This post will cover my personal top 12 favorite songs. The motivation for this post is a little bit odd: Sports Talk Radio. Specifically WWLS 98.1 FM "The Sports Animal." Specifically, afternoon hosts of the "Dominant Duo" are Jim Traber and Al Eschbach who talk music as much as they talk sports. It's my afternoon drive home thing I listen to.
Anyway, Jim and Al recently had a Friday afternoon feature where each of them listed their Top 12 favorite songs of all time. I thought I would do the same.
Honestly, it's a tough task.
First of all, what is the scope and how exactly do you define favorite? Favorite - in my framing - is not necessarily synonymous with a. quality, b. popularity, c. entertainment value, d. frequency of listening.
Second of all, as I have mentally constructed my tentative lists, I have easily had 100 different songs come into my head.
Third, if there's a music history expert who can opine with expertise, there must be literally millions of songs. Picking 12 of them is just daunting.
Fourth and finally, I must emphasize my list would change within the hour, when my mood changes, and certainly by next year.
In the end analysis, my list of 12 favorites is likely loosely translated into my 12 most favorite and meaningful songs. You won't find a lot of 'chart toppers' in my personal list. It's not necessarily this bizarrely eclectic list, either. The songs that are my favorite typically have these characteristics: lyrically creative (usually serious, but sometimes light and clever); musically well structured (verse and chorus and bridge, etc); well performed (example: some of my selections are a duality of both song AND artist; some of my selections become my least favorite if performed poorly); complex but defined melodies usually with major tonality; and finally, they just have some sort of intangible appeal to me.
And by the way, where do the 'background' American standards fit into ANYONE's list? Songs like: Happy Birthday, Auld Lang Syne, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, God Bless America, Star Spangled Banner, etc. They're not on my list, but those songs are sure important to all of us.
Before getting to my list, I will just bang out very quickly a PARTIAL listing of honorable mentions. Songs that were on some of my tentative lists that didn't make my Final 12. In no particular order, those songs (or groups of songs) are:
- La La Land, Entire Soundtrack
- The Dance, Garth Brooks
- What A Wonderful World, Various Artists
- You're Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile, Annie Soundtrack
- Make Someone Happy, As Time Goes By, Jimmy Durante
- With Imagination/Don't Get Around Much Anymore, Harry Connick Jr.
- Hey Jude, Beatles
- Oklahoma, Rodgers and Hammerstein
- Favorite Son/other selections, Will Rogers Follies
- Brown Eyed Girl/Moondance, Van Morrison
- Have I Told You Lately That I Love You?, Van Morrison, other artists
- Desperado, Eagles
- What I'd Say, Ray Charles
- In Christ Alone, Keith and Kristyn Getty
- Dozens of hymns
- Dozens of show tunes
- Dozens of Disney songs
And now, for our feature presentation, my list of twelve, presented in reverse order:
NUMBER TWELVE
"It Had to be You", Harry Connick Jr.
This is a last second insertion. At the last second, my exacting - and entirely arbitrary - preferences bumped "Desperado" by the Eagles back down to #13. If anything, it is emblematic of how difficult it is to pick a top 12.
NUMBER ELEVEN
"Oh Holy Night", performed by David Phelps, and the Gaither Homecoming Singers.
Chills. I had to include a Christmas song.
NUMBER TEN
"Georgia On My Mind", Ray Charles
Ray Charles's "America the Beautiful" was also near the top.
NUMBER NINE
"Everybody Needs Somebody to Love", the Blues Brothers
Pure fun. And I love songs that get audiences involved.
NUMBER EIGHT
"I Feel Lucky", Mary Chapin Carpenter.
Rationale: This song is just pure fun. It's just a fun, singable, country blues number with a clever premise and some of the tightest musicianship and production you will ever encounter. I've linked a live version with the extended piano outro performed by the Grammy award winning pianist Jon Carroll.
NUMBER SEVEN
"One Day More", Les Miserables
I coulda shoulda put a lot more show tunes on here. But the limit was 12. I'm not sure this one is my absolute favorite on every day, but it's at least a good proxy to represent a whole series of wonderful Broadway show tunes. This one, of course, is especially excellent for the multiple, overlapping, lyrical voices from multiple characters in the musical.
NUMBER SIX
"American Pie", Don McLean
This is certainly a favorite song. On any certain day, it might be a notch higher. But also, as I point out above, on certain days, it might fail to make my top 50. In the end analysis, I noticed my list lacked greatly from American pop/rock of the 60s, 70s, 80s, and I thought this was a good proxy to make sure that genre was included.
NUMBER FIVE
"Bridge Over Troubled Water", Simon and Garfunkel
I'll link to the classic recording of it from Simon and Garfunkel. I will add that the self accompanied cover of it by Audrey Assad is also memorable.
NUMBER FOUR
"You Put This Love in my Heart", Keith Green
One of several songs I considered for inclusion from the late Keith Green.
NUMBER THREE
"Creed" by Rich Mullins
This song by the late Rich Mullins is a melodic, specific, and orthodox statement of faith for my Christian faith supplemented by his rich melodic composition and his even richer instrumental accompaniment, specifically highlighting his virtuoso skills on the hammered dulcimer.
NUMBER TWO
"Somewhere Over The Rainbow"
Many excellent performances. For this song only, I will highlight and link to two. First is the late Eva Cassidy's performance where she essentially rewrites the entire melody but on the same chord progression. Second is the American Idol performance of it by Katherine McPhee.
NUMBER ONE
"Battle Hymn of the Republic" at Ronald Reagan funeral. I get chills just thinking about the performance of this song.
So, there you have it. My top 12 - at least as it felt to me today. I invite comments here or where I post it on social media. Were there songs here you'd never heard of? Do we have similar favorites?
Thanks for reading. Tim
