Chapter 20
Ten Songs You Should Know
In This Chapter
Looking at some of the best songs ever written
Knowing songs from different genres
There are endless lists of “Best Songs,” and new lists are being formed every day. Some of these are based on the opinions of the authors; some are gauged by chart positions and sales figures. Whichever way you tally it, the greatest songs of any generation are the ones that matter the most to the listening public. Here’s a list of our favorites and reasons why they’ve resonated throughout the years.
“Hey Jude”
This song not only had the longest run at the top of the charts for any Beatles single, it is also more than seven minutes in length — breaking one of the many rules of writing a radio-friendly hit! Although there are varied opinions as to whom this song was really written for (among those were Jane Asher, with whom Paul McCartney had a long-term relationship, and also John Lennon, who believed the song was written about him), it was Paul who confirmed what inspired him to pen this tune. Being particularly close to Lennon’s first wife, Cynthia, and their son, Julian, “Hey Jules” (the original title to the song) was intended to comfort Julian during his parents’ divorce. The original lyrics “Hey Jules, don’t make it bad, take a sad song and make it better” take on a whole new perspective when thought of in terms of helping a kid dealing with his parents split. Later the “Jules” changed to “Jude” simply because it sounded better — apparently this mattered not to Julian, who years later bought the recording notes auctioned for 25,000 British pounds.
“Bohemian Rhapsody”
Another song that broke free of conventional songwriting structure was written by Freddie Mercury of the rock group Queen, who wrote this intended “mock opera” to be something outside the norm of the typical rock songs of the time. Although Freddie never personally revealed his inspiration other than to say it was a song about relationships, there was a Persian translation that claims the band said it is about a young man who has accidentally killed someone and then sold his soul to the devil. On the eve of his execution, he calls for the help of God and his angels to regain his soul once again. Other theories include a suicidal murderer hunted by demons just before his execution — at any rate, whether or not the lyrics are simply “random rhyming nonsense,” the song is a compelling, haunting, and dynamic composition all at once.
“What’s Going On”
“What’s Going On,” written by Marvin Gaye, Al Cleveland, and Renaldo Benson, is a landmark song in the history of Motown records and modern music in general. Marvin Gaye was “chomping at the bit” to express his inner emotions and social stance in the years prior to the record’s release, and Berry Gordy’s hit machine was not quite ready to break the mold of radio-ready hits such as Marvin’s own “Heard It Through the Grapevine” (written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong) and “Get Ready” (written by Smokey Robinson) by The Temptations. Always the rebel, Marvin convinced Berry to give him his head on this powerful track as a kind of test case — if it failed he’d go back to the formula, but if it was a hit, it was full speed ahead for Gaye’s new sound. The song went right to radio and became a landmark hit in Motown’s history. Suddenly many R&B artists were scrambling to be socially conscious and express the urban plight in America. Songs such as “Cloud 9” (written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong) by the Temptations (exploring the lure of hard drugs in our society) and “Ball of Confusion” became massive hits and gave credibility to the genre of crossing dance grooves with Dylan-like slam poetry. Again, Marvin Gaye was a pioneer, visionary, and architect of a fresh new sound.
“Yesterday”
“Yesterday,” written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, has been played more than 7 million times in the twentieth century alone. No other song has been played more since it first hit the airways in the mid-60s. It also holds the Guinness Book of Records title as the most “covered” song in history — more than 3,000 versions. The story is told that McCartney woke up one morning with this tune running through his head — the song just came to him without a flaw. The Beatles and their producer George Martin recorded “Yesterday” with just a string quartet, acoustic guitar, and Paul’s vocal. This song is well served by the simplicity of its production. “Yesterday” ranks third place in BMI’s Top 100 Songs of the Century. According to BMI’s calculation, 7 million performances are the equivalent of approximately 350,000 broadcast hours, or more than 45 years of continuous airplay!
“God Only Knows”
With haunting vocals by the late Carl Wilson, “God Only Knows” is considered by many to be the ultimate Brian Wilson song. Ironically, shunned by certain radio stations for its use of the word “God,” this song climbed to the outer reaches of the Top 40 in 1966. This ode to a love that can’t quite be verbalized properly features some of the most sensitive chord progressions of Wilson’s career. With lyrics by one of his most inspired lyricists, Tony Asher, this song is one of the cornerstones of The Beach Boy’s masterwork, Pet Sounds, along with “Wouldn’t It Be Nice.”
“Imagine”
“Imagine” was John Lennon’s ultimate message to the world. John composed the song one morning on the white grand piano made famous in films and photos of him sitting at the keyboard. Lennon captured pretty much everything he believed in and stood for within this song — we are all one country, one world, one people, without boundaries or borders. “Imagine” is the most commercially successful of all Lennon’s post-Beatles works. It peaked at #3 on its initial 1971 release, but ten years later was re-released and hit #1 — heralding the inner dynamics and longevity of the message.
“Satisfaction”
Not everyone was initially enamored with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards’ collaboration, but lucky for the world, this song made it to the light of day. It’s the signature three-note guitar riff that opens and drives this song (a Richards’ middle-of-the-night inspiration, he woke up and recorded on cassette tape what he describes as 2 minutes of “Satisfaction” and 40 minutes of snoring!) plus the sexual overtones and anti-commercialism theme that initially kept it from being heard anywhere except on pirate radio stations. Considered by some to be one of the great rock songs of all time, this Rolling Stones #1 hit remains a favorite among many — the only one of three songs that was “not censored” during the 2006 Super Bowl XL halftime show — go figure!
“I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”
This song by the rock band U2 began life as a demo created during one of their many jam sessions. Originally described as a “one-note groove” by bassist Adam Clayton and compared by The Edge to “Eye of the Tiger” being played by a reggae band, it was kept around for its drum beat — which later became the song’s signature. Building from there, layer by layer, this song took life, and as Bono began singing a “classic soul” melody, The Edge slipped a piece of paper to him with the phrase he’d written in a notebook that morning for a possible song title — “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.” Remember what we mentioned earlier about where ideas come from and the necessity of keeping great notes? Needless to say this song went on to become U2’s second #1 single, following “With or Without You.”
“Like a Rolling Stone”
“Like a Rolling Stone” is one of those songs that practically everyone that knows it remembers where they were when they first heard it — and got a buzz off its musical synergy. This song (like “Bohemian Rhapsody” mentioned earlier) just kept going far beyond the three-minute limit set by most radio stations to facilitate more commercials — and the lyrics were the usual brilliant stream of conscience Dylan. But what really hooked you in was the magical Hammond B3 organ (played by rock veteran Al Kooper) that’s woven through the song like a silver thread. Funny thing is that Kooper was at the session to play guitar, but wasn’t needed so he started idly doodling on the studio’s Hammond B3. By the second take the song started to gel and Dylan told the engineer to turn up that organ (which up until then was buried deep in the mix). That’s when the whole song came to life. Soon after the record hit #1, Al was inundated with session requests to add his “magic organ” to their songs — and this was an instrument he had only very recently started playing! A song is only as good as its arrangement and sonic textures, and this is the perfect example of a great song finding the simple signature from a casually played B3 organ.
“Somewhere Over the Rainbow”
Once in a while, a song comes along that’s so great that it just never goes away. One such a song is “Over the Rainbow,” composed by Harold Arlen in 1939 with words by E. Y. “Yip” Harburg — the pair who wrote the songs for the film Wizard of Oz. The melody suddenly came to Arlen while driving in his car. He had a tremendous feeling about the value of the melody and took it to Harburg, but Harburg didn’t like it. To settle the matter, they drove over to Harburg’s friend Ira Gershwin’s house and asked him how he felt. Gershwin felt that Arlen had indeed come up with a great melody, and Harburg reluctantly wrote the words for “Over the Rainbow.” Judy Garland sang the song in the movie, but the studio pulled it, saying it didn’t fit the plot and that it was too slow. They only reluctantly put it back in the film after the associate producer, Arthur Fried, forced them to do so. The rest is history. “Over the Rainbow” was voted by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) as the #1 best song of the century, and it’s been recorded by hundreds of artists ranging from Tori Amos to Zoot Sims — but arguably the most well-known recording of this song was done by late Hawai’ian artist IZ (Israel Kamakawiwo’ole), when he combined it with the song “What a Wonderful World.”