Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Top 5: All Time Favorite Songs

Recently, I dug out my old CDs and have been listening to all the crap I loved in high school (but I definitely did NOT listen to Backstreet Boys' Millennium yesterday. And I really, definitely didn't like it and remember all the words). Needless to say, I had some really bad taste in music back then. I like to think it's gotten better with age as I've expanded my listening horizons, but music really is so much about time and place and being the soundtrack to life, right? So, here are my 5 favorite songs of all time (listen to them all here):

1. Thunder Road - Bruce Springsteen: Maybe the best pop song ever from one of the greatest albums ever. I actually took a class in college where the professor had us study Springsteen lyrics as poetry. We talked about this song as it relates to the loss on innocence, maturation and the need just "go." Great for driving fast on the freeway.

2. Don't Think Twice - Bob Dylan: There are better Dylan songs, but this is my favorite. It's such a painful break-up song. You just kinda wasted my precious time. Ouch!


3. Still Fighting It - Ben Folds: Ben Folds is my favorite artist. From his band, Ben Folds Five, to his work with Shatner and his solo albums, he's yet to make a crappy record. This is my favorite Ben Folds song, mainly because it's about how much it sucks to grow-up and who can't relate to that?

4. Defying Gravity - Stephen Schwartz: I have to include a song from a musical because, for so many years, I listen to nothing else. This song, from the musical Wicked, is so effing phenomenal I basically wet myself the first time I heard it. I'd give my right arm to sing like Idina Menzel.

5. Both Sides Now - Joni Mitchell: This song is a favorite for several reasons, but mainly because it's so simple and lovely. I love this version...her voice is older and rougher and more worldly. Just lovely.

Your turn...

10 comments:

Garney said...

5 of my favorites, but not necessarily definitive:

1. Mother Nature's Son - The Beatles
2. How To Fight Loneliness - Wilco
3. Grey Machine - Pinback
4. Rhapsody in Blue - George Gershwin
5. Heroes and Villains - The Beach Boys

Liz said...

I couldn't begin to list my top 5 songs. It changes on a daily basis. I am going to burn you some stuff I think you'd like though (based on this list). Do you have Van Morrison's "Astral Weeks"?

Falwless said...

What Liz said. I would be hard pressed to list 50 songs, let alone 5.

doorknob_dan said...

Anything by Milli Vanilli!

Red said...

Liz and Fal: I know. It was hard to do 5. I was gonna do albums, but who listens to albums anymore?

Dan: I thought the goal was to convince people you were straight. Gotta work a little harder on that, buddy.

doorknob_dan said...

If I said my REAL music choices, I don't think I'd convince anyone otherwise, Red.

Red said...

We'll clear it all up when we're e-married. Don't worry, pumpkin

:)

doorknob_dan said...

I'm not a pumpkin, I'm a gourd!

The stuff I gotta go through to prove my heterosexuality. Things like sleeping with females. *Sigh*

Okay my favorite songs then:
1. Dave Mason - We Just Disagree
2. Stuff by Boston. (I think?)
3. Stuff by Zepplin.
4. Stuff by Abba.
5. Ballads by 70's & 80's hair bands.

I can't really be specific...too many good songs.

Yeah, I said Abba.

Falwless said...

Boston, Zeppelin, 70s and 80s hair bands and... ABBA? This is why I like you, Danny. You're an enigma. Wrapped in a riddle. Stuffed in a Rubik's Cube.

BeckEye said...

I definitely agree with your #1 - it's a great one. But since "that's one of my favorite songs" is one of my favorite phrases, I couldn't make an accurate list. Although, I've said before that if someone put a gun to my head and forced me to pick my favorite song ever, I'd have to say "25 Miles" by Edwin Starr. I could live with that choice. Better than a bullet through the brain.