said that everyone reaches a point in their life where they know they will never hear certain songs again. There’s just not enough time left. I’m not sure why this thought popped into my head today, but it did, and it got me thinking about what songs do I need to hear again before I depart this earthly realm (oh, I think it’s obvious: I’ve been listening to a little Hawkwind lately!).
Of course there are hundreds if not thousands of songs I would regret never hearing again so I limited my list to the first 52 that popped into my head. Why 52? I don’t know, I just had to stop. Honestly, I did scroll the old ipod very quickly just to make sure I didn’t miss some essentials. I definitely would have had I not checked. You’ll notice that some of my choices are of the obvious variety, others maybe not so much. But I’m being honest here and not simply choosing the “critics choice” song, you know? I also stuck to the one artist rule, which was HARD.
Anyway, let me know what you think.
God Only Knows, The Beach Boys
Butterfly McQueen/Rodney King, The Boo Radleys
Waterloo Sunset, The Kinks
Goodbye Stranger, Supertramp
The Prophet’s Song, Queen
Some Things Come From Nothing, Super Furry Animals
MMMM Skyscraper I Love You, Underworld
The World Is My Oyster/Welcome To The Pleasuredome, Frankie Goes To Hollywood
Left To My Own Devices, Pet Shop Boys
Making Plans For Nigel, XTC
An Englishman In New York, Godley and Crème
I’m Not IN Love, 10cc
No More Mr Nice Guy, Alice Cooper
A Day In The Life, The Beatles
Lido Shuffle, Boz Scaggs
The Call Up, The Clash
Georgio By Moroder, Daft Punk
Moon Over Marin, Dead Kennedys
Pulp, Common People
Rush, The Camera Eye
Sultans Of Swing, Dire Straits
Driver’s Seat, Sniff N The Tears
This Beat Goes On/Switchin’ To Glide, The Kings
Riders On The Storm, The Doors
And No One Waved Goodbye, Edwyn Collins
Forest Fire, Lloyd Cole and the Commotions
Don’t Bring Me Down, ELO
Can’t Get Used To Losing You, The Beat
Luminol, Steven Wilson
When Love Breaks Down, Prefab Sprout
Temptation, New Order
One For My Baby (and One More For The Road), Frank Sinatra
Take 5, Dave Brubeck
Kinky Afro, Happy Mondays
Higher Than The Sun, Primal Scream
Little Fluffy Clouds, The Orb
Flag Day, Housemartins
When It Started To Begin, Nick Heyward
Joan Of Arc, OMD
The Passenger, Iggy Pop
Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose, James Brown
The Human Jungle, Jazz Butcher
Steppin’ Out, Joe Jackson
Paul McCartney, Band On The Run
Perfect Day, Lou Reed
Heroin, Velvet Underground
Yin And Yang (The Flowerpot Man), Love and Rockets
Tomorrow’s Just Another Day, Madness
I Love The Sound Of Breaking Glass, Nick Lowe
Holes, Mercury Rev
Drugs In My Pocket, The Monks
Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life, Monty Python
Some great tracks there. Did you buy the rereleased Underworld last year too? I’ll give you the 4 ones that leap to my mind without too much thought:
Teenage Kicks – Undertones
As I Sat Sadly By Her Side – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Gimme Shelter – Rolling Stones
Today Your Love … / I Don’t wanna Walk Around … – Ramones
I like it! Excellent selections. I’ll start my list with one of yours and 1537’s:
– Temptation, New Order
– Gimme Shelter, Rolling Stones
– Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man, Bob Seger
– Catch my Fall, Billy Idol
– Born to Run, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
– Under Pressure, Queen and David Bowie
– I Will Wait, Mumford and Sons
– Gold on the Ceiling, Black Keys
– Shattered, O.A.R.
– Tainted Love/Where Did Our Love Go, Soft Cell
– Cry To Me, Solomon Burke
– Somethin’ On My Mind, Teenage Head
– Romeo and Juliet, Mark Knopfler
– Wild One Forever, Tom Petty
– It’s A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock and Roll), AC/DC
– Sundown, Gordon Lightfoot
To be continued….
God Only Knows is an exemplary choice – as are take 5 and common people.
Early top of the mind choices for me include:
just like heaven – the cure
there is a light… – the smiths
cheek to cheek – fred astaire
Oh God Danica,YES, Something On My Mind by Teenage Head! That should have been on my list! Only a Canadian would know that one, I think. Bonus points. Great list to you, and more bonus points for the Fred Astaire (Stephen) and Teenage Kicks (1537).
Ian, it’s one of the best songs ever! Stephen, I’ll second Just Like Heaven…so many great songs. Maybe we need to top 1000 Of All Time.
A few more….
– Rain, The Cult
– And We Danced, The Hooters
– Mr. Brightside, The Killers
– Pumping On Your Stereo, Supergrass
– Anytime, Journey
– In the Evening, Led Zeppelin
– Bring It On Home, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee
– Can’t You See, Marshall Tucker Band
– Helpless, Neil Young
– Crazy Train, Ozzy Osbourne
– Superfreak, Rick James
– By Your Side, Sade
– Take Your Mama, Scissor Sisters
– Kissing, Bliss
– Say (All I Need), OneRepublic
Cheers to Supergrass!
Hi Stephen, every time I hear it I think — hey, I should play that one more often!
Me too!
Sometimes songs can “come back”. I thought I never wanted to hear Locomotive Breath ever again, after about 1000 or so plays at one job where the radio was always on “that station”… but after a long break from Classic Rock radio and getting back into Tull, it sounded really good again.
A lot of the better bands have dozens of tunes equal or better than the ones that got all the airplay. But, it’s got to be “Big Ole Jet Airliner”, just one more time. Sigh
Sorry for just commenting but not having the time or patience to create a list. But yes, please add “We Built This City”, Starship. Horrible song, worst ever hit song by a talented band, or close to it.
I would prefer as a list, what songs should have been FM radio hits. That sort of list would turn me on. “Sweet F.A.”, Sweet.
That’s what you want, kind of, I think. My idea is little different..a list of great songs that easily could have been radio or MTV rotation but never got there. Sometimes a hit is obvious, other times, that is the worst song on the record, why that? Like “Bungle in the Jungle” as the Tull song..pretty weak track on a very good record…and you could find 100 Tull songs much better, even pop-style songs, in that catalog.
Oh man, Prefab Sprout, When Love Breaks Down. Awesome song. So many good ones here. What a list!
Hope you don’t mind me borrowing this idea for something I’m doing this week. You’ll get full credit, of course, with a link back here.
Every year around my birthday I do posts on songs that we significant in my life. This fits in so perfectly. Great idea!
Quite a list, E, and two of your first three would certainly be on mine as well… and probably many more. I’m going to try and come back with a proper rundown, but I know there will be some head scratchers. For example, I know Love My Way by the Psychedelic Furs would be on few lists, but that song has been played by me more than probably any other… ever. As Miller said on Repo Man, “No explanation. No point in lookin’ for one, either.” Probably because of its use in a truly romantic scene during Valley Girl, but who knows? Just can’t live without it.
Love My Way! I’d have to add that one 🙂
Jet Airliner! “Friday night I got tears in my eyes, You know you’ve got to go through hell before you get to heaven….” Great selection, Paul.
Pingback: Songs That Make Life Better | GenXatmidlife