Shayneblog All-Time Top 100
The Top 10
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 tenth and final week.
#40-#31
#30-#21
#20-#11
#10 Cherish – The Association
Of all the songs that bring me back to my childhood, this one does it best. Perhaps my memory plays tricks on me, but I can still see myself sitting in the back of the family car, with my brother in sister there, hearing the whispers of my parents as we were driving through the night, on the way to Florida.
#9 Waiting For A Girl Like You – Foreigner
First there was one girl, and then before I knew what hit me, it was someone else. 1981 was a pivotal time for me as I fell in real love for the first time and got my heart broken for real. That part sucked.
#8 Deacon Blues – Steely Dan
Coming of age is what they call it. At 16, this song said what I felt. I’m sure I wasn’t alone, but I certainly felt that way. An anthem for my time; “This brother is free, I'll be what I want to be…”
#7 It's Too Late – Carole King
Carole King’s voice was an enormous part of my childhood. My sister listened to “Tapestry” all the time and this song gave me a good hint what life and love was all about. My memories recall driving through southern Georgia in the rain on yet another Florida trip. I wonder why that stuck with me?
#6 Old and Wise – Alan Parsons Project
Like “Deacon Blues” (#8), this was anthem for me. Playing guest-DJ on my old radio station, this was the very last song I ever played doing the one job I loved more than any other. It’s sad when we look back and regret. But I wouldn’t trade the experiences I’ve had for anything in the world.
#5 (They Long To Be) Close To You – The Carpenters
That voice! Karen Carpenter can make me cry singing about puppies! Anyone who didn’t have this in their all-time top ten is either heartless, or lying.
#4 Leader of the Band – Dan Fogelberg
Anyone who knows me knows how much Dan Fogelberg meant to me - especially in the early 80’s. “The Innocent Age”, in my opinion, was one of the finest bits of poetry ever put to music and this song was the glue that held it together. The singer himself once said that he believed he was created as a singer just to sing this song. I don’t doubt him for one moment.
#3 Sister Golden Hair – America
No list of mine would be complete without a song by my favorite band. I really got into America a year earlier, when “Holiday” was one of my first two album purchases. But from the very first note of the subsequent “Hearts” LP, I knew I was hooked for life. Whenever your favorite band hits it big, it’s huge. This song went #1 and I’ve never forgotten that feeling.
#2 Wasted Time and Wasted Time (Reprise) – The Eagles
To me, there is no album more remarkable that “Hotel California.” Not one song on the LP disappoints (which is why there are two other songs from that album on this list – and there could easily have been 2-3 more). But as remarkable as this song is, with it’s mournful piano and vocals, the violins in “Reprise” take it up another level. The hits were great. But what made this album the classic it was are the albums cuts, which still stand the test of time.
#1 Sailing – Christopher Cross
Everyone has to have a favorite all-time song and to me, “Sailing” by Christopher Cross fits the bill. I know, a lot of people hate this song because it’s repetitive and a bit nasal. But to a 17-year-old, spending his day lying on a raft in the Atlantic Ocean, too young to really have any real cares in the world, this was as close to heaven as I could imagine. This time, it wasn’t about a lost love, or a breakup or about tears. Just a dream and the wind to carry me and soon I will be free…
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