[jackmccullough]

Yesterday's coverage of the inaugural concert on NPR featured a review of what Barack Obama listed as his ten favorite songs, which got me started trying to think of my top ten.

Here are mine, what are yours?

Dark Star, The Grateful Dead
St. Stephen, The Grateful Dead
Terrapin Station, The Grateful Dead
Violin Concerto in D, Tchaikovsky
The Goldberg Variations, J.S. Bach
Piece of My Heart, Big Brother and the Holding Company
No Regrets/Rockport Sunday, Tom Rush
Desolation Row, Bob Dylan
Old Brown Case, Norman Blake
A Love Supreme, John Coltrane

Obviously I took a few liberties, but that's my story for the moment.

 

[Cruiser]

Long Time Gone, Crosby, Stills and Nash
Aquarius, The Fifth Dimension
Summer Rain, Johnny Rivers
I Almost Cut My Hair, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young
Aqualung, Jethro Tull
She's Not There, The Zombies
Working Man's Hero, John Lennon
One After 909, The Beatles
I Saw Her Standing There, The Beatles
Lucky Man, Moody Blues

Cruiser

 

[Reddington]

Long Time Gone, Crosby, Stills and Nash
Aquarius, The Fifth Dimension
Summer Rain, Johnny Rivers
I Almost Cut My Hair, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young
Aqualung, Jethro Tull
She's Not There, The Zombies
Working Man's Hero, John Lennon
One After 909, The Beatles
I Saw Her Standing There, The Beatles
Lucky Man, Moody Blues

Cruiser

Nice list Cruiser. FYI, the Lennon song is actually titled Working Class Hero.

Cheers.

 

[Reddington]

Any 10 songs by The Beatles.


Yeah Yeah Yeah.

 

[Cruiser]

Nice list Cruiser. FYI, the Lennon song is actually titled Working Class Hero.

Of course you are right. My brain and my fingers don't always work in sync. But whatever I may call it, I like the song.

Two more that I wanted to include but the limit was ten were Locomotive Breath by Jethro Tull and Southern Cross by Stephen Stills.

Cruiser

 

[TMMKC]

Two of Us -- The Beatles
Caravan -- Van Morrison
Detour Ahead -- Sarah Vaughn
Almost Blue -- Elvis Costello
Thunder Road -- Bruce Springsteen
Sweet Kentucky Ham -- Curtis Stigers
Tangled Up in Blue -- Bob Dylan
Baba O'Reilly -- The Who
These Foolish Things -- Stan Getz
Op 76 No 1 Menuetto Allegro -- Franz Joseph Haydn

I love music, so picking my favorite 10 songs is nearly impossible.

 

[Viniator3]

Not easy by any stretch. Not in order, either.

Drop the Pressure -- Mylo
All Together -- Petter
Wrapped Around Your Finger -- The Police
When the Effect Came -- Chi-A.D.
Dervish Dreamtime -- Robert Rich
Arte -- Monolake
Tripping the Light Fantastic -- BT
Eutow -- Autechre
Continuum -- Jaco Pastorius
Six Hours -- Yoji & Romeo

I feel like such a traitor, turning my back on tour de forces like Dave Brubeck, Pharoah Sanders, and Sergio Mendes, plus no favors for the gems from Gel-Sol, Andrea Marutti, Steve Roach, vidnaObmana, and Robert Rich.

 

[StevenRocks]

Rock With You - Michael Jackson
Green Eyed Lady - Sugarloaf
One Fine Day - The Chiffons
Who's Makin' Love - Johnnie Taylor
I Had A Dream - The Staple Singers
Between the Sheets - The Isley Brothers
Love Season - Alex Bugnon
17 Days - Prince
Turn The Page - El DeBarge
Kashmir - Led Zeppelin

 

[PedanticTurkey]

"Chicken in Black" would have to top any list, of course. But--what is this, myspace?

I'm an adult, and not even a particularly old one, but seriously, there's no way I could work it down to ten. Only kids can do that.

 

[Laxplayer]

Yesterday's coverage of the inaugural concert on NPR featured a review of what Barack Obama listed as his ten favorite songs, which got me started trying to think of my top ten.

Here are mine, what are yours?

Dark Star, The Grateful Dead
St. Stephen, The Grateful Dead
Terrapin Station, The Grateful Dead
Violin Concerto in D, Tchaikovsky
The Goldberg Variations, J.S. Bach
Piece of My Heart, Big Brother and the Holding Company
No Regrets/Rockport Sunday, Tom Rush
Desolation Row, Bob Dylan
Old Brown Case, Norman Blake
A Love Supreme, John Coltrane

Obviously I took a few liberties, but that's my story for the moment.

I love the Dead, but Ripple is my favorite song.

 

[ajo]

When the Levee Breaks Led Zeppelin
Once in Lifetime Talking Heads
America Yes
Flamenco Sketches Miles Davis
Sugar Sugar The Archies
Mahlers 2nd Symphony
Imagine John Lennon
Highway Star Deep Purple
JS Bach Cello Suite No1
The Koln Concert Keith Jarret

 

[Scoundrel]

1.-10.: anything jazz

 

[Prisoner of Zendaline]

You get all that, plus Lagniappe

1. PALESTEENA ("Lena was the queen o' Palesteena...'cause they loved the way she played her concertina...", a comforting ditty from the 1920s Yiddish theatre.....basically stating that competence isn't everything....sometimes ya gotta just get out there and do it...wish I could get it as a ringtone...)

2. O MIO BABBINO CARO, Vincenzo Bellini (this one generally has me in tears)

3. FULL METAL ****OFF, Jello Biafra (great musically, and with a still-current statement on the hi****ing of our nation by the greedy)

4. ESCALATOR OF LIFE, Echo and the Bunnymen (my personal motto in the eighties: "We're riding on the escalator of life....shopping in the human mall...won't be happy 'til we have it all...")

5. THE VOICES OF THE DEAD, Funker Vogt (great Aggrotech, from my favorite band of all time)

6. GIBT ES WIRKLICH EINEN GOTT, Heimataerde (Electro-Industrial, and another fantastic band)

7. SINGING IN THE SHOWER, Les Rita Mitsouko (they're not singing about singing...they just couldn't use that other word)

8. FINAL FOR ORGAN IN B-FLAT MAJOR, Cesar Franck (nice structure...does this count, though, as a song...I mostly like all Franck and Widor.)

9. PRODUCTS (life composer version), Combichrist (Aggrotech, from a consistently fantastic band)

10. THE DARK CHAMBER, Wumpscut (Aggrotech)

AN' NOW FA DA LAGNIAPPE, DAWLINZ':

11. HARSH GENERATION, Grendel

12. EWARTUNGEN, Melotron

13. OPENED, Assemblage 23

14. LEGION, VNV Nation

15. SHELTER, Icon of Coil

 

[ajo]

When the Levee Breaks Led Zeppelin
Once in Lifetime Talking Heads
America Yes
Flamenco Sketches Miles Davis
Sugar Sugar The Archies
Mahlers 2nd Symphony
Imagine John Lennon
Highway Star Deep Purple
JS Bach Cello Suite No1
The Koln Concert Keith Jarret

Over dinner I was thinking that I should revise this but what to take out to make way for Suite Judy Blue Eyes by CSN a veritable mini opus with great vocal harmonies, or maybe I should put in 'If you leave me can I come too,' by Mental As Anything.

Is it just me or has pop music not only lost it luster but its social conscience in last ten years?

I listen to music at times that my 14 year old son listens too but its so banal its like aural wall paper and as for music videos well I best not go there.

 

[Mike Petrik]

Long Time Gone, Crosby, Stills and Nash
Aquarius, The Fifth Dimension
Summer Rain, Johnny Rivers
I Almost Cut My Hair, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young
Aqualung, Jethro Tull
She's Not There, The Zombies
Working Man's Hero, John Lennon
One After 909, The Beatles
I Saw Her Standing There, The Beatles
Lucky Man, Moody Blues

Cruiser

Did the Moody Blues cover Emerson Lake & Palmer's "Lucky Man"?

 

[Relayer]

America Yes

Bravo! I never thought I'd see this. You must be a true Yes aficionado.

I imagine you've seen the YouTube in-studio promo video. Absolutely awesome (and I usually don't care too much for covers).

 

[Howard]

Beat It- Michael Jackson
Billy Idol - Eyes Without A Face
Billy Joel - Tell Her About It
Peter Gabriel- Games Without Frontiers
Earth Wind And Fire - Boogie Wonderland
Elton John- Honky Cat
Jacksons- Show You The Way To Go
Teddy Pendergass-Turn Off The Lights
Barry White-Ecstacy
Santana-Oye Como Va

 

[Cruiser]

Did the Moody Blues cover Emerson Lake & Palmer's "Lucky Man"?

No, that was just one more mistake I made in typing out my list. It was my last selection and I was waffling back and forth between ELP's Lucky Man and The Moody Blues' I'm Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band), and it looks like I split the difference. Of course it was late and I was drinking a couple of shots of Jack Daniels at the time. :icon_smile_big:

I agree with someone else, it's hard to pick just ten songs. After seeing someone else's list I can't believe I left off Tangled Up in Blue by Bob Dylan, but then I think about what I would take off of my list to add it.

The problem is that I have more than one list in my head. For example, some songs are meaningful to me just because I enjoy listening to them while others are meaningful because of some particular association they have. For example, I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry by B.J. Thomas would definitely be on my list of the former while the original by Hank Williams would be on the latter, but neither is on my overall top ten.

Cruiser

 

[Kav]

In no order:

Lola- the Kinks

J'Attendrai- Rita Ketty

Downtown- Petula Clark

Me and Bobby Mcgee- Janis Joplin

How I wish you were here- Pink Floyd

Beyond the Sea- Robbie Williams

My Heros have always been Cowboys- Willie Nelson

When I was 17- Frank Sinatra

Margaritaville- Jimmy Buffet

Themesong for Thomas the Train

You posted songs. I took this as pieces I can actually sing to.
SOme musical generes; like classical, opera or jazz I just sit silent absorbing the beauty.

 

[jackmccullough]

You posted songs. I took this as pieces I can actually sing to.
SOme musical generes; like classical, opera or jazz I just sit silent absorbing the beauty.

Fair enough. I know I said that I took some liberties. At least I didn't select "Tommy" as one of my "songs".