During a road trip recently to a Bruce football game, Dr. Bruce Longest and I were discussing our displeasure with a Rolling Stone magazine article ranking the best songs of all time.
Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” earned the top spot. I love Dylan and love that song, but it’s not even my favorite Dylan song, much less best of all time.
Joel McNeece
The rest of the Top 10 was even more baffling to us. The Beatles, Beach Boys, Rolling Stones, Ray Charles and Marvin Gaye were all included, but like Dylan, I thought they picked the wrong song for each of those artists.
In fact, their Top 10 didn’t include anything by Elvis or Frank Sinatra, which seemed impossible to me.
The entire discussion got me to thinking about my personal Top 10 songs of all time. I doubt there is anyone with a more eclectic music collection than myself. I listen to virtually every style of music and have never been one to get wrapped up in genres. Good music is good music, whether it’s Mozart or George Jones.
The diversity of my collection is clear when going through my personal top 10.
The more I tried to rank songs, the more impossible it got. My 10 favorites seemed to change with almost every passing day, but for this moment in time, here goes.
10) Let’s Stay Together by Al Green
Rev. Al recorded this song in 1972, but it’s rhythm is just as fresh today.
9) Don’t Stop Believin’ by Journey
If it was good enough to close out The Sopranos (arguably the best television series of all time), it has to make my list.
8) I Left My Heart in San Francisco by Tony Bennett
My combined love for the song and the city, keeps it near the top for me.
7) You Can’t Always Get What You Want by The Rolling Stones
My favorite group of all-time, I could nearly fill the entire list with all Stones’ tunes.
6) An American Trilogy by Elvis Presley
I grew up in an Elvis household and have virtually every song by The King in my collection.
5) Into the Mystic by Van Morrison
Possibly the most underrated song of all time.
4) Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door by Bob Dylan
Guns ‘n Roses made a nice remake of this in the 1990s, but Dylan’s live version is my personal favorite.
3) Piano Man by Billy Joel
The memories evoked by this song make it one of the best for me.
2) I’ve Got the World on a String by Frank Sinatra
Like Elvis, I have virtually every Frank Sinatra song ever recorded on my iPod. It’s what I listen to most often these days. I couldn’t pick out just one, so I looked at the most played on my iPod over the past week and this was it.
1) You Belong to Me by Dean Martin
Everything about this song speaks to me. The melody, the lyrics, but mostly the voice is why this is number one. Dean Martin, for my money, has the best singing voice I’ve ever heard.