Shayneblog All-Time Top 100
#41-#50
Over the years, many of my friends and I have talked about the best songs ever written, or what our favorites were. I think, over the course of this past year, I have shared many of my favorites, as well as yours on this blog.
Now that this is the one-year anniversary of my “Ten Great Songs From One Great Year” list, I decided to open my memories a bit more and allow you to see exactly what the soundtrack of my life sounds like.
Over these ten weeks, I will countdown my top 100 favorite songs – some hits, some misses – ten each week, until we reach number one. I’m sure some songs will surprise you that they ranked so low, high or even made the list at all didn’t). I can promise you that I paid no attention whatsoever to the songs charting success. These are simply my all-time favorite songs.
This is the sixth week.
#50 Day After Day – Badfinger
It is simply marvelous how a memory can weave a tapestry of a single moment in time and capture life like a snapshot. Like “Beginnings” by Chicago (#86), this song just fires a picture in my brain of a moment, 40 long years ago. There was nothing special about that trip through Birmingham (that I can recall). Just that it happened and I remember it.
#49 Another Try – America
I could have simply listed 100 America songs and served my same purpose. No one group best captures the soundtrack of my life the way this band has. “Holiday” was the first America LP I ever purchased and this song, taken from it, was my first favorite of theirs. The video is not the best quality, but there was no way I was not listing this song. Furthermore, “Another Try” is the best example of George Martin’s influence on the band, as he produced 7 of their LP’s during their heyday.
#48 Even Now – Barry Manilow
It took many years to truly stop thinking about her – even though I knew her memory was brighter than our relationship ever was. It’s never easy when you aren’t loved back.
#47 Mainstreet – Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band
The screaming guitar, the smoky pool halls and the hot, sweaty nights on the streets seemed so real when Seger sang this song. I loved downtown and Main Street (the place) growing up. This made it seemed so seedy, yet so enchanting at the same time.
#46 The Reach - Dan Fogelberg
Some people truly miss John Lennon and others miss Kurt Cobain. I miss Dan Fogelberg. Nothing I ever heard was as beautiful as when he sang this song in concert, at a wooded forest park in Hope, New Jersey, in the Spring of ’88. This song is a perfect example of lyric fitting seamlessly with music.
#45 Pretty Maids All in a Row – The Eagles
If you’ve been following this list, you will notice that one constant theme is music from the album “Hotel California.” To be, no single LP ever produced more pure magic and joy in my life than that one did. Even today, I can listen to each one of its songs and feel like I’m hearing it for the very first time.
#44 Heart of Gold – Neil Young
Even before I knew who America was (and the comparisons made between Neil Young and Dewey Bunnell), I loved this song. Listening to it harkens me back to my first trip (that I remembered) with my folks through the Virginia Mountains, on the way to New York. It was before all the Interstates were open and I truly believe was the trip that formed my life-long love affair with long-distance driving.
#43 The Only Living Boy in New York - Simon and Garfunkel
“Bridge Over Troubled Waters” was always a favorite album of mine. But it really wasn’t until I saw the movie “Garden State” that I really listened to this song. Beautifully sad, poignantly ageless and heartfelt, Paul Simon’s masterpiece stands the test of time.
#42 Ain't No Sunshine - Bill Withers
I’ve always loved the Motown sound and this song was one of the main reasons why. I guess I just felt a strong kinship with the plight of the Southern blacks, as well as a regressed memory of the Civil War (and not from the winning side). Am I crazy? Maybe. But that’s just me.
#41 Laura – Billy Joel
Laying in traction at the Hospital for Joint Diseases, in New York, I had my Walkman and Billy Joel’s “Nylon Curtain.” Whether or not the muscle relaxers and pain killers enhanced the music or not, this song was so raw and so powerful that it wouldn’t have mattered.
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