Initial commit

.gitignore

@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+target/
+!.mvn/wrapper/maven-wrapper.jar
+!**/src/main/**/target/
+!**/src/test/**/target/
+
+### IntelliJ IDEA ###
+.idea/modules.xml
+.idea/jarRepositories.xml
+.idea/compiler.xml
+.idea/libraries/
+*.iws
+*.iml
+*.ipr
+out/
+!**/src/main/**/out/
+!**/src/test/**/out/
+
+### Eclipse ###
+.apt_generated
+.classpath
+.factorypath
+.project
+.settings
+.springBeans
+.sts4-cache
+bin/
+!**/src/main/**/bin/
+!**/src/test/**/bin/
+
+### NetBeans ###
+/nbproject/private/
+/nbbuild/
+/dist/
+/nbdist/
+/.nb-gradle/
+build/
+!**/src/main/**/build/
+!**/src/test/**/build/
+
+### VS Code ###
+.vscode/
+
+### Mac OS ###
+.DS_Store
+
+### Scala ###
+.bsp/

build.sbt

@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+ThisBuild / version := "0.1.0-SNAPSHOT"
+
+ThisBuild / scalaVersion := "3.3.5"
+
+lazy val root = (project in file("."))
+  .settings(
+    name := "exercice2",
+    libraryDependencies += "com.github.tototoshi" %% "scala-csv" % "2.0.0"
+  )

project/build.properties

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+sbt.version = 1.10.10

src/main/resources/songs.csv

@@ -0,0 +1,501 @@
+title,description,appears on,artist,writers,producer,released,streak,position
+Like a Rolling Stone,"""I wrote it. I didn't fail. It was straight,"" Bob Dylan said of his greatest song shortly after he recorded it in June 1965. There is no better description of ""Like a Rolling Stone"" — of its revolutionary design and execution — or of the young man, just turned 24, who created it.",Highway 61 Revisited (Columbia),Bob Dylan,Dylan,Tom Wilson ,"July, 1965",12 weeks,No. 2
+(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction',"""It's the riff heard round the world,"" says Steve Van Zandt, guitarist for the E Street Band. ""And it's one of the earliest examples of Dylan influencing the Stones and the Beatles — the degree of cynicism, and the idea of bringing more personal lyrics from the folk and blues tradition into popular music.""",Out of Our Heads (ABKCO),The Rolling Stones,"Mick Jagger, Keith Richards",Andrew Loog Oldham,"May, 1965",14 weeks,No. 1
+Imagine,"John Lennon wrote ""Imagine,"" his greatest musical gift to the world, one morning early in 1971 in his bedroom at Tittenhurst Park, his estate in Ascot, England. His wife, Yoko Ono, watched as Lennon sat at the white grand piano now known around the world from films and photographs of the sessions for his Imagine album and virtually completed the song: the serene melody; the pillowy chord progression; that beckoning, four-note figure; and nearly all of the lyrics, 22 lines of graceful, plain-spoken faith in the power of a world, united in purpose, to repair and change itself.",Imagine (Capitol/Apple),John Lennon,John Lennon,"Lennon, Phil Spector, Yoko Ono","October, 1971",9 weeks,No. 3
+What's Going On,"""What's Going On"" is an exquisite plea for peace on Earth, sung by a man at the height of crisis. In 1970, Marvin Gaye was Motown's top male vocal star, yet he was frustrated by the assembly-line role he played on his own hits. Devastated by the loss of duet partner Tammi Terrell, who died that March after a three-year battle with a brain tumor, Gaye was also trapped in a turbulent marriage to Anna Gordy, Motown boss Berry Gordy's sister. Gaye was tormented, too, by his relationship with his puritanical father, Marvin Sr. ""If I was arguing for peace,"" Gaye told biographer David Ritz, ""I knew I'd have to find peace in my heart.""",What's Going On (Tamla),Marvin Gaye,"Gaye, Renaldo Benson, Al Cleveland",Gaye ,"Feb, 1971",13 weeks,No. 2
+Respect,"Otis Redding wrote ""Respect"" and recorded it first, for the Volt label in 1965. But Aretha Franklin took possession of the song for all time with her definitive cover, made at Atlantic's New York studio on Valentine's Day 1967. ""Respect"" was her first Number One hit and the single that established her as the Queen of Soul. In Redding's reading, a brawny march, he called for equal favor with volcanic force. Franklin wasn't asking for anything. She sang from higher ground: a woman calling an end to the exhaustion and sacrifice of a raw deal with scorching sexual authority. In short, if you want some, you will earn it.",I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You (Atlantic),Aretha Franklin,Otis Redding,Jerry Wexler,"April, 1967",12 weeks,No. 1
+Good Vibrations,"""It scared me, the word 'vi-brations,'"" Brian Wilson once said, remembering how, when he was a boy, his mother, Audree, tried to explain why dogs barked at some people and not others. ""A dog would pick up vibrations from these people that you can't see but you can feel. And the same thing happened with people."" ""Good Vibrations"" harnessed that energy and turned it into eternal sunshine. ""This is a very spiritual song,"" Wilson said after its release, ""and I want it to give off good vibrations.""",Smiley Smile/Wild Honey (Capitol) ,The Beach Boys,"Brian Wilson, Mike Love",Wilson,"October, 1966",14 weeks,No.1
+Johnny B. Goode,"""Johnny B. Goode"" was the first rock & roll hit about rock & roll stardom. It is still the greatest rock & roll song about the democracy of fame in pop music. And ""Johnny B. Goode"" is based in fact. The title character is Chuck Berry — ""more or less,"" as he told Rolling Stone in 1972. ""The original words [were], of course, 'That little colored boy could play.' I changed it to 'country boy' — or else it wouldn't get on the radio."" Berry took other narrative liberties. Johnny came from ""deep down in Louisiana, close to New Orleans,"" rather than Berry's St. Louis. And Johnny ""never ever learned to read or write so well,"" while Berry graduated from beauty school with a degree in hairdressing and cosmetology.",The Anthology (Chess),Chuck Berry,Chuck Berry,Leonard and Phil Chess,"April, 1958",15 weeks,No. 8
+Hey Jude,"The Beatles' biggest U.S. single — nine weeks at Number One — was also their longest, at seven minutes and 11 seconds. During the recording sessions, producer George Martin objected to the length, claiming DJs would not play the song. ""They will if it's us,"" John Lennon shot back. Paul McCartney wrote ""Hey Jude"" in June 1968, singing to himself on his way to visit Lennon's soon-to-be-ex-wife, Cynthia, and their son, Julian. The opening lines were, McCartney once said, ""a hopeful message for Julian: 'Come on, man, your parents got divorced. I know you're not happy, but you'll be OK.'"" McCartney changed ""Jules"" to ""Jude"" — a name inspired by Jud from the musical Oklahoma! — and presented a demo tape to Lennon, who loved the song. He also thought McCartney was singing to him, about his relationship with Yoko Ono and the strains on the Lennon-McCartney partnership. But his self-centered reading underscored the universal comfort in McCartney's lyrics and the song's warm, rolling charm, fortified in the fade-out by a 36-piece orchestra whose members (with one grumpy exception) also clapped and sang along — for double their usual fee.",1 (Capitol/Apple) ,The Beatles,"John Lennon, Paul McCartney",George Martin,"Aug, 1968",19 weeks,No. 1
+Smells Like Teen Spirit,"Producer Butch Vig first heard ""Smells Like Teen Spirit"" in early 1991, on a boombox cassette recorded by bassist Krist Novoselic, drummer Dave Grohl and singer-guitarist-songwriter Kurt Cobain in a barn in Tacoma, Washington. The fidelity was abysmal. Vig — about to work with Nirvana on their major-label debut, Nevermind — could not tell that the song would soon make underground Seattle rock the new mainstream and catapult Cobain, a troubled young man with strict indie-culture ethics, into megacelebrity. ""I could sort of hear the 'Hello, hello' part and the chords,"" Vig said years later. ""But it was so indecipherable that I had no idea what to expect.""",Nevermind (DGC) ,Nirvana,Kurt Cobain,Butch Vig,"Sep, 1991",20 weeks,No. 6
+What'd I Say,"""The people just went crazy, and they loved that little ummmmh, unnnnh,"" Ray Charles told Rolling Stone in 1978, describing the instant genesis of ""What'd I Say,"" his first Top 10 pop single and the greatest feel-good song in rock & roll. ""Later on, people said it was vulgar,"" Charles continued, referring to that irresistible, sexually heated vocal bridge. ""But, hell, let's face it, everybody knows about the ummmmh, unnnnh. That's how we all got here.""",The Ultimate Hits Collection (Rhino),Ray Charles,Charles,"Ahmet Ertegun, Jerry Wexler","June, 1959",15 weeks,No. 6
+My Generation,"The Who's guitarist, Pete Townshend, supposedly wrote ""My Generation,"" his immortal fuck-off to the elders in his way, on his 20th birthday, May 19th, 1965, while riding a train from London to Southampton for a television appearance. The song wasn't intended as a youth-mutiny anthem at first. It was a Jimmy Reed-style blues, reflecting Townshend's fears about the impending strictures of adult life, famously captured in the line ""Hope I die before I get old."" ""My Generation' was very much about trying to find a place in society,"" he told Rolling Stone in 1987. ""I was very, very lost. The band was young then. It was believed that its career would be incredibly brief."" Instead, ""My Generation"" became the Who's ticket to legend — their first British Top Five hit, and a battle cry for young mod rebels — and it established Townshend as a fearless and eloquent songwriter. ""My Generation"" went through months of arranging and rerecording before the Who got it right, in two takes, on October 13th, 1965. Townshend opened the song with a two-chord assault that beat punk rock to the punch by more than a decade. Bassist John Entwistle took the solo breaks with crisp, grunting aggression — he had to buy three new basses to finish the recording, since his Danelectro's strings kept breaking and replacement strings weren't available. (He ended up playing the song on a Fender.) Roger Daltrey's stuttering, howling performance, Townshend and Entwistle's R&B-inspired backing vocals, and the upward key changes created a vivid, mounting anxiety that climaxed with a studio re-creation of the Who's live gear-trashing finales, with Townshend spewing feedback all over Keith Moon's avalanche drumming. Four decades later, Townshend and Daltrey are all that remain of the original Who, and they still play ""My Generation"" at every show — now with the fire and wisdom of age.",My Generation (Universal) ,The Who,Pete Townshend,Shel Talmy,"Nov, 1965",5 weeks,No. 74
+A Change Is Gonna Come,"In 1963, Sam Cooke — America's first great soul singer and one of the most successful pop acts in the nation, with 18 Top 30 hits since 1957 — heard a song that profoundly inspired and disturbed him: Bob Dylan's ""Blowin' in the Wind."" What struck Cooke was the challenge implicit in Dylan's anthem. ""Jeez,"" Cooke mused, ""a white boy writing a song like that?""",Portrait of a Legend 1951-1964 (ABKCO) ,Sam Cooke,Cooke,"Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore","Dec, 1964",7 weeks,No. 31
+Yesterday,"Paul McCartney's greatest ballad holds a Guinness World Record as the most recorded song of all time; seven years later, there were 1,186 versions by artists as varied as Frank Sinatra, Otis Redding and Willie Nelson. But McCartney's original reading — cut on June 14th, 1965, at EMI's Abbey Road studios in London — remains the most beautiful and daring of all: a frank poem of regret scored and sung with haunted elegance. There are no other Beatles on the record. None were needed. George Martin's arrangement for a string quartet emphasized lower-octave melancholy, while McCartney's almost whispered vocal reverberated with longing in the big, dark spaces where drums and electric guitars would have been. The melody, he said, came to him in a dream: ""My dad used to know a lot of old jazz tunes, I thought maybe I'd just remembered it from the past."" McCartney auditioned the song for Martin, with the working title ""Scrambled Eggs,"" in a hotel room in Paris in January 1964 — before the Beatles had even landed in America — but would not record it for another year and a half. ""We were a little embarrassed about it,"" McCartney confessed. ""We were a rock & roll band."" A Number One single in America, ""Yesterday"" was, in his own words, ""the most complete song I have ever written.""",Help! (Capitol/Apple),The Beatles,"John Lennon, Paul McCartney",George Martin,"Sep, 1965",11 weeks,No. 1
+Blowin' in the Wind,"In April 1962, at Gerde's Folk City in New York's Greenwich Village, 20-year-old Bob Dylan gave a quick speech before playing one of his new songs: ""This here ain't no protest song or anything like that, 'cause I don't write no protest songs,"" he said. Then he sang the first and third verses of the still-unfinished ""Blowin' in the Wind."" Published in full a month later in the folk journal Broadside and recorded on July 9th, 1962, for his second album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, ""Blowin' in the Wind"" was Dylan's first important composition. It is also the most famous protest song ever written.",The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (Columbia) ,Bob Dylan,Dylan,John Hammond,"May, 1963",Did not chart,
+London Calling,"Named after the call signal of the BBC's World Service broadcasts, the title alarm of the Clash's third album was an SOS from the heart of darkness. When they recorded the song, the Clash — British punk's most political and uncompromising band — were without management and sinking in debt. Around them, Britain was suffocating in crisis: soaring unemployment, racial conflict, widespread drug use. ""We felt that we were struggling,"" Joe Strummer said, ""about to slip down a slope or something, grasping with our fingernails. And there was no one there to help us.""",London Calling (Epic) ,The Clash,"Mick Jones, Joe Strummer",Guy Stevens,"Jan, 1980",Did not chart,
+I Want to Hold Your Hand,"As a young, struggling beat group, playing grueling gigs at grubby bars, the Beatles had an in-joke to cheer themselves up: declaring that they were going ""to the toppermost of the poppermost."" By 1963, they meant it enough to issue an ultimatum. ""We said to [manager] Brian Epstein, 'We're not going to America till we've got a Number One record,'"" Paul McCartney said. So he and John Lennon went to the home of the parents of Jane Asher, McCartney's girlfriend, where — ""one on one, eyeball to eyeball,"" as Lennon put it — they wrote ""I Want to Hold Your Hand,"" an irresistibly erotic come-on framed as a chaste, bashful request. The lightning-bolt energy of their collaboration ran through the band's performance, taped October 17th, 1963. It lunges out of the speakers with a rhythm so tricky that the first wave of bands to cover the song often couldn't figure it out; Lennon and McCartney constantly switch between unison and harmonies, both of them snapping and whooping like they own the melody. Every element of the song is a hook, from Lennon's Chuck Berry riffing to George Harrison's string-snapping guitar fills to the quartet's syncopated hand claps. With advance orders at a million copies, ""I Want to Hold Your Hand"" was released in the U.K. in late November, and promptly bumped the band's own ""She Loves You"" from the top of the charts.",Meet the Beatles! (Capitol/Apple) ,The Beatles,"John Lennon, Paul McCartney",George Martin,"Dec, 1963",15 weeks,No. 1
+Purple Haze,"It is one of the unforgettable opening riffs in rock: a ferocious, stomping guitar march, scarred with fuzz and built around the dissonant ""devil's interval"" of the tritone. And it launched not one but two revolutions: late-Sixties psychedelia and the unprecedented genius of Jimi Hendrix. For the first time, Hendrix, bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell got to show off their acrobatic onstage chemistry on record — and they somehow managed to condense it to an under-three-minute blaze of overdubbed guitar sorcery. (The first chord of its main riff has come to be known among guitarists as the ""Hendrix chord."") The song, which Hendrix wrote on December 26th, 1966, in the dressing room of a London club, also served as a showcase for his brilliant, often contradictory lyrical gifts (boiled down from a much longer initial draft called ""Purple Haze — Jesus Saves""). He spiked the surging rhythmic confidence of the Experience with intimate pictorial tension: ""Actin' funny, but I don't know why/'Scuse me while I kiss the sky."" (Hendrix later said that he had written the lyrics after he'd had a dream in which he could walk underwater.) The Experience recorded ""Purple Haze"" across a series of sessions in January and February, 1967, experimenting with recording techniques such as the blitzed-out distortion on Hendrix's guitar — when the master tape was sent to their American record label, an enclosed note diligently pointed out that the distorted sound of the song was deliberate. In the closing solo, Hendrix echoed his screaming Strat with an additional shrieking guitar put through a new harmonic-manipulation device called an Octavia and played back at double speed. ""Purple Haze"" — the opening track on the U.S. version of his debut LP, Are You Experienced? — captured the liberating rush of Day-Glo culture just in time for the Summer of Love.",Are You Experienced? (Experience Hendrix) ,The Jimi Hendrix Experience,Hendrix,Chas Chandler,"March, 1967",8 weeks,No. 65
+Maybellene,"Rock & roll guitar starts here. The pileup of hillbilly country, urban blues and hot jazz in Chuck Berry's electric twang is the primal language of pop- music guitar, and it's all perfected on his first single. The entire song is a two-minute chase scene packed with car-culture vernacular and Berry's hipster-lingo inventions (""As I was motorvatin' over the hill. . . .""). Its groove comes from ""Ida Red,"" a 1938 recording by Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys (of a song that dates back to the 19th century). By the time of the May 21st, 1955, session, Berry had been playing country tunes for black audiences for a few years — ""After they laughed at me a few times, they began requesting the hillbilly stuff,"" he has said. Leonard Chess came up with the title, inspired by a Maybelline mascara box lying on the floor at the Chess studio. DJ Alan Freed had nothing to do with writing ""Maybellene,"" although he got co-credit and royalties for years in return for radio airplay: payola in all but name.",The Anthology (Chess) ,Chuck Berry,Berry,Leonard and Phil Chess,"July, 1955",11 weeks,No. 5
+Hound Dog,"""Hound Dog"" was a hit before Elvis Presley sang it, and he was famous for singing it before he recorded it. Written in 1952 by white teenagers Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller for R&B singer Willie Mae ""Big Mama"" Thornton, it was a smash for her, and was immediately covered by a handful of country acts. (The chorus, Leiber noted in 1987, was code for ""You ain't nothin' but a motherfucker."") Presley, always on the lookout for hillbilly/R&B crossover possibilities, added the song to his stage act in the spring of 1956, after hearing Freddie Bell and the Bellboys sing it in Las Vegas. On June 5th of that year, his hip-swiveling performance of ""Hound Dog"" on The Milton Berle Show became an instant sensation — notorious enough that on his next TV appearance, he crooned the song to a top-hatted basset hound. The next morning, Presley and his band got deadly serious about ""Hound Dog,"" perfecting it over 31 takes at New York's RCA Studios. With snarling vocal authority, D.J. Fontana's tommy-gun drumrolls and slashing guitar by Scotty Moore, Presley transformed the song's blues changes and put-down rhymes into a declaration of independence from his generation's cold, rigid elders. ""Hound Dog"" was the flip side of ""Don't Be Cruel,"" Presley's third RCA single. It was also the song in which he told the world: Like it or not, rock & roll is here to stay.",Elvis 30 #1 Hits (RCA) ,Elvis Presley,"Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller",Steve Sholes,"July, 1956",28 weeks,No. 1
+Let It Be,"Inspired by the church-born soul of Aretha Franklin, an anxious Paul McCartney started writing ""Let It Be"" in 1968, during the contentious sessions for the White Album. His opening lines — ""When I find myself in times of trouble/Mother Mary comes to me"" — were based on a dream in which his own late mother, Mary, offered solace during a tumultuous time for both the band and the culture, assuring him that everything would turn out fine. ""I'm not sure if she used the words 'Let it be,'"" McCartney recalled, ""but that was the gist of her advice."" McCartney unveiled a skeletal version of ""Let It Be"" to the other Beatles at an even worse time: during the initial, disastrous Let It Be rehearsals in January 1969. John Lennon, the group's resident heretic, was brutally dismissive, mistaking McCartney's secular humanism for self-righteous piety. Yet the Beatles put special labor into the song, getting the consummate take on January 31st — the day after their last live performance, on the roof of their Apple offices in London. (R&B musician Billy Preston, a friend of the band's from its early days, contributed the gospel-flavored organ part.) George Harrison later took a couple of cracks at adding a guitar solo: The single version features his solo from April 30th, 1969, and the album cut's solo was taped at the final Beatles recording session, on January 4th, 1970. Released four months later, ""Let It Be"" effectively became an elegy for the band that had defined the Sixties.",Let It Be (Capitol/Apple),The Beatles,"John Lennon, Paul McCartney",George Martin,"March, 1970",14 weeks,No. 1
+Born to Run,"This song's four and a half minutes took three and a half months to cut. Aiming for the impact of Phil Spector's Wall of Sound, Springsteen included strings, glockenspiel, multiple keyboards — and more than a dozen guitar tracks. ""I had enormous ambitions for it,"" said Springsteen. ""I wanted to make the greatest rock record I'd ever heard."" Springsteen's lyrics told a story of young lovers on the highways of New Jersey. ""I don't know how important the settings are,"" Springsteen said. ""It's the idea behind the settings. It could be New Jersey, it could be California, it could be Alaska.""",Born to Run (Columbia),Bruce Springsteen,Springsteen,"Springsteen, Mike Appel","Aug, 1975",11 weeks,No. 23
+Be My Baby,"Phil Spector rehearsed this song with Ronnie Bennett (the only Ronette to sing on it) for weeks, but that didn't stop him from doing 42 takes before he was satisfied. Aided by a full orchestra (as well as a young Cher, who sang backup vocals), Spector created a lush, echo-laden sound that was the Rosetta stone for studio pioneers such as the Beatles and Brian Wilson, who calls this his favorite song. ""The things Phil was doing were crazy and exhausting,"" said Larry Levine, Spector's engineer. ""But that's not the sign of a nut. That's genius.""",The Best of the Ronettes (ABKCO),The Ronettes,"Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich",Spector,"Aug, 1963",13 weeks,No. 2
+In My Life,"""''In My Life' was, I think, my first real, major piece of work,"" John Lennon said. ""Up until then it had all been glib and throwaway."" The ballad reflects the serious turn the Beatles took with Rubber Soul, but it specifically arose from a journalist's challenge: Why don't you write songs about your life? The original lyrics put Lennon on a bus in Liverpool, ""and it was the most boring sort of 'What I Did on My Holidays Bus Trip' song,"" he said. So Lennon rewrote the lyrics, changing the song into a gorgeous reminiscence about his life before the Beatles. The distinctive ""harpsichord"" solo near the song's end is actually an electric piano played by Martin and sped up on tape.",Rubber Soul (Capitol) ,The Beatles,"John Lennon, Paul McCartney",George Martin,"Dec, 1964",none,none
+People Get Ready,"""It was warrior music,"" said civil rights activist Gordon Sellers. ""It was music you listened to while you were preparing to go into battle."" Mayfield wrote the gospel-driven R&B ballad, he said, ""in a deep mood, a spiritual state of mind,"" just before Martin Luther King Jr.'s march on the Impressions' hometown of Chicago. Shortly after ""People Get Ready"" was released, churches in Chicago began including their own version of it in songbooks. Mayfield's version of the song ended with ""You don't need no ticket/You just thank the Lord,"" but the churches' rendition, ironically, made the lyrics less Christian and more universal: ""Everybody wants freedom/This I know.""",The Very Best of the Impressions (Rhino),The Impressions,Curtis Mayfield,Johnny Pate,"Jan, 1965",8 weeks,No. 14
+God Only Knows,"""It's very emotional, always a bit of a choker with me,"" said Paul McCartney of this Pet Sounds ballad. The night McCartney and John Lennon first heard Pet Sounds, at a London party, they wrote ""Here, There and Everywhere,"" which is influenced by ""God Only Knows."" Carl Wilson's understated lead vocal is note-perfect, but it's the arrangement of horns, sleigh bells, strings and accordion that gives ""God"" its heavenly feel. Brian Wilson was fascinated by spirituality and said this song came out of prayer sessions in the studio. ""We made it a religious ceremony,"" he said of recording Pet Sounds. The only problem: The use of the word ""God"" in the title scared off some radio programmers.",Pet Sounds (Capitol) ,The Beach Boys,"Brian Wilson, Tony Asher",Wilson,"May, 1966",8 weeks,No. 39
+(Sittin' on) the Dock of the Bay,"A few days after his starmaking set at the Monterey Pop Festival in June 1967, Redding stayed on a houseboat in Sausalito, California, while he played the Fillmore in San Francisco. He wrote the first verse to ""Dock of the Bay"" on that boat, then completed the song with guitarist Cropper in Memphis. Just a few days later, Redding was on tour with the Bar-Kays when his private plane crashed into Lake Monona in Madison, Wisconsin. While divers searched for Redding's body, Cropper kept his mind busy by mixing ""Dock of the Bay."" On December 11th, 1967, the plane was pulled out of the lake, with Redding's body still strapped into the co-pilot's seat.",The Dock of the Bay (Atlantic) ,Otis Redding,"Redding, Steve Cropper",Cropper,"Jan, 1968",16 weeks,No. 1
+Layla,"Embroiled in a love triangle with George and Patti Boyd Harrison, Clapton took the title for his greatest song from the Persian love story ""Layla and Majnoun."" Recorded by the short-lived ensemble Derek and the Dominos, ""Layla"" storms with aching vocals and crosscutting riffs from Clapton and contributing guitarist Duane Allman, then dissolves into a serene, piano-based coda. ""It was the heaviest thing going on at the time,"" Clapton told Rolling Stone in 1974. ""That's what I wanted to write about most of all.""",Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (Polydor),Derek and the Dominos,"Eric Clapton, Jim Gordon","Tom Dowd, the Dominos","Nov, 1970",15 weeks,No. 10
+A Day in the Life,"""A Day in the Life"" was one of the last true Lennon-McCartney collaborations: Lennon wrote the opening and closing sections, and McCartney contributed the ""Woke up/Fell out of bed"" middle. For the climax, they hired 40 musicians, dressed them in tuxedos and funny hats, and told them they had 15 bars to ascend from the lowest note on their instruments to the highest. ""Listen to those trumpets — they're freaking out,"" McCartney said. The final piano chord concluded Sgt. Pepper and made rock's possibilities seem infinite.",Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Capitol),The Beatles,"John Lennon, Paul McCartney",George Martin,"June, 1967",none,none
+Help!,"""Most people think it's just a fast rock & roll song,"" Lennon said. ""Subconsciously, I was crying out for help. I didn't realize it at the time; I just wrote the song because I was commissioned to write it for the movie."" Overwhelmed by Beatlemania, Lennon was eating ""like a pig,"" drinking too much and ""smoking marijuana for breakfast"" — only 24 years old, he was already expressing nostalgia for his lost youth. ""I don't like the recording that much,"" Lennon would later tell Rolling Stone. ""We did it too fast, to try and be commercial.""",Help! (Capitol) ,The Beatles,"John Lennon, Paul McCartney",George Martin,"July, 1965 ",13 weeks,No. 1
+I Walk the Line,"Cash began work on this track while he was in Germany with the Air Force, years before he would ever enter a studio. He returned to it after he hit with ""Folsom Prison Blues,"" only to find that the original tape had gotten mangled. But Cash liked the strange sound and added a click-clack rhythm by winding a piece of wax paper through his guitar strings. Phillips then had him speed up the song, originally a ballad, to a driving rumble. ""It was different than anything else you had ever heard,"" Bob Dylan told Rolling Stone. ""A voice from the middle of the Earth.""",The Complete Original Sun Singles (Varese Sarabande),Johnny Cash,Cash,Sam Phillips,"Aug, 1956",22 weeks,No. 17
+Stairway to Heaven,"All epic anthems must measure themselves against ""Stairway to Heaven,"" the cornerstone of Led Zeppelin IV. The acoustic intro sounds positively Elizabethan, thanks to John Paul Jones' recorder solo and Plant's fanciful lyrics, which were partly inspired by Lewis Spence's historical tome Magic Arts in Celtic Britain. Over eight minutes, the song morphs into a furious Page solo that storms heaven's gate. Page said the song ""crystallized the essence of the band. It had everything there and showed us at our best. It was a milestone. Every musician wants to do something of lasting quality, something which will hold up for a long time. We did it with 'Stairway.'""",Led Zeppelin IV (Atlantic) ,Led Zeppelin,"Jimmy Page, Robert Plant",Page,"Nov, 1971",none,none
+Sympathy for the Devil,"The inspiration for this hellish detour came from Soviet writer Mikhail Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita, which depicts Satan having his way in 1930s Moscow. Richards struggled to find the right backing for Jagger's menacing Dylan-esque lyrics, unsure ""whether it should be a samba or a goddamn folk song,"" he recalled. The Stones ended up giving the devil one of their best grooves, built on Rocky Dijon's congas and Bill Wyman's Bo Diddley-ish maracas. ""Before, when we were just innocent kids out for a good time [the media said], 'They're evil, they're evil,'"" Richards said. ""So that makes you start thinking about evil. . . . Everybody's Lucifer.""",Beggar's Banquet (ABKCO) ,The Rolling Stones,"Mick Jagger, Keith Richards",Jimmy Miller,"Dec, 1968",none,none
+River Deep - Mountain High,"Spector heard the Ike and Tina Turner Revue at a Hollywood club at a time when their recording career had stalled after a handful of R&B hits in the early 1960s. Spector had a song called ""River Deep — Mountain High"" that he was sure was going to be huge, and he wanted Tina to sing it, though he forbade Ike from even coming to the sessions. ""I must have sung that 500,000 times,"" Tina later said. ""I was drenched with sweat. I had to take my shirt off and stand there in my bra to sing.""",Proud Mary: The Best of Ike and Tina Turner (EMI),Ike and Tina Turner,"Phil Spector, Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich",Spector,"May, 1966",4 weeks,No. 88
+You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'',"Spector was conducting the musicians for a Ronettes show in San Francisco when he decided to sign the Righteous Brothers, who were on the bill. He then asked Mann and Weil to come up with a hit for them. Bill Medley's intro sounds impossibly deep. ""When Phil played it for me,"" Mann recalled, ""I said, 'Phil, you have it on the wrong speed!'"" Bobby Hatfield was puzzled by his partner's opening solo: ""What do I do while he's singing the entire first verse?"" he asked Spector, who answered, ""You can go directly to the bank.""",Anthology 1962-1974 (Rhino),The Righteous Brothers,"Phil Spector, Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil",Spector,"Dec, 1964",16 weeks,No. 1
+Light My Fire,"It was the first song Krieger ever wrote — with additional lyrics from Morrison and arrangements from the rest of the band. ""It's like I'd saved up all [these ideas] in my mind and got them out all at once,"" Krieger said. The song catapulted the Doors to overnight fame, which Krieger says was part of Morrison's plan: ""Jim had this idea of the band being a shooting star,"" Krieger said. ""Fire"" ran for seven minutes on the LP and was cut down to three, with Krieger's and keyboardist Manzarek's solos excised, on the single.",The Doors (Elektra),The Doors,"Robby Krieger, John Densmore, Jim Morrison, Ray Manzarek",Paul Rothchild,"June, 1967",17 weeks,No. 1
+One,"Achtung Baby was the album on which U2 traded in a decade of earnestness for irony, but the new approach resulted in their most moving single ever. ""One"" was spun off from another song, ""Mysterious Ways,"" when the Edge came up with two ideas for the bridge, and Bono so liked one of them that he wrote a new set of lyrics. Though some hear it as a love song, the words are full of hurt and ambiguity. ""People have told me they play it at their wedding,"" the Edge said. ""And I think, 'Have you listened to the lyrics? It's not that kind of a song.'""",Achtung Baby (Island) ,U2,"Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen Jr.","Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois","Nov, 1991",20 weeks,No. 10
+"No Woman, No Cry","The uptempo version on 1975's Natty Dread is forgettable, but the swaying, incantatory take on 1975's Live! remains one of the reggae legend's most beloved performances. The ""government yard in Trench Town"" refers to the Jamaican public-housing project where Marley lived in the Fifties. He gave a songwriting credit to childhood friend Vincent ""Tata"" Ford to help keep Ford's Kingston soup kitchen running.",Natty Dread (Island),Bob Marley,"Vincent Ford, Marley","Chris Blackwell, Marley and the Wailers","May, 1975",none,none
+Gimme Shelter,"The Stones channeled the emotional wreckage of the late Sixties on a song that Richards wrote in 20 minutes. The intro, strummed on an electric-acoustic guitar modeled on a Chuck Berry favorite, conjures an unparalleled aura of dread. Singer Merry Clayton brings down Armageddon with a soul-wracked wail: ""Rape, murder, it's just a shot away."" The song surfaced days after Meredith Hunter's murder at Altamont. ""That's a kind of end-of-the-world song, really,"" Jagger said in 1995. ""It's apocalypse."" Richards later said that his guitar fell apart on the last take, ""as if by design.""",Let It Bleed (ABKCO) ,The Rolling Stones,"Mick Jagger, Keith Richards",Jimmy Miller,"April, 1969",11 weeks,No. 21
+That'll Be the Day,"Recorded in Clovis, New Mexico, in February 1957, the song took its title from a recurring line in the John Wayne movie The Searchers. ""We were cutting 'That'll Be the Day' just as a demo to send to New York, just to see if they liked the sound of the group — not for a master record,"" recalled Crickets drummer Allison. ""So we just went in and set up and sort of shucked through the song."" Allison credits Holly's guitar-picking on ""That'll Be the Day"" to the influence of New Orleans bluesman Lonnie Johnson.",Greatest Hits (MCA) ,Buddy Holly and the Crickets,"Jerry Allison, Holly, Norman Petty",Petty,"May, 1957",1 week,No. 1
+Dancing in the Street,"Gordy Stevenson, who gave Martha Reeves her first job, as his secretary, approached the group with this song after it was turned down by Motown labelmate (and future Mrs. Stevenson) Kim Weston. The trio agreed to record ""Dancing in the Street"" as a demo with its songwriters singing background. ""When Martha got into the song,"" Stevenson said, ""that was the end of the conversation!"" Against a backbeat that cracks like a gunshot, Reeves reinvents the world as a giant block party.",The Ultimate Collection (Motown),Martha Reeves and the Vandellas,"Marvin Gaye, Ivy Hunter, William ""Mickey"" Stevenson",Stevenson,"Sept, 1964",14 weeks,No. 2
+The Weight,"The Band was chiefly known as Bob Dylan's touring group when it retreated to a pink house in Woodstock, New York, to record its debut, Music From Big Pink. The album was centered by ""The Weight,"" an oddball fable of debt and burden driven by an indelible singalong chorus (""Take a load off, Fanny. . . .""). Robertson said he was inspired to write the song after watching director Luis Bunuel's films about ""the impossibility of sainthood,"" but characters such as Crazy Chester (who tries to pawn his dog off on the narrator) could have walked straight out of an old folk song. As for the biblical-sounding line ""pulled into Nazareth,"" it refers to Nazareth, Pennsylvania, home of the Martin Guitar factory.",Music From Big Pink (Capitol),The Band,Robbie Robertson,John Simon,"Aug, 1968",7 weeks,No. 63
+Waterloo Sunset,"The Davies brothers were in the middle of recording their band's fifth album, Something Else by the Kinks, when Ray played an early version of this delicate orchestral-pop ballad for Dave. ""We started ad-libbing vocal parts around the chorus,"" Dave said. Ray recalled that he went home and revised ""until [the song] became like a pebble which had been rounded off by the sea . . . perfectly smooth."" But he initially held off sharing the lyrics — about a loner who ""don't need no friends"" — with the rest of the band. ""I was embarrassed by how personal [the lyrics] were,"" he later wrote. ""It was like an extract from a diary nobody was allowed to read.""",Something Else by the Kinks (Warner Bros.),The Kinks,Ray Davies,Ray Davies,"Feb, 1968",none,none
+Tutti-Frutti,"""I'd been singing 'Tutti-Frutti' for years,"" said Richard, ""but it never struck me as a song you'd record."" Blackwell asked La Bostrie, a young songwriter who had been pestering him for work, to clean up the filthy original lyrics (""Tutti Frutti, good booty/If it don't fit, don't force it/You can grease it, make it easy""). ""Fifteen minutes before the session was to end, the chick comes in and puts these little trite lyrics in front of me,"" said Blackwell. Richard cleaned up his own ""Awop-bop-a-loo-mop a-good-goddamn"" and loaded La Bostrie's doggerel with sexual dynamite.",The Georgia Peach (Specialty),Little Richard,"Dorothy La Bostrie, Richard Penniman, Joe Lubin","Robert ""Bumps"" Blackwell","Dec, 1955",12 weeks,No. 17
+Georgia on My Mind,"Charles' driver had heard him singing ""Georgia on My Mind"" in the car and suggested that Charles add that to the record he was working on, an album consisting of songs with place names in their titles. Once he recorded it, though, Charles said he thought of many ways his rendition could have been better. As the single was about to enter the charts, Charles introduced his version to America on Hugh Hefner's Playboy Penthouse, a syndicated show out of Chicago, with David ""Fathead"" Newman handling the string parts on flute.",Ultimate Hits Collection (Rhino) ,Ray Charles,"Hoagy Carmichael, Stuart Gorrell",Sid Feller,"Sept, 1960",13 weeks,No. 1
+Heartbreak Hotel,"When RCA Records signed ""hillbilly cat"" Presley, they expected more songs like his rockabilly hits from Sun Records. Instead, for his first RCA single, Presley recorded this gloomy, downtempo number, co-written by Axton, his former publicist, and inspired by a Miami Herald report of a suicide note that consisted solely of the line ""I walk a lonely street."" But what Sun Records founder Sam Phillips called ""a morbid mess"" went on to become Presley's first Number One hit and million-selling single, thanks to Scotty Moore's steely guitar leads, a thumping bass line from Bill Black and the brilliant melodrama with which Elvis infused every line.",Elvis 30 #1 Hits (RCA) ,Elvis Presley,"Mae Boren Axton, Tommy Durden, Presley",Steve Sholes,"Jan, 1956",27 weeks,No. 1
+Heroes,"After a coke-fried spell in Los Angeles, Bowie was detoxing in Berlin when he spied two lovers having a rendezvous by the Berlin Wall. Said Bowie, ""I thought, of all the places to meet in Berlin, why pick a bench underneath a guard turret on the Wall?"" Imagining the story behind their affair, Bowie wrote his most compassionate song ever. The song builds for six minutes, with Bowie setting his ragged, impassioned croon over a throbbing groove consisting of Eno's humming synths, Robert Fripp's guitar and producer Visconti banging on a metal ashtray that was lying around the studio. Bowie wails with crazed soul about two doomed lovers finding a moment of redemption together — just for one day.",Heroes (Virgin) ,David Bowie,"Bowie, Brian Eno",Tony Visconti,"Sept, 1977",none,none
+All Along the Watchtower,"""All Along the Watchtower"" had just been released on Dylan's John Wesley Harding when Hendrix began tinkering with the song at Electric Lady Studios in New York on January 21st, 1968. Using the line ""And the wind began to howl"" as a springboard, Hendrix constructed a tumultuous four-part solo that transformed Dylan's concise foreboding into an electric hurricane. Dylan acknowledged Hendrix's masterstroke: His subsequent versions of ""All Along the Watchtower,"" including the treatment on his 1974 reunion tour with the Band and the live LP Before the Flood, emulated Hendrix's cover.",Electric Ladyland (MCA) ,The Jimi Hendrix Experience,Bob Dylan,Hendrix,"Sept, 1968",9 weeks,No. 20
+Bridge Over Troubled Water,"When Simon wrote this tribute to friendship, he and Garfunkel were arguing over everything, even who should sing it. ""He felt I should have done it,"" Simon said. ""Many times I'm sorry I didn't."" The ""Sail on, silver girl"" verse was Garfunkel's idea; Simon has never liked it.",Bridge Over Troubled Water (Columbia/Legacy) ,Simon and Garfunkel,Paul Simon,"Art Garfunkel, Roy Halee, Simon","Feb, 1970",14 weeks,No. 1
+Hotel California,"""Hotel California"" was rumored to be about heroin addiction or Satan worship, but Henley had more prosaic things on his mind: ""We were all middle-class kids from the Midwest,"" he said. ""'Hotel California' was our interpretation of the high life in Los Angeles."" (That doesn't preclude heroin or Satan, of course.) Recording the six-and-a-half-minute song posed its share of problems: Working in Miami, the Eagles were initially unable to re-create Felder's 12-string intro and elaborate twin-guitar coda. Panicked, Felder called his housekeeper in L.A. and sent her digging through a pile of tapes in his home studio so she could play his demo back over the phone.",Hotel California (Elektra) ,The Eagles,"Don Felder, Glenn Frey, Don Henley",Bill Szymczyk,"Dec, 1976",19 weeks,No. 1
+The Tracks of My Tears,"Legend had it that audiences would actually break into tears when Robinson and the Miracles sang ""The Tracks of My Tears."" ""It tapped into their emotions,"" said Moore of the Miracles. Pete Townshend was obsessed with the way Robinson put across the word ""substitute"" (""Although she may be cute/She's just a substitute""). So obsessed, he said, ""that I decided to celebrate the word with a song all its own"" — which is how he came to write the Who's 1966 hit ""Substitute."" When Robinson cut ""Tears,"" it was such a clear winner that even hard-to-please Motown founder Berry Gordy proclaimed it a masterpiece.",Going to a Go-Go (Motown),Smokey Robinson and the Miracles,"Pete Moore, Robinson, Marv Tamplin",Robinson,"June, 1965",12 weeks,No. 16
+Crazy,"""Crazy"" was a rarity in the 2000s: a universal pop smash that was played on virtually every radio format — it went Top 10 on both the pop and the modern-rock charts — and was covered by singers from Nelly Furtado to Billy Idol. The lyrics, which celebrate risk-taking, came out of a conversation Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse had in the studio: The pair decided that their genre-smashing collaborations were indeed ""crazy."" With a haunting melody inspired by spaghetti Western soundtrack-composer Ennio Morricone, ""Crazy"" didn't feel like a hit. ""It seemed too out there for urban radio and too urban for rock radio,"" Danger Mouse told Rolling Stone.",St. Elsewhere (Downtown),Gnarls Barkley,"Brian Burton, Thomas Calloway, Gianfranco Reverberi, Gian Piero Reverberi",Danger Mouse,"May , 1906",24 weeks, No. 2
+Fortunate Son,"""Fortunate Son"" is a blast at rich folks who plan wars and then draft poor people to fight them. Fogerty wrote it out of disgust at the fancy wedding plans of Richard Nixon's daughter. ""You just had the feeling that none of these people were going to be too involved with the war,"" he said.",Willy and the Poor Boys (Fantasy) ,Creedence Clearwater Revival,John Fogerty,Fogerty,"Oct. , 1969",14 weeks, No. 14
+Love and Happiness,"""Sixty percent of my audience are women,"" Green once said. ""And a woman is more sensitive than a man, especially in the area of love and happiness."" Hodges wrote the urgent, romantic ""Love and Happiness"" one morning in between having sex with his girlfriend and watching wrestling on TV. Green recently claimed that Hodges sang him the opening guitar riff on a road trip and they drove 160 miles back to Memphis to record it that night. He has described the song as ""like a slow fever, building on the beat, pushing up the temperature with each breath of the staccato horns and pushing through delirium as we came up on the fade.""",I'm Still in Love With You (Capitol) ,Al Green,"Green, Mabon ""Teenie"" Hodges",Willie Mitchell,"June , 1972",12 weeks, No. 3
+Roll Over Beethoven,"""I wanted to play the blues,"" Chuck Berry told Rolling Stone. ""But I wasn't blue enough. We always had food on the table."" Berry originally wrote this guitar anthem as an affectionate dig at his sister Lucy, who spent so much time playing classical music on the family piano that young Chuck couldn't get a turn. But ""Roll Over Beethoven"" became the ultimate rock & roll call to arms, declaring a new era: ""Roll over, Beethoven/And tell Tchaikovsky the news."" Berry announced this changing of the musical guard with a blazing guitar riff and pounding piano from sidekick Johnnie Johnson.",The Anthology (Chess) ,Chuck Berry,Berry,Leonard and Phil Chess,"May , 1956",5 weeks, No. 29
+Great Balls of Fire,"With Lewis pounding the piano and leering, ""Great Balls of Fire"" was full of Southern Baptist hellfire turned into a near-blasphemous ode to pure lust. Lewis, a Bible-college dropout and cousin to Jimmy Swaggart, refused to sing it at first and got into a theological argument with Phillips that concluded with Lewis asking, ""How can the devil save souls?"" But as the session wore on and the liquor kept flowing, Lewis' mood changed considerably — on bootleg tapes he can be heard saying, ""I would like to eat a little pussy if I had some."" Goodness gracious, great balls of fire, indeed.",Original Sun Greatest Hits (Rhino) ,Jerry Lee Lewis,"Otis Blackwell, Jack Hammer",Sam Phillips,"Nov. , 1957",21 weeks, No. 2
+Blue Suede Shoes,"Johnny Cash had already given Perkins the phrase ""blue suede shoes"" as an idea for a song. But when he overheard a Tennessee hepcat who was trying to keep the girl he was dancing with from scuffing up his new kicks, Perkins was inspired to write the song that would be his Sun debut. It was the first single to crack the pop, R&B and country charts, and Perkins was driving to New York to perform the song on The Perry Como Show when his car crashed into a poultry truck, laying him up for weeks. He could only sit home and watch while ""Blue Suede Shoes"" was performed on The Milton Berle Show — sung by Elvis Presley, who would later admit he couldn't top Perkins' original.",Original Sun Greatest Hits (Rhino) ,Carl Perkins,Perkins,Sam Phillips,"Feb , 1956",21 weeks, No. 2
+Good Golly,"Little Richard first heard the phrase ""Good golly, Miss Molly,"" from a Southern DJ named Jimmy Pennick. He turned the words into perhaps his most blatant assault on American propriety: ""Good golly, Miss Molly/You sure like to ball."" He swiped the music from Ike Turner's piano intro to Jackie Brenston's ""Rocket 88,"" recorded by Sam Phillips in Memphis seven years earlier. ""I always liked that record,"" Richard recalled, ""and I used to use the riff in my act, so when we were looking for a lead-in to 'Good Golly, Miss Molly,' I did that and it fit."" Richard had renounced rock & roll the previous year, but Specialty couldn't leave this classic in the vaults.",The Georgia Peach (Specialty),Little Richard,"Robert ""Bumps"" Blackwell, John Marascalco",Blackwell,"Feb. , 1958",15 weeks, No. 10
+I Still Havent Found What Im Looking For,"""The music that really turns me on is either running toward God or away from God,"" Bono told Rolling Stone. U2's second Number One single revels in ambivalence — ""an anthem of doubt more than faith,"" Bono has called it. The song was typical of the arduous sessions for The Joshua Tree: Originally called ""Under the Weather,"" it began, like most U2 songs, as a jam. ""It sounded to me a little like 'Eye of the Tiger' played by a reggae band,"" the Edge recalled. ""It had this great beat,"" Lanois said. ""I remember humming a traditional melody in Bono's ear. He said, 'That's it! Don't sing any more!' — and went off and wrote the melody as we know it.""",The Joshua Tree (Island) ,U2,Bono,"Daniel Lanois, Brian Eno","May , 1987",17 weeks, No. 1
+Blitzkrieg Bop,"In less than three minutes, this song threw down the blueprint for punk rock. It's all here on the opening track of the Ramones' debut: the buzz-saw chords, which Johnny played on his $50 Mosrite guitar; the snotty words, courtesy of drummer Tommy (with bassist Dee Dee adding the brilliant line ""Shoot 'em in the back now""); and the hairball-in-the-throat vocals, sung by Joey in a faux British accent. Recorded on the cheap at New York's Radio City Music Hall, of all places, ""Blitzkrieg Bop"" never made the charts; instead, it almost single-handedly created a world beyond the charts. The kick-off chant ""Hey! Ho! Let's go!"" meanwhile, is now an anthem of its own at sporting events nationwide.",Ramones (Rhino),Ramones,The Ramones,Craig Leon,"May , 1976",Did not chart,
+Suspicious Minds,"When Moman presented this song to Presley in 1969, the singer was, as the lyrics put it, ""caught in a trap"" — a cash cow being milked dry by his label and hangers-on. That might be why Presley was convinced he could turn the song into a deep-soul hit, even though it had flopped in 1968 for singer-songwriter Mark James. Recorded between four and seven in the morning, during the landmark Memphis session that helped return the King to his throne, ""Suspicious Minds"" — the final Number One single of his lifetime — is Presley's masterpiece: He sings so intensely through the fade-out that his band returns for another minute of the tear-stained chorus.",Elvis 30 #1 Hits (RCA) ,Elvis Presley,Mark James,"Chips Moman, Felton Jarvis, Presley","Sept. , 1969",15 weeks, No. 1
+In the Still of the Night,"Five Satins frontman Parris wrote the song while on guard duty in the Army, and the group recorded it in the basement of a church in Parris' hometown of New Haven, Connecticut. The roughness shows: The drums and piano are muffled, the alto sax cracks during the solo, and the backing vocals wander off-key. But the primitive sound — and the fact that only four of the Five Satins were even present for the session — can't keep ""In the Still of the Night,"" originally released as a B side, from being a sublime, definitive piece of doo-wop.",The Five Satins: Their Greatest Hits (Collectables) ,The Five Satins,Fred Parris,The Five Satins,"Sept. , 1956",19 weeks, No. 24
+California Dreamin,"One frigid winter in Manhattan, a song came to John Phillips in the middle of the night. He woke up his young wife, Michelle, who was homesick for the West Coast, to help him finish writing ""California Dreamin',"" one of the all-time sunniest songs of longing. The tune was first recorded by Phillips' folk group the New Journeymen and later given to Barry McGuire as a thank-you after McGuire, riding high with ""Eve of Destruction,"" introduced the group to producer Lou Adler, who convinced the Mamas and the Papas to cut it themselves.",If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears (MCA) ,The Mamas and the Papas,John and Michelle Phillips,Lou Adler,"Dec. , 1965",17 weeks, No. 4
+My Girl,"The Temptations were sharing a bill with Robinson and his group the Miracles at Harlem's Apollo Theater when Robinson took time out to cut the rhythm track for a new song. After they heard it, the Tempts begged him to let them record the song rather than the Miracles, as he had been planning. Robinson relented and chose the throaty tenor David Ruffin to sing lead, the first time he had done so with the group. The Tempts rehearsed the song that week at the Apollo, then recorded it back home in Detroit on December 21st, 1964.",The Temptations Sing Smokey (Motown) ,The Temptations,"Smokey Robinson, Ronald White","Robinson, White","Jan. , 1965",13 weeks, No. 1
+Ring of Fire,"Carter wrote this song while driving around aimlessly one night, worried about Cash's wildman ways — and aware that she couldn't resist him. ""There is no way to be in that kind of hell, no way to extinguish a flame that burns, burns, burns,"" she wrote. Not long after hearing June's sister Anita's take on the song, Cash had a dream that he was singing it with mariachi horns. Cash's version became one of his biggest hits (inspiring cover versions by everyone from Frank Zappa to Adam Lambert), and his marriage to June four years later helped save his life.",The Man in Black: His Greatest Hits (Columbia) ,Johnny Cash,"June Carter, Merle Kilgore",Don Law,"May , 1963",13 weeks, No. 17
+Thunder Road,"""We decided to make a guitar album, but then I wrote all the songs on piano,"" Springsteen said of his third album, Born to Run. ""Thunder Road,"" its opening track, is a cinematic tale of redemption with a title borrowed from a 1958 hillbilly noir starring Robert Mitchum as a bootlegger with a car that can't be beat (though the Boss had never actually seen the movie). An early title for the song was ""Wings for Wheels,"" which resurfaced as the name of a Born to Run documentary. Decades later, Springsteen would marvel that he wrote the line ""You're scared, and you're thinking that maybe we ain't that young anymore"" when he was all of 24 years old.",Born to Run (Columbia) ,Bruce Springsteen,Springsteen,"Springsteen, Jon Landau, Mike Appel","Aug. , 1975",Non-single,
+Crazy,"Cline wasn't impressed when her husband, Charlie Dick, brought home a demo by a 28-year-old rookie Nashville songwriter named Willie Nelson. Told that the song's title was ""Crazy,"" she responded, ""It sure is."" But Bradley helped Cline make the song her own with a lush arrangement and understated backing vocals from gospel group the Jordanaires. Cline's vocals, cut in one take, infused Nelson's lyrics with slow-burn sex appeal. ""Crazy"" set the stage for a sophisticated new phase of the C&W sound known as ""countrypolitan,"" although Cline herself wouldn't be around to shape it: She died in a plane crash less than two years later.",Patsy Cline's Greatest Hits (MCA) ,Patsy Cline,Willie Nelson,Owen Bradley,"Oct. , 1961",11 weeks, No. 9
+Every Breath You Take,"For their biggest hit, the Police went back to basics, junking an elaborate synth part that distracted from the song's hypnotic bass line in favor of a lick that guitarist Andy Summers recorded in one live take. Sting admitted that the lyrics — which sounded tender but were actually bitter — were pulled from the rock & roll cliche handbook. ""'Every Breath You Take' is an archetypal song,"" he told Rolling Stone. ""If you have a major chord followed by a relative minor, you're not original."" Following Sting's unoriginal-and-proud manifesto, Puff Daddy would sample ""Breath"" extensively 14 years later for his own huge hit, the Notorious B.I.G. tribute ""I'll Be Missing You.""",Synchronicity (Interscope) ,The Police,Sting,Hugh Padgham,"May , 1983",22 weeks, No 1
+Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown),"This wry, wistful folk ballad was among the first of the Beatles' revolutionary studio experiments. The inclusion of the sitar, an instrument that George Harrison had recently discovered, was groundbreaking. The song, written by Lennon, is the tale of a late-night tryst — although it's electric with sexual possibility, the bemused cad ends up sleeping in the bathtub (and maybe takes his revenge by burning the place down the next morning). Lennon said that the lyrics disguised an actual affair: ""I was very careful and paranoid because I didn't want my wife, Cyn, to know that there was something going on.""",Rubber Soul (Capitol),The Beatles,"John Lennon, Paul McCartney",George Martin,"Dec. , 1965",Non-single,
+Blueberry Hill,"""Blueberry Hill"" was first recorded in 1940 by several artists, including Gene Autry and Glenn Miller. But Domino drew on the 1949 Louis Armstrong version when he had run out of material at a session. Producer Bartholomew thought it was a terrible idea but lost the argument. Good thing, too. It ended up being Domino's biggest hit and broadened his audience once and for all. As Carl Perkins later said, ""In the white honky-tonks where I was playin', they were punchin' 'Blueberry Hill.' And white cats were dancin' to Fats Domino.""",The Fats Domino Jukebox (Capitol) ,Fats Domino,"Al Lewis, Larry Stock, Vincent Rose",Dave Bartholomew,"Oct. , 1956",27 weeks, No. 2
+I Heard It Through the Grapevine,"Motown producer Whitfield had a reputation for recording the same song with a number of acts, changing the arrangement each time. This irritated some of the label's artists, but every now and then he would get a golden idea — as happened with Gaye's 1968 version of ""Grapevine,"" which had been a hit the year before for Gladys Knight. Whitfield and co-writer Strong set the track in a slower, more mysterious tempo, and the song — which Gaye initially resisted recording — became the bestselling Motown single of the decade.",Every Motown Hit (Motown) ,Marvin Gaye,"Barrett Strong, Norman Whitfield",Whitfield,"Oct. , 1968",15 weeks, No. 1
+You Really Got Me,"Convinced that the band's previous two singles had flopped because they were too pristine, the Kinks went into the studio in the summer of 1964 to record this deliberately raw rave-up, written by Ray Davies on the piano in his parents' living room. But the original recording still felt too shiny, and the band had to borrow 200 pounds to cover the cost of another session. Seventeen-year-old guitarist Dave Davies took a razor to the speaker cone on his amp to get the desired dirty sound for that immortal, blistering riff. ""The song came out of a working-class environment,"" Dave recalled. ""People fighting for something."" A month later, the proto-heavy-metal song went straight to the top of the British charts.",Kinks (Castle) ,The Kinks,Ray Davies,Shel Talmy,"Sept. , 1964",15 weeks, No. 7
+Mr. Tambourine Man,"The only Byrd to play on the band's first hit was Roger McGuinn, whose chiming 12-string Rickenbacker guitar became folk rock's defining sound. Everything else came from L.A. session players, including drummer Hal Blaine and bassist Larry Knechtel of Phil Spector's Wrecking Crew. But the rest of the Byrds soon caught up, and as the song was breaking, a curious Dylan checked out the band at Ciro's, a Los Angeles club. Reportedly, he didn't recognize some of his own songs in their electrified versions.",Mr. Tambourine Man (Columbia/Legacy),The Byrds,Bob Dylan,Terry Melcher,"May , 1965",13 weeks, No. 1
+I Got You (I Feel Good),"The same year he hit with ""Papa's Got a Brand New Bag,"" Soul Brother Number One scored his biggest pop success with ""I Got You."" It was a sped-up, hyped-up new version of a song called ""I Found You"" that Brown had written a few years previous for one of his early proteges, James Brown Revue singer Yvonne Fair. ""I Got You"" received some help on the pop charts from a most unlikely source; a few months before the single was released, Brown performed the song in the Frankie Avalon teen flick Ski Party.",James Brown 50th Anniversary Collection (UTV/Polydor) ,James Brown,Brown,Brown,"Nov. , 1965",12 weeks, No. 3
+Mystery Train,"""Mystery Train"" is one of Presley's most haunting songs, a stark blues number that sounds ancient but was actually first cut only two years before by Memphis blues singer Junior Parker. Presley recorded it with the groove from the flip side of the same Parker single, ""Love My Baby,"" and Sun producer Phillips' taut, rubbery echo effect made guitarist Scotty Moore's every note sound doubled. Presley added a final verse — ""Train . . . took my baby, but it never will again"" — capped by a celebratory falsetto whoop that transformed a pastoral about death into a song about the power to overcome it.",Sunrise (RCA) ,Elvis Presley,"Junior Parker, Sam Phillips",Phillips,"Sept. , 1955",Did not chart,
+Strawberry Fields Forever,"Lennon often considered ""Strawberry Fields Forever"" his greatest accomplishment with the Beatles. The song, a surreal kaleidoscope of sound, was the first track recorded for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (although it was released as a single instead). The lyrics are a nostalgic look at Lennon's Liverpool childhood and an expression of his own pride. Said Lennon, ""The second line goes, 'No one I think is in my tree.' Well, what I was trying to say in that line is, 'Nobody seems to be as hip as me, therefore I must be crazy or a genius.'""",Magical Mystery Tour (Capitol)  ,The Beatles,"John Lennon, Paul McCartney",George Martin,"Feb. , 1967",9 weeks, No. 8
+Whole Lotta Love,"The members of Led Zeppelin first got their sound together by jamming on blues standards, stretching them out into psychedelic orgies. ""Whole Lotta Love"" was a tribute to Chicago blues songwriter Willie Dixon, based on his ""You Need Love,"" a Muddy Waters single from 1962 (though Robert Plant also threw in quotes from songs Dixon wrote for Howlin' Wolf). The copyright issues weren't sorted out until 1985, when Dixon brought legal action and got his rightful share of the credit for ""Whole Lotta Love."" ""Page's riff was Page's riff,"" Plant said. ""I just thought, 'Well, what am I going to sing?' That was it, a nick. Now happily paid for."" Said Page, ""Usually my riffs are pretty damn original. What can I say?""",Led Zeppelin II (Atlantic) ,Led Zeppelin,"Willie Dixon, Led Zeppelin",Jimmy Page,"Oct. , 1969",15 weeks, No. 4
+Summertime Blues,"Cochran's label tried molding him into a crooning teen idol, but he made his mark with a string of rockabilly ravers written with partner Capehart. Explaining the inspiration for this classic, Capehart said, ""There had been a lot of songs about summer, but none about the hardships of summer."" With that idea and a guitar lick from Cochran, they knocked out the song in 45 minutes.",Somethin' Else (Razor and Tie) ,Eddie Cochran,"Cochran, Jerry Capehart",Capehart,"July , 1958",16 weeks, No. 8
+Superstition,"Wonder debuted this hard blast of funk live while opening for the Rolling Stones in the summer of 1972, intent on expanding his audience. The 22-year-old former child star had written it at the drum set, humming the other parts to himself. Wonder had initially intended for Jeff Beck to record the song, but Berry Gordy wouldn't let him give it away. It became the first single from Talking Book — and Wonder's first Number One hit in nearly a decade.",Talking Book (Motown),Stevie Wonder,Wonder,"Wonder, Malcolm Cecil, Robert Margouleff","Nov. , 1972",16 weeks, No. 1
+California Girls,"The first time Wilson took acid, he sat at the piano and wrote the brooding, beautiful opening bars to ""California Girls."" It was a breakthrough moment, Wilson has said, that led him to begin creating more complex, emotional music. The lyrics, written by Love, were inspired by Wilson's assertion that ""everybody loves girls."" And despite the teen-fantasy theme, the singing is tougher than earlier Beach Boys hits, with tightly wound harmonies and an aggressive lead vocal. ""I taught Mike to sing with attitude,"" said Wilson. ""I was trying to create a new Beach Boys sound.""",Sounds of Summer: The Very Best of the Beach Boys (Capitol),The Beach Boys,"Brian Wilson, Mike Love",Wilson,"July , 1965",11 weeks, No. 3
+Papas Got A Brand New Bag,13 weeks; No. 8,"In mid-1965, Brown was locked in a contract struggle with King Records, but when he learned King was nearly bankrupt, he threw the label a bone: a song he'd recorded a few months earlier, yelling, ""This is a hit!"" as the tape rolled. Arguably the first funk record, it's driven by the empty space between beats as much as by Brown's bellow and guitarist Jimmy Nolen's ice-chipper scratch. In a stroke of postproduction genius (you can hear the original recording on the Grammy-winning Star Time box set), Brown sliced off the intro to have the song start with a face-smashing horn blast, and sped it up just enough so it sounded like an urgent bulletin from the future.",James Brown,Brown,Brown,"July , 1966",,
+Walk On By,"Early in her career, Warwick was a back-up singer who also cut demos for Brill Building songwriters Bacharach and David. This forlorn classic solidified her stardom, capping a series of singles in which she played the pleading lover. A downcast ballad set to a bossa nova beat, it was originally relegated to the B side of ""Any Old Time of the Day,"" until New York DJ Murray the K asked listeners to vote on the single's two sides. The winning cut scaled the charts during the heady exuberance of Beatlemania, which provided an unwitting foil for the understated perseverance of ""Walk On By."" ""I didn't get the guy very often in those days,"" Warwick said.",The Dionne Warwick Collection: Her All-Time Greatest Hits ,Dionne Warwick,"Burt Bacharach, Hal David","Bacharach, David","April , 1964","13 weeks, No. 6",
+Crying,"Orbison said he wrote this lush, dreamy ballad after an encounter with an old flame: ""Whether I was physically crying or just crying inside is the same thing."" His near-operatic performance culminated in a high, wailing note, which Orbison never lost the capacity to hit until his death in 1988. ""He sounded like he was singing from an Olympian mountaintop and he meant business,"" Bob Dylan wrote in Chronicles. ""He was now singing his compositions in three or four octaves that made you want to drive your car over a cliff. He sang like a professional criminal.""",For the Lonely: 18 Greatest Hits (Rhino),Roy Orbison,"Joe Melson, Orbison",Fred Foster,"Aug. , 1961",16 weeks, No. 2
+Tangled Up in Blue,"When Dylan introduced ""Tangled Up in Blue"" onstage in 1978, he described it as a song that took him ""10 years to live and two years to write."" It's still one of his most frequently performed live staples. It was the six-minute opener from Blood on the Tracks, written as his first marriage was falling apart. Dylan takes inspiration from classic country singers like Hank Williams and Lefty Frizzell, in a tale of a drifting heart on the road through the Sixties and Seventies. Dylan kept revising the song heavily through the years; on his 1984 Real Live, he plays with the chords and lyrics to tell a whole new story.",Blood on the Tracks (Columbia) ,Bob Dylan,Dylan,Dylan,"Jan. , 1975","7 weeks, No. 31",
+Jailhouse Rock,"Songwriters Leiber and Stoller had already penned a couple of Presley hits — most notably ""Hound Dog,"" picked up from blues belter Big Mama Thornton — but the theme song for Presley's third movie was the duo's first studio collaboration with the young superstar. ""Jailhouse Rock"" was decidedly silly, the kind of tongue-in-cheek narrative goof they had been coming up with for the Coasters. The King, however, sang it as straight rock & roll, overlooking the humor in the lyrics (like the suggestion of gay romance when inmate Number 47 tells Number 3, ""You're the cutest jailbird I ever did see"") and introducing Scotty Moore's guitar solo with a cry so intense that the take almost collapses.",Elvis 30 #1 Hits (RCA) ,Elvis Presley,"Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller",Steve Sholes,"Oct. , 1957","27 weeks, No. 1",
+Redemption Song,"Marley had already recorded a version of this freedom hymn with his band when Island Records' chief Blackwell suggested he try it as an acoustic-style folk tune. Inspired by the writings of Marcus Garvey, Marley's lyrics offer up music as an antidote to slavery, both mental and physical. ""I would love to do more like that,"" Marley said a few months before his death, from cancer, at age 36 in 1981. As the final track on his final album, ""Redemption Song"" stands as his epitaph.",Uprising (Island) ,Bob Marley and the Wailers,Marley,Chris Blackwell,"June , 1980",Did not chart,
+Sunshine of Your Love,"Bassist Bruce and lyricist-poet Brown came up with ""Sunshine"" toward the end of an all-night session, which inspired the opening line: ""It's getting near dawn/When lights close their tired eyes."" The killer riff was inspired by Jimi Hendrix and based on a bass ostinato from Bruce; Clapton added the chorus hook, and drummer Ginger Baker laid down a mammoth, tom-tom-heavy beat. Bruce knew ""Sunshine"" would do well, but Atlantic Records nearly rejected it until some of the label's biggest acts started championing the record. ""Both Booker T. Jones and Otis Redding heard it and told me it was going to be a smash,"" he recalled.",Disraeli Gears (Polydor) ,Cream,"Jack Bruce, Pete Brown, Eric Clapton",Felix Pappalardi,"Jan. , 1968",26 weeks, No. 5 
+She Loves You,"Lennon and McCartney began writing this song on a tour van, and George Harrison dreamed up the harmonies, which Martin found ""corny."" The band overruled Martin on the harmonies, but they took his suggestion to kick off the song with the jubilant chorus. When McCartney's father heard the song, he said, ""Son, there are enough Americanisms around. Couldn't you sing, 'Yes, yes, yes,' just for once?"" McCartney said, ""You don't understand, Dad. It wouldn't work.""",The Beatles 1 (Capitol/Apple) ,The Beatles,"John Lennon, Paul McCartney ",George Martin ,"Sept. , 1963",15 weeks, No. 1
+For What Its Worth,"As police and teens clashed on L.A.'s Sunset Strip, Neil Young's guitar tolled like a funeral bell; the Summer of Love was unraveling before it even began. ""It turned out to be indicative of what was about to happen,"" said Stills.",Buffalo Springfield (Elektra) ,Buffalo Springfield,Stephen Stills,"Charles Greene, Brian Stone","Feb. , 1967","15 weeks, No. 7",
+Bo Diddley,"Didley's first single went to Number One on the R&B charts and immortalized the bedrock beat that would power everything from Buddy Holly's ""Not Fade Away"" to the Smiths' ""How Soon Is Now."" The song originated as a sexually suggestive ditty titled ""Uncle John,"" but the Chess brothers asked Diddley to clean up its lyrics and give it a more memorable title to match its otherworldly sound. Diddley, who studied violin as a child and built his own instruments, wrote songs that were deceptively simple, driven by interplay between the bass, drums and his tremolo guitar. But you can't copyright a beat, and Diddley never reaped the rewards for his greatest innovation.",His Best: The Chess 50th Anniversary Collection (Chess) ,Bo Diddley,Ellas McDaniel,Phil and Leonard Chess,"June , 1955",Did not chart,
+Whole Lotta Shakin Going On,"When Lewis decided to record what would be his breakthrough hit, it had already been cut four times and gone nowhere. Lewis filled it with frantic piano and filthy instructions (""All you got to do, honey, is kinda stand in one spot/Wiggle around just a little bit""). But what really made ""Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On"" work was producer Cowboy Jack Clement's decision to turn the session over to the manic energy of Lewis' live shows. ""I just simply turned on the machine, mixed it on the fly,"" he said. After Lewis played a fiery version of ""Shakin'"" on Steve Allen's TV show, the song went on to sell more than 6 million copies.",Original Sun Greatest Hits (Rhino) ,Jerry Lee Lewis,"Dave Williams, Roy Hall",Jack Clement,"June , 1957",29 weeks, No. 3
+Lets Stay Together,"After Mitchell gave Green a rough mix of a tune he and drummer Jackson had worked out, Green wrote the lyrics in five minutes. Still, Green didn't want to record the song and fought with Mitchell for two days before finally agreeing to cut it. The recording was finished late on a Friday night in the fall of 1971; Mitchell pressed the single on Monday, and by Thursday Green was told that ""Let's Stay Together"" would be entering the charts at Number Eight. Within two weeks, it had reached Number One on the R&B charts, and in February 1972, the warm, buoyant love song gave Green his only Number One pop hit.",Let's Stay Together (The Right Stuff),Al Green,"Al Green, Al Jackson Jr., Willie Mitchell",Mitchell,"Dec. , 1971",16 weeks, No. 1
+The Times They Are A-Changin,"""I wanted to write a big song, some kind of theme song, with short, concise verses that piled up on each other in a hypnotic way,"" said Dylan. ""This is definitely a song with a purpose."" Inspired by Scottish and Irish folk ballads and released less than two months after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, ""The Times They Are A-Changin'"" became an immediate Sixties anthem and was covered by artists ranging from the Byrds to Cher to Eddie Vedder. Said Dylan, ""I knew exactly what I wanted to say and who I wanted to say it to.""",The Times They Are A-Changin' (Columbia),Bob Dylan,Dylan,Bob Johnston,"Jan. , 1964",Did not chart ,
+Billie Jean,"Sinuous, paranoid and omnipresent: The single that made Jackson the biggest star since Elvis was a denial of a paternity suit, and it spent seven weeks at Number One on the pop charts. Jackson came up with the irresistible rhythm track on his home drum machine and he nailed the vocals in one take. ""I knew the song was going to be big,"" Jackson said. ""I was really absorbed in writing it."" How absorbed? Jackson said he was thinking about ""Billie Jean"" while riding in his Rolls-Royce down the Ventura Freeway in California — and didn't notice the car was on fire.",Thriller (Sony),Michael Jackson,Jackson,"Jackson, Quincy Jones","Jan. , 1983",7 weeks, No. 1
+Whiter Shade of Pale,"A somber hymn supported by an organ theme straight out of Bach (""Air on the G String,"" from the ""Suite No. 3 in D Major""), Procol Harum's ""Whiter Shade of Pale"" was unlike anything else on the radio in 1967. Reid got the idea for the song when he overheard someone at a party tell a woman, ""You've gone a whiter shade of pale."" The track was also the only one recorded by the initial lineup of Procol Harum, which started as a British band, the Paramounts, in 1963. A worldwide smash that sold more than 6 million copies and quickly found its way into wedding ceremonies (and, later, the Big Chill soundtrack), ""Pale"" helped kick-start the classical-rock boomlet that gave the world the Moody Blues.",Greatest Hits (A&M),Procol Harum,"Keith Reid, Gary Brooker",Denny Cordell,"June , 1967",12 weeks, No. 5
+Anarchy in the U.K.,"This is what the beginning of a revolution sounds like: an explosion of punk-rock guitar noise and Johnny Rotten's evil cackle. The Sex Pistols set out to become a national scandal in the U.K., and they succeeded with their debut single. Jones made his guitar sound like a pub brawl, while Rotten snarled, spat and snickered, declaring himself an antichrist and ending the song by urging his fans, ""Get pissed/Destroy!"" EMI, the Sex Pistols' record label, pulled ""Anarchy in the U.K."" and dropped them, which just made them more notorious. ""I don't understand it,"" Rotten said in 1977. ""All we're trying to do is destroy everything.""","Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols (Warner Bros.) ",The Sex Pistols,"Paul Cook, Steve Jones, Glen Matlock, Johnny Rotten","Chris Thomas, Bill Price","Nov. , 1977",Non-single,
+Long Tall Sally,"Half of a double-sided hit (the flip was ""Slippin' and Slidin' [Peepin' and Hidin']""), ""Long Tall Sally"" was aimed squarely at pop singer Pat Boone. ""The white radio stations wouldn't play Richard's version of 'Tutti-Frutti' and made Boone's cover Number One,"" recalled Blackwell. ""So we decided to up the tempo on the follow-up and get the lyrics going so fast that Boone wouldn't be able to get his mouth together to do it!"" ""Long Tall Sally"" proved to be Little Richard's biggest hit. Unfazed, Boone also recorded the song, taking it to Number Eight.",The Georgia Peach (Specialty),Little Richard,"Robert ""Bumps"" Blackwell, Enotris Johnson, Little Richard",Blackwell,"March , 1956",19 weeks, No. 6 
+Louie Louie,"A blast of raw guitars and half-intelligible shouting recorded for $52, the Kingsmen's cover of Richard Berry's R&B song hit Number Two in 1963 — thanks in part to supposedly pornographic lyrics that drew the attention of the FBI. The Portland, Oregon, group accidentally rendered the decidedly noncontroversial lyrics (about a sailor trying to get home to see his lady) indecipherable by crowding around a single microphone. ""I was yelling at a mike far away,"" singer Jack Ely told Rolling Stone. ""I always thought the controversy was record-company hype.""",The Best of the Kingsmen (Rhino) ,The Kingsmen,Richard Berry,Ken Chase,"June , 1963",16 weeks, No. 2 
+When a Man Loves a Woman,"Sledge was touring the South with an R&B combo called the Esquires when producer Ivy heard him belt out an intense, pleading ballad at the local Elks Club. Sledge had recently lost both his construction job and his girl, who'd taken off for L.A. to pursue a modeling career. ""I didn't have any money to go after her, so there was nothing I could do to try and get her back,"" he later recalled. Ivy had the lyrics rewritten, and Sledge quit the Esquires to cut his first solo side, the immortal ""When a Man Loves a Woman."" When Atlantic's Jerry Wexler heard the song, he told partner Ahmet Ertegun, ""Our billing for the summer is in the bag.""",It Tears Me Up: The Best of Percy Sledge (Rhino),Percy Sledge,"Calvin Lewis, Andrew Wright","Marlin Greene, Quin Ivy","March , 1966",13 weeks, No. 1 
+When Doves Cry,"The Purple Rain soundtrack album was completed, and so was the movie. But Prince just couldn't stop making music. And at the very last minute, he added a brand-new song: ""When Doves Cry."" Even by Prince standards, it's eccentric; after single-handedly recording the stark, broken-hearted song in the studio, he decided to erase the bass track from the final mix. According to the engineer, Prince said, ""Nobody would have the balls to do this. You just wait — they'll be freaking."" He was right. Prince made it the soundtrack's first single — and 1984's most avant-garde pop record became his first American Number One hit, keeping Bruce Springsteen's ""Dancing in the Dark"" out of the top spot.",Purple Rain (Warner Bros.) ,Prince,Prince,Prince,"June , 1984",21 weeks, No. 1 
+The Message,"""The Message"" was a breakthrough in hip-hop, taking the music from party anthems to street-level ghetto blues. It began as a poem by schoolteacher Bootee; Sugar Hill boss Robinson decided to make it a rap record with Melle Mel of the Furious Five. Said Flash in 1997, ""I hated the fact that it was advertised as Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, because the only people on the record were Mel and Duke Bootee."" But the song, driven by its signature future-shock synth riff and grim lyrics about urban decay, became an instant sensation on New York's hip-hop radio. ""It played all day, every day,"" Flash said. ""It put us on a whole new level.""",The Best of Sugar Hill Records (Rhino) ,Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,"Duke Bootee, Melle Mel",Sylvia Robinson,"May , 1982",7 weeks, No. 62 
+Crazy,"""Crazy"" was a rarity in the 2000s: a universal pop smash that was played on virtually every radio format — it went Top 10 on both the pop and the modern-rock charts — and was covered by singers from Nelly Furtado to Billy Idol. The lyrics, which celebrate risk-taking, came out of a conversation Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse had in the studio: The pair decided that their genre-smashing collaborations were indeed ""crazy."" With a haunting melody inspired by spaghetti Western soundtrack-composer Ennio Morricone, ""Crazy"" didn't feel like a hit. ""It seemed too out there for urban radio and too urban for rock radio,"" Danger Mouse told Rolling Stone.",St. Elsewhere (Downtown),Gnarls Barkley,"Brian Burton, Thomas Calloway, Gianfranco Reverberi, Gian Piero Reverberi",Danger Mouse,"May , 1906",24 weeks, No. 2
+Fortunate Son,"""Fortunate Son"" is a blast at rich folks who plan wars and then draft poor people to fight them. Fogerty wrote it out of disgust at the fancy wedding plans of Richard Nixon's daughter. ""You just had the feeling that none of these people were going to be too involved with the war,"" he said.",Willy and the Poor Boys (Fantasy) ,Creedence Clearwater Revival,John Fogerty,Fogerty,"Oct. , 1969",14 weeks, No. 14
+Love and Happiness,"""Sixty percent of my audience are women,"" Green once said. ""And a woman is more sensitive than a man, especially in the area of love and happiness."" Hodges wrote the urgent, romantic ""Love and Happiness"" one morning in between having sex with his girlfriend and watching wrestling on TV. Green recently claimed that Hodges sang him the opening guitar riff on a road trip and they drove 160 miles back to Memphis to record it that night. He has described the song as ""like a slow fever, building on the beat, pushing up the temperature with each breath of the staccato horns and pushing through delirium as we came up on the fade.""",I'm Still in Love With You (Capitol) ,Al Green,"Green, Mabon ""Teenie"" Hodges",Willie Mitchell,"June , 1972",12 weeks, No. 3
+Roll Over Beethoven,"""I wanted to play the blues,"" Chuck Berry told Rolling Stone. ""But I wasn't blue enough. We always had food on the table."" Berry originally wrote this guitar anthem as an affectionate dig at his sister Lucy, who spent so much time playing classical music on the family piano that young Chuck couldn't get a turn. But ""Roll Over Beethoven"" became the ultimate rock & roll call to arms, declaring a new era: ""Roll over, Beethoven/And tell Tchaikovsky the news."" Berry announced this changing of the musical guard with a blazing guitar riff and pounding piano from sidekick Johnnie Johnson.",The Anthology (Chess) ,Chuck Berry,Berry,Leonard and Phil Chess,"May , 1956",5 weeks, No. 29
+Great Balls of Fire,"With Lewis pounding the piano and leering, ""Great Balls of Fire"" was full of Southern Baptist hellfire turned into a near-blasphemous ode to pure lust. Lewis, a Bible-college dropout and cousin to Jimmy Swaggart, refused to sing it at first and got into a theological argument with Phillips that concluded with Lewis asking, ""How can the devil save souls?"" But as the session wore on and the liquor kept flowing, Lewis' mood changed considerably — on bootleg tapes he can be heard saying, ""I would like to eat a little pussy if I had some."" Goodness gracious, great balls of fire, indeed.",Original Sun Greatest Hits (Rhino) ,Jerry Lee Lewis,"Otis Blackwell, Jack Hammer",Sam Phillips,"Nov. , 1957",21 weeks, No. 2
+Blue Suede Shoes,"Johnny Cash had already given Perkins the phrase ""blue suede shoes"" as an idea for a song. But when he overheard a Tennessee hepcat who was trying to keep the girl he was dancing with from scuffing up his new kicks, Perkins was inspired to write the song that would be his Sun debut. It was the first single to crack the pop, R&B and country charts, and Perkins was driving to New York to perform the song on The Perry Como Show when his car crashed into a poultry truck, laying him up for weeks. He could only sit home and watch while ""Blue Suede Shoes"" was performed on The Milton Berle Show — sung by Elvis Presley, who would later admit he couldn't top Perkins' original.",Original Sun Greatest Hits (Rhino) ,Carl Perkins,Perkins,Sam Phillips,"Feb , 1956",21 weeks, No. 2
+Good Golly,"Little Richard first heard the phrase ""Good golly, Miss Molly,"" from a Southern DJ named Jimmy Pennick. He turned the words into perhaps his most blatant assault on American propriety: ""Good golly, Miss Molly/You sure like to ball."" He swiped the music from Ike Turner's piano intro to Jackie Brenston's ""Rocket 88,"" recorded by Sam Phillips in Memphis seven years earlier. ""I always liked that record,"" Richard recalled, ""and I used to use the riff in my act, so when we were looking for a lead-in to 'Good Golly, Miss Molly,' I did that and it fit."" Richard had renounced rock & roll the previous year, but Specialty couldn't leave this classic in the vaults.",The Georgia Peach (Specialty),Little Richard,"Robert ""Bumps"" Blackwell, John Marascalco",Blackwell,"Feb. , 1958",15 weeks, No. 10
+I Still Havent Found What Im Looking For,"""The music that really turns me on is either running toward God or away from God,"" Bono told Rolling Stone. U2's second Number One single revels in ambivalence — ""an anthem of doubt more than faith,"" Bono has called it. The song was typical of the arduous sessions for The Joshua Tree: Originally called ""Under the Weather,"" it began, like most U2 songs, as a jam. ""It sounded to me a little like 'Eye of the Tiger' played by a reggae band,"" the Edge recalled. ""It had this great beat,"" Lanois said. ""I remember humming a traditional melody in Bono's ear. He said, 'That's it! Don't sing any more!' — and went off and wrote the melody as we know it.""",The Joshua Tree (Island) ,U2,Bono,"Daniel Lanois, Brian Eno","May , 1987",17 weeks, No. 1
+Blitzkrieg Bop,"In less than three minutes, this song threw down the blueprint for punk rock. It's all here on the opening track of the Ramones' debut: the buzz-saw chords, which Johnny played on his $50 Mosrite guitar; the snotty words, courtesy of drummer Tommy (with bassist Dee Dee adding the brilliant line ""Shoot 'em in the back now""); and the hairball-in-the-throat vocals, sung by Joey in a faux British accent. Recorded on the cheap at New York's Radio City Music Hall, of all places, ""Blitzkrieg Bop"" never made the charts; instead, it almost single-handedly created a world beyond the charts. The kick-off chant ""Hey! Ho! Let's go!"" meanwhile, is now an anthem of its own at sporting events nationwide.",Ramones (Rhino),Ramones,The Ramones,Craig Leon,"May , 1976",Did not chart,
+Suspicious Minds,"When Moman presented this song to Presley in 1969, the singer was, as the lyrics put it, ""caught in a trap"" — a cash cow being milked dry by his label and hangers-on. That might be why Presley was convinced he could turn the song into a deep-soul hit, even though it had flopped in 1968 for singer-songwriter Mark James. Recorded between four and seven in the morning, during the landmark Memphis session that helped return the King to his throne, ""Suspicious Minds"" — the final Number One single of his lifetime — is Presley's masterpiece: He sings so intensely through the fade-out that his band returns for another minute of the tear-stained chorus.",Elvis 30 #1 Hits (RCA) ,Elvis Presley,Mark James,"Chips Moman, Felton Jarvis, Presley","Sept. , 1969",15 weeks, No. 1
+In the Still of the Night,"Five Satins frontman Parris wrote the song while on guard duty in the Army, and the group recorded it in the basement of a church in Parris' hometown of New Haven, Connecticut. The roughness shows: The drums and piano are muffled, the alto sax cracks during the solo, and the backing vocals wander off-key. But the primitive sound — and the fact that only four of the Five Satins were even present for the session — can't keep ""In the Still of the Night,"" originally released as a B side, from being a sublime, definitive piece of doo-wop.",The Five Satins: Their Greatest Hits (Collectables) ,The Five Satins,Fred Parris,The Five Satins,"Sept. , 1956",19 weeks, No. 24
+California Dreamin,"One frigid winter in Manhattan, a song came to John Phillips in the middle of the night. He woke up his young wife, Michelle, who was homesick for the West Coast, to help him finish writing ""California Dreamin',"" one of the all-time sunniest songs of longing. The tune was first recorded by Phillips' folk group the New Journeymen and later given to Barry McGuire as a thank-you after McGuire, riding high with ""Eve of Destruction,"" introduced the group to producer Lou Adler, who convinced the Mamas and the Papas to cut it themselves.",If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears (MCA) ,The Mamas and the Papas,John and Michelle Phillips,Lou Adler,"Dec. , 1965",17 weeks, No. 4
+My Girl,"The Temptations were sharing a bill with Robinson and his group the Miracles at Harlem's Apollo Theater when Robinson took time out to cut the rhythm track for a new song. After they heard it, the Tempts begged him to let them record the song rather than the Miracles, as he had been planning. Robinson relented and chose the throaty tenor David Ruffin to sing lead, the first time he had done so with the group. The Tempts rehearsed the song that week at the Apollo, then recorded it back home in Detroit on December 21st, 1964.",The Temptations Sing Smokey (Motown) ,The Temptations,"Smokey Robinson, Ronald White","Robinson, White","Jan. , 1965",13 weeks, No. 1
+Ring of Fire,"Carter wrote this song while driving around aimlessly one night, worried about Cash's wildman ways — and aware that she couldn't resist him. ""There is no way to be in that kind of hell, no way to extinguish a flame that burns, burns, burns,"" she wrote. Not long after hearing June's sister Anita's take on the song, Cash had a dream that he was singing it with mariachi horns. Cash's version became one of his biggest hits (inspiring cover versions by everyone from Frank Zappa to Adam Lambert), and his marriage to June four years later helped save his life.",The Man in Black: His Greatest Hits (Columbia) ,Johnny Cash,"June Carter, Merle Kilgore",Don Law,"May , 1963",13 weeks, No. 17
+Thunder Road,"""We decided to make a guitar album, but then I wrote all the songs on piano,"" Springsteen said of his third album, Born to Run. ""Thunder Road,"" its opening track, is a cinematic tale of redemption with a title borrowed from a 1958 hillbilly noir starring Robert Mitchum as a bootlegger with a car that can't be beat (though the Boss had never actually seen the movie). An early title for the song was ""Wings for Wheels,"" which resurfaced as the name of a Born to Run documentary. Decades later, Springsteen would marvel that he wrote the line ""You're scared, and you're thinking that maybe we ain't that young anymore"" when he was all of 24 years old.",Born to Run (Columbia) ,Bruce Springsteen,Springsteen,"Springsteen, Jon Landau, Mike Appel","Aug. , 1975",Non-single,
+Crazy,"Cline wasn't impressed when her husband, Charlie Dick, brought home a demo by a 28-year-old rookie Nashville songwriter named Willie Nelson. Told that the song's title was ""Crazy,"" she responded, ""It sure is."" But Bradley helped Cline make the song her own with a lush arrangement and understated backing vocals from gospel group the Jordanaires. Cline's vocals, cut in one take, infused Nelson's lyrics with slow-burn sex appeal. ""Crazy"" set the stage for a sophisticated new phase of the C&W sound known as ""countrypolitan,"" although Cline herself wouldn't be around to shape it: She died in a plane crash less than two years later.",Patsy Cline's Greatest Hits (MCA) ,Patsy Cline,Willie Nelson,Owen Bradley,"Oct. , 1961",11 weeks, No. 9
+Every Breath You Take,"For their biggest hit, the Police went back to basics, junking an elaborate synth part that distracted from the song's hypnotic bass line in favor of a lick that guitarist Andy Summers recorded in one live take. Sting admitted that the lyrics — which sounded tender but were actually bitter — were pulled from the rock & roll cliche handbook. ""'Every Breath You Take' is an archetypal song,"" he told Rolling Stone. ""If you have a major chord followed by a relative minor, you're not original."" Following Sting's unoriginal-and-proud manifesto, Puff Daddy would sample ""Breath"" extensively 14 years later for his own huge hit, the Notorious B.I.G. tribute ""I'll Be Missing You.""",Synchronicity (Interscope) ,The Police,Sting,Hugh Padgham,"May , 1983",22 weeks, No 1
+Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown),"This wry, wistful folk ballad was among the first of the Beatles' revolutionary studio experiments. The inclusion of the sitar, an instrument that George Harrison had recently discovered, was groundbreaking. The song, written by Lennon, is the tale of a late-night tryst — although it's electric with sexual possibility, the bemused cad ends up sleeping in the bathtub (and maybe takes his revenge by burning the place down the next morning). Lennon said that the lyrics disguised an actual affair: ""I was very careful and paranoid because I didn't want my wife, Cyn, to know that there was something going on.""",Rubber Soul (Capitol),The Beatles,"John Lennon, Paul McCartney",George Martin,"Dec. , 1965",Non-single,
+Blueberry Hill,"""Blueberry Hill"" was first recorded in 1940 by several artists, including Gene Autry and Glenn Miller. But Domino drew on the 1949 Louis Armstrong version when he had run out of material at a session. Producer Bartholomew thought it was a terrible idea but lost the argument. Good thing, too. It ended up being Domino's biggest hit and broadened his audience once and for all. As Carl Perkins later said, ""In the white honky-tonks where I was playin', they were punchin' 'Blueberry Hill.' And white cats were dancin' to Fats Domino.""",The Fats Domino Jukebox (Capitol) ,Fats Domino,"Al Lewis, Larry Stock, Vincent Rose",Dave Bartholomew,"Oct. , 1956",27 weeks, No. 2
+I Heard It Through the Grapevine,"Motown producer Whitfield had a reputation for recording the same song with a number of acts, changing the arrangement each time. This irritated some of the label's artists, but every now and then he would get a golden idea — as happened with Gaye's 1968 version of ""Grapevine,"" which had been a hit the year before for Gladys Knight. Whitfield and co-writer Strong set the track in a slower, more mysterious tempo, and the song — which Gaye initially resisted recording — became the bestselling Motown single of the decade.",Every Motown Hit (Motown) ,Marvin Gaye,"Barrett Strong, Norman Whitfield",Whitfield,"Oct. , 1968",15 weeks, No. 1
+You Really Got Me,"Convinced that the band's previous two singles had flopped because they were too pristine, the Kinks went into the studio in the summer of 1964 to record this deliberately raw rave-up, written by Ray Davies on the piano in his parents' living room. But the original recording still felt too shiny, and the band had to borrow 200 pounds to cover the cost of another session. Seventeen-year-old guitarist Dave Davies took a razor to the speaker cone on his amp to get the desired dirty sound for that immortal, blistering riff. ""The song came out of a working-class environment,"" Dave recalled. ""People fighting for something."" A month later, the proto-heavy-metal song went straight to the top of the British charts.",Kinks (Castle) ,The Kinks,Ray Davies,Shel Talmy,"Sept. , 1964",15 weeks, No. 7
+Mr. Tambourine Man,"The only Byrd to play on the band's first hit was Roger McGuinn, whose chiming 12-string Rickenbacker guitar became folk rock's defining sound. Everything else came from L.A. session players, including drummer Hal Blaine and bassist Larry Knechtel of Phil Spector's Wrecking Crew. But the rest of the Byrds soon caught up, and as the song was breaking, a curious Dylan checked out the band at Ciro's, a Los Angeles club. Reportedly, he didn't recognize some of his own songs in their electrified versions.",Mr. Tambourine Man (Columbia/Legacy),The Byrds,Bob Dylan,Terry Melcher,"May , 1965",13 weeks, No. 1
+I Got You (I Feel Good),"The same year he hit with ""Papa's Got a Brand New Bag,"" Soul Brother Number One scored his biggest pop success with ""I Got You."" It was a sped-up, hyped-up new version of a song called ""I Found You"" that Brown had written a few years previous for one of his early proteges, James Brown Revue singer Yvonne Fair. ""I Got You"" received some help on the pop charts from a most unlikely source; a few months before the single was released, Brown performed the song in the Frankie Avalon teen flick Ski Party.",James Brown 50th Anniversary Collection (UTV/Polydor) ,James Brown,Brown,Brown,"Nov. , 1965",12 weeks, No. 3
+Mystery Train,"""Mystery Train"" is one of Presley's most haunting songs, a stark blues number that sounds ancient but was actually first cut only two years before by Memphis blues singer Junior Parker. Presley recorded it with the groove from the flip side of the same Parker single, ""Love My Baby,"" and Sun producer Phillips' taut, rubbery echo effect made guitarist Scotty Moore's every note sound doubled. Presley added a final verse — ""Train . . . took my baby, but it never will again"" — capped by a celebratory falsetto whoop that transformed a pastoral about death into a song about the power to overcome it.",Sunrise (RCA) ,Elvis Presley,"Junior Parker, Sam Phillips",Phillips,"Sept. , 1955",Did not chart,
+Strawberry Fields Forever,"Lennon often considered ""Strawberry Fields Forever"" his greatest accomplishment with the Beatles. The song, a surreal kaleidoscope of sound, was the first track recorded for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (although it was released as a single instead). The lyrics are a nostalgic look at Lennon's Liverpool childhood and an expression of his own pride. Said Lennon, ""The second line goes, 'No one I think is in my tree.' Well, what I was trying to say in that line is, 'Nobody seems to be as hip as me, therefore I must be crazy or a genius.'""",Magical Mystery Tour (Capitol)  ,The Beatles,"John Lennon, Paul McCartney",George Martin,"Feb. , 1967",9 weeks, No. 8
+Whole Lotta Love,"The members of Led Zeppelin first got their sound together by jamming on blues standards, stretching them out into psychedelic orgies. ""Whole Lotta Love"" was a tribute to Chicago blues songwriter Willie Dixon, based on his ""You Need Love,"" a Muddy Waters single from 1962 (though Robert Plant also threw in quotes from songs Dixon wrote for Howlin' Wolf). The copyright issues weren't sorted out until 1985, when Dixon brought legal action and got his rightful share of the credit for ""Whole Lotta Love."" ""Page's riff was Page's riff,"" Plant said. ""I just thought, 'Well, what am I going to sing?' That was it, a nick. Now happily paid for."" Said Page, ""Usually my riffs are pretty damn original. What can I say?""",Led Zeppelin II (Atlantic) ,Led Zeppelin,"Willie Dixon, Led Zeppelin",Jimmy Page,"Oct. , 1969",15 weeks, No. 4
+Summertime Blues,"Cochran's label tried molding him into a crooning teen idol, but he made his mark with a string of rockabilly ravers written with partner Capehart. Explaining the inspiration for this classic, Capehart said, ""There had been a lot of songs about summer, but none about the hardships of summer."" With that idea and a guitar lick from Cochran, they knocked out the song in 45 minutes.",Somethin' Else (Razor and Tie) ,Eddie Cochran,"Cochran, Jerry Capehart",Capehart,"July , 1958",16 weeks, No. 8
+Superstition,"Wonder debuted this hard blast of funk live while opening for the Rolling Stones in the summer of 1972, intent on expanding his audience. The 22-year-old former child star had written it at the drum set, humming the other parts to himself. Wonder had initially intended for Jeff Beck to record the song, but Berry Gordy wouldn't let him give it away. It became the first single from Talking Book — and Wonder's first Number One hit in nearly a decade.",Talking Book (Motown),Stevie Wonder,Wonder,"Wonder, Malcolm Cecil, Robert Margouleff","Nov. , 1972",16 weeks, No. 1
+California Girls,"The first time Wilson took acid, he sat at the piano and wrote the brooding, beautiful opening bars to ""California Girls."" It was a breakthrough moment, Wilson has said, that led him to begin creating more complex, emotional music. The lyrics, written by Love, were inspired by Wilson's assertion that ""everybody loves girls."" And despite the teen-fantasy theme, the singing is tougher than earlier Beach Boys hits, with tightly wound harmonies and an aggressive lead vocal. ""I taught Mike to sing with attitude,"" said Wilson. ""I was trying to create a new Beach Boys sound.""",Sounds of Summer: The Very Best of the Beach Boys (Capitol),The Beach Boys,"Brian Wilson, Mike Love",Wilson,"July , 1965",11 weeks, No. 3
+Papas Got A Brand New Bag,13 weeks; No. 8,"In mid-1965, Brown was locked in a contract struggle with King Records, but when he learned King was nearly bankrupt, he threw the label a bone: a song he'd recorded a few months earlier, yelling, ""This is a hit!"" as the tape rolled. Arguably the first funk record, it's driven by the empty space between beats as much as by Brown's bellow and guitarist Jimmy Nolen's ice-chipper scratch. In a stroke of postproduction genius (you can hear the original recording on the Grammy-winning Star Time box set), Brown sliced off the intro to have the song start with a face-smashing horn blast, and sped it up just enough so it sounded like an urgent bulletin from the future.",James Brown,Brown,Brown,"July , 1966",,
+Walk On By,"Early in her career, Warwick was a back-up singer who also cut demos for Brill Building songwriters Bacharach and David. This forlorn classic solidified her stardom, capping a series of singles in which she played the pleading lover. A downcast ballad set to a bossa nova beat, it was originally relegated to the B side of ""Any Old Time of the Day,"" until New York DJ Murray the K asked listeners to vote on the single's two sides. The winning cut scaled the charts during the heady exuberance of Beatlemania, which provided an unwitting foil for the understated perseverance of ""Walk On By."" ""I didn't get the guy very often in those days,"" Warwick said.",The Dionne Warwick Collection: Her All-Time Greatest Hits ,Dionne Warwick,"Burt Bacharach, Hal David","Bacharach, David","April , 1964","13 weeks, No. 6",
+Crying,"Orbison said he wrote this lush, dreamy ballad after an encounter with an old flame: ""Whether I was physically crying or just crying inside is the same thing."" His near-operatic performance culminated in a high, wailing note, which Orbison never lost the capacity to hit until his death in 1988. ""He sounded like he was singing from an Olympian mountaintop and he meant business,"" Bob Dylan wrote in Chronicles. ""He was now singing his compositions in three or four octaves that made you want to drive your car over a cliff. He sang like a professional criminal.""",For the Lonely: 18 Greatest Hits (Rhino),Roy Orbison,"Joe Melson, Orbison",Fred Foster,"Aug. , 1961",16 weeks, No. 2
+Tangled Up in Blue,"When Dylan introduced ""Tangled Up in Blue"" onstage in 1978, he described it as a song that took him ""10 years to live and two years to write."" It's still one of his most frequently performed live staples. It was the six-minute opener from Blood on the Tracks, written as his first marriage was falling apart. Dylan takes inspiration from classic country singers like Hank Williams and Lefty Frizzell, in a tale of a drifting heart on the road through the Sixties and Seventies. Dylan kept revising the song heavily through the years; on his 1984 Real Live, he plays with the chords and lyrics to tell a whole new story.",Blood on the Tracks (Columbia) ,Bob Dylan,Dylan,Dylan,"Jan. , 1975","7 weeks, No. 31",
+Jailhouse Rock,"Songwriters Leiber and Stoller had already penned a couple of Presley hits — most notably ""Hound Dog,"" picked up from blues belter Big Mama Thornton — but the theme song for Presley's third movie was the duo's first studio collaboration with the young superstar. ""Jailhouse Rock"" was decidedly silly, the kind of tongue-in-cheek narrative goof they had been coming up with for the Coasters. The King, however, sang it as straight rock & roll, overlooking the humor in the lyrics (like the suggestion of gay romance when inmate Number 47 tells Number 3, ""You're the cutest jailbird I ever did see"") and introducing Scotty Moore's guitar solo with a cry so intense that the take almost collapses.",Elvis 30 #1 Hits (RCA) ,Elvis Presley,"Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller",Steve Sholes,"Oct. , 1957","27 weeks, No. 1",
+Redemption Song,"Marley had already recorded a version of this freedom hymn with his band when Island Records' chief Blackwell suggested he try it as an acoustic-style folk tune. Inspired by the writings of Marcus Garvey, Marley's lyrics offer up music as an antidote to slavery, both mental and physical. ""I would love to do more like that,"" Marley said a few months before his death, from cancer, at age 36 in 1981. As the final track on his final album, ""Redemption Song"" stands as his epitaph.",Uprising (Island) ,Bob Marley and the Wailers,Marley,Chris Blackwell,"June , 1980",Did not chart,
+Sunshine of Your Love,"Bassist Bruce and lyricist-poet Brown came up with ""Sunshine"" toward the end of an all-night session, which inspired the opening line: ""It's getting near dawn/When lights close their tired eyes."" The killer riff was inspired by Jimi Hendrix and based on a bass ostinato from Bruce; Clapton added the chorus hook, and drummer Ginger Baker laid down a mammoth, tom-tom-heavy beat. Bruce knew ""Sunshine"" would do well, but Atlantic Records nearly rejected it until some of the label's biggest acts started championing the record. ""Both Booker T. Jones and Otis Redding heard it and told me it was going to be a smash,"" he recalled.",Disraeli Gears (Polydor) ,Cream,"Jack Bruce, Pete Brown, Eric Clapton",Felix Pappalardi,"Jan. , 1968",26 weeks, No. 5 
+She Loves You,"Lennon and McCartney began writing this song on a tour van, and George Harrison dreamed up the harmonies, which Martin found ""corny."" The band overruled Martin on the harmonies, but they took his suggestion to kick off the song with the jubilant chorus. When McCartney's father heard the song, he said, ""Son, there are enough Americanisms around. Couldn't you sing, 'Yes, yes, yes,' just for once?"" McCartney said, ""You don't understand, Dad. It wouldn't work.""",The Beatles 1 (Capitol/Apple) ,The Beatles,"John Lennon, Paul McCartney ",George Martin ,"Sept. , 1963",15 weeks, No. 1
+For What Its Worth,"As police and teens clashed on L.A.'s Sunset Strip, Neil Young's guitar tolled like a funeral bell; the Summer of Love was unraveling before it even began. ""It turned out to be indicative of what was about to happen,"" said Stills.",Buffalo Springfield (Elektra) ,Buffalo Springfield,Stephen Stills,"Charles Greene, Brian Stone","Feb. , 1967","15 weeks, No. 7",
+Bo Diddley,"Didley's first single went to Number One on the R&B charts and immortalized the bedrock beat that would power everything from Buddy Holly's ""Not Fade Away"" to the Smiths' ""How Soon Is Now."" The song originated as a sexually suggestive ditty titled ""Uncle John,"" but the Chess brothers asked Diddley to clean up its lyrics and give it a more memorable title to match its otherworldly sound. Diddley, who studied violin as a child and built his own instruments, wrote songs that were deceptively simple, driven by interplay between the bass, drums and his tremolo guitar. But you can't copyright a beat, and Diddley never reaped the rewards for his greatest innovation.",His Best: The Chess 50th Anniversary Collection (Chess) ,Bo Diddley,Ellas McDaniel,Phil and Leonard Chess,"June , 1955",Did not chart,
+Whole Lotta Shakin Going On,"When Lewis decided to record what would be his breakthrough hit, it had already been cut four times and gone nowhere. Lewis filled it with frantic piano and filthy instructions (""All you got to do, honey, is kinda stand in one spot/Wiggle around just a little bit""). But what really made ""Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On"" work was producer Cowboy Jack Clement's decision to turn the session over to the manic energy of Lewis' live shows. ""I just simply turned on the machine, mixed it on the fly,"" he said. After Lewis played a fiery version of ""Shakin'"" on Steve Allen's TV show, the song went on to sell more than 6 million copies.",Original Sun Greatest Hits (Rhino) ,Jerry Lee Lewis,"Dave Williams, Roy Hall",Jack Clement,"June , 1957",29 weeks, No. 3
+Lets Stay Together,"After Mitchell gave Green a rough mix of a tune he and drummer Jackson had worked out, Green wrote the lyrics in five minutes. Still, Green didn't want to record the song and fought with Mitchell for two days before finally agreeing to cut it. The recording was finished late on a Friday night in the fall of 1971; Mitchell pressed the single on Monday, and by Thursday Green was told that ""Let's Stay Together"" would be entering the charts at Number Eight. Within two weeks, it had reached Number One on the R&B charts, and in February 1972, the warm, buoyant love song gave Green his only Number One pop hit.",Let's Stay Together (The Right Stuff),Al Green,"Al Green, Al Jackson Jr., Willie Mitchell",Mitchell,"Dec. , 1971",16 weeks, No. 1
+The Times They Are A-Changin,"""I wanted to write a big song, some kind of theme song, with short, concise verses that piled up on each other in a hypnotic way,"" said Dylan. ""This is definitely a song with a purpose."" Inspired by Scottish and Irish folk ballads and released less than two months after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, ""The Times They Are A-Changin'"" became an immediate Sixties anthem and was covered by artists ranging from the Byrds to Cher to Eddie Vedder. Said Dylan, ""I knew exactly what I wanted to say and who I wanted to say it to.""",The Times They Are A-Changin' (Columbia),Bob Dylan,Dylan,Bob Johnston,"Jan. , 1964",Did not chart ,
+Billie Jean,"Sinuous, paranoid and omnipresent: The single that made Jackson the biggest star since Elvis was a denial of a paternity suit, and it spent seven weeks at Number One on the pop charts. Jackson came up with the irresistible rhythm track on his home drum machine and he nailed the vocals in one take. ""I knew the song was going to be big,"" Jackson said. ""I was really absorbed in writing it."" How absorbed? Jackson said he was thinking about ""Billie Jean"" while riding in his Rolls-Royce down the Ventura Freeway in California — and didn't notice the car was on fire.",Thriller (Sony),Michael Jackson,Jackson,"Jackson, Quincy Jones","Jan. , 1983",7 weeks, No. 1
+Whiter Shade of Pale,"A somber hymn supported by an organ theme straight out of Bach (""Air on the G String,"" from the ""Suite No. 3 in D Major""), Procol Harum's ""Whiter Shade of Pale"" was unlike anything else on the radio in 1967. Reid got the idea for the song when he overheard someone at a party tell a woman, ""You've gone a whiter shade of pale."" The track was also the only one recorded by the initial lineup of Procol Harum, which started as a British band, the Paramounts, in 1963. A worldwide smash that sold more than 6 million copies and quickly found its way into wedding ceremonies (and, later, the Big Chill soundtrack), ""Pale"" helped kick-start the classical-rock boomlet that gave the world the Moody Blues.",Greatest Hits (A&M),Procol Harum,"Keith Reid, Gary Brooker",Denny Cordell,"June , 1967",12 weeks, No. 5
+Anarchy in the U.K.,"This is what the beginning of a revolution sounds like: an explosion of punk-rock guitar noise and Johnny Rotten's evil cackle. The Sex Pistols set out to become a national scandal in the U.K., and they succeeded with their debut single. Jones made his guitar sound like a pub brawl, while Rotten snarled, spat and snickered, declaring himself an antichrist and ending the song by urging his fans, ""Get pissed/Destroy!"" EMI, the Sex Pistols' record label, pulled ""Anarchy in the U.K."" and dropped them, which just made them more notorious. ""I don't understand it,"" Rotten said in 1977. ""All we're trying to do is destroy everything.""","Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols (Warner Bros.) ",The Sex Pistols,"Paul Cook, Steve Jones, Glen Matlock, Johnny Rotten","Chris Thomas, Bill Price","Nov. , 1977",Non-single,
+Long Tall Sally,"Half of a double-sided hit (the flip was ""Slippin' and Slidin' [Peepin' and Hidin']""), ""Long Tall Sally"" was aimed squarely at pop singer Pat Boone. ""The white radio stations wouldn't play Richard's version of 'Tutti-Frutti' and made Boone's cover Number One,"" recalled Blackwell. ""So we decided to up the tempo on the follow-up and get the lyrics going so fast that Boone wouldn't be able to get his mouth together to do it!"" ""Long Tall Sally"" proved to be Little Richard's biggest hit. Unfazed, Boone also recorded the song, taking it to Number Eight.",The Georgia Peach (Specialty),Little Richard,"Robert ""Bumps"" Blackwell, Enotris Johnson, Little Richard",Blackwell,"March , 1956",19 weeks, No. 6 
+Louie Louie,"A blast of raw guitars and half-intelligible shouting recorded for $52, the Kingsmen's cover of Richard Berry's R&B song hit Number Two in 1963 — thanks in part to supposedly pornographic lyrics that drew the attention of the FBI. The Portland, Oregon, group accidentally rendered the decidedly noncontroversial lyrics (about a sailor trying to get home to see his lady) indecipherable by crowding around a single microphone. ""I was yelling at a mike far away,"" singer Jack Ely told Rolling Stone. ""I always thought the controversy was record-company hype.""",The Best of the Kingsmen (Rhino) ,The Kingsmen,Richard Berry,Ken Chase,"June , 1963",16 weeks, No. 2 
+When a Man Loves a Woman,"Sledge was touring the South with an R&B combo called the Esquires when producer Ivy heard him belt out an intense, pleading ballad at the local Elks Club. Sledge had recently lost both his construction job and his girl, who'd taken off for L.A. to pursue a modeling career. ""I didn't have any money to go after her, so there was nothing I could do to try and get her back,"" he later recalled. Ivy had the lyrics rewritten, and Sledge quit the Esquires to cut his first solo side, the immortal ""When a Man Loves a Woman."" When Atlantic's Jerry Wexler heard the song, he told partner Ahmet Ertegun, ""Our billing for the summer is in the bag.""",It Tears Me Up: The Best of Percy Sledge (Rhino),Percy Sledge,"Calvin Lewis, Andrew Wright","Marlin Greene, Quin Ivy","March , 1966",13 weeks, No. 1 
+When Doves Cry,"The Purple Rain soundtrack album was completed, and so was the movie. But Prince just couldn't stop making music. And at the very last minute, he added a brand-new song: ""When Doves Cry."" Even by Prince standards, it's eccentric; after single-handedly recording the stark, broken-hearted song in the studio, he decided to erase the bass track from the final mix. According to the engineer, Prince said, ""Nobody would have the balls to do this. You just wait — they'll be freaking."" He was right. Prince made it the soundtrack's first single — and 1984's most avant-garde pop record became his first American Number One hit, keeping Bruce Springsteen's ""Dancing in the Dark"" out of the top spot.",Purple Rain (Warner Bros.) ,Prince,Prince,Prince,"June , 1984",21 weeks, No. 1 
+The Message,"""The Message"" was a breakthrough in hip-hop, taking the music from party anthems to street-level ghetto blues. It began as a poem by schoolteacher Bootee; Sugar Hill boss Robinson decided to make it a rap record with Melle Mel of the Furious Five. Said Flash in 1997, ""I hated the fact that it was advertised as Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, because the only people on the record were Mel and Duke Bootee."" But the song, driven by its signature future-shock synth riff and grim lyrics about urban decay, became an instant sensation on New York's hip-hop radio. ""It played all day, every day,"" Flash said. ""It put us on a whole new level.""",The Best of Sugar Hill Records (Rhino) ,Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,"Duke Bootee, Melle Mel",Sylvia Robinson,"May , 1982",7 weeks, No. 62 
+Dont Be Cruel,"Slapping the back of his guitar for extra percussion, Presley invented a new style for himself with his take on this song by blues singer Blackwell. ""Don't Be Cruel,"" backed with ""Hound Dog,"" was a double-sided smash on the pop, R&B and country charts. Its 11-week domination of the Number One spot was the longest in history – until ""End of the Road,"" by Boyz II Men, broke that record in 1992.",Elvis: 30 #1 Hits (RCA),Elvis Presley,"Otis Blackwell, Presley",Steve Sholes,"July , 1956",27 weeks,No. 1
+Maybe,"At 16, Smith wrote and sang lead on this towering doo-wop song, a template for a generation of girl groups. The Chantels' second single, ""Maybe,"" was recorded at a church in midtown Manhattan in October 1957, when the girls were all still in high school at St. Anthony of Padua in the Bronx. The single was first credited to label owner George Goldner, but now the world knows better.",The Best of the Chantels (Rhino),The Chantels,Arlene Smith,Richard Barrett,"Dec, 1957",18 weeks,No. 15
+Sweet Child OMine,"Axl Rose wrote this love letter to his girlfriend, Erin Everly (daughter of Don). Slash said he was just ""fucking around with the intro riff, making a joke""; he didn't think much of it, but Rose knew better. Rose and Erin were later married – for all of one month.",Appetite for Destruction (Geffen),Guns n' Roses,Guns n' Roses,Mike Clink,"Aug, 1987",24 weeks,No. 1
+Peggy Sue,"When the Crickets first played a new song called ""Cindy Lou,"" Allison's snare drum was so loud that Petty told him to play in the studio's reception area. To placate his exiled drummer, Holly changed the title to ""Peggy Sue,"" after Allison's girlfriend.",Greatest Hits (MCA),Buddy Holly,"Jerry Allison, Holly, Norman Petty",Petty,"Sept, 1957",22 weeks,No. 3
+There Goes My Baby,"Leiber and Stoller wanted a striking sound to match new vocalist Ben E. King's majestic voice. The odd arrangement featured out-of-tune timpani and strings that seemed to quote Tchaikovsky's ""1812 Overture."" ""It sounded like a radio caught between two stations,"" wrote Atlantic's Jerry Wexler. But King's croon soared above it all.",The Very Best of the Drifters (Rhino),The Drifters,"Benjamin Nelson, Lover Patterson, George Treadwell","Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller","May, 1959",19 weeks,No. 2
+Wichita Lineman,"Inspired by the isolation of a telephone-pole worker he saw on the Kansas-Oklahoma border, Webb wrote this in 1968 for Campbell, who had asked if Webb could come up with another ""By the Time I Get to Phoenix."" Campbell changed a guitar part and kept the keyboard from Webb's demo; the chiming sound at the fade, evoking telephone signals, was done on a massive church organ.",Wichita Lineman (Capitol),Glen Campbell,Jimmy Webb,Al De Lory,"Nov, 1968",15 weeks,No. 3
+Rehab,"Drawing on Winehouse's real-life struggles, this cheeky, sonically perfect salvo made the London diva a worldwide star. The huge, Motown-inspired beat featured Brooklyn throwback R&B band the Dap-Kings. ""One of the best recordings ever,"" said Roots drummer Ahmir ""?uestlove"" Thompson. ""She's coming from Fifties and Sixties doo-wop, and they nailed that sound exactly.""",Back to Black (Universal Republic),Amy Winehouse,Winehouse,Mark Ronson,"March, 1907",20 weeks,No. 9
+Free Bird,"""What song is it you want to hear?"" asks Van Zant on the definitive, 14-minute live version on One More From the Road. But audiences initially didn't want to hear ""Free Bird"" — dedicated to Duane Allman — until Collins added an uptempo section to the end of the ballad and the overlapping guitars started to boogie.",One More From the Road (MCA),Lynyrd Skynyrd,"Allen Collins, Ronnie Van Zant",Al Kooper,"Sept, 1973",12 weeks,No. 19
+Knockin on Heavens Door,"Three years had passed since his last studio album, and Dylan seemed at a loss. So he accepted an invitation to go to Mexico for Sam Peckinpah's Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, for which he shot a bit part (in the role of ""Alias"") and did the soundtrack. For a death scene, Dylan delivered this tale of a dying sheriff, who wants only to lay his ""guns in the ground.""",The Essential Bob Dylan (Sony),Bob Dylan,Dylan,Gordon Carroll,"July, 1973",16 weeks,No. 12
+Stayin Alive,This disco classic was written when Robert Stigwood approached the Bee Gees for music for a film based on the Brooklyn club scene. He needed a groove for an eight-minute John Travolta dance sequence. The Gibbs wrote the song on the staircase of a French chateau that served as the setting for several porn flicks. ,Saturday Night Fever (Polydor),Bee Gees,"Robin Gibb, Barry Gibb, Maurice Gibb","Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb, Karl Richardson, Albhy Galuten","Nov, 1977",27 weeks,No. 1
+Back in Black,"When frontman Bon Scott drank himself to death in 1980, AC/DC didn't retreat — they brought in a new singer, Brian Johnson. ""Malcolm asked me if this riff he had was too funky,"" said Angus. ""And I said, 'Well, if you're gonna discard it, give it to me!' """,Back in Black (Sony),AC/DC,"Angus Young, Malcolm Young, Brian Johnson",Mutt Lange,"July, 1980",15 weeks,No. 37
+I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You),"Franklin went to Fame Studios to cut her soul-stirring take on Shannon's you done-me-wrong lament with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section – ""Alabama white boys who took a left turn at the blues,"" as Wexler described them.",I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You) (Rhino),Aretha Franklin,Ronny Shannon,Jerry Wexler,"March, 1967",11 weeks,No. 9
+Wholl Stop the Rain,"Fogerty told Rolling Stone in 1970, ""[Listeners] put too much weight on political references in songs. They think a song will save the world. It's absurd."" Veiled allusions to FDR and Stalin in ""Rain"" suggest that politics was on his mind, but Fogerty insists he wanted to be symbolic, not specific to Vietnam, Woodstock or 1969. ""As a result,"" he said, ""the song is timeless.""",Cosmo's Factory (Fantasy),Creedence Clearwater Revival,John Fogerty,Fogerty,"Jan, 1970",Did not chart,
+Desolation Row,"In 1969, Dylan told Rolling Stone that he wrote this song in the back of a New York cab. Since it has 659 words and clocks in at more than 11 minutes, that's one long cab ride. Dylan scrapped an electric, full-band version of the song at the last minute, and rerecorded it on acoustic guitar. The final version was spliced together from two consecutive takes during the last sessions for Highway 61.",Highway 61 Revisited (Columbia),Bob Dylan,Dylan,Bob Johnston,"Aug, 1965",Non-single,
+Please Please Me,"""It was my attempt at writing a Roy Orbison song,"" Lennon said of ""Please Please Me."" He originally penned a yearning ballad while listening to Orbison in a bedroom at his aunt's house, but Martin suggested it would sound better sped up. Said Lennon, ""By the time the session came around, we were so happy with the result, we couldn't get it recorded fast enough.""",Please Please Me (Capitol),The Beatles,"John Lennon, Paul McCartney",George Martin,"Feb, 1964",13 weeks,No. 3
+The Thrill is Gone,"""It was a different kind of blues ballad, and I carried it around in my head for years,"" King said of the song, which dated to 1951. The 44-year-old King's career reached its zenith with an inspired performance during a 1969 session in which, as King put it, ""all the ideas came together.""",Greatest Hits (MCA),B.B. King,"Roy Hawkins, Rick Darnell",Bill Szymczyk,"Dec, 1969",14 weeks,No. 15
+Save the Last Dance for Me,"As Billy Joel said, before the Drifters, the last dance was the one nobody stuck around for. But this elegant R&B ballad made the end of the party sound like the essence of true romance. Lead vocalist Ben E. King later sang ""Stand by Me.""",The Drifters' Golden Hits (Atlantic),The Drifters,"Doc Pomus, Mort Shuman","Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller","Sept, 1960",18 weeks,No. 1
+Green Onions,"The Stax house band had never considered making its own hits until it cooked up this simmering jam in a half-hour before a jingle session. ""I said, 'Shit, this is the best damn instrumental I've heard since I don't know when,' "" guitarist Cropper recalled. As for the onions, he explained that ""we were trying to think of something that was as funky as possible.""",Green Onions (Atlantic),Booker T. and the MG's,"Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper, Lewis Steinberg, Al Jackson",Jim Stewart,"Oct, 1962",16 weeks,No. 3
+Hey Ya!,"Not a likely recipe for a hit: a rock song with a bizarre 11/4 time signature by half of a hip-hop duo. Dré played almost all the instruments on this irresistible party jam — he said that its guitar chords, the first he ever learned, were inspired by ""the Ramones, the Buzzcocks, the Smiths."" Fun fact: The ""ladies"" who cheer halfway in are one lone woman, engineer Rabeka Tuinei.",Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (LaFace/Arista),OutKast,André 3000,André 3000,"Sept, 2003",32 weeks,No. 1
+Love Will Tear Us Apart,"Singer Ian Curtis did not live to see this Manchester, England, band's best single become a hit. He committed suicide in May 1980, two days before a scheduled American tour. ""Ian's influence seemed to be madness and insanity,"" said guitarist Bernard Sumner. After Curtis' death, Joy Division carried on under the name New Order.",Substance 1977-1980 (Qwest),Joy Division,"Ian Curtis, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris, Bernard Sumner",Martin Hannett,"April, 1980",Did not chart,
+September Gurls,"Big Star were totally unfashionable in their day – early-Seventies Memphis rockers inspired by Sixties British Invasion pop. A nonhit from the band's second LP, Radio City, ""September Gurls"" is now revered as a power-pop classic. ""They were fairly dark records wrapped in a pop package,"" drummer Jody Stephens said of Big Star's now-adored catalog. ""Maybe that's what's made them enduring.""",Radio City (Stax),Big Star,Alex Chilton,Big Star,"May, 1974",Did not chart,
+Free Fallin,"Petty and Lynne wrote and recorded ""Free Fallin' "" in just two days, the first song completed for Petty's solo LP Full Moon Fever. The label initially rejected the album because of a lack of hits. ""So I waited six months and brought the same record back,"" Petty said. ""And they loved it.""",Full Moon Fever (MCA),Tom Petty,"Petty, Jeff Lynne",Lynne,"June, 1989",21 weeks,No. 7
+Dont Worry Baby,"Wilson, who listened to the Ronettes' ""Be My Baby"" so much he wore out the grooves, wrote ""Don't Worry Baby"" for Ronnie Bennett. From the opening drum riff, ""Don't Worry Baby"" is sheer homage but also vintage Beach Boys, with one of Wilson's finest falsetto-laden vocals.",Sounds of Summer (Capitol),The Beach Boys,"Brian Wilson, Roger Christian",Wilson,"May, 1964",10 weeks,No. 24
+I Fought the Law,"Singing in his Texas drawl, Fuller seemed to channel his idol, Buddy Holly, on this tune penned by the Crickets' Curtis. ""I Fought the Law"" was a bracing hybrid of outlaw romanticism, garage rock, surf music, Wall of Sound and British Invasion energy. Keane created the track's rich reverb by using the vault of a bank next door to the L.A. studio as an echo chamber.",I Fought the Law: The Best of the Bobby Fuller Four (Rhino),The Bobby Fuller Four,"Sonny Curtis, Fuller",Bob Keane,"Feb, 1966",11 weeks,No. 9
+Paint it Black,"Brian Jones plucked the haunting sitar melody at the 1966 L.A. session for this classic. Bill Wyman added klezmer-flavored organ; studio legend Jack Nitzsche played the gypsy-style piano. ""Brian had pretty much given up on the guitar by then,"" said Richards. ""If there was [another] instrument around, he had to be able to get something out of it. It gave the Stones on record a lot of different textures."" ",Aftermath (ABKCO),The Rolling Stones,"Mick Jagger, Keith Richards",Andrew Loog Oldham,"May, 1966",11 weeks,No. 1
+God Save the Queen,"Banned by the BBC for ""gross bad taste,"" this blast of nihilism savaged the pomp of Queen Elizabeth II's silver jubilee and came in a sleeve showing Her Majesty with a safety pin through her lip. ""As far as I'm concerned, she ain't no human being,"" sneered singer Rotten. ""She's a piece of cardboard they drag around on a trolley.""","Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols (Warner Bros.)",The Sex Pistols,"Johnny Rotten, Steve Jones, Glen Matlock, Paul Cook",Chris Thomas,"May, 1977",Did not chart ,
+Dancing Queen,"When Benny Andersson auditioned the song for his fiancee and band member Anni-Frid Lyngstad, she was moved to tears. Sweden's biggest musical export debuted ""Queen"" in 1976 at a ball for King Carl Gustaf on the eve of his wedding. The song, a disco-flavored dessert of sublime melody and pop-operatic harmonies, became the group's only U.S. Number One.",Arrival (Polydor),Abba,"Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, Stig Anderson","Andersson, Ulvaeus","Nov, 1976",22 weeks,No. 1
+Dream On,"Tyler began writing this power ballad in his late teens. He was still at it in Aerosmith's early days, pounding a piano in the basement of the group's living quarters. ""Dream On"" was a huge regional hit in Boston when it was first released in 1973 but never made the national Top 40. An edited version finally reached the Top 10 in 1976, giving the band its breakthrough hit.",Aerosmith (Columbia),Aerosmith,Steven Tyler,Arian Barber,"June, 1973",9 weeks,No. 59
+99 Problems,"Jigga's decade-long run reached its crescendo with this Black Album smash. Mixing an old Ice-T hook with an intense, clanging groove – including samples spliced in from Billy Squier's ""The Big Beat"" and Mountain's ""Long Red"" – it was the funkiest thing Rubin had touched since Licensed to Ill. Def Jam label head Lyor Cohen had suggested the collaboration. ""I knew I was gonna get fresh shit,"" he said.",The Black Album (Roc-a-Fella),Jay-Z,"Jay-Z, Rick Rubin",Rubin,"Nov, 2003",12 weeks,No. 30
+Both Sides Now,"As her first marriage fell apart in the late Sixties, Mitchell saw her career bloom with hit covers of her work by singers such as Tom Rush and Judy Collins, including the latter's Top 10 version of ""Both Sides Now."" Mitchell sang it herself on the 1969 LP Clouds, describing the song as ""a meditation on reality and fantasy. . . . The idea was so big it seemed like I'd just scratched the surface of it.""",Clouds (Warner Bros.),Joni Mitchell,Mitchell,Mitchell,"May, 1969",Did not chart,
+Losing My Religion,"""Losing My Religion"" is built around acoustic guitar and mandolin, not exactly a familiar sound on pop radio in the early Nineties – singer Michael Stipe called it a ""freak hit."" As for the subject matter, it's not religion: ""I wanted to write a classic obsession song,"" he said. ""So I did.""",Out of Time (Warner Bros.),R.E.M.,"Berry, Buck, Mills, Stipe","Scott Lift, R.E.M.","March, 1991",21 weeks,No. 4
+Papa Was a Rollin Stone,"At first the Temptations hated this song, especially Dennis Edwards: His father had died on September 3rd, just like the papa in the song. Then ""Papa"" topped the charts, and it ""kind of grew on us,"" said Temptation Otis Williams.",Anthology (Motown),The Temptations,"Norman Whitfield, Barrett Strong",Whitfield,"Oct, 1972",16 weeks,No. 1
+Lets Get It On,"After 1971's ""What's Going On,"" Gaye radically changed course with this ode to sexual bliss. With the help of producer and songwriter Townsend, Gaye created a masterpiece of erotic persuasion that topped the pop and R&B charts. Gaye said later that he hoped ""Let's Get It On"" didn't ""advocate promiscuity"" but also said he had a hunch the song might have ""some aphrodisiac power.""",Let's Get It On (Motown),Marvin Gaye,"Gaye, Ed Townsend","Gaye, Townsend","June, 1973",14 weeks,No. 1
+Fast Car,"Tracy Chapman was a hardened veteran of Boston coffeehouse gigs (she once got a demo-tape rejection letter suggesting she tune her guitar) when a classmate at Tufts University told his music-publisher dad to check her out. Soon after, she made her 1988 debut, featuring this haunting rumination on escape. ""Fast Car"" won a Grammy, setting Chapman's career in motion.",Tracy Chapman (Elektra),Tracy Chapman,Chapman,David Kershenbaum,"April, 1988", 21 weeks,No. 6
+Bohemian Rhapsody,"According to Queen guitarist Brian May, everyone in the band was bewildered when Mercury brought them a draft of this four-part suite — even before he told them, ""That's where the operatic bits come in!"" Recording technology was so taxed by the song's multitracked scaramouches and fandangos that some tapes became virtually transparent from so many overdubs.",A Night at the Opera (Hollywood),Queen,Freddie Mercury,Roy Thomas Baker,"Nov, 1975",24 weeks,No. 9
+Nothing Compares 2 U,"Originally recorded by one of Prince's flop side projects, the Family, the tune became the Number One song of 1990 in O'Connor's rendition. The video focused on her face for four minutes until she shed a lone tear. ""I didn't intend for that moment to happen,"" O'Connor said, ""but when it did, I thought, 'I should let this happen.' """,I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got (Capitol),Sinead O'Connor,Prince,"O'Connor, Nellee Hooper","March, 1990",21 weeks,No. 1
+I Cant Stop Loving You,"When Charles put out Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, DJs picked up on this remake of the Kitty Wells hit, which hadn't been released as a single. After Charles heard that white vocalist Tab Hunter had cut his own rendition of the song, ABC rushed out a 45-friendly two-and-a-half-minute version.",Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music (Rhino),Ray Charles,Don Gibson,Sid Feller,"May, 1962",18 weeks,No. 1
+Folsom Prison Blues,"Cash first recorded ""Folsom Prison Blues,"" one of his earliest songs, for Sun in 1956. But it was the thrilling, electric '68 version, live at the prison, that defined his outlaw persona. Cash said he wrote the line ""I shot a man in Reno/Just to watch him die,"" while ""trying to think of the worst reason . . . for killing another person."" He added, ""It did come to mind quite easily, though.""",The Essential Johnny Cash (Columbia),Johnny Cash,Cash,Sam Phillips,"Jan, 1956",18 weeks,No. 32
+Bring the Noise,"""We were the first rap group to really tempo it up,"" Chuck D said. Over the Bomb Squad's souped-up horn riffs from Marva Whitney's ""It's My Thing,"" PE showed how far-reaching its sound and political ambitions were, name-checking everyone from Yoko Ono and Anthrax (who later remade the song with Chuck D) to Louis Farrakhan.",It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (Def Jam),Public Enemy,"Carlton Ridenhour, Eric Sadler, Hank Shocklee","Rick Rubin, Carl Ryder","April, 1988",Did not chart,
+Im Waiting for the Man,"Originally a rootsy Dylan hommage, the song evolved into a proto-punk classic steeped in New York grit. The Velvets mixed R&B rhythm-guitar workout, blues-piano stomp and dreamy art drone, as Reed deadpans a story about scoring $26 worth of heroin in Harlem. ""Everything about that song holds true,"" said Reed, ""except the price.""",The Velvet Underground and Nico (Polygram),The Velvet Underground,Lou Reed,"Andy Warhol, Tom Wilson","March, 1967",Non-single,
+Moment of Surrender,"The most devastating U2 ballad since ""One"" sets lush, gospel-tinged music – much of it improvised live in the studio – against dark subject matter: It's about a junkie riding the subway. ",No Line on the Horizon (Interscope),U2,"Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen Jr.","Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois","March, 1909",Non-single,
+(Were Gonna) Rock Around the Clock,"Haley began his career as a country yodeler before converting to rock & roll. ""Clock"" was a modest hit until it played during the opening credits of The Blackboard Jungle and shot to Number One.",The Best of Bill Haley and His Comets (MCA),Bill Haley and His Comets,"Jimmy DeKnight, Max Freedman",Milt Gabler,"May, 1954",24 weeks,No. 1
+I Only Have Eyes for You,"Dubbed ""The Sultans of Smooth,"" this Chicago quintet honed their harmonies singing in a black Jewish temple choir and scored its best-known song with ""I Only Have Eyes for You,"" originally a hit for crooner Ben Selvin in 1934. The Flamingos take the song all the way to Venus with elegant vocalizations and the otherworldly doo-bop-sh-bop.",The Best of the Flamingos (Rhino),The Flamingos,Harry Warren,George Goldner,"April, 1959",13 weeks,No. 11
+The Sounds of Silence,"Simon wrote this as an acoustic ballad, but  Simon and Garfunkel's first single version died. While Simon was in England, Wilson, who was producing Bob Dylan's ""Like a Rolling Stone,"" asked members of Dylan's studio band to add electric guitar and drums. Columbia released the amplified ""Silence,"" which became a hit before Simon and Garfunkel had even heard it.",Sounds of Silence (Columbia),Simon and Garfunkel,Paul Simon,Tom Wilson,"Nov, 1965",14 weeks,No. 1
+Proud Mary,"""It was, like, the first really good song I ever wrote,"" Fogerty said of ""Proud Mary,"" which began a run of five consecutive Top Three singles for CCR. He wrote the song, later unforgettably covered by Ike and Tina Turner, after his Army discharge: ""I was fooling with the chord changes and started singing about the river. I realized, 'Well, maybe if I make it about the boat.' ""     ",Bayou Country (Fantasy),Creedence Clearwater Revival,John Fogerty,Fogerty,"Jan, 1969",14 weeks,No. 2
+Rave On,"West recorded his own version of ""Rave On"" at the New Mexico studio where Holly laid down most of his hits. Petty wanted to give it to another band, but Holly said, ""No way. I've got to have this song."" ",Buddy Holly: Greatest Hits (MCA),Buddy Holly and the Crickets,"Sonny West, Bill Tilghman, Norman Petty",Petty,"April, 1958",10 weeks,No. 37
+A Hard Days Night,"The title comes from a Ringo Starr malapropism, the product of a marathon recording session. Lennon was fond of these Ringoisms and wrote the song overnight. Said Lennon, ""The only reason [Paul] sang on it was because I couldn't reach the notes.""",A Hard Day's Night (Capitol),The Beatles,"John Lennon, Paul McCartney",George Martin,"July, 1964",13 weeks,No. 1
+Foxey Lady,"Heather Taylor, the future wife of the Who's Roger Daltrey, was said to have inspired this lip-smacking ode as Hendrix was gathering songs in London for his 1967 debut LP, Are You Experienced? Hendrix scrapes his pick down a guitar string, literally making it tremble with anticipation, before exploding into an indelibly dirty rift. ""I'm comin' to getcha,"" he promises – and he did.",Are You Experienced? (MCA),The Jimi Hendrix Experience,Hendrix,Chas Chandler,"Aug, 1965",4 weeks,No. 67
+Earth Angel,"Crudely recorded in a garage and released on a small label, ""Earth Angel"" turned out to be a pivotal record in the early development of rock & roll. The artless, unaffected vocals of the Penguins, four black high schoolers from L.A., defined the street-corner elegance of doo-wop. The Penguins' version also outsold a sanitized, big-label cover by schmaltzy white group the Crew-Cuts.",Earth Angel (Ace),The Penguins,"Jesse Belvin, Curtis Williams",Dootsie Williams,"Dec, 1954",15 weeks,No. 8
+Eight Miles High,"A rare collaboration between three Byrds, it was supposedly about an airplane flight. McGuinn's 12-string solo was inspired by John Coltrane's sax playing and Rod Argent's piano on the Zombies' ""She's Not There."" ""Of course it was a drug song,"" Crosby said. ""We were stoned when we wrote it. But it was also about the [plane] trip to London.""",Fifth Dimension (Legacy),The Byrds,"Gene Clark, Roger McGuinn, David Crosby",Allen Stanton,"April, 1966",9 weeks,No. 14
+Hot Fun in the Summertime,"Summer was already under way when Stone handed in this heavenly soul ballad to Epic, which was wary of releasing a summer song in August – but it was a smash anyway. The single came out just before the Family Stone performed at Woodstock – they were the first band to sign up for the historic festival. Michael Jackson later bought the rights to the song.",Greatest Hits (Epic),Sly and the Family Stone,Sly Stone,Stone,"Aug, 1969",16 weeks, No. 2
+The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,"Robertson, a Canadian, vividly depicted the Civil War-era South in this moving dirge. ""I remember taking him to the library so he could research the history and geography,"" said Levon Helm, the Band's only American, whose gritty vocal evoked the interior struggle of someone trying to make sense of a lost cause – like, in 1969, the war in Vietnam.",The Band (Capitol),The Band,Robbie Robertson,"John Simon, the Band","Sept, 1969",Non-single,
+(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher,"At first, he sang it like a ballad. But Wilson hit the right gallop after producer Davis told him ""to jump and go along with the percussion."" Motown bassist James Jamerson played down below, along with several other moonlighting members of the Funk Brothers band.",The Very Best of Jackie Wilson (Rhino),Jackie Wilson,"Gary Jackson, Raynard Miner, Carl Smith",Carl Davis,"Aug, 1967",12 weeks, No. 6
+Gimme Some Lovin,"Teenage singer Steve Winwood provided the impossibly raw vocals. ""Steve had been singing, 'Gimme some lovin',' just yelling anything,"" said bassist-brother Muff. ""It took about an hour to write, then down the pub for lunch.""",Gimme Some Lovin' (Sundazed),The Spencer Davis Group,"Davis, Steve Winwood, Muff Winwood",Jimmy Miller,"Dec, 1966",13 weeks, No. 7
+Love Shack,"The B-52's had few reasons to party in 1989: Guitarist Ricky Wilson had died; their previous album had flopped. But with production by dance-rock master Don Was, they slapped smiles and Dixie New Wave glitter all over this bouncing beauty.",Cosmic Thing (Reprise),The B-52's,"Kate Pierson, Fred Schneider, Keith Strickland, Cindy Wilson","Don Was, Nile Rodgers","June , 1989",27 weeks, No. 3
+Rocket Man,"A perfect song for the age of moonwalks, this star trek was the elegiac tale of an astronaut lost in space, light-years from home. Taupin wrote it on the way to visiting his own family. ""I got inside,"" he said, ""and had to rush to write it all down before I'd forgotten it."" Taupin was accused of ripping off Bowie's ""Space Oddity,"" but he was actually thinking of ""Rocket Man,"" by acid-folkies Pearls Before Swine.",Honky Chateau (Island),Elton John,"John, Bernie Taupin",Gus Dudgeon,"May, 1972",15 weeks, No. 6
+Stand!,"The title song from Stone's classic black-rock LP became a civil rights anthem. But when a test pressing got a muted reaction on San Francisco radio, Stone added the funky coda, played by what his A&R man Stephen Paley called ""old-men horn players,"" since the Family was unavailable. ""He wrote out parts for the horn players and even passed out W-4 forms,"" said Paley. ""He was that together.""",Stand! (Sony),Sly and the Family Stone,Sly Stone,Stone,"April, 1969",8 weeks, No. 22
+The Wanderer,"Dion DiMucci's trademark hit – originally the B side to a single called ""The Majestic,"" until DJs began flipping the record over – was a swaggering shuffle about a real-life hard-ass who wore tattoos of his girlfriends' names on his arms. ""You say to a chick, 'Stay away from that guy,' "" Dion said in 1976, when ""The Wanderer"" was a Top 20 hit again in the U.K. ""And she would say, 'What guy?' Chicks loved a rebel.""",Runaround Sue (Capitol),Dion,Ernie Maresca,Gene Schwartz,"Dec, 1961",18 weeks, No. 2
+Son of a Preacher Man,"Springfield was white and English but sang as if born with black American soul. In 1968, newly signed to Atlantic and under the tutelage of its star producer Wexler, she went to the mecca of Dixie R&B to record the gospel-tinged Dusty in Memphis. She ended up doing her vocals in New York, but no matter: Her deep, heated voice captured the carnal fire of the South",Dusty in Memphis (Rhino),Dusty Springfield,"John Hurley, Ronnie Wilkins",Jerry Wexler,"Nov, 1968",12 weeks, No. 10
+I Fall to Pieces,"Cline was reluctant to record this ballad, which had been turned down by Brenda Lee, until Bradley coaxed her into it. Seven months pregnant when she cut it, Cline belted the ending the first time through, but the magic happened when she dropped to her lower register on her second try.",12 Greatest Hits (MCA),Patsy Cline,Hank Cochran,Owen Bradley,"Jan, 1961",20 weeks, No. 12
+Planet Rock,"""Can you play stuff like Kraftwerk?"" asked Bam, who played their records at DJ gigs. Baker worried about stealing the melody from ""Trans-Europe Express,"" but Robie said, ""I'll tear that shit up.""",Looking for the Perfect Beat 1980-1985 (Tommy Boy),Afrika Bambaataa and the Soul Sonic Force,"Bambaataa, John Robie, the Soul Sonic Force","Bambaataa, Arthur Baker","July, 1982",11 weeks, No. 48
+I Got a Woman,"Charles was riding through Indiana one night in 1954 with his musical director Richard when they began singing along to a gospel tune on the radio. ""Ray sang something like, 'I got a woman,'"" said Richard. ""I answered, 'Yeah, she lives across town.'"" He finished the song the next day, and Charles cut it at an Atlanta radio station – a session now recognized as the birth of soul.",Atlantic Singles (Rhino),Ray Charles,"Charles, Renald Richard",Jerry Wexler,"Nov, 1954",Predates chart,
+Everyday,"The flip side to ""Peggy Sue,"" ""Everyday"" features the celesta, a keyboard with a glockenspiel-like tone that Petty kept in his New Mexico studio. The percussion is drummer Jerry Allison keeping time by slapping his knees. For legal reasons, Holly changed his songwriting credit to Charles Hardin, his real first and middle names.",Best of Buddy Holly (Universal),Buddy Holly and the Crickets,"Charles Hardin, Norman Petty",Petty,"Sept, 1957",Did not chart,
+Ill Feel a Whole Lot Better,"The Byrds championed the songs of Bob Dylan, who in turn praised the exotic balladry of Byrd Gene Clark. ""I remember him saying, 'Gene is really interesting to me,'"" said bassist Chris Hillman. Clark wrote this about a girlfriend from their days at the L.A. club Ciro's. ""She was a funny girl, and she started bothering me,"" he said. ""I wrote the whole song within a few minutes.""",Mr. Tambourine Man (Columbia),The Byrds,Gene Clark,Terry Melcher,"June, 1965",Did not chart,
+Paper Planes,"Maya Arulpragasam cheerfully threatens to steal your money, over a sample of the Clash's ""Straight to Hell."" The unlikely hit took off thanks to its inclusion in the Pineapple Express trailer. ""The other songs on the chart were Katy Perry and the Jonas Brothers,"" says M.I.A. ""Then you saw 'Paper Planes' and it's cool because there's hope: 'Thank God the future's here.'""",Kala (Interscope),M.I.A.,"M.I.A., Diplo","Diplo, Switch","Aug, 2007",21 weeks,No. 4
+We Gotta Get Out of This Place,"Born in the Brill Building song factory and originally intended for the Righteous Brothers, it got a harsh white-blues treatment from the Animals. As singer Eric Burdon put it, “Whatever suited our attitude, we just bent to our own shape.” Its desperate intensity made the song a huge hit with U.S. soldiers in Vietnam and, a generation later, coalition forces in Iraq.",Retrospective (ABKCO),The Animals,"Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil",Mickie Most,"Aug. , 1965",11 weeks, No. 13
+Only the Lonely,"Orbison intended to offer this song to either Elvis Presley (also a Sun Records alumnus) or the Everly Brothers, who had cut the Orbison song ""Claudette."" But Orbison's falsetto made the loneliness real. ""For a baritone to sing as high as I do,"" he said, ""is ridiculous.""",For the Lonely: 18 Greatest Hits (Rhino),Roy Orbison,"Joe Melson, Orbison",Fred Foster,"May , 1960",21 weeks, No. 2
+Sexual Healing,"In April 1982 Gaye was living in exile in Brussels and suffering writer's block. ""I suggested that Marvin needed sexual healing,"" Ritz, his biographer, later wrote. Gaye put the idea to a reggae-style beat by sideman Brown. The result: Gaye's last Top Five hit.",Midnight Love (Columbia),Marvin Gaye,"Gaye, Odell Brown, David Ritz",Gaye,"Oct. , 1982",21 weeks, No. 3
+Just Like a Woman,"Dylan wrote this on Thanksgiving Day 1965 – three days after marrying Sara Lowndes – while on tour in Kansas City. His nonstop creative rush was taking a big toll. ""I don't consider myself outside of anything,"" he said at the time. ""I just consider myself not around."" He turned his torment into this song, allegedly inspired by his recently ended affair with doomed Andy Warhol starlet Edie Sedgwick.",Blonde on Blonde (Columbia),Bob Dylan,Dylan,Bob Johnston,"May , 1966",6 weeks, No. 33
+Moondance,"The title song of Morrison's first self-produced album started ""as a saxophone solo,"" he said. ""I used to play this sax number over and over, anytime I picked up my horn."" He played the sax solo on this recording, which combined the bucolic charm of his life in Woodstock, New York (""the cover of October skies""), with his love of the sophisticated jazz and R&B of Mose Allison and Ray Charles.",Moondance (Warner Bros.),Van Morrison,Morrison,Morrison,"Feb. , 1970",4 weeks, No. 92
+Mannish Boy,"After Waters heard Bo Diddley audition ""I'm a Man"" for Chess, he replied with ""Mannish Boy."" (Diddley got a credit as McDaniel, his real name.) Both songs were issued in 1955 and shot into the R&B Top 10. ""When I heard him, I realized the connection between all the music I heard,"" Keith Richards said of Waters. ""He was like the code book.""",The Anthology (MCA/Chess),Muddy Waters,"McKinley Morganfield, Mel London, Ellas McDaniel","Leonard and Phil Chess, Willie Dixon","May , 1955",Did not chart,
+Good Times,"The tone was half-ironic when Chic released ""Good Times,"" a hedonistic roller-disco tune, during the Seventies recession. The other half was pure joy, and Edwards' bass line – bouncing on one note, then climbing – proved too snappy for just one song. Queen borrowed it for ""Another One Bites the Dust""; in the South Bronx, the Sugarhill Gang put it under ""Rapper's Delight.""",Risqué (Atlantic),Chic,"Nile Rodgers, Bernard Edwards","Rodgers, Edwards","June , 1979",19 weeks, No. 1
+Should I Stay or Should I Go,"""My main influences,"" Mick Jones said, ""are Mott the Hoople, the Kinks and the Stones"" – which explains this choppy riff. Jones yells ""Split!"" because Joe Strummer snuck up behind him while he was recording his vocals. The chorus hints at the band's end: At the time, ""none of us were really talking to each other,"" said Paul Simonon. The original four were soon no more.",Combat Rock (Sony),The Clash,The Clash,Glyn Johns,"May , 1982",13 weeks, No. 45
+Fire and Rain,"Taylor wrote the three verses of this song in three phases following the breakup of his band the Flying Machine. The first came in a London flat while he was signed to the Apple label, the second in a New York hospital as he kicked heroin and the third during a stay in a Massachusetts psychiatric facility. ""It's like three samplings of what I went through,"" he said.",Sweet Baby James (Warner Bros.),James Taylor,Taylor,Peter Asher,"Feb. , 1970",16 weeks, No. 3
+Hoochie Coochie Man,"Waters tested this out at the Chicago blues club Zanzibar. Dixon gave him some advice: ""Well, just get a little rhythm pattern,"" he said. ""Do the same thing over again, y'know."" Waters cut it a couple of weeks later, with Dixon on bass.",The Anthology (Chess/MCA),Muddy Waters,Willie Dixon,"Leonard and Phil Chess, Dixon","Jan. , 1954",Did not chart,
+Dance to the Music,"Saxman Jerry Martini claims Stone did this song just to satisfy CBS executives' desire for a hit. ""He hated it,"" Martini said. ""It was so unhip to us. The beats were glorified Motown beats."" But ""Dance"" fit Stone's vision for the band: ""I wanted everyone to get a chance to sweat.""",Dance to the Music (Sony),Sly and the Family Stone,Sylvester Stewart (Sly Stone),Stone,"Jan. , 1968",15 weeks, No. 8
+Oh,"Orbison told Dees to ""get started writing by playing anything that comes to mind….My wife came in and wanted to go to town to get something."" Orbison asked if she needed money. Dees then cracked, ""Pretty woman never needs any money."" The rest was easy.",For the Lonely: 18 Greatest Hits (Rhino),Roy Orbison,"Orbison, Billy Dees",Wesley Rose,"Aug. , 1964",15 weeks, No. 1
+Walk on the Wild Side,"Reed was asked to write songs for a musical based on the novel A Walk on the Wild Side. The show fizzled, but Reed kept the title. ""I thought it would be fun to introduce people you see at parties but don't dare approach,"" he said.",Transformer (RCA),Lou Reed,Reed,"David Bowie, Mick Ronson, Reed","Dec. , 1972",14 weeks, No. 16
+Walk Away Renee,"In 1965, Brown was a 16-year-old keyboard prodigy with a crush on a bandmate's girlfriend – bassist Tom Finn had introduced Renee Fladen to the group. Brown wrote three songs about her, including ""Walk Away Renee."" He quit the Left Banke before they finished recording ""Renee"" but returned after the song became a hit a year later.",There's Gonna Be a Storm (Mercury),The Left Banke,"Michael Brown, Bob Calilli, Tony Sansone",Harry Lookofsky,"Sept. , 1966",13 weeks, No. 5
+Spoonful,"Chess do-it-all Dixon wrote ""Spoonful"" for Howlin' Wolf in 1960. ""It doesn't take a large quantity of anything to be good,"" explained Dixon. The Wolf, however, did not cheat on the heavy manners when he devoured the song in the studio with his mad-animal growl. What's more, he often performed the song – later covered by Cream – waving a large cooking spoon in front of his genitalia.",Anniversary Collection (Chess),Howlin' Wolf,Willie Dixon,Leonard and Phil Chess,"June , 1960",Did not chart,
+Boom Boom,"Keith Richards said of Hooker, ""Even Muddy Waters was sophisticated next to him."" That was a compliment. With his gruff voice, the Hook put boogie to the blues, inspiring a generation of British blues acts, including the Animals, who covered this song to great effect. ""Boom-boom,"" by the way, came from an affectionate greeting offered to Hooker by a female bartender in Detroit.",The Very Best of John Lee Hooker (Rhino),John Lee Hooker,Hooker,Calvin Carter,"Feb. , 1962",10 weeks, No. 60
+Jolene,"When Parton recorded ""Jolene"" in 1974, she was chiefly known as Porter Wagoner's TV partner, although she had written the hit ""Coat of Many Colors."" ""Jolene"" showed how she could put her stamp on traditional country, buffing an old-time-y groove and belting a tale of romantic rivalry. It became a Number One country single and has been covered with extra menace by the White Stripes.",Jolene (Buddha/BMG),Dolly Parton,Parton,Bob Ferguson,"Jan. , 1974",8 weeks, No. 60
+Do You Believe in Magic,"The first single by the Lovin' Spoonful went Top 10 and, in a sense, never went away. While rehearsing the song, Sebastian affixed a contact mike to his autoharp, and in combination with Zal Yanovsky's electric guitar, they hit on a unique sound. Sebastian said ""Magic"" was rooted in ""the chord progressions coming out of Motown at the time.""",Do You Believe in Magic (Buddha),The Lovin' Spoonful,John Sebastian,Erik Jacobsen,"July , 1965",13 weeks, No. 9
+Your Cheatin Heart,"Legend has it that this song came to Williams when he was thinking about his first wife while driving around with his second; she wrote down the lyrics for him in the passenger seat. After polishing it with Rose, Williams recorded ""Your Cheatin' Heart"" during the last sessions he ever did, on September 23rd, 1952. He told a friend, ""It's the best heart song I ever wrote.""",The Ultimate Collection (Mercury Nashville),Hank Williams,"Williams, Fred Rose",Rose,"Jan. , 1953",Predates pop charts,
+Rockin in the Free World,"""Don't feel like Satan/But I am to them,"" Young spat in this raucously ambivalent song about the pride and guilt of being an American. It was inspired by a remark from a member of Crazy Horse, who said gigs were safer in Europe than in the Middle East: ""It's better to keep rockin' in the free world."" ""It was such a cliché,"" Young said. ""I knew I had to use it.""",Freedom (Reprise),Neil Young,Young,"Niko Bolas, Young","Oct. , 1989",Non-single,
+1999,"When Prince recorded 1999, he would go all day and all night without rest and turn down food since he felt eating would make him sleepy. The opening verse was originally recorded in three-part harmony; Prince split up the vocals, and the harmony parts became a new, odd melody. The single's first release didn't make the Top 40, but Prince put it out again after ""Little Red Corvette,"" and it was finally a hit.",1999 (Warner Bros.),Prince,Prince,Prince,"Oct. , 1982",27 weeks, No. 12
+Caroline,"Wilson ditched the other Beach Boys and used studio pros like ""Be My Baby"" drummer Hal Blaine on what was initially released as Brian's first solo single. It was largely the result of a misheard lyric. Wilson told Asher about a girl he'd liked in high school named Carol, and Asher responded with ""Oh, Carol, I know."" But Wilson heard it as ""Caroline, no"" and dashed off the rest of the song while stoned.",Pet Sounds (Capitol),The Beach Boys,"Brian Wilson, Tony Asher",Wilson,"March , 1966",7 weeks, No. 32
+96 Tears,"The band, all Mexican-Americans living in Michigan, cut ""96 Tears"" in their manager's living room, and ? promoted the single throughout the state, all without ever revealing his real name (Rudy Martinez) or removing his sunglasses. That organ figure put the Farfisa company on the map (? later claimed they had used a Vox). The original has never been released on CD; all the CD versions are rerecordings.",More Action (Cavestomp),? and the Mysterians,Rudy Martinez,Martinez,"Sept. , 1966",15 weeks, No. 1
+In My Room,"""Brian was always saying that his room was his whole world,"" said Usher, who wrote the lyrics based on Wilson's idea. The three-part harmony on the first verse that Wilson sang with his brothers Carl and Dennis recalled the vocal bits that Brian taught them when they shared a childhood bedroom. As the Beatles had done with some hits, the Boys cut a version in German.","Surfer Girl/Shut Down, Volume 2 (Capitol)",The Beach Boys,"Brian Wilson, Gary Usher",Wilson,"Sept. , 1963",11 weeks, No. 23
+Gloria,1 week; No. 95,"When Morrison wrote his first hit, ""Gloria,"" he was just another hungry young rocker, with the Belfast garage band Them. ""I was just being me, a street cat from Belfast,"" Morrison said. ""Probably like thousands of kids from Belfast who were in bands."" A Chicago group called Shadows of Knight hit with a more cautious version in 1966; Morrison later complained that ""Gloria"" was ""capitalized on a lot.""",Them,Van Morrison,Tommy Scott,"March , 1965",,
+Bye Bye Love," ""Bye Bye Love"" had been turned down by 30 artists before Bleyer offered it to the Everlys for their first single. Phil and Don took it happily, if for no other reason than the $64 they would each earn for making it. The guitar intro was borrowed from a song Don had written called ""Give Me a Future.""",All-Time Original Hits (Rhino),The Everly Brothers,Boudleaux and Felice Bryant,Archie Bleyer,"May , 1957",27 weeks, No. 2
+Reach Out," HDH pumped out Tops hits at a breakneck pace. ""They were over so fast I can't remember them at all,"" said Dozier. Phil Spector called ""Reach Out, I'll Be There,"" their second Number One, ""black Dylan.""",The Ultimate Collection (Motown),The Four Tops,"Eddie Holland, Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland","Holland, Dozier, Holland","Aug. , 1966",15 weeks, No. 1
+Lean on Me,"Growing up as one of six kids in the coal-mining town of Slab Fork, West Virginia, Withers learned a lot about helping family and neighbors when they needed you. After a dislocating move to L.A., the bonds he built with co-workers manufacturing airplane toilets reminded him of the tightknit community he'd left back home, providing the inspiration for the plain-spoken ""Lean on Me,"" his biggest hit.",Lean on Me (Sony),Bill Withers,Withers,Withers,"June , 1972",19 weeks, No. 1
+Try a Little Tenderness,"On his own, drummer Al Jackson Jr. switched to double-time on the second verse, for the high-energy climax. ""We didn't know he was gonna do that,"" said bassist Duck Dunn. ""It was amazing.""",Very Best of Otis Redding (Rhino),Otis Redding,"Jimmy Campbell, Reginald Connelly, Harry Woods","Steve Cropper, Jim Stewart","Dec. , 1966",10 weeks, No. 25
+Positively 4th Street,"In whose direction did Dylan aim this? Most likely, ""4th Street,"" the follow-up to ""Like a Rolling Stone,"" is about the people he met in Greenwich Village (when he lived on West 4th) and on fraternity row at the University of Minnesota (on 4th Street in Minneapolis).",The Essential Bob Dylan (Sony),Bob Dylan,Dylan,Bob Johnston,"Sept. , 1965",9 weeks, No. 7
+Come Together,"Timothy Leary was running for governor of California and asked Lennon to write a campaign song for him. The tune was not politically useful, so Lennon brought it to the Abbey Road sessions. ""I said, 'Let's slow it down with a swampy bass-and-drums vibe,'"" said McCartney. ""I came up with a bass line, and it all flowed from there."" It was the last song all four Beatles cut together.",Abbey Road (Apple),The Beatles,"John Lennon, Paul McCartney",George Martin,"Sept. , 1969",16 weeks, No. 1
+Bizarre Love Triangle,"After the death of Joy Division's Ian Curtis, his band became New Order. ""There's life, and there's death,"" drummer Morris said in 1983. ""We were still alive, so we thought we'd carry on doing it."" New Order wrote their synth-pop hits in a Manchester rehearsal room next to a cemetery. Said Morris, ""Fate writes the lyrics, and we do the rest.""",Substance (Qwest),New Order,"Bernard Albrecht, Gillian Gilbert, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris",New Order,"Oct, 1986",2 weeks, No. 98
+Loser,"In 1992, 22-year-old Beck Hansen was scraping by as a video-store clerk while performing bizarro folk songs at L.A. coffeehouses. After friends offered to record some songs, Beck cut ""Loser"" in his producer's kitchen. It became the centerpiece of an album (1994's Mellow Gold) that cost $200 to make.",Mellow Gold (Geffen),Beck,Beck Hansen,Karl Stephenson,"March, 1993",24 weeks, No. 10
+Flash Light,"""Flash Light"" is the P-Funk Nation's groove manifesto. ""We're going to get the message out,"" Clinton declared in 1978. ""We want to put the show on Broadway – tell the story straightforward so people understand that funk mean funk.""",Funkentelechy vs. the Placebo Syndrome (Mercury),Parliament,"George Clinton, Bernie Worrell, Bootsy Collins",Clinton,"Dec, 1977",16 weeks, No. 16
+Hey Joe,"Thismurder ballad was the Experience's first single, recorded two weeks after their live debut. Hendrix was so shy about his voice that manager Chandler even hired a female vocal group, the Breakaways, for backup. The song had already been recorded by the Byrds, Love, the Standells and many other bands, but Hendrix learned it from folkie Tim Rose's version.",Are You Experienced? (MCA),The Jimi Hendrix Experience,William Roberts,Chas Chandler,"Dec, 1966",Did not chart,
+Black Dog,"A dog meandering the grounds outside Zeppelin’s studio in rural England inspired the title, but the subject was honey-dripping sex. ""Things like 'Black Dog' are blatant let’s-do-it-in-the-bath-type things,"" Plant said, ""but they make their point.""",Led Zeppelin IV (Atlantic),Led Zeppelin,"Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones",Page,"Nov. , 1971",12 weeks, No. 15
+Tired of Being Alone,"After a show in Detroit, Green woke up before dawn the next day at a motel in rural Michigan with a song forming in his mind. Half an hour later, he had ""Tired of Being Alone."" But Mitchell wasn’t much interested in Green's own material. ""I was toting my song around in my pocket for days on end, saying, 'Hey, I got a song,'"" Green said. ""Finally, at the end of the session, I said, 'Well, I still got a song.'""",Greatest Hits (Capitol),Al Green,Green,"Willie Mitchell, Green","July , 1971",19 weeks, No. 11
+Train in Vain,"""Train In Vain"" was the hidden track at the end of the Clash's London Calling, unlisted on the sleeve or on the label. It didn’t even have a proper title; fans initially assumed it was called ""Stand by Me,"" after the chorus. But it became a surprise hit in America, thanks to its hard-charging drums and weary vocals from guitarist Jones, who wrote the bitter love song in his grandmother’s flat.",London Calling (Epic),The Clash,"Mick Jones, Joe Strummer",Guy Stevens,"Dec. , 1979",14 weeks, No. 23
+Shes Not There,"With Colin Blunstone’s gauzy vocals and Argent’s scampering piano, ""She’s Not There"" was one of the British Invasion’s jazziest singles. Argent was a fan of Elvis and the Beatles, but also Miles Davis, who became a subconscious influence. ""When I wrote and played 'She’s Not There,' the last thing on my mind was jazz or Miles,"" says Argent, ""but those things filtered through.""",British Invasion: 1963-1967 (Hip-O),The Zombies,Rod Argent,Ken Jones,"Oct. , 1964",15 weeks, No. 2 
+Stan,"""Stan"" was Eminem’s scariest song, because for once the horror seemed real. Anchored by a sample from Dido’s ""Thank You"" (which became a hit itself), it followed an obsessed fan who acts out Em's fantasies. ""He’s crazy for real, and he thinks I’m crazy, but I try to help him at the end of the song,"" said Eminem. ""It kinda shows the real side of me.""",The Marshall Mathers LP (Aftermath/Interscope),Eminem feat. Dido,"Marshall Mathers,D. Armstrong, P. Herman","Eminem, the 45 King","March , 2000",15 weeks, No. 51
+Cant Buy Me Love,"""'Can’t Buy Me Love' is my attempt to write [in] a bluesy mode,"" McCartney said. He wrote it while the band was doing concerts in Paris for 18 days straight, two or three shows a day. The single was released a few months later, at the height of Beatlemania. When it hit Number One, the band occupied all five top positions on the American charts.",A Hard Day’s Night (Capitol),The Beatles,"John Lennon, Paul McCartney",George Martin,"March , 1964",10 weeks, No. 1
+Money (Thats What I Want),"The sessions lasted more than 40 takes and several days, but Gordy didn’t care: It was the first song cut in his Hitsville USA studio, and there were no bills to pay. With a howling vocal over a live band, this was gutbucket R&B, far more raw than the Motown hits that followed. But when it became Gordy’s first hit, it provided the money to pay for them.",Motown: The Classic Years (Polygram),Barrett Strong,"Berry Gordy, Janie Bradford",Gordy,"Jan. , 1960",17 weeks, No. 23
+Walk This Way,"Run-DMC pioneered the use of rock guitar in hip-hop with the tracks ""Rock Box"" and ""King of Rock."" But this Aerosmith cover — with help from Tyler and Perry — was a crossover smash, establishing a blueprint for scores of metal-rap mash-ups. For Run, though, it was just another day rhyming. ""I made that record because I used to rap over it when I was 12,"" he told Rolling Stone.",Raising Hell (Arista),Run-DMC,"Steven Tyler, Joe Perry","Rick Rubin,Russell Simmons","May , 1986",16 weeks, No. 4
+Summer Babe (Winter Version),"Malkmus and Kannberg cut this tender pop tune about a summer crush in the garage studio of their hippie drummer, Gary Young. ""We didn’t know how to record,"" Malkmus confessed. ""We used reverb on the drums — the cheapest, worst reverb ever."" Malkmus said he was trying to sound like Lou Reed, singing about ""sad boy stuff.""",Slanted and Enchanted (Matador),Pavement,Stephen Malkmus,"Malkmus, Scott Kannberg","April , 1992",Did not chart,
+Smokestack Lightning,"This was based on Wolf’s ""Crying at Daybreak,"" recorded years earlier and itself modeled on Charley Patton’s ""Moon Going Down."" The inspiration, said Wolf, was watching trains cut through the night: ""We used to sit out in the country and see the trains go by, watch the sparks come out of the smokestack. That was smokestack lightning.""",His Best (Chess),Howlin' Wolf,Chester Burnett,"Leonard and Phil Chess, Willie Dixon","March , 1956",Did not chart ,
+(Whats So Funny About) Peace,"""What’s So Funny"" was written by Lowe, Costello’s pal and producer. The original, by Lowe’s country-rock band Brinsley Schwartz, was mellow and cute, but Costello snarls the song intensely enough to make the title question seem brand-new, with thundering drums and droning piano. It’s like Abba playing punk rock.",Armed Forces (Rhino),Elvis Costello and the Attractions,Nick Lowe,Lowe,"Jan. , 1979",Non-single,
+Call Me,"The main reason Blondie recorded ""Call Me"" for the Richard Gere flick American Gigolo was to work with their hero, Euro-disco producer Moroder. ""He was the king of disco,"" Harry said. ""And we were still the anti-establishment invaders."" Moroder’s first choice for a vocalist was Stevie Nicks, but Harry’s New Wave edge helped make the song the biggest seller of 1980.",Best of Blondie (Chrysalis),Blondie,"Giorgio Moroder, Deborah Harry",Moroder,"Feb. , 1980",25 weeks, No. 1 
+Help Me,"""I had attempted to play my music with rock & roll players,"" Mitchell said in 1979. ""They’d laugh, 'Aww, isn’t that cute? She’s trying to tell us how to play.'"" It took a jazz group — Tom Scott’s L.A. Express — to realize her biggest hit, a swooning confession of love trouble complete with swirling sax break. One rocker, Prince, loved the song so much he quoted it on ""The Ballad of Dorothy Parker.""",Court and Spark (Elektra),Joni Mitchell,Mitchell,Mitchell,"Feb. , 1974",19 weeks, No. 7
+You Are the Sunshine of My Life,"Wonder originally wrote and recorded ""Sunshine"" while he was finishing his 1972 LP Music of My Mind, but he decided to hang on to it until his next album, Talking Book. He had written the song for future wife Syreeta Wright, who had met Wonder at the Motown offices, where she was a secretary. The cut was Talking Book’s second Number One hit, following ""Superstition.""",Talking Book (Tamla),Stevie Wonder,Wonder,Wonder,"Nov. , 1972",17 weeks, No. 1
+Seven Nation Army,"Jack White used an effects pedal to make his guitar sound like a bass for this howling anthem about rage and paranoia. The result was the greatest riff of the 2000s and a massive, career-changing hit that has been covered by everyone from Metallica to the University of South Alabama marching band. As for the title, ""That’s what I called the Salvation Army when I was a kid,"" White told Rolling Stone.",Elephant (V2/Third Man),The White Stripes,Jack White,White,"April , 2003",,
+Aint No Sunshine,"When the 31-year-old Withers recorded ""Sunshine,"" he was still working at a factory making toilet seats for 747s. He intended to write more lyrics for the part where he repeats the phrase ""I know"" 26 times, but the other musicians told him to leave it.",Lean on Me: The Best of Bill Withers (Columbia/Legacy),Bill Withers,Withers,Booker T. Jones,"July , 1971",16 weeks, No. 3
+Chapel of Love,"Spector took two cracks at recording ""Chapel,"" but the Ronettes and Crystals left him flat. Leiber and Stoller took it to the novice Dixie Cups; the hopeful harmonies were just what the nuptial ditty called for.","The Best of the Girl Groups, Vol. 1 (Rhino)",The Dixie Cups,"Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich, Phil Spector","Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, Barry, Greenwich","June , 1964",13 weeks, No. 1
+Pictures of You,"""Most love songs are just calculated attempts at commercial exploitation — they’re not anything to do with love as I understand it,"" said Cure leader Smith. After the relatively cheerful pop songs of Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, he wanted to write the Cure’s heaviest songs yet. With this epic of cascading synths and broken dreams, he succeeded.",Disintegration (Elektra),The Cure,"Robert Smith, Simon Gallup, Boris Williams, Porl Thompson, Roger O'Donnell, Lol Tolhurst","Smith, David M. Allen","May , 1989",8 weeks, No. 71
+Ziggy Stardust,"""I wasn’t at all surprised 'Ziggy Stardust' made my career,"" Bowie told Rolling Stone. ""I packaged a totally credible plastic rock star."" This glam power ballad told the story of his most famous alter ego over Mick Ronson’s flash guitars. Bowie and Ziggy became so inextricably linked that Bowie’s over-the-top manager, Tony Defries, demanded that all his employees get Ziggy haircuts.",The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars (Virgin),David Bowie,Bowie,"Ken Scott, Bowie","June , 1972",Non-single,
+Ill Take You There,"It was a good day’s work at Stax in 1971 when the Staples cut both ""Respect Yourself"" and ""I’ll Take You There."" The latter — a funk vamp promising heavenly or sexual devotion, depending on your perspective — was ""written on the spot,"" said bassist David Hood. ""We always tried to do material that was inspirational,"" said Roebuck ""Pop"" Staples, ""in addition to whatever else it was.""",Bealtitude: Respect Yourself (Stax),The Staple Singers,Alvertis Isbell (Al Bell),Bell,"June , 1972",15 weeks, No. 1
+Born in the U.S.A.,"Before it became the centerpiece of Springsteen’s biggest album, ""U.S.A."" was an acoustic protest song meant for Nebraska. But when Springsteen revived it with the E Street Band, Roy Bittan came up with a huge synth riff, and Max Weinberg hammered out a beat like he was using M-80s for drumsticks. ""We played it two times, and our second take is the record,"" Springsteen said.",Born in the U.S.A. (Columbia),Bruce Springsteen,Springsteen,"Springsteen, Jon Landau, Chuck Plotkin, Steve Van Zandt","June , 1984",17 weeks, No. 9
+Somebody to Love,"""Somebody"" was about ""doubt and disillusionment,"" according to Darby Slick, who wrote it in the Great Society. His sister-in-law Grace brought the song to the Airplane, whose hard-edged rendition became one of the S.F. scene’s first hits. The Airplane made buttons that read jefferson airplane loves you; Great Society countered with ones that said the great society really doesn’t like you much at all.",Surrealistic Pillow (RCA),Jefferson Airplane,Darby Slick,Rick Jarrard,"Feb. , 1967",15 weeks, No. 5
+Something,"Harrison wrote “Something” near the end of the White Album sessions (one placeholder lyric: ""Something in the way she moves/Attracts me like a cauliflower""). It was too late to squeeze it onto the disc, so he gave it to Joe Cocker. The Beatles cut a new version the next year with a string section, which would become a standard recorded by everyone from Frank Sinatra to Ray Charles.",Abbey Road (Apple),The Beatles,George Harrison,George Martin,"Oct. , 1969",16 weeks, No. 3
+Sweet Little Sixteen,"""Sixteen"" celebrated kids, America, and the power of rock & roll — an ode to an underage rock fan in high-heeled shoes that included a roll call of U.S. cities. The Beach Boys fitted the song with new words and called it ""Surfin’ U.S.A.""; Berry threatened to sue and won a writing credit.",The Anthology (Chess),Chuck Berry,Berry,Leonard and Phil Chess,"Jan. , 1958",16 weeks, No. 2
+Sloop John B,"Wilson got turned onto the Bahamian folk song ""The Wreck of the John B."" by Al Jardine. For the Boys' version, Wilson added elaborate vocals and Billy Strange's 12-string-guitar part. He also changed ""This is the worst trip since I’ve been born"" to "". . . I’ve ever been on"" — a wink to acid culture.",Pet Sounds (Capitol),The Beach Boys,"Traditional, Brian Wilson",Wilson,"March , 1966",11 weeks, No. 3
+He Stopped Loving Her Today,"Dogged by alcohol problems, debt and a messy divorce, former country star Jones was set for a comeback after he left rehab in 1980. So he recorded one of his great heartbreak ballads, a tune about a man whose devotion ends with his death. Jones' nuanced performance was a hit on the country charts and won him a Grammy.",I Am What I Am (Epic/Legacy),George Jones,"Bobby Braddock,Curly Putnam",Billy Sherrill,"March , 1980",Did not chart ,
+Roadrunner,"Boston native Richman was obsessed with the Velvet Underground; when he started his own band, he rewrote the Velvets' ""Sister Ray"" into an ecstatic two-chord tribute to cruising down the highway with the radio on. This 1972 recording (featuring future members of Talking Heads and the Cars) wasn’t released for more than three years – whereupon English punks fell in love with it.",The Modern Lovers (Rhino),The Modern Lovers,Jonathan Richman,John Cale,"Oct. , 1976",Did not chart ,
+Jesus Walks,"""If I talk about God, my record won’t get played,"" West rapped on ""Jesus Walks,"" a gospel testimonial that samples the ARC Choir, a Harlem group composed of recovering drug addicts. Kanye was wrong: The song, in which the colossally cocky West admits that he needs Jesus ""like Kathie Lee needs Regis,"" blew up on the charts, making it the rare pop hit to name-check the Messiah.",The College Dropout (Roc-a-Fella),Kanye West,"Kanye West, Rhymefest",West,"Feb. , 2004",25 weeks, No. 11
+Sunday Bloody Sunday,"This rallying cry set to a military beat was inspired by two Sunday massacres in the ongoing civil war between Irish Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland. The band changed the song’s opening line from ""Don’t talk to me about the rights of the IRA"" to ""I can’t believe the news today"" out of fear that its plea for peace would be misconstrued.",War (Island),U2,"Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen Jr.",Steve Lillywhite,"March , 1983",Did not chart ,
+Personality Crisis,"No song better captured the New York Dolls' glammed-out R&B than ""Personality Crisis,"" the opening track on the group’s debut. Produced by Todd Rundgren during an eight-day session, ""Crisis"" was the trashy sound of a meltdown (""Frustration and heartache is what you got""); soon after, the Dolls fell victim to one themselves and dissolved amid a haze of drugs.",New York Dolls (Mercury),New York Dolls,"David Johansen, Johnny Thunders",Todd Rundgren,"Aug. , 1973",Did not chart,
+Tighten Up,"After Bell got his draft notice in May '67, he wanted to record with his group, the Drells, before he got shipped off to Vietnam. He pulled out ""Tighten Up,"" one of the group’s old demos. Bell got shot in the leg in Vietnam; the record went to Number One while he was in a military hospital, trying to convince people the song on the radio was his.",Tightening It Up: The Best of Archie Bell and the Drells (Rhino),Archie Bell and The Drells,"Bell, Billy Butler",Skipper Lee Frazier,"March , 1968",15 weeks, No. 1
+Walking in the Rain,"Just as the first wave of British Invasion bands threatened to overtake Spector at the top of the pop charts, the producer responded with ""Walking in the Rain."" The dreamy ballad features Veronica ""Ronnie"" Bennett singing lead. She nailed the vocal on the first take — unheard of in Spector’s world. Bennett and Spector were married two years later.",The Best of the Ronettes (ABKCO),The Ronettes,"Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil, Phil Spector",Spector,"Oct. , 1964",11 weeks, No. 23
+Sail Away,"Singers from Ray Charles to Etta James covered this portrait of America from the perspective of a slave trader. As usual for Newman, it combines lush melody with painful satire. ""One thing with my music,"" he said, ""you can’t sit and eat potato chips, and have it on in the background at a party.""",Sail Away (Rhino),Randy Newman,Newman,Lenny Waronker,"June , 1972",Did not chart,
+Hes A Rebel,"The Crystals were from Brooklyn, but Spector was in Los Angeles to record ""He’s a Rebel."" So he recorded this celebration of teenage bad boys with Darlene Love and the Blossoms under the Crystals name. A sobering footnote: Spector was just 21 years old.",Best of the Crystals (ABKCO),The Crystals,Gene Pitney,Phil Spector,"Aug. , 1962",18 weeks, No. 1
+Ooo Baby Baby,"Robinson called this ballad his ""national anthem,"" noting, ""Wherever we go, it’s the one song that everybody asks for."" ""Baby"" has what may be his most delicate and wounded vocal. When Robinson sighs the line ""I’m crying,"" it’s a reminder that no matter how many vocalists keep covering his songs, nobody sings Smokey like Smokey.",Ooo Baby Baby: The Anthology (Motown),Smokey Robinson and The Miracles,"Robinson, Warren Moore",Robinson,"March , 1965",11 weeks, No. 16
+Higher Ground,"Wonder wrote, produced and played every instrument on ""Higher Ground,"" which was recorded just before he was involved in a near-fatal car accident in August '73 — no, he wasn’t driving — that left him in a coma. Early in Wonder’s recovery, his road manager tried to revive him by singing the melody of ""Ground"" into the singer’s ear; Wonder responded by moving his fingers with the music.",Innervisions (Motown),Stevie Wonder,Wonder,Wonder,"Aug. , 1973",14 weeks, No. 4
+Hallelujah,"During his famed early gigs at the New York club Sin-é, Buckley used to break hearts with his version of this Cohen prayer. Buckley called it a homage to ""the hallelujah of the orgasm"" and had misgivings about his sensuous rendition: ""I hope Leonard doesn’t hear it."" On his posthumous live album Mystery White Boy, Buckley turns ""Hallelujah"" into a medley with the Smiths' ""I Know It’s Over.""",Grace (Columbia),Jeff Buckley,Leonard Cohen,Andy Wallace,"Aug. , 1994",Non-Single,
+Oh,"Pioneering Chicago R&B quintet the Dells scored a regional hit with this song in 1956. But bass vocalist Chuck Barksdale wasn’t on the record, so 13 years later, he persuaded the group to remake ""Night"" — and included his own opening monologue, along with a more sumptuous groove, an eerie guitar stab and heart-stopping strings. ""I think a little ego got involved there,"" he said.",Ultimate Collection (Hip-O),The Dells,"Marvin Junior, John Funches",Bobby Miller,"Aug. , 1969",11 weeks, No. 10
+I Can See For Miles,"""I sat down and made it good from the beginning,"" Townshend said of the Who’s most volcanic studio single in his first Rolling Stone interview. Written in 1966, ""Miles"" was painstakingly built in London and L.A. on rare days off from touring in the summer of '67, with Townshend piling on multiple guitars to replicate his onstage amp howl. That fury powered the song into the U.S. Top 10.",The Who Sell Out (MCA),The Who,Pete Townshend,Kit Lambert,"Oct. , 1967",11 weeks, No. 9
+Wild Thing,"When Taylor demo’d this three-chord monster in 1965, he didn’t take it too seriously: ""I was on the floor laughing when I was through."" But after a new U.K. band called the Troggs got hold of it, ""Wild Thing"" became a bar-band standard. Said Taylor, ""It’s still inspired, even in its own dumbness.""",Greatest Hits (Prime Cuts),The Troggs,Chip Taylor,Larry Page,"June , 1966",11 weeks, No. 1
+Mississippi,"Dylan first recorded ""Mississippi"" for 1997’s Time Out of Mind, but he hated producer Daniel Lanois’ busy arrangement. This version, produced pseudonymously by Dylan, has a sturdy, straightforward groove. ""Polyrhythm doesn’t work for knifelike lyrics about majesty and heroism,"" he said.",Love and Theft (Columbia),Bob Dylan,Dylan,Jack Frost,"Sept. , 2001",Non-Single,
+Heart of Glass,"Blondie singer Harry and guitarist Stein, her boyfriend, wrote the song as ""Once I Had a Love"" in their dingy New York apartment; keyboardist Jimmy Destri provided the synthesizer hook. The result brought punk and disco together on the dance floor. ""Chris always wanted to do disco,"" Destri said. Not all of their rock fans agreed. ""We used to do 'Heart of Glass' to upset people,"" he added.",Parallel Lines (Capitol),Blondie,"Deborah Harry, Chris Stein",Mike Chapman,"Sept. , 1978",21 weeks, No. 1 
+Highway to Hell,"""I’ve been on the road for 13 years,"" AC/DC singer Scott said in 1978. ""Planes, hotels, groupies, booze . . . they all scrape something from you."" Pumped up by producer ""Mutt"" Lange, ""Highway"" is the last will and testament of Scott: When he yells, ""Don’t stop me,"" right before Angus Young’s guitar solo, it’s clear that no one could – he drank himself to death in 1980.",Highway to Hell (Atlantic),AC/DC,"Angus Young, Malcolm Young, Bon Scott",Robert John Lange,"Aug. , 1979",10 weeks, No. 47 
+Paranoid Android,"""'Paranoid Android' is about the dullest fucking people on Earth,"" said singer Yorke, referring to lyrics such as ""Squealing Gucci little piggy,"" about a creepy coked-out woman he once spied at an L.A. bar. The sound was just as unnerving: a shape-shifting three-part prog-rock suite. Spooky fact: It was recorded in actress Jane Seymour’s 15th-century mansion, a house that Yorke was convinced was haunted.",OK Computer (Capitol),Radiohead,Thom Yorke,"Nigel Godrich, Radiohead","May , 1997",Did not chart ,
+All the Young Dudes,"U.K. hard-rock band Hoople had already passed up ""Suffragette City,"" so they didn’t say no when Bowie offered to let them record ""Dudes,"" the ultimate glam-rock hymn. ""I’m thinking, 'He wants to give us that?'"" said drummer Dale Griffin. ""'He must be crazy!'"" Ian Hunter made it anthemic, contrary to the writer’s apocalyptic intent. ""[It’s] about the news,"" Bowie told RS. ""It’s no hymn to the youth.""",All the Young Dudes (Columbia),Mott the Hoople,David Bowie,Bowie,"July , 1972",11 weeks, No. 37 
+Mack the Knife,"Darin first hit in 1958 with the rock & roll bathtub classic ""Splish Splash."" But he changed his image with this hepcat version of a morbid tale from Weill’s Threepenny Opera, which dates back to 1928. Darin came on as a finger-snapping sophisticate at home in the cocktail lounge, scatting over a jazzy groove; it was easy to forget he was singing about a bloodthirsty Berlin gangster.",That’s All (Atlantic),Bobby Darin,"Marc Blitzstein, Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill",Ahmet Ertegun,"March , 1959",26 weeks, No. 1 
+Money Honey,"The Drifters were a tough R&B group led by the great soul singer Clyde McPhatter. After McPhatter got drafted in 1954, the Drifters enjoyed pop success with a totally different lineup. Sadly, McPhatter drank himself to death in 1972, before reaching 40.",Greatest Hits (Curb),The Drifters,Jesse Stone,"Ahmet Ertegun, Jerry Wexler","Sept., 1953",,
+Paranoid,"After Sabbath’s first U.S. tour, Iommi was at Regent Studios in London trying to write one more song for their next album. ""I started fiddling about on the guitar and came up with this riff,"" he said. ""When the others came back [from lunch], we recorded it on the spot.""",Paranoid (Castle),Black Sabbath,"Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne, William Ward",Rodger Bain,"Nov. , 1970",8 weeks, No. 61 
+Chain of Fools,"The second of four hits from 1968’s Lady Soul, this kissoff was written by Covay as a straight blues about field hands in the South. Covay reworked the lyrics for Franklin; producer Wexler cooked up the propulsive stomp. When songwriter Ellie Greenwich heard the track in Wexler’s office, she suggested an extra vocal-harmony part, which Wexler got her to sing on the final master.",Lady Soul (Rhino),Aretha Franklin,Don Covay,Jerry Wexler,"Nov. , 1967",12 weeks, No. 2 
+Rappers Delight,"Master Gee, Wonder Mike and Big Bank Hank were a pure studio creation, a trio of unknown MCs recruited by Sugar Hill’s Sylvia Robinson to make rap’s first radio hit. Based on a sample of Chic’s ""Good Times,"" the track — with raps about bad food instead of boasting — kept going hip-hop, hippity-to-the-hop for 15 minutes.",Rappers Delight: The Best of Sugarhill Gang (Rhino),Sugarhill Gang,"S. Robinson, H. Jackson, M. Wright, G. O’Brien",Sylvia Robinson,"Oct. , 1979",12 weeks, No. 36 
+The Harder They Come,"Before this song, Cliff had already won acclaim: Bob Dylan lauded his 1969 single ""Vietnam"" as ""the best protest song ever written."" But Cliff became an international star with this gospel tale of eternal rebellion, expressly written for the movie of the same name, in which he played Ivan Martin, a young man who comes to Kingston, Jamaica, to make his way as a musician.",The Harder They Come (Island),Jimmy Cliff,Cliff,Cliff,"March , 1975",Did not chart,
+Baba ORiley,"""Baba O’Riley"" (a.k.a. ""Teenage Wasteland"") takes its name both from Townshend’s spiritual guru, Meher Baba, and minimalist composer Terry Riley, whose work inspired the track’s repetitive electronic textures. The Irish fiddle solo at the end, though, was all Keith Moon’s idea.",Who’s Next (MCA),The Who,Pete Townshend,"Glyn Johns, the Who","Aug. , 1971",Non-single in U.S.,
+You Keep Me Hanging On,"The stuttering guitar sounds like an SOS, and the distress call only gets louder in Diana Ross’ vocals. HDH had wanted to write a rock song for the Supremes; in 1968, Vanilla Fudge scored with a Top 10 cover.",The Ultimate Collection (Motown),The Supremes,"Brian Holland,Lamont Dozier, Eddie Holland","Brian Holland, Dozier","Oct. , 1966",12 weeks, No. 1
+Maybe Im Amazed,"""Maybe I’m Amazed"" first appeared on McCartney, which Paul made single-handedly (Linda helped with the harmonies) as the Beatles were dissolving. McCartney dedicated it to ""me and Linda with the Beatles breaking up. Maybe I’m amazed at what’s going on, maybe I’m not."" The song’s biggest success came in 1977, when a live version from Wings Over America went to the Top 10.",McCartney (Capitol),Paul McCartney,McCartney,McCartney,"April , 1970",13 weeks, No. 10
+Walk This Way,"The inspiration? A Mel Brooks gag from Young Frankenstein. When they saw the film on a late-night break from recording, they laughed so hard that Tyler wrote the lyrics the next day — then left them in the back seat of a cab and had to rewrite them in the stairwell of the studio. Perry fashioned the funky riff in the style of the New Orleans band the Meters so that, as he said, “we don’t have to cover James Brown.”",Toys in the Attic (Sony),Aerosmith,"Steven Tyler, Joe Perry",Jack Douglas,"Dec. , 1976",17 weeks, No. 10
+Beautiful Day,"The song that re-established U2 as the world’s biggest band almost never saw the light of day: U2 felt the tune — a prayer for transcendence with lyrics inspired by Bono’s work with Jubilee 2000, a group advocating debt relief for poor nations — sounded too much like the band’s Eighties work. ""If we’re just chucking it out because it reminds us of U2, that’s not very good,"" said the Edge.",All That You Can’t Leave Behind (Island),U2,U2,"Daniel Lanois, Brian Eno","Oct. , 2000",25 weeks, No. 1
+Beat It,"""I wanted to write the type of rock song that I would go out and buy,"" said Jackson, ""but also something totally different from the rock music I was hearing on Top 40 radio."" The result was a throbbing dance single with a fingers-flying guitar solo provided by Eddie Van Halen. ""I’m not gonna sit here and tell you what to play,"" Jones instructed Van Halen. ""The reason you’re here is because of what you do play.""",Thriller (Epic),Michael Jackson,Jackson,Quincy Jones,"Dec. , 1982",25 weeks, No. 1 
+Wild Horses,"Richards wrote this acoustic ballad about leaving his wife, Anita, and young son Marlon as the Stones prepared for their first American tour in three years. Stones sidekick Ian Stewart refused to play the minor chords required, so Memphis musical maverick Jim Dickinson filled in on upright piano at the Muscle Shoals, Alabama, recording session. Jagger’s ex-wife Jerry Hall calls it her favorite Stones song.",Sticky Fingers (Virgin),The Rolling Stones,"Mick Jagger, Keith Richards",Jimmy Miller,"April , 1971",8 weeks, No. 28
+Sweet Jane,"After Reed quit the band, a wistful coda was chopped out of this song. ""How could anyone be that stupid?"" Reed asked RS in 1987. ""If I could have stood it, I would have stayed with them and showed them what to do."" For years, the only available version of the coda was on the 1969 live LP, but the full ""Jane"" appears on recent reissues.",Loaded (Fully Loaded Edition) (Rhino),The Velvet Underground,Lou Reed,"The Velvet Underground, Shel Kagan, Geoffrey Haslam","Aug. , 1970",Non-single,
+Spirit in the Sky,"""I’m just some Jewish musician who really dug gospel music,"" Greenbaum said. ""I decided there was a larger Jesus gospel market out there than a Jehovah one."" The crunchy guitar sound came when a friend built a small fuzzbox right into the body of Greenbaum’s Fender Telecaster.",Spirit in the Sky (Varese),Norman Greenbaum,Greenbaum,Erik Jacobsen,"Feb. , 1970",15 weeks, No. 3
+Subterranean Homesick Blues,"""It’s from Chuck Berry, a bit of 'Too Much Monkey Business' and some of the scat songs of the Forties,"" Dylan said. John Lennon once said of the track that it was so captivating it made him wonder how he could ever compete.",Bringing It All Back Home (Sony),Bob Dylan,Dylan,Tom Wilson,"March , 1965",8 weeks, No. 39
+I Cant Make You Love Me,"Raitt was a Seventies blues prodigy who didn’t break through until 1989’s Nick of Time. Two years later came this clear eyed song about love gone cold. Co-author Reid was a defensive tackle for the Cincinnati Bengals before heading off to Nashville. ""Of all the songs in my career, that one is the greatest gift,"" Raitt said. ""I think it stands among the best songs ever written.""",Luck of the Draw (Capitol),Bonnie Raitt,"Mike Reid, Allen Shamblin","Don Was, Raitt","Nov. , 1991",20 weeks, No. 18
+We Will Rock You,"In 1977, Sid Vicious wandered into the wrong recording studio and ran into Freddie Mercury sitting at his piano. ""Still bringing ballet to the masses, are you?"" snarked Sid. ""Oh, yes, Mr. Ferocious, dear,"" Freddie replied. ""We are doing our best."" Queen soon one-upped the punks with this foot-stomping, conquering-army smash, the B side of ""We Are the Champions.""",News of the World (Hollywood),Queen,"Brian May, Mike Stone",Queen,"Oct. , 1977",14 weeks, No. 52
+Wind and Fire,"""Way of the World"" was the title song of a little-seen movie starring Harvey Keitel as an idealistic label exec and EWF as the band he wants to produce, rather than white-bread pop acts. The movie was rereleased as Shining Star in 1977, and it flopped again. The song, however, was a Top Five R&B hit in 1975.",That’s the Way of the World (Columbia),Earth,"Maurice White, Verdine White, Charles Stepney",Maurice White,"March , 1975",16 weeks, No. 12
+The End,"Morrison had worked on a student production of Oedipus Rex at Florida State. But his exploration of its sexual taboos took on bold new life in the 11 minutes of ""The End,"" which evolved during the Doors' live shows at L.A.’s Whisky-A-Go-Go. ""Every time I hear that song, it means something else to me,"" Morrison said in 1969. ""It could be goodbye to a kind of childhood.""",The Doors (Elektra),The Doors,"John Densmore, Robbie Krieger, Ray Manzarek, Jim Morrison",Paul Rothchild,"March , 1967",Non-single,
+For Your Precious Love,"The spiritual tenor of the vocals came from the Impressions' church roots; Butler and Curtis Mayfield had sung together in the Northern Jubilee Gospel Singers. The lyrics were drawn verbatim from a poem Butler had written in high school. The single’s credit — ""Jerry Butler and the Impressions"" — caused friction in the group, which Butler soon left.",Greatest Hits (Curb),Jerry Butler and The Impressions,"Arthur Brooks, Butler",Calvin Carter,"June , 1958",12 weeks, No. 11
+Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine,"Engineer Lenhoff got co-writing credit mostly because he got out of bed and drove five hours to Nashville to record this duet with former Famous Flame Byrd, which Brown wanted cut pronto.",50th Anniversary Collection (UTV/Polydor),James Brown,"Brown, Bobby Byrd,Ron Lenhoff",Brown,"July , 1970",9 weeks, No. 15
+Good Lovin,"A soulful New York bar band, the Rascals tried to replicate their jacked-up live rendition of the Olympics' ""Good Lovin'"" in the studio. ""We weren’t too pleased with our performance,"" singer Felix Cavaliere admitted. ""It was a shock to us when it went to the top of the charts.""",The Very Best of the Rascals (Rhino),The Young Rascals,"Rudy Clark, Arthur Resnick","Tom Dowd, Arif Mardin","March , 1966",14 weeks, No. 1 
+Baby Love,"Diana Ross wasn’t the strongest vocalist in the Supremes, but as the Motown production team discovered, when she sang in a lower register, her voice worked its sultry magic. When this song was finished, Berry Gordy thought it wasn’t catchy enough and sent the group back into the studio. The result: the smoky ""Oooooh"" right at the start.",The Ultimate Collection (Motown),The Supremes,"Brian Holland,Lamont Dozier, Eddie Holland","Brian Holland, Dozier","Sept. , 1964",13 weeks, No. 1
+Dancing Barefoot,"Smith started as a poet and Rolling Stone writer before finding fame as a New York punk priestess. ""Dancing Barefoot"" is her mystical ode to sexual rapture. ""I think sex is one of the five highest sensations one can experience,"" she said in 1978. ""A very high orgasm is a way of communion with our creator."" She added that she masturbated to her own album-cover photo, as well as to the Bible.",Wave (Arista),Patti Smith Group,"Smith, Ivan Kral",Todd Rundgren,"May , 1979",Did not chart,
+Fight the Power,"The opening credits of Spike Lee’s 1989 Do the Right Thing feature a masterpiece from the Bomb Squad production team: a dissonant call to revolution, with a title borrowed from an Isley Brothers funk hit and a groove lifted from the 1972 B side ""Hot Pants Road"" by the J.B.’s. Public Enemy direct their rage at Elvis Presley, John Wayne and, er, Bobby McFerrin.",Fear of a Black Planet (Def Jam),Public Enemy,"Chuck D, Eric Sadler, Hank Shocklee, Keith Shocklee","Sadler, Hank Shocklee","June , 1989",Did not chart,
+Cortez the Killer,"""It’s weird,"" Young mused to Rolling Stone in 1975. ""I’ve got all these songs about Peru, the Aztecs and the Incas. Time travel stuff."" Over a slow, rambling Crazy Horse guitar jam, he mourns the Aztec civilization destroyed by the Spanish conquistadors. The song ends after seven and a half minutes, onlybecause a circuit blew on the recording console. The band went on for another verse.",Zuma (Reprise),Neil Young,Young,"Young, David Briggs","Nov. , 1975",Non-single,
+Heartbreaker,"""Heartbreaker,"" like much of Led Zeppelin II, was recorded hit-and-run style on Zep’s 1969 American tour. The awesome swagger captures the debauched mood of the band’s wild early days in L.A. ""Nineteen years old and never been kissed,"" Plant recalled in 1975. ""I remember it well. It’s been a long time. Nowadays we’re more into staying in our room and reading Nietzsche.""",Led Zeppelin II (Atlantic),Led Zeppelin,"Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Bonham, John Paul Jones",Page,"Oct. , 1969",Non-single,
+Take Me Out,"""Take Me Out"" put Franz Ferdinand at the head of a danceable rockwave. ""Clubs [play] a mix of rock and electronic music,"" singer Kapranos said. ""It makes you think that there’s no difference.""",Franz Ferdinand (Domino),Franz Ferdinand,"Alex Kapranos, Nick McCarthy",Tore Johansson,"Feb. , 2004",19 weeks, No. 66
+Schools Out,"""The few minutes waiting for that final school bell to ring are so intense that when it happens, it’s almost orgasmic,"" said Cooper. Inspiredby a Forties Dead End Kids film series, the tune will live for as long as kids really, really hate school.",School’s Out (Warner Bros.),Alice Cooper,"Michael Bruce, Glen Buxton, Cooper, Dennis Dunway, Neal Smith",Bob Ezrin,"May , 1972",13 weeks, No. 7
+Many Rivers to Cross,"When Jamaican filmmaker Percy Henzell heard ""Many Rivers to Cross,"" a ballad Jimmy Cliff wrote in 1969, he ordered Cliff the lead in his film The Harder They Come. The song, a hymn about struggle and perseverance, summed up the outlaw mood of early reggae. On the strength of his songs and acting in the film,Cliff became one of reggae’s first international stars.","Wonderful World, Beautiful People (A&M)",Jimmy Cliff,Cliff,Cliff,"Dec. , 1969",Did not chart,
+Wish You Were Here,"While Pink Floyd were recording this elegy for burned-out ex-frontman Syd Barrett, he mysteriously appeared in the studio in such bad shape that, at first, nobody in the band recognized him. ""He stood up and said, 'Right, when do I put my guitar on?'"" keyboardist Rick Wright recalled. ""And of course, he didn’t have a guitar with him. And we said, 'Sorry, Syd, the guitar’s all done.'""",Wish You Were Here (Capitol),Pink Floyd,"David Gilmour, Roger Waters",Pink Floyd,"Sept. , 1975",Non-single,
+Alison,"Some people think ""Alison"" is a murder ballad. ""It isn’t,"" Costello told Rolling Stone in 2002. ""It’s about disappointing somebody. It’s a thin line between love and hate, as the Persuaders sang."" Costello’s backup band was Huey Lewis' outfit Clover; Lewis himself didn’t play on the album, presumably because Costello didn’t need any harmonica players.",My Aim Is True (Rhino),Elvis Costello,Costello,Nick Lowe,"Nov. , 1977",Did not chart,
+Dont Let Me Be Misunderstood,"The Animals’ reworking of this song radically departed from Nina Simone’s orchestrated down-tempo original version, recorded the year before. ""It was never considered pop material, but it somehow got passed on to us and we fell in love with it,"" recalled Eric Burdon. Burdon would sometimes perform a slow, Simone-like rendition live.",Retrospective (ABKCO),The Animals,"Bennie Benjamin, Sol Marcus,Gloria Caldwell",Mickie Most,"Jan. , 1965",10 weeks, No. 15
+Comfortably Numb,"Roger Waters based one of the saddest drug songs ever written on a sleazy Philadelphia doctor who injected him with tranquilizers before a gig when he was suffering from hepatitis. ""That was the longest two hours of my life,"" Waters said. ""Trying to do a show when you can hardly lift your arm."" Arguably the greatest cover of ""Numb"": Van Morrison’s 1990 version from The Wall: Live in Berlin concert.",The Wall (Capitol),Pink Floyd,"David Gilmour, Roger Waters",Bob Ezrin,"Dec. , 1979",Did not chart,
+I Put a Spell on You,"Former boxer Jalacy J. Hawkins got loaded on muscatel before shrieking out the hoodoo of ""Spell on You,"" and it took a healthy swig of J&B for him to re-create his studio performance onstage, where he climbed outof a coffin. The prop was Alan Freed’s brainstorm; when Hawkins resisted, Freed peeled off three $100 bills. ""I said, 'Show me the coffin,'"" the singer quipped.",Voodoo Jive (Rhino),Screamin' Jay Hawkins,"Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Herb Slotkin",Arnold Maxin,"Sept. , 1956",Did not chart,
+In Dreams,"Orbison claimed the lyrics came to him in a dream; he wrote the music once he woke up. It was a Top 10 hit in the U.S. but even bigger in England. The track made him so popular that Orbison toured the U.K. with an up and-coming opening act called the Beatles. Roy’s reaction: ""I’ve never heard of them."" Next, he’d tour Australia with the Rolling Stones.",For the Lonely: 18 Greatest Hits (Rhino),Roy Orbison,"Joe Melson, Orbison",Fred Foster,"Feb. , 1963",13 weeks, No. 7
+Wake Up Little Susie,"Though it sounds quaint today, ""Wake Up Little Susie,"" the tale of a teen couple who fall asleep at a drive-in, stirred up controversy in 1957: It was banned in Boston but became the Everlys’ first Number One. In 2000, when candidate George W. Bush was asked by Oprah Winfrey what his favorite song was, he said, ""'Wake Up Little Susie,' by Buddy Holly.""",The Best of the Everly Brothers (Rhino),The Everly Brothers,"Felice Bryant, Boudleaux Bryant",Archie Bleyer,"Sept. , 1957",26 weeks, No. 1
+Iron Man,"When an accident left guitarist Tony Iommi without the tips of two fingers, it seemed like the end of the road for Black Sabbath. But, inspired by the great, handicapped guitarist Django Reinhardt, Iommi fashioned thimbles out of plastic, and developed a heavy playing style that would define metal forever.",Paranoid (Warner Bros.),Black Sabbath,Black Sabbath,Roger Bain,"Feb. , 1971",10 weeks, No. 52
+Whats Love Got to Do With It,"At first, Turner thought ""Love"" was ""wimpy."" So Britten plugged in his guitar and roughed up the tune. It was Tina’s first Number One.",Private Dancer (Capitol),Tina Turner,"Terry Britten, Graham Lyle",Britten,"June , 1984",28 weeks, No. 1
+Lonely Teardrops,"One of the first hits written by Motown founder Gordy, ""Lonely Teardrops"" set Wilson’s pleading vocals over Latin rhythms. At a New Jersey casino in September 1975, Wilson collapsed from a heart attack on stage in the middle of singing ""Lonely Teardrops"" — right at the line ""My heart is crying."" He sank into a coma and died in 1984.",The Greatest Hits of Jackie Wilson (Brunswick),Jackie Wilson,"Berry Gordy, Gwen Gordy, Tyran Carlo",Dick Jacobs,"Nov. , 1958",21 weeks, No. 7 
+Why Do Fools Fall In Love,"Frankie Lymon was one of rock & roll’s first teen prodigies — and one of its earliest tragedies. Lymon wrote and sang this hit as a 13-year-old Harlem kid. But the writing credit — and money — went to his label boss, Levy, an associate of the Genovese family. Lymon died a penniless heroin addict in 1968 at the age of 25.",The Best of Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers (Rhino),Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers,"Lymon, Morris Levy",George Goldner,"Jan. , 1956",21 weeks, No. 6
+Thats Entertainment,"The Jam had a long run of U.K. hits with their mod guitar flash – but they were too defiantly British for U.S. success. The lads hit hardest with this acoustic lament, with Weller brooding over the heartaches of everyday working-class life. His songwriting technique? ""Coming home pissed from the pub and writing 'That’s Entertainment' in 10 minutes.""",Sound Affects (Polygram),The Jam,Paul Weller,"Vic Coppersmith-Heaven, the Jam","Nov. , 1980",Non-single in the U.S.,
+Say It Loud - Im Black and Im Proud,"In 1968, Brown traded his processed 'do for an Afro and started writing songs like this anthem. The real stars are Clyde Stubblefield on drums and the L.A. kids — mostly white and Asian-American — yelling, ""I’mblack and I’m proud.""",50th Anniversary Collection (UTV/Polydor),James Brown,"Brown, Pee Wee Ellis",Brown,"Sept. , 1968",11 weeks, No. 10
+With a Little Help From My Friends,"As fictional crooner Billy Shears, Ringo Starr delivers his most charming vocals on this tune. ""Ringo’s got a great sentimental thing,"" McCartney said. ""I suppose that’s why we write these sorts of songs for him.""",Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Apple/Capitol),The Beatles,"John Lennon, Paul McCartney",George Martin,"June , 1967",Non-single,
+Ruby Tuesday,"At a session for Between the Buttons in November 1966, Richards drew this lyrical sketch of Linda Keith, his first serious girlfriend, and turned it into an uncharacteristically wistful ballad. Brian Jones played the recorder on the track, giving the song a madrigal feel. The countermelody was played by Bill Wyman, who fingered the strings on a cello while Richards bowed them.",Between the Buttons (ABKCO),The Rolling Stones,"Mick Jagger, Keith Richards",Andrew Loog Oldham,"Jan. , 1967",12 weeks, No. 1
+Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain,"Nelson had gotten his start writing hits like ""Crazy"" for Patsy Cline, but his own breakthrough was a cover of an old country standard written by Rose in 1945 and originally recorded by Roy Acuff. Delivered with Nelson’s jazz-singer phrasing, it’s the beating heart of Red Headed Stranger, his 1975 concept album about love and death in the Old West.",Red Headed Stranger (Sony),Willie Nelson,Fred Rose,Nelson,"July , 1975",18 weeks, No. 21
+Da Ya Think Im Sexy?,"In that rock-disco moment that also yielded the Stones' ""Miss You,"" Stewart's entry was a tale of lust at first sight with an irresistible hook. But that hook actually wasn’t by Stewart and Appice. It came from ""Taj Mahal,"" by the Brazilian songwriter Jorge Ben. After Ben won a plagiarism lawsuit, royalties for the song went to UNICEF.",Blondes Have More Fun (Warner Bros.),Rod Stewart,"Stewart, Carmine Appice",Tom Dowd,"Dec. , 1978",21 weeks, No. 1
+One More Time,"Some critics panned the use of a vocoder on this dance-floor epiphany, a tribute to '70s disco. But ""One More Time"" kicked off the Auto-Tune revolution that would dominate pop in the 2000s. ""The healthy thing is that people either loved it or hated it,""said Daft Punk’s Bangalter. ""The worst thing is when you make art and people are not moved.""",Discovery (Virgin),Daft Punk,"Thomas Bangalter, Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, Anthony Moore",Daft Punk,"Nov. , 2000",16 weeks, No. 61
+Like A Prayer,"In a voice full of Catholic angst and disco thunder, Madonna turned 30 and closed the book on her first marriage. ""I didn’t have the censors on me in terms of emotions or music,"" Madonna said. ""I did take a lot more chances with this one, but obviously success gives you the confidence to do those things."" The obligatory controversial video featured burning crosses, black lingerie and masturbation in church.",Like a Prayer (Warner Bros.),Madonna,"Madonna, Patrick Leonard","Madonna, Leonard","March , 1989",16 weeks, No. 1
+One Way or Another,"Blondie were already stars in Europe, but they didn’t blow up here until their hit-packed third disc. ""One Way"" was Harry’s ode to obsessive lust, mixing the girl-group sound with the attack of the Ramones.", Parallel Lines (Capitol),Blondie,"Deborah Harry, Nigel Harrison",Mike Chapman,"Sept. , 1978",14 weeks, No. 24
+Sign O The Times,"When Prince broke with his longtime group the Revolution, he aborted an ambitious, 18-song project called Dream Factory. One of the songs from those sessions served as the title track for Sign 'O' the Times. A stark socio-political talking blues written by Prince using the pre-programmed sounds on his synth, it brought Sly Stone-like realism to Eighties pop radio.",Sign 'O' the Times (Warner Bros.),Prince,Prince,Prince,"March , 1987",14 weeks, No. 3
+Heart of Gold,"Before he started Harvest, in 1971, Young suffered a slipped disc and spent two years in and out of hospitals: ""I couldn’t physically play an electric guitar,"" he told Rolling Stone. So he cut a collection of mellow tracks while he was in Nashville to appearon Johnny Cash’s variety show, with a crew of local session players. The yearning ""Heart of Gold"" is Young’s only Number One hit.",Harvest (Warner Bros.),Neil Young,Young,"Elliot Mazer, Young","Feb , 1972",14 weeks, No. 1
+Get Up,"The song’s chorus (""Stand up for your right . . ./Don’t give up the fight"") sounds like a political anthem, which is how Amnesty International still employs it at rallies. But the lyrics are actually rooted in Rastafarian theology, about not being pacified by promises of the afterlife. The Wailers, of course, were far from placated, especially Tosh, who sings the fire-breathing final verse.",Legend (Island),Bob Marley and the Wailers,"Bob Marley, Peter Tosh",Chris Blackwell,"Nov. , 1975",Did not chart,
+Street Fighting Man,"The Stones' most political song came about after Jagger went to a March 1968 anti-war rally at London's U.S. embassy, with mounted police wading into a crowd of 25,000. The distorted drone was built on acoustic guitars pumped through a mono cassette recorder.",Beggars Banquet (ABKCO),The Rolling Stones,"Mick Jagger, Keith Richards",Jimmy Miller,"Aug. , 1968",6 weeks, No. 48
+Baby I Need Your Loving,"The Four Tops were playing a Detroit nightclub when they got a call from Brian Holland saying he had a song ready for them. After their show ended, they arrived at Hitsville at 2 a.m. to record ""Baby I Need Your Loving,"" which would become their first single for Motown.",The Ultimate Collection (Motown),The Four Tops,"Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, Eddie Holland","Holland, Dozier, Holland","July , 1964",12 weeks, No. 11
+Just My Imagination,"Eddie Kendricks, who'd sung lead on the Temptations' first hit, ""The Way You Do the Things You Do"" in 1964, took his last lead as a Tempt. By the time the song hit Number One, Kendricks had left the group for a solo career. But he gave this one his all: Tempt Otis Williams said he left the studio at 6 a.m. the night they cut it, and Kendricks was still there, working out his part.",Anthology (Motown),The Temptations,"Norman Whitfield, Barrett Strong",Whitfield,"Jan. , 1971",15 weeks, No. 1
+Roxanne,"""That song has been the turnaround for us,"" Stewart Copeland told Rolling Stone. Sting came up with the idea for the song while wandering around the red-light district of Paris after a canceled show, wondering what it would be like to be in love with a prostitute. The title came from a poster for the play Cyrano de Bergerac — featuring a heroine named Roxanne — in the band's hotel lobby in Paris.",Outlandos d'Amour (Interscope),The Police,Sting,The Police,"Jan , 1979",13 weeks, No. 32
+Tiny Dancer,"Lyricist Taupin wrote this 1971 song about his first wife, Maxine Feibelman, who really was a seamstress for John's band and obviously did marry a music man. John's skyrocketing melody got a little help from Paul Buckmaster's strings and from Rick Wakeman, soon to join prog-rockers Yes, who played organ. ""Tiny Dancer"" was revived in the 2000 film Almost Famous.",Madman Across the Water (Island),Elton John,"John, Bernie Taupin",Gus Dudgeon,"Nov. , 1971",7 weeks, No. 41
+Know You Got Soul,"Rakim was the microphone fiend who was dripping steam. Eric B. was the DJ with the James Brown samples. They were New York legends before ever releasing a song (""Eric B. was driving a Rolls-Royce before he ever put out a record,"" Chris Rock once told Rolling Stone. ""My man was gangsta""), but this cut, named for a 1971 song by Brown sideman Bobby Byrd, made the whole world take notice.",Paid in Full (Island),Eric B. and Rakim,Eric B. and Rakim,Eric B. and Rakim,"July , 1987",Did Not Chart,
+Stills,"On May 4th, 1970, the National Guard killed four protesters at Kent State University in Ohio. Young wrote a fiery indictment of the shootings, and CSNY cut their version of the song just 11 days after the tragedy, then rush-released it, knocking their own ""Teach Your Children"" off the charts. ""David Crosby cried when we finished this take,"" said Young.",Decade (Reprise),Crosby,Neil Young,"Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young","June , 1970",9 weeks, No. 14
+Ticket to Ride,"Lennon claimed that this composition of his was the first heavy-metal song. For his part, McCartney played lead guitar. ""We almost invented the idea of a new bit of a song on the fade-out,"" he said of ""Ticket."" ""It was quite radical at the time.""",Help! (Capitol/Apple),The Beatles,"John Lennon, Paul McCartney",George Martin,"April , 1965",11 weeks, No. 1
+Whipping Post,"This anthem was written on an ironing board in a darkened Florida bedroom by Allman. Punctuated by Duane Allman's knifelike guitar incisions, the song is best appreciated in the 23-minute incarnation on At Fillmore East.",At Fillmore East (Mercury),The Allman Brothers Band,Gregg Allman,Tom Dowd,"Nov. , 1969",Non-single,
+Bitter Sweet Symphony,"Since it used a sample from an orchestral version of the Rolling Stones' ""The Last Time,"" this song was credited to Jagger–Richards. But Allen Klein, who owned the ""Last Time"" rights, broke an agreement and demanded 100 percent of the royalties. Ashcroft called it the best song the Stones had written in 20 years.",Urban Hymns (Virgin),The Verve,"Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Richard Ashcroft","The Verve, Christopher Marc Potter, Youth","Sept. , 1997",20 weeks, No. 12
+Tell It Like It Is,"""I heard 'Tell It Like It Is' and I said, 'Bro, this is the shit right here,'"" said Art Neville. Aaron was working as a longshoreman when he cut this sublime ballad. He originally felt something so sweet wouldn't catch on in an era of gritty R&B. ""A lot of people come up to me and say, 'That song got me and my wife together,'"" he recalled. ""And others say, 'It broke me and my wife up.'""",Tell It Like It Is: Golden Classics (Collectables),Aaron Neville,"George Davis, Lee Diamond",Davis,"Nov. , 1966",14 weeks, No. 2
+Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,"Inspired by the Rolling Stones' Goats Head Soup, John and lyricist Taupin went to Kingston, Jamaica, to record John's sixth album. ""The studio was surrounded by barbed wire,"" said Taupin, ""and there were guys with machine guns."" Too scared to leave their hotel, the duo wrote 21 songs in three days, including ""Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.""",Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (Island),Elton John,"John, Bernie Taupin",Gus Dudgeon,"Sept. , 1973",17 weeks, No. 2
+Radio Free Europe,"""We hated it,"" said Peter Buck of the sound on the first version of ""Europe,"" on indie label Hib-Tone. ""It was mastered by a deaf man, apparently."" R.E.M. rerecorded it for Murmur, with a richer melody and tighter rhythm — ""like Motown,"" Buck recalled. Michael Stipe mumbled his lyrics — a vague riff on U.S. cultural imperialism — because he hadn't finished writing them when it was time to record.",Murmur (A&M),R.E.M.,R.E.M.,"Mitch Easter, Don Dixon","July , 1983",5 weeks, No. 78
+Pride (In the Name of Love),"The chords came from a 1983 soundcheck in Hawaii; the lyrics about Martin Luther King Jr. were inspired by an exhibit at Chicago's Peace Museum. With backing vocals by Pretenders singer Chrissie Hynde (credited as Mrs. Christine Kerr; she was married to Jim Kerr of Simple Minds at the time), the result was the band's first Top 40 hit.",The Unforgettable Fire (Island),U2,"Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen Jr.","Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois","Oct. , 1984",15 weeks, No. 33
+Hit the Road Jack,"Charles asked Mayfield, a one-time R&B hitmaker whose performing career was curtailed by a car accident in 1952, if he had any songs for Charles to record. Mayfield offered up ""Hit the Road Jack."" The snarling female vocal was provided by Margie Hendricks of the Raelettes. Hendricks' affair with Charles produced a son in 1959; Charles fired her from the Raelettes in 1964.",Ultimate Hits Collection (Rhino),Ray Charles,Percy Mayfield,Sid Feller,"Sept. , 1961",11 weeks, No. 1
+Maps,"""Maps"" is both a soul ballad and an art-punk classic, with torrents of jagged guitar noise and thundering drums backing up Karen O's lovesick wail. The YYY's breakthrough hit was inspired by a case of real-life rock & roll romance: The Divine Miss O (real name Karen Orzolek) wrote the song about being on tour and missing her boyfriend, Angus Andrew, singer for fellow New York band Liars.",Fever to Tell (Interscope),Yeah Yeah Yeahs,Yeah Yeah Yeahs,David Andrew Sitek,"Feb. , 2004",13 weeks, No. 87
+Fake Plastic Trees,"Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke would describe ""Fake Plastic Trees"" as the song on which he found his lyrical voice. He cut the vocal, accompanying himself on acoustic guitar, in one take, then the band filled in its parts around him. Yorke said the song began as ""a very nice melody which I had no idea what to do with, then you wake up and find your head singing some words to it.""",The Bends (Capitol),Radiohead,Radiohead,John Leckie,"March , 1995",4 weeks, No. 65
+Another Brick in the Wall Part 2,"Waters' attack on teachers who practice ""dark sarcasm in the classroom"" was inspired by his own schoolmasters. ""The school I was at — they were really like that,"" Waters said. ""[All] they had to offer was their own bitterness and cynicism."" There are three versions of ""Another Brick"" on The Wall, but ""Part 2"" was the hit.",The Wall (Capitol),Pink Floyd,Roger Waters,"Bob Ezrin, Waters, David Gilmour","Nov. , 1979",25 weeks, No. 1
+Brown Eyed Handsome Man,"Berry was inspired to write this song while he was touring through heavily black and Latino areas of California. As Berry put it, ""I didn't see too many blue eyes."" He did see a good-looking Chicano nabbed for loitering until ""some woman came up shouting for the policeman to let him go."" Over a manic guitar lick, the song spins a riotous tale about a dark-eyed loverman.",The Anthology (Chess),Chuck Berry,Berry,"Leonard Chess, Phil Chess","Sept. , 1956",Did Not Chart,
+Wonderful World,"Cooke was rooming with Adler, who had already finished this song when Cooke came up with the academic conceit that made it work. Cut while Cooke was still signed to Keen, it sat around until he'd moved to RCA — then sold a million. Before it came out, Cooke liked to sing it for women he met, telling them he'd made it up on the spot just for them.",Portrait of a Legend 1951-1964 (ABKCO),Sam Cooke,"Cooke, Herb Alpert, Lou Adler","Cooke, Adler","May , 1960",15 weeks, No. 12
+Marquee Moon,"""Marquee Moon"" is Television's guitar epic; Verlaine and Richard Lloyd stretch out for 10 minutes of urban paranoia. ""I would play until something happened,"" Verlaine said. ""That comes from jazz, or even the Doors, or the Five Live Yardbirds album — that kinda rave-up dynamics.""",Marquee Moon (Elektra),Television,Tom Verlaine,Andy Johns,"Feb. , 1977",Did Not Chart,
+I Cant Explain,"For their debut single, the Who recorded Townshend's alleged answer to the Kinks' blazing ""You Really Got Me."" The Who even hired that song's producer, Talmy, who recruited additional players for the recording, among them Jimmy Page, who contributed rhythm guitar.",The Ultimate Collection (MCA),The Who,Pete Townshend,Shel Talmy,"March , 1965",2 weeks, No. 93
+The Wind Cries Mary,"A dish-smashing argument with his girlfriend left Hendrix alone to scrawl the words to ""The Wind Cries Mary"" in January 1967. A few days later, the guitarist taught the uncharacteristically tender ballad — built around a gentle riff inspired by soul man Curtis Mayfield — to the Experience. The trio knocked out the track in 20 minutes.",Are You Experienced? (MCA),The Jimi Hendrix Experience,Hendrix,Chas Chandler,"May , 1967",8 weeks, No. 65
+Im a Man,"The B side of Diddley's first single was built around a four-note guitar stomp that was a trademark of mid-Fifties Chicago blues. Songwriter Willie Dixon, who supervised the 1955 session, said it was Diddley's sense of rhythm that set him apart from everyone else at Chess: ""The drums are speaking, and he'll tell you what the drums are saying.""",His Best: The Chess 50th Anniversary Collection (Chess),Bo Diddley,Diddley,Leonard Chess,"June , 1955",Did Not Chart,
+Personal Jesus,"Depeche Mode's breakthrough single was based on a surprising source: Priscilla Presley's book Elvis and Me. ""It's about how Elvis was her man and her mentor and how often that happens in love relationships,"" Gore said. ""How everybody's heart is like a god in some way.""",Violator (Sire),Depeche Mode,Martin Gore,"Depeche Mode, Flood","Nov. , 1989",20 weeks, No. 28
+White Room,"Powered by Eric Clapton's wah-wah work, the song's unnerving psychedelic imagery came from Brown, emerging from a period of drug and alcohol excess. ""It was in my white-painted room that I had the horrible drug experience that made me want to stop everything,"" he said.",Wheels of Fire (Polygram),Cream,"Pete Brown, Jack Bruce",Felix Pappalardi,"Aug. , 1968",11 weeks, No. 6
+How Deep Is Your Love,"The first single from Saturday Night Fever wasn’t a disco track but this slow jam. It went to Number One in December 1977, and the Bee Gees then controlled the top spot for 15 of the next 20 weeks. The song was originally intended for Yvonne Elliman, who had her own Number One with “If I Can’t Have You.”",Saturday Night Fever (Polygram),Bee Gees,Bee Gees,"Bee Gees, Karl Richardson, Albhy Galuten","Sept. , 1977",33 weeks, No. 1 
+Unchained Melody,"This song first hit the charts in 1955, when three different versions of it landed in the Top 10. The Righteous Brothers picked up the torch in 1965, making it the B side to their single ""Hung on You."" When DJs began playing ""Unchained Melody"" instead, Spector decided the duo should put out only covers of pre-rock pop songs as its singles; their version of Sinatra’s ""Ebb Tide"" also hit big.",Anthology 1962-1974 (Rhino),The Righteous Brothers,"Alex North, Hy Zaret",Phil Spector,"July , 1965",13 weeks, No. 4
+Highway 61 Revisited,"""Highway 61 begins about where I came from,"" Dylan writes in Chronicles. ""Duluth, to be exact."" The road runs through the heart of America — and so does the song. It’s Dylan at his wildest, both musically and lyrically, topping the band's roadhouse stomp with his surreal cosmic jokes. The police-siren whistle was courtesy of session man Al Kooper.",Highway 61 Revisited (Columbia),Bob Dylan,Dylan,Bob Johnston,"Aug. , 1965",Did not chart,
+The Letter,"On ""The Letter,"" Alex Chilton moans like a gruff soul man, though he was just 16. He credited the performance to his producer, Memphis legend Penn. ""[He] coached me pretty heavily on singing anything we ever did,"" Chilton said. “In a lot of cases, it sounds more like him singing than it sounds like me.” Chilton went on to front Big Star but participated in Box Tops reunion tours until his death in 2010.",The Letter (Sundazed),The Box Tops,Wayne Carson Thompson,Dan Penn,"July , 1967",16 weeks, No. 1
+Complete Control,"The Clash were hardcore reggae fans, so it was natural they would want to work with legendary dub producer Perry. But the resulting single wasn’t dub at all — it was the Clash’s toughest, noisiest punk anthem, with Mick Jones cranking the guitar to ear-bleeding levels. ""Complete Control,"" a U.K. hit in the fall of 1977, was appended to the American version of the band's debut album.",The Clash (Epic),The Clash,"Mick Jones, Joe Strummer","Lee ""Scratch"" Perry","July , 1979",Non-single ,
+All You Need is Love,"Twenty-four days after the release of Sgt. Pepper, the Beatles represented England on the six hour TV show Our World, a satellite broadcast seen by 400 million. ""All You Need Is Love"" was the simple message they wanted to send to the world. ""It was for love and bloody peace,"" Ringo Starr said. The backing choir on the single included Mick Jagger, Keith Moon and Donovan.",Magical Mystery Tour (Capitol),The Beatles,"John Lennon, Paul McCartney",George Martin,"July , 1967",11 weeks, No. 1
+Killing Me Softly With His Song,"Inspired by a Don McLean gig at L.A.'s Troubadour, folk singer Lori Lieberman took her idea for the song to Gimbel and Fox. Flack later heard Lieberman’s recording on an in-flight radio station and ""absolutely freaked,"" she said.",Killing Me Softly (Atlantic),Roberta Flack,"Norman Gimbel, Charles Fox",Joel Dorn,"Jan , 1973",16 weeks, No. 1
+Got My Mojo Working,"Waters made his version of ""Mojo"" after hearing R&B singer Ann Coleper form it while they toured together in 1956. He retooled the rhythm and lyrics, turning it into a speedy howl about voodoo and sexual power.",The Anthology (Chess/MCA),Muddy Waters,Preston Foster,"Phil Chess, Leonard Chess, Willie Dixon","April , 1957",Did not chart,
+Nowhere to Run,"Martha Reeves was working as a secretary for A&R man Mickey Stevenson at Motown when Mary Wells missed a session date; Reeves stepped in for her and eventually became a star. Her wail makes ""Nowhere to Run"" a scary tale of obsessive love; the heavy percussion was enhanced with snow chains.",The Ultimate Collection (Motown),Martha and the Vandellas,"Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, Eddie Holland","Brian Holland, Dozier","Feb. , 1965",11 weeks, No. 8
+Little Wing,"Blissed out from his appearance at Monterey Pop, Hendrix brought a delicate touch to this ballad at a 1967 London session. In a mere 145 seconds, he conjured a gossamer reverie. Hendrix played one of his most lyrical solos through a Leslie speaker cabinet (creating an oscillating sound) and later added glockenspiel to complete the mood.",Axis: Bold as Love (Experience Hendrix/MCA),The Jimi Hendrix Experience,Hendrix,Chas Chandler,"Feb. , 1968",Non-single,
+Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This),"""Sweet Dreams"" was a deceptively catchy single from two former lovers. ""The day Dave and I ended our romance, Eurythmics began,"" Annie Lennox told Rolling Stone. But the tense sessions for ""Sweet Dreams"" nearly ended their musical partnership. ""I was curled up in the fetal position,"" Lennox said. ""He programmed this rhythm. It sounded so good. In the end I couldn't resist it.""",Sweet Dreams (RCA),Eurythmics,"Annie Lennox, Dave Stewart",Stewart,"April , 1983",26 weeks, No. 1
+Bad Moon Rising,"""This song is definitely not about astrology,"" Fogerty once joked. ""[It’s] scary, spooky stuff."" With violence at home and a war abroad, there was a bad moon on the rise, and CCR effortlessly tapped into the darkening national mood. The song had one of CCR’s catchiest swamp-rock riffs, an homage to Elvis Presley’s guitarist Scotty Moore that Fogerty wrote in high school.",Green River (Fantasy),Creedence Clearwater Revival,John Fogerty,Fogerty,"April , 1969",14 weeks, No. 2
+Watching the Detectives,"In the summer of 1977, Costello was still an aspiring songwriter when he took the Clash’s debut back to his London flat and ""listened to it for 36 hours straight,"" he recalled. ""And I wrote 'Watching the Detectives.'"" Still, he maintained, ""I was never part of any punk-rock thing. I couldn't afford to go to nightclubs at night. I had a wife and kid, and I had to go to work.""",My Aim Is True (Rhino),Elvis Costello,Costello,Nick Lowe,"Nov. , 1977",Did not chart,
+Tears in Heaven,"On March 20th, 1991, four-year old Conor Clapton died in a fall from an apartment window in New York. His father wrote the heartrending ""Tears in Heaven"" and ""The Circus Left Town"" for his son. ""They’re sweet little songs, almost like folk songs, and I feel the need to have people hear them,"" he told Rolling Stone. ""Tears"" anchored his 1992 MTV Unplugged set.","""Rush"" Soundtrack (Warner Bros.)",Eric Clapton,"Clapton, Will Jennings",Russ Titelman,"Jan. , 1992",26 weeks, No. 2
+All Shook Up,"Songwriter Al Stanton walked up to Blackwell one day shaking a bottle of Pepsi and challenged him to write a song called ""All Shook Up."" Presley fell in love with the tune the first time he heard it and gave it the same freewheeling charm he had brought to Blackwell’s ""Don’t Be Cruel,"" even reprising the guitar-backslapping trick he’d used on that track. It worked: The song went on to sell 2 million copies.",Elvis 30 #1 Hits (RCA),Elvis Presley,"Otis Blackwell, Presley",Steve Sholes,"March , 1957",30 weeks, No. 1
+The Great Pretender,"Heirs to the crooning style of the Ink Spots and the Mills Brothers, the Platters became the first R&B vocal group to top the pop charts, heralding the arrival of doo-wop. Ram, who also co-wrote ""Only You"" and ""Twilight Time,"" was pushing 50 when ""Pretender"" hit.",The Magic Touch: An Anthology (Mercury),The Platters,Buck Ram,Ram,"Dec. , 1955",24 weeks, No. 1
+The Loco-Motion,"At 17, Eva Boyd was hired to baby-sit King and Goffin’s newborn during recording sessions. One day they asked her to cut a demo for this song. ""There never was a dance called the loco-motion until it was a hit,"" King said. ""So Little Eva had to make up a dance.""",The Loco-Motion (Rhino),Little Eva,"Gerry Goffin, Carole King",Goffin,"June , 1962",16 weeks, No. 1
+Spanish Harlem,"Just split from the Drifters, King was eager to make an auspicious solo debut and insisted on cutting this rare collaboration between Spector and Leiber. (King grew up mere blocks from Spanish Harlem.) Spector said this was Lenny Bruce’s favorite song.",The Very Best of Ben E. King (Rhino),Ben E. King,"Phil Spector, Jerry Leiber","Mike Stoller, Leiber","Dec. , 1960",16 weeks, No. 10
+That Lady (Part 1 and 2),"In 1969, the Isleys added younger brothers Ernie and Marvin, who had been put through music school by their older brothers. Ernie repaid the debt on ""That Lady"" with a guitar solo recalling onetime Isleys sideman Jimi Hendrix.",The Essential Isley Brothers (Legacy),The Isley Brothers,The Isley Brothers,The Isley Brothers,"July , 1973",20 weeks, No. 6
+Candle in the Wind,"John’s Marilyn Monroe tribute was a U.K. hit in 1973, but in the U.S. the single release was canceled when DJs began playing ""Bennie and the Jets"" instead. A live version with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra recorded in 1986 finally reached the U.S. charts, and a 1997 rerelease with new lyrics in honor of Princess Diana became the biggest-selling single of the 20th century.",Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (Island),Elton John,"John, Bernie Taupin",Gus Dudgeon,"Oct. , 1973",,
+California Love,"When 2Pac left jail in October 1995, after serving eight months for a sexual-assault conviction, Dre had a hit ready for him: a slice of West Coast funk, built around a Joe Cocker sample and a vocal from Zapp frontman Roger Troutman. “I don’t want it to be about violence,” 2Pac said seven months before he was shot dead. “I want it to be about money.”",Greatest Hits (Death Row),Dr. Dre and 2Pac,"Dr. Dre, Chris Stainton, Roger Troutman, Larry Troutman, 2Pac",Dr. Dre,"Feb. , 1996",24 weeks, No. 6
+La Bamba,"Valens' version of this traditional Mexican wedding song was originally the B side to his first hit, ""Donna."" ""La Bamba"" entered the Top 40 two weeks before the 17-yearold died in the same plane crash that killed Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper.",The Ritchie Valens Story (Rhino),Ritchie Valens,William Clauson,Bob Keane,"Oct. , 1958",15 weeks, No. 22
+Piece of My Heart,"The original was sung by Erma Franklin, Aretha’s sister. ""Erma’s 'Piece of Heart' had a delicacy and a sense of mystery that was just beyond us,"" said guitarist Sam Andrew. But what Big Brother did have was a raw, fearless singer named Janis Joplin.",Cheap Thrills (Columbia),Big Brother and the Holding Company,"Bert Berns, Jerry Ragovoy",John Simon,"Aug. , 1968",12 weeks, No. 12
+Jim Dandy,"Baker was a Chicago singer with a pedigree — her aunt was blues singer Memphis Minnie. Her big voice helped usher in the rock era on songs like ""Soul on Fire."" When white covers outsold her originals, she was so infuriated she wrote her congressman and even filed a lawsuit (neither worked). The swinging ""Jim Dandy"" was one of her sweetest hits.",Soul on Fire: The Best of LaVern Baker (Atlantic),Lavern Baker,Lincoln Chase,"Ahmet Ertegun,Jerry Wexler","Dec. , 1956",19 weeks, No. 17
+Runaround Sue,"Dion was a country-music fan and member of a gang called the Fordham Baldies when a family friend got him his first record deal. ""'Runaround Sue' was created at a neighborhood party,"" said Dion. This bluesy doo-wop single was Dion’s only Number One. For 47 years, he’s been married to his high school girl, Susan, but he claims the runaround girl was really named Roberta.",Runaround Sue (Capitol),Dion,"Dion DiMucci, Ernie Maresca",Gene Schwartz,"Sept. , 1961",14 weeks, No. 1
+I Shot the Sheriff,"Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer saved some of their prettiest falsetto harmonies for one of the group's toughest songs. Inspired by the Impressions' ""Keep On Pushin',"" Marley originally had the song's outlaw hero say, ""I shot the police,"" but imagined the song would be more government-friendly if he changed it to the revenge killing of a single sheriff.",Burnin' (Island),Bob Marley and the Wailers,Marley,Chris Blackwell,"Oct. , 1973",did not chart,
+Come Go With Me,"Five airmen who came together at the NCO Service Club in Pittsburgh, the Dell-Vikings underwent several lineup changes because members kept getting sent to Germany. Eventually they became pop's first successful multiracial group on the strength of ""Come Go With Me."" The song was written by the group's bass singer and recorded one night in a Pittsburgh hotel room.",Golden Classics (Collectables),The Dell-Vikings,Clarence E. Quick,Joe Averbach,"Feb. , 1957",31 weeks, No. 5
+In Da Club,"50 Cent's rhyme skills caught the notice of Dr. Dre and Eminem, who helped assemble this party track. ""50 walked into the studio and picked up a pen,"" Dre said. ""We were done in an hour. We just made some shit we wanted to hear.""",Get Rich or Die Tryin' (Interscope/Aftermath/Shady),50 Cent,"50 Cent, Dr. Dre, Mike Elizondo","Dr. Dre, Elizondo","Dec. , 2002",30 weeks, No. 1
+Pink Houses,"Recorded in a farmhouse in Brownstown, Indiana, ""Pink Houses"" was inspired by an old man ""sitting on the porch of his pink shack,"" Mellencamp told Rolling Stone. ""He waved, and I waved back. That's how the song started.""",Uh-Huh (Mercury),John Cougar Mellencamp,Mellencamp,"Little Bastard, Don Gehman","Oct. , 1983",16 weeks, No. 8
+Push It,"In 1985, Azor recruited fellow Sears employees Cheryl James and Sandy Denton for a music-school project. With the addition of Dee Dee ""Spinderella"" Roper, Salt 'N Pepa became the first female MCs to crack the pop Top 20 when this track was remixed by San Francisco DJ Cameron Paul. ""Push It"" was nominated for a Grammy, but Salt 'N Pepa boycotted the show when the rap category wasn't televised.","Hot, Cool and Vicious (London)",Salt 'n Pepa,"Hurby ""Luv Bug"" Azor",Azor,"Nov. , 1987",25 weeks, No. 19
+I Wanna Be Your Dog,"These groundbreaking Detroit punks tapped into the brutal side of the blues for this primitive classic. They also offer a one-note piano tribute to the Kinks' ""You Really Got Me."" Over the ultimate bone-crunching three-chord guitar riff, Iggy Pop screams about the agony of teenage hormones the way only Iggy Pop can.",The Stooges (Elektra),The Stooges,"Dave Alexander, Ron Asheton, Scott Asheton, Iggy Pop",John Cale,"August , 1969",Did Not Chart,
+Love Me Tender,"""Love Me Tender"" was the theme song from the first Elvis movie and represented a new sound for the King. He sang in his softest voice, accompanied only by his own acoustic guitar. The melody came from the Civil War-era ballad ""Aura Lee.""",Elvis: 30 #1 Hits (RCA),Elvis Presley,"Presley, Vera Watson",Steve Sholes,"Oct. , 1956",23 weeks, No. 1
+Beast of Burden,"By 1978, the Stones were in turmoil, after trouble with drugs, women and the law. On ""Beast of Burden,"" they faced up to their struggles with world-weary defiance. On other takes, Jagger tried the song in falsetto, but his straight-ahead version went to the Top 10.",Some Girls (Virgin),The Rolling Stones,"Mick Jagger, Keith Richards",The Glimmer Twins,"June , 1978",13 weeks, No. 8
+Alone Again Or,"The psychedelic cowboys of Love became famous for their dark, poetic L.A. folk rock. But ""Alone Again Or,"" the opening track on the band's masterwork, Forever Changes, was written and partly sung by guitarist MacLean — who later left the band to join a Christian ministry — as a tribute to his mother's flamenco dancing. The final take is a decidedly trippy swirl of strings, horns and Spanish-style acoustic guitars.",Forever Changes (Rhino),Love,Bryan MacLean,"Arthur Lee, Bruce Botnick","Jan. , 1968",3 weeks, No. 99
+Mustang Sally,"""Mustang Sally"" nearly ended up on the studio floor — literally. After Pickett finished his final take at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, the tape flew off the reel and broke into pieces. But engineer Tom Dowd calmly cleared the room and told everyone to come back in half an hour. Dowd pieced the tape back together, saving one of the funkiest soul anthems of the Sixties.",The Very Best of Wilson Pickett (Rhino),Wilson Pickett,Sir Mack Rice,Jerry Wexler,"Nov. , 1966",9 weeks, No. 23
+Ramble On,"Groupies and The Lord of the Rings inspired ""Ramble On,"" recorded in New York on Led Zeppelin's first U.S. tour. Over Page's acoustic guitars, Plant wails, ""In the darkest depths of Mordor/I met a girl so fair."" Middle Earth influenced more than the music: ""After reading Tolkien,"" Page said, ""I knew I had to move to the country."" According to legend, John Bonham is banging on a plastic garbage can.",Led Zeppelin II (Atlantic),Led Zeppelin,"Jimmy Page, Robert Plant",Page,"Oct. , 1969",Non-Single,
+Midnight Train to Georgia,"Originally titled ""Midnight Plane to Houston,"" the ode to long-distance romance from Mississippi songwriter Weatherly (who also wrote Knight's ""Neither One of Us"") became the biggest hit ever for Gladys Knight and the Pips. Cissy Houston had an R&B hit with it first, before Knight rode it to the top of the pop charts.",Essential Collection (Hip-O),Gladys Knight and the Pips,Jim Weatherly,Tony Camillo,"Sept. , 1973",19 weeks, No. 1
+Aint It a Shame,"In the summer of 1955, ""Ain't It a Shame"" became Domino's first pop smash, after a string of R&B hits. Pat Boone's whitebread cover (retitled ""Ain't That a Shame"" — though Boone allegedly wanted it to be ""Isn't That a Shame"") reached Number One, but as Jerry Wexler put it, ""Fats Domino is still the thing. Who cares about what's his name with the white buck shoes?""",The Fats Domino Jukebox: 20 Greatest Hits (Capitol),Fats Domino,"Dave Bartholomew, Domino",Bartholomew,"July , 1955",13 weeks, No. 10
+(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais,"""We can't play reggae,"" Strummer said in 1977. But the Clash invented a skank of their own, toasting the solidarity they saw between punks and Rastas. The anti-racist fusion of ""Hammersmith Palais"" also skewered sellouts in both scenes. ""I was trying to talk about revolution and how we weren't ever gonna have one,"" he said.",The Clash (Epic),The Clash,"Mick Jones, Joe Strummer",The Clash,"July , 1979",Did Not Chart,
+Everybody Needs Somebody to Love,"Philadelphia-born Burke started preaching at the age of seven and often recorded his vocals from behind a pulpit. He attacks this song in the style of a fire-and-brimstone Southern preacher, calling out for a witness and testifying to the power of love. In the congregation: the Rolling Stones, who covered it in 1965.",The Very Best of Solomon Burke (Rhino),Solomon Burke,"Burke, Bert Berns, Jerry Wexler",Berns,"July , 1964",8 weeks, No. 58
+New Years Day,"""New Year's Day"" lifted U2 out of the rock underground for good. As he often did, Bono made up his lyrics on the spot. ""We improvise, and the things that came out, I let them come out,"" he said. ""I must have been thinking about Lech Walesa being interned. Then, when we'd recorded the song, they announced that martial law would be lifted in Poland on New Year's Day. Incredible.""",War (Island),U2,"Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen Jr.",Steve Lillywhite,"April , 1983",12 weeks, No. 53
+Smoke on the Water,"Keyboardist Lord claimed that the working title for this song was ""Durh Durh Durh"" — a transliteration of the riff that some beginner guitarist is probably trying out for the first time right now. The lyrics tell the story of a fan shooting a flare gun during a 1971 Frank Zappa show at the Casino in Montreux, Switzerland, setting the venue ablaze.",Machine Head (Rhino),Deep Purple,"Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillian, Roger Glover, Jon Lord, Ian Paice",Deep Purple,"May , 1973",16 weeks, No. 4
+Tumbling Dice,"Originally titled ""Good Time Women"" (an early take is on the recent Exile on Main Street reissue), ""Tumbling Dice"" had numerous faster incarnations before it was recorded at Richards' villa, Nellcôte. ""I remember writing the riff upstairs in the very elegant front room,"" said Richards, ""and we took it downstairs the same evening, and we cut it."" Since Bill Wyman wasn't around, Mick Taylor played bass.",Exile on Main Street (Virgin),Rolling Stones,"Mick Jagger, Keith Richards",Jimmy Miller,"April , 1972",10 weeks, No. 7
+American Idiot,"No song captured the rancid zeitgeist of the Bush era like this Clash-style rave-up, which bashed the USA's ""redneck agenda."" The starting point for Green Day's punk opera, later a Broadway musical, ""Idiot"" signaled the band's evolution into righteously angry political rockers. ""We did everything we could to piss people off,"" said Billie Joe Armstrong, who often performed the song in a George W. Bush mask.",American Idiot (Reprise),Green Day,Green Day,"Rob Cavallo, Green Day","Oct. , 2004",20 weeks, No. 61
+William,"Asked in 1984 who was the last person to see him naked, Morrissey replied, ""Almost certainly the doctor who brought me into this cruel world."" But like many of the Smiths' early singles, ""William"" is a tale of traumatic teen sex, in this case a tragic love triangle in a humdrum town. OutKast's André 3000, a huge Smiths fan, once named ""William"" as his absolute favorite.",Louder Than Bombs (Sire),The Smiths,"Johnny Marr, Morrissey",John Porter,"Aug. , 1984",Did Not Chart,
+Blue Suede Shoes,"The day after Presley made his television debut, on Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey's Stage Show, he went into a studio in New York, kicking off the session with ""Blue Suede Shoes""; Perkins' original was still climbing the charts. Despite 13 takes, Presley and Sholes felt they hadn't matched it. Maybe they were right: Perkins' single got to Number Two, but Presley's peaked at Number 20.",2nd to None (BMG Heritage),Elvis Presley,Carl Perkins,Steve Sholes,"March , 1956",12 weeks, No. 20
+Piano Man,"Joel grew up playing in rock bands, but a California hiatus as a lounge pianist (under the name Bill Martin) saw him pecking out standards for lost souls. ""It was all right,"" he said. ""I got free drinks and union scale, which was the first steady money I'd made in a long time.""",Piano Man (Columbia),Billy Joel,Joel,Michael Stewart,"Nov. , 1973",14 weeks, No. 25
+Its Your Thing,"In 1969, the Isleys fled Motown and revived their own T-Neck Records, where they unleashed the free-will funk of ""It's Your Thing."" Their biggest hit, it earned a lawsuit from Berry Gordy, who claimed he owned the song.",The Ultimate Isley Brothers (Legacy),The Isley Brothers,"Rudolph Isley, Ronald lsley, O'Kelly Isley","R. Isley, R. Isley, O. Isley","Feb. , 1969",14 weeks, No. 2
+Nuthin But a G Thang,"Dre's debut solo single sampled the bass line from Leon Haywood's '75 hit ""I Want'a Do Something Freaky to You."" The mastermind on his working methods: ""I sit around by myself in the studio at home, push buttons and see what happens.""",The Chronic (Death Row),Dr. Dre,Snoop Dogg,Dr. Dre,"Jan. , 1993",27 weeks, No. 2
+Stills and Nash,"Written by Stills for ex-girlfriend Judy Collins, this epic harmony showcase kicked off CSN' s debut album. Stills played most of the instruments, but as Nash told Rolling Stone, ""The three-part vocal blend was fucking fantastic.""","Crosby, Stills and Nash (Atlantic)",Crosby,Stephen Stills,"David Crosby, Stills, Graham Nash","June , 1969",12 weeks, No. 21
+Fuck tha Police,"With one song, N.W.A brought the battle between rappers and cops to a new level. On August 1st, 1989, the FBI sent a bulletin to Priority Records, the group's label, denouncing this song. According to the feds, ""Fuck tha Police"" ""encourages violence against, and disrespect for, the law-enforcement officer."" The publicity established N.W.A as hip-hop's bad boys.",Straight Outta Compton (Priority),N.W.A,"Ice Cube, MC Ren","Dr. Dre, Yella","Jan. , 1989",Non-Single,
+Juicy,"Biggie's debut single chronicled the rapper's rise from ""a common thief to up close and personal with Robin Leach."" He rhymes about his childhood poverty growing up in the Clinton Hill section of Brooklyn (although he claimed to be from Bed-Stuy) — despite protests from his mom. ""I told him, 'No landlord dissed us!'"" said Voletta Wallace. ""He said, 'Mom, I was just writing a rags-to-riches kinda story.'""",Ready to Die (Bad Boy),The Notorious B.I.G.,The Notorious B.I.G.,"Sean ""Puffy"" Combs, Poke","Aug , 1994",20 weeks, No. 27
+The Boys of Summer,"Henley gave California rock a stylish Eighties makeover with this poignant lament for his generation, featuring the famous line ""Out on the road today/I saw a Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac."" When the Ataris did their hit punk-rock cover version in 2003, they changed it to a Black Flag sticker — but the sentiment was the same.",Building the Perfect Beast (Geffen),Don Henley,"Henley, Mike Campbell","Henley, Campbell, Danny Kortchmar, Greg Ladanyi","Nov. , 1984",22 weeks, No. 5
+Cant Help Myself,"""My real style of singing is just a natural thing,"" said Four Tops frontman Levi Stubbs. ""What I mean by that is I don't consider myself as being a heck of a singer, man. I'm more of a stylist, if you will."" His soul stylings sent this Tops classic to Number One — after the four original members had already been performing together for 10 years.",The Ultimate Collection (Motown),The Four Tops,"Eddie Holland, Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland","Holland, Dozier, Holland","June , 1965",14 weeks, No. 1
+Young Blood,"The Coasters were named after the West Coast, home turf of the four singers. After evolving from the doo-wop group the Robins, the Coasters had a couple of small R&B hits, ""Down in Mexico"" and ""Turtle Dovin'."" But after almost a year away from the studio, the group relocated to New York and cut its first blockbuster.",The Very Best of the Coasters (Rhino),The Coasters,"Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, Doc Pomus","Leiber, Stoller","May , 1957",11 weeks, No. 1
+The Girl Cant Help It,"Richard screamed the theme from one of the first great rock movies, starring Jayne Mansfield. ""She was a wonderful person,"" Richard said. ""Her breasts were 50 inches, and she didn't wear a brassiere. They didn't hang down.""",The Georgia Peach (Specialty),Little Richard,Bobby Troup,"Robert ""Bumps"" Blackwell","Jan. , 1957",8 weeks, No. 49
+Ode to Billie Joe,"Once and for all: Exactly what did Billie Joe throw off the Tallahatchee Bridge? Gentry never revealed the secret of this spooky country blues. ""The real message,"" she said, ""revolves around the way the nonchalant family talks about the suicide.""",Greatest Hits (Curb),Bobbie Gentry,Gentry,"Kelly Gordon, Bobby Paris","July , 1967",14 weeks, No. 1
+I Feel Love,"Summer would dismiss ""I Feel Love"" as a ""popcorn track,"" but its impact on dance music is incalculable. When Brian Eno first listened to this, he told David Bowie, ""I've heard the sound of the future."" Thanks to Moroder's throbbing Moog synthesizers and Summer's epic-orgasm vocals, ""I Feel Love"" claimed tomorrow in the name of disco.",The Donna Summer Anthology (Casablanca),Donna Summer,"Summer, Giorgio Moroder, Pete Bellotte","Moroder, Bellotte","May , 1977",23 weeks, No. 6
+Monkey Gone to Heaven,"Numerology, sludge in the ocean, a hole in the sky — what's it all supposed to mean? Said Francis (a.k.a. Frank Black), ""The phrase 'monkey gone to heaven' just sounds neat."" Norton cleaned up the band's sound, adding the eerie strings, but the Pixies didn't bother to try for pop appeal. Said Francis, ""It wasn't like we thought we'd get played on the radio.""",Doolittle (4 AD/Elektra),Pixies,Black Francis,Gil Norton,"March , 1989",Did Not Chart,
+Sweet Emotion,"As the sessions for Toys in the Attic, Aerosmith's third studio album, reached the 11th hour at the Record Plant in New York, producer Douglas called out for ideas. Bassist Hamilton resurrected a riff that had been germinating for several years, and it was outfitted with bass marimba and Joe Perry's voice-box recitation of the song title. A few months later, Aerosmith had their first Top 40 single.",Toys in the Attic (Sony),Aerosmith,"Steven Tyler, Tom Hamilton",Jack Douglas,"April , 1975",8 weeks, No. 36
+In Bloom,"""I don't like rednecks, I don't like macho men,"" Cobain once said. This track about a guy who ""loves to shoot his gun"" would become one of Nirvana's biggest live anthems. It started out as more of a hardcore rant. ""It sounded like a Bad Brains song,"" said Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic. Then, ""One day Kurt called me and started singing. It was the 'In Bloom' of Nevermind, more of a pop thing.""",Nevermind (Geffen),Nirvana,Kurt Cobain,Butch Vig,"Sept. , 1991",Non-Single,
+Weve Only Just Begun,"""Begun"" began life as a TV jingle for a California bank that caught Richard Carpenter's ear. He called Williams to see if there was an actual song attached to the short bit he'd heard. ""I assumed that it would never, ever get cut again,"" Williams said. He wrote several hits for the Carpenters, but this soft-rock ode remains the watershed. Richard later called it ""our best single.""",Singles 1969-1981 (Interscope),Carpenters,"Paul Williams, Roger Nichols",Jack Daugherty,"Sept. , 1970",17 weeks, No. 2
+Visions of Johanna,"""It's easier to be disconnected than connected,"" Dylan confessed in late 1965. ""I've got a huge hallelujah for all the people who're connected, that's great, but I can't do that."" He never sounded lonelier than in this seven-minute ballad, originally titled ""Seems Like a Freeze-Out."" Dylan cut it in a single take on Valentine's Day 1966, with Al Kooper on Hammond B3 organ.",Blonde on Blonde (Columbia),Bob Dylan,Dylan,Bob Johnston,"May , 1966",Non-Single,
+Umbrella,"The songwriters initially offered the track to Britney Spears, whose career was spiraling out of control. ""We thought, 'Let's save our friend,' "" the-Dream says. But Spears' management brushed them off. ""I'm so thankful for it,"" Rihanna said. ""I prayed for this song.""",Good Girl Gone Bad (Def Jam),Rihanna Featuring Jay-Z,"The-Dream, Kuk Harrell, Jay-Z, Christopher ""Tricky"" Stewart","Harrell, Stewart","March, 2007",27 weeks, No. 1
+Cmon Everybody,"Cochran was paid $82.50 for the three-hour session that produced this classic rockabilly track. The follow-up to his smash ""Summertime Blues,"" ""C'mon"" is a good-natured bad-boy tune powered by heavy strumming on his Martin guitar. Although he died at age 21, in a 1960 car crash that also seriously injured rockabilly pioneer Gene Vincent, Cochran became a huge influence in England.",Something' Else (Razor and Tie),Eddie Cochran,"Cochran, Jerry Capehart",Capehart,"Oct. , 1958",12 weeks, No. 35
+Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin),"The double-sided smash ""Thank You""/""Everybody Is a Star"" was Sly's sole new release in 1970. ""Thank You"" rode on the finger-popping bass of Larry Graham, who played like that in a duo with his organist mother. ""I started to thump the strings with my thumb,"" he said, ""to make up for not having a drummer.""",Anthology (Epic),Sly and the Family Stone,Sly Stone,Stone,"Jan. , 1970",13 weeks, No. 1
+Tonights the Night,"The Shirelles, who originally called themselves the Pequellos, formed while at their Passaic, New Jersey, high school. Lead singer Owens was only 19 when she co-wrote this hit about romantic surrender, full of Latin-style syncopation and soulful yearning.",25 All-Time Greatest Hits (Varèse Fontana),The Shirelles,"Luther Dixon, Shirley Owens",Dixon,"Sept. , 1960",12 weeks, No. 39
+Enter Sandman,"Thanks to producer Rock, the coiled, brooding ""Enter Sandman"" was the first Metallica tune that sounded perfect for the radio. As drummer Ulrich pointed out in 1991, ""The whole intro, the verse, the bridge, the chorus — it's the same riff.""",Metallica (Elektra),Metallica,"James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett","Bob Rock, Hetfield, Ulrich","July , 1991",20 weeks, No. 16
+Sweet Home Alabama,"Van Zant sang this pissed-off answer to Neil Young's ""Southern Man,"" and even Young loved it. ""I'd rather play 'Sweet Home Alabama' than 'Southern Man' anytime,"" Young said. The admiration was mutual; Van Zant wore a Young T-shirt on the cover of Skynyrd's final album, Street Survivors, and according to legend, he is buried in the shirt.",Second Helping (MCA),Lynyrd Skynyrd,"Ed King, Gary Rossington, Ronnie Van Zant",Al Kooper,"April , 1974",17 weeks, No. 8
+Thirteen,"Chilton wrote this acoustic ballad about two kids in love with rock & roll, featuring the deathless couplet ""Won't you tell your dad, 'Get off my back'/Tell him what we said about 'Paint It Black.'"" It's simple musically; as Chilton said, ""I was still learning to play and stuff."" It never came out as a single or got any radio play, but ""Thirteen"" is one of rock's most beautiful celebrations of adolescence.",#1 Record/Radio City (Fantasy),Big Star,"Alex Chilton, Chris Bell",John Fry,"April , 1972",Non-Single,
+(Dont Fear) the Reaper,"This Long Island band's death trip was picked by Rolling Stone critics as the best rock single of 1976. With its ghostly guitars and cowbell, ""Reaper"" has added chills to horror flicks from Halloween to The Stand. Bonus points for the crackpot theology about how ""40,000 men and women every day"" join Romeo and Juliet in eternity.",Agents of Fortune (Columbia),Blue Öyster Cult,Donald Roeser,"Murray Krugman, Sandy Pearlman, David Lucas","July , 1976",14 weeks, No. 12
+Remember (Walkin in the Sand),"The Shangri-Las, two sets of sisters from Queens, were in high school when producer Morton hired them to record ""Remember"" — a tune he claimed to have written in 20 minutes on the way to the studio. One story has it that a 15-year-old Billy Joel played piano on the session. Morton went on to produce the New York Dolls.",The Best of the Shangri-Las (Mercury),The Shangri-Las,"George ""Shadow"" Morton",Morton,"Aug. , 1964",11 weeks, No. 5
+Cant Help Falling in Love,"This adaptation of Giovanni Martini's 18th-century song ""Plaisir d'Amour"" was given to Elvis for his movie Blue Hawaii — hence the Hawaiian steel guitar. But this was no vacation for Presley: It took him 29 takes to nail his exquisitely gentle vocals. The song became the closing number for most of his Seventies concerts.",Elvis 30 #1 Hits (RCA),Elvis Presley,"George Weiss, Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore",Joseph Lilley,"Oct. , 1961",14 weeks, No. 1
+O-o-h Child,"""O-o-h Child"" gave the Five Stairsteps — four brothers and a sister from Chicago — a pop-soul classic that rivaled the hits of another sibling gang, the Jackson 5. The children of police detective Clarence Burke, the Five Stairsteps, who played their own instruments as well as sang, ranged in age from 13 to 17 when Curtis Mayfield signed them to his Windy C label.",Soul Hits of the '70s: Didn't It Blow Your Mind! Vol. 2 (Rhino),The Five Stairsteps,Stan Vincent,Vincent,"April , 1970",16 weeks, No. 8
+Summer in the City,"""Summer in the City"" was a stylistic turn for the Lovin' Spoonful — tougher and less daydreamy. ""We felt the only way we could stick out would be to sound completely different from one single to another,"" said John Sebastian. With a barrage of car horns on the bridge, the record evoked its subject with urban grit and Gershwin-esque grandeur.",The Lovin' Spoonful Greatest Hits (Buddha),The Lovin' Spoonful,"John Sebastian, Steve Boone, Mark Sebastian",Erik Jacobsen,"June , 1966",11 weeks, No. 1
+Shop Around,"Robinson thought Barrett Strong should record ""Shop Around,"" but Gordy persuaded Smokey that he was the right man for the song. After it came out, Gordy heard it on the radio and found it way too slow. He woke Robinson at 3 a.m. and called him back to the studio to re-cut it — faster and with Robinson's vocal more prominent. That one worked.",The Ultimate Collection (Motown),Smokey Robinson and the Miracles,"Berry Gordy, Robinson",Gordy,"Dec. , 1960",16 weeks, No. 2
+Buddy Holly,"In the early 1990s, Cuomo had an awkward girlfriend who was routinely picked on. His efforts to stick up for her inspired Weezer's breakthrough, a track whose bubble-grunge hooks and lines such as ""I look just like Buddy Holly/And you're Mary Tyler Moore"" helped the band reach a nation of pop-minded suburban punks. It also earned Weezer autographed photos from the real Mary Tyler Moore.",Weezer (Geffen),Weezer,Rivers Cuomo,Ric Ocasek,"Aug. , 1994",21 weeks, No. 18
+Miss You,"The Stones were in Toronto, rehearsing for their classic gigs at the El Mocambo Club, when Jagger, jamming with R&B legend Billy Preston, came up with ""Miss You."" With a disco groove and a touch of the blues via a harmonica player they found in a Paris subway, it became the band's first Number One hit in five years. ""It's not really about a girl,"" Jagger said. ""The feeling of longing is what the song is.""",Some Girls (Virgin),The Rolling Stones,"Mick Jagger, Keith Richards",The Glimmer Twins,"May , 1978",20 weeks, No. 1
+The Rising,"Springsteen wrote the track about 9/11, taking the viewpoint of a firefighter entering one of the Twin Towers (""Can't see nothin' in front of me …"") before unleashing the gospel-tinged chorus. It was the title track from an album intended to help his fans cope with the tragedy. ""The fundamental thing I hear from fans is, 'Man, you got me through' — whatever it is,"" he told Rolling Stone in 2002.",The Rising (Columbia),Bruce Springsteen,Springsteen,Brendan O'Brien,"July , 2002",11 weeks, No. 52
+Running on Empty,"The Running on Empty album was Browne's grand experiment: a set of all-new songs recorded onstage, in hotel rooms and on the tour bus. The title track was actually written while Browne was driving to the studio each day to make The Pretender. ""I was always driving around with no gas in the car,"" he said. ""I just never bothered to fill up the tank because — how far was it anyway? Just a few blocks.""",Running on Empty (Elektra),Jackson Browne,Browne,Browne,"Jan. , 1977",17 weeks, No. 11
+Brown Sugar,"The Stones take on slavery, sadomasochism, interracial sex — and make it catchy as hell. At Muscle Shoals studios, Jagger scrawled three verses on a pad, and Richards supplied an impossibly raunchy riff. Add some exultant punctuations and you have a Stones concert staple.",Sticky Fingers (Virgin),The Rolling Stones,"Mick Jagger, Keith Richards",Jimmy Miller,"April , 1971",12 weeks, No. 1
+Ignition (Remix),"R. Kelly's automotive metaphors for booty-knockin' in ""Ignition"" are subtler than they might've been; the lyrics were toned down at the request of a Chicago radio station. On Chocolate Factory, the original version of the song segued immediately into the hit remix.",Chocolate Factory (Jive),R. Kelly,Kelly,Kelly,"Oct. , 2002",42 weeks, No. 2
+Time to Pretend,"The rhythm was inspired by the wriggling of a praying mantis that VanWyngarden and Goldwasser kept in college. VanWyngarden wrote about rock-star fantasies (""I'll move to Paris, shoot some heroin""), though it's unclear how facetious the words are. ""Some think we're druggies. Others see the tongue-in-cheek element,"" he said. ""That's what I hope for as a lyricist: confusion!""",Oracular Spectacular (Columbia),MGMT,"Ben Goldwasser, Andrew VanWyngarden",Dave Fridmann,"Jan , 2008",Did Not Chart,
+I Will Survive,"In 1979, Gaynor's career was falling apart. Donna Summer had replaced her as the leading disco diva, and the 32-year-old Gaynor had recently suffered the death of her mother and had undergone spinal surgery. So when she belted out ""I Will Survive,"" she brought extra attitude. The track was originally a B side, but after enterprising DJs started to play it at discos, it turned into a smash.",I Will Survive: The Anthology (Polygram),Gloria Gaynor,"Dino Fekaris, Freddie Perren","Fekaris, Perren","Dec. , 1978",27 weeks, No. 1
+I Love Rock N Roll,"Attempting to jump-start a solo career after her stint in the Runaways, Jett had her demo tape to ""I Love Rock 'N Roll"" rejected by 23 record labels. Tiny Boardwalk Records finally bit, but the label sold her the radio rights to the track for $2,500. Today, the song is worth nearly $20 million.",I Love Rock 'N Roll (Blackheart),Joan Jett and the Blackhearts,"Jake Hooker, Alan Merrill","Ritchie Cordell, Kenny Laguna","Jan. , 1982",20 weeks, No. 1
+Clocks,"Coldplay were scrambling to finish their second album and wanted to save ""Clocks,"" with a churning piano riff inspired by the band Muse, for a later album. Luckily, a friend intervened. ""He said, 'You're going on [in the lyrics] about urgency, and you're talking about keeping this song back,' "" said Chris Martin. "" 'That doesn't make sense.' """,A Rush of Blood to the Head (Capitol),Coldplay,Coldplay,"Ken Nelson, Mark Phythian","Aug. , 2002",22 weeks, No. 29
+Under the Boardwalk,"A staple of beach-town jukeboxes every summer since its release, ""Under the Boardwalk"" evokes the carefree sounds of the shore. But its recording was no day at the beach. Johnny Moore was drafted to sing lead because the track's original singer, Rudy Lewis, died of a heroin overdose in his hotel room the night before the session.",The Very Best of the Drifters (Rhino),The Drifters,"Arthur Resnick, Kenny Young",Bert Berns,"June , 1964",33 weeks, No. 4
+Just Like Heaven,"""I've never been a big fan of irony,"" Smith said, which might be why this reverie of love, cut at a vineyard in the South of France, is his favorite Cure song. The band's girlfriends influenced the music. ""The girls would sit on the sofa in the back of the control room and give the songs marks out of 10,"" he said. ""So there was a really big female input.""","Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me (Elektra)",The Cure,"Robert Smith, Simon Gallup, Porl Thompson, Lol Tolhurst, Boris Williams","David Allen, Smith","May , 1987",19 weeks, No. 40
+Im Eighteen,"Before ""I'm Eighteen,"" Cooper was just another hairy rock oddball. But this proto-punk smash defined the age when, in Cooper's words, you're ""old enough to be drafted but not old enough to vote."" A few years later, Johnny Rotten sang this at his audition for the Sex Pistols; by then, Cooper was a guest on The Muppet Show.",Love It to Death (Warner Bros.),Alice Cooper,"Michael Bruce, Glen Buxton, Cooper, Dennis Dunway, Neal Smith","Bob Erzin, Jack Richardson","Feb. , 1971",13 weeks, No. 21
+Young Americans,"In 1975, Bowie traded his glammed-out Ziggy Stardust persona for an exploration of what he called ""plastic soul."" Yet this R&B homage is one of his warmest, wildest tales, recorded in Philadelphia with a then-unknown Luther Vandross on backing vocals and David Sanborn wailing on sax. ""It's about a newlywed couple who don't know if they really like each other,"" Bowie said.",Young Americans (Virgin),David Bowie,Bowie,Tony Visconti,"March , 1975",11 weeks, No. 28
+Lady Marmalade,"This hit about a Big Easy streetwalker remains in rotation 35 years after it hit Number One. The group was from Philadelphia, but the nasty groove was classic New Orleans, with producer Toussaint and his house band, legendary R&B stalwarts the Meters, funking up the beat. Thanks to the ladies of LaBelle, every disco fan now knows at least one line of French: ""Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?""",Nightbirds (Epic),LaBelle,"Bob Crewe, Kenny Nolan",Allen Toussaint,"Jan. , 1975",18 weeks, No. 1
+Cry Me a River,"This breakup aria marked the formation of the Timberlake–Timbaland team, a match made in pop heaven. The stunning video — in which Justin stalks an actress dressed to look like his ex Britney Spears — made clear the inspiration for ""River."" ""It's a good-ass video,"" Timberlake told Rolling Stone. ""I didn't want anyone to come off smelling like roses.""",Justified (Jive),Justin Timberlake,"Timbaland, Scott Storch, Timberlake",Timbaland,"Nov. , 2002",20 weeks, No. 3
+White Rabbit,"""White Rabbit"" was a trippy rock & roll bolero written by Airplane vocalist Slick. ""Our parents read us stories like Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz,"" Slick said. ""They all have a place where children get drugs, and are able to fly or see an Emerald City or experience extraordinary animals and people… And our parents are suddenly saying, 'Why are you taking drugs?' Well, hello!""",Surrealistic Pillow (RCA),Jefferson Airplane,Grace Slick,Rick Jarrard,"Sept. , 1967",10 weeks, No. 8
+Since U Been Gone,"Pop gurus Max Martin and Lukasz ""Dr. Luke"" Gottwald wrote this indignant track with Pink in mind, but Clarkson's A&R rep snatched it up for the first-ever American Idol. The result was a career-making hit that gave teen pop a feisty new template. ""I went to see Foo Fighters when I was off in Texas,"" Clarkson said, ""and the first thing Dave Grohl said to me was, 'I love that song!' """,Breakaway (RCA),Kelly Clarkson,"Dr. Luke, Max Martin","Dr. Luke, Martin","Nov. , 2004",46 weeks, No. 2
+Super Freak,"James wasn't exactly modest about his ambitions. As he declared in 1981, ""I wanna make Paul McCartney white-boy money!"" He got it with the self-described ""punk funk"" of ""Super Freak,"" from his breakthrough album, Street Songs. James enlisted the Temptations for background vocals. The song got a second life when MC Hammer jacked it for the 1990 megasmash ""U Can't Touch This.""",Street Songs (Motown),Rick James,"James, Alonzo Miller",James,"Aug. , 1981",24 weeks, No. 16
+Sabotage,"Adam ""MCA"" Yauch came up with the killer fuzz-bass riff at Manhattan's Tin Pan Alley studio, but it wasn't until a year later that the song was finished in L.A. With two weeks to go before Ill Communication was completed, Adam ""Ad-Rock"" Horovitz got all hot and bothered about paparazzi on the mike and came out of the song's breakdown with a scream for the ages.",Ill Communication (Capitol),Beastie Boys,Beastie Boys,"Beastie Boys, Mario Caldato Jr.","May , 1994",Did Not Chart,
+I Want to Know What Love Is,"This gospel-rock hymn featured Dreamgirls star Jennifer Holliday, one of the Thompson Twins and, most notably, the New Jersey Mass Choir. Said Jones, ""I'll always remember them getting in a circle before we did it and everyone saying the Lord's Prayer."" That probably didn't happen for ""Hot Blooded"" — but this soaring ballad became Foreigner's biggest hit.",Agent Provocateur (Atlantic),Foreigner,Mick Jones,"Jones, Alex Sadkin","Nov. , 1984",21 weeks, No. 1
+Last Nite,"Youthful angst on the Lower East Side: Lou Reed vocals and cool confusion, driven by the surging, garage-band sound that would go on to define early-2000s rock. The Strokes supposedly nicked the opening riff from Tom Petty's ""American Girl."" ""I saw an interview with them where they admitted it,"" Petty told Rolling Stone. ""I was like, 'OK, good for you.' It doesn't bother me.""",Is This It (RCA),The Strokes,Julian Casablancas,Gordon Raphael,"Aug. , 2001",Did Not Chart,
+How Soon Is Now?,"Morrissey cribbed lyrics from George Eliot, but guitarist Marr cited another reference: Derek and the Dominos. ""I wanted an intro that was almost as potent as 'Layla,'"" he said. ""When [it] plays in a club or a pub, everyone knows what it is.""",Meat Is Murder (Warner Bros.),The Smiths,"Johnny Marr, Morrissey",John Porter,"Feb. , 1985",Did Not Chart,
+Do Right Woman — Do Right Man,"Franklin disappeared after a 1967 session in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, leaving this simmering ballad unfinished. A few weeks later, she resurfaced in New York. The resulting vocal, said producer Wexler, was ""perfection.""",I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You (Rhino),Aretha Franklin,"Chips Moman, Dan Penn",Jerry Wexler,"March , 1967",11 weeks, No. 9
+Where Did Our Love Go,"After eight flop singles, the trio were known as the ""No-Hit Supremes."" The Marvelettes — Motown's top girl group at that point — passed on this song, and the Supremes didn't like their own recording. Until it hit Number One, that is. That foot-stomping beat is actually two boards banged together.",The Ultimate Collection (Motown),The Supremes,"Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, Eddie Holland","Brian Holland, Dozier","June , 1964",14 weeks, No. 1
+Into the Mystic,"""Into the Mystic"" is one of Morrison's warmest ballads, an Otis Redding-style reverie with acoustic guitar and horns. The lyrics are truly mysterious: ""People say, 'What does this mean?' "" said Morrison. ""A lot of times I have no idea what I mean. That's what I like about rock & roll — the concept. Like Little Richard — what does he mean? You can't take him apart; that's rock & roll to me.""",Moondance (Warner Bros.),Van Morrison,Morrison,Morrison,"March , 1970",Non-Single,
+Welcome to the Jungle,"Slash's Seventies-metal crunch and Axl's hell-bound shriek brought brutal realism to the L.A. glam-metal scene. ""They're real-life stories, these fuckin' songs,"" bassist Duff McKagan said. ""Jungle"" beckoned listeners into the Gunners' sordid Hollywood milieu, but Rose's inspiration came from getting lost during his first trip to New York.",Appetite for Destruction (Geffen),Guns N' Roses,Guns n' Roses,Mike Clink,"Aug. , 1987",17 weeks, No. 7
+Runaway,"As a kid, Shannon got his first guitar for $5. His truck-driver dad wasn't too happy about it. ""'You get that goddamn guitar outta here' — that's the exact words my father used,"" Shannon recalled. ""However, my ma said, 'It's OK, son. You can sing for me.'"" He sang this hit with raw emotion; co-writer Crook played the solo on an early electronic keyboard called the Musitron.",Greatest Hits (Rhino),Del Shannon,"Shannon, Max Crook","Harry Balk, Irving Micahnik","March , 1961",17 weeks, No. 1
+Surrender,"Cheap Trick provided the ultimate Seventies teen anthem in ""Surrender,"" with a verse about a kid who catches his parents making out and gets stoned to his Kiss records. Guitarist- songwriter Nielsen's secret? ""I [had] to go back and put myself in the head of a 14-year-old.""",Heaven Tonight (Epic),Cheap Trick,Rick Nielsen,Tom Werman,"May , 1978",8 weeks, No. 62
+Standing in the Shadows of Love,"Like so many other Motown hits, ""Standing"" features the popping bass of James Jamerson. He was such a monster player, his fellow musicians called him ""Igor""; Marvin Gaye called him a genius.",The Ultimate Collection (Motown),The Four Tops,"Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, Eddie Holland","Brian Holland, Dozier","Dec. , 1966",10 weeks, No. 6
+Rain,"The B side of “Paperback Writer” was Lennon‘s response to people moaning about the wet British weather. It featured one of the earliest uses of backward tape, which Lennon said was the result of being stoned and spooling up the tape wrong. It also included virtuoso drumming from Ringo Starr. “I feel as though that was someone else playing,” Starr said. “I was possessed!”",Past Masters (Capitol/Apple),The Beatles,"John Lennon, Paul McCartney",George Martin,"June , 1966",7 weeks, No. 23
+Respect Yourself,"Stax singer Ingram, frustrated with the state of the world, told house songwriter Rice that ""black folk need to learn to respect themselves."" Rice liked the comment so much that he built a funk groove around it, then gave the song to the Staples. ""This is the song I've been waiting [for],"" said producer Bell, who laid it down with the famous Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section.",Bealtitude: Respect Yourself (Stax),The Staple Singers,"Luther Ingram, Mack Rice",Al Bell,"Oct. , 1971",14 weeks, No. 12
+Big Pimpin,"For this thumping ode to conspicuous consumption, the king of New York rap hooked up with Houston rap dons UGK over a beat that sounds like it was cut in Cairo. Timbaland allegedly based the melody on a 1957 song by Egyptian Abdel Halim Hafez.",Vol. 3: Life and Times of S. Carter (Roc-A-Fella),Jay-Z Featuring UGK,"Jay-Z, Bun B, Pimp C, Timbaland, Kyambo Joshua",Timbaland,"Dec. , 1999",20 weeks, No. 18
+Get Ur Freak On,"Elliott was convinced that Miss E needed one more track. So Timbaland cooked up a stuttering, tabla-laden beat based on bhangra, an Indian dance genre he heard while traveling, and plucked out the signature six-note riff on a tumbi, a one-stringed Punjabi guitar.",Miss E … So Addictive (Atlantic/ATG),Missy Elliott,"Elliott, Timbaland",Timbaland,"March , 2001",25 weeks, No. 7
+Rollin Stone,"For Chess Records' first single, Waters turned Mississippi bluesman Robert Petway's ""Catfish Blues"" into a spare track he named ""Rollin' Stone."" ""We wouldn't do it exactly like those older fellows,"" Waters said. ""We put the beat with it, put a little drive to it."" The Rolling Stones took their name from it, as did, in part, this magazine.",The Anthology: 1947-1972 (Chess/MCA),Muddy Waters,McKinley Morganfield,Leonard and Phil Chess,"Feb , 1948",predates chart,
+Kiss,"The Paisley Park band Mazarati asked Prince for a song, so he dashed off a bluesy acoustic demo for them. Mazarati added a funk groove, and Prince was smart enough to take the song back.",Parade (Warner Bros.),Prince and the Revolution,Prince and the Revolution,Prince and the Revolution,"Feb. , 1986",18 weeks, No. 1
+Soul Man,"For the follow-up to ""Hold On, I'm Comin',"" writer-producers Hayes and Porter decided to tinker with their formula: Porter asked singer Sam Moore to give him ""the Bobby Bland squall,"" guitarist Steve Cropper came up with the licks that set up the familiar blast of the Memphis Horns, and — voilà! — another soul classic was born. ""We had no idea how good we were,"" Hayes said of the partnership.",Soul Men (Rhino),Sam and Dave,"Isaac Hayes, David Porter","Hayes, Porter","Sept. , 1967",15 weeks, No. 2
+All Apologies,"Written in the L.A. apartment Cobain shared with Courtney Love, this haunting meditation on remorse was originally produced by punk malcontent Albini, but then R.E.M. producer Scott Litt was brought in to smooth it out — the original had a long stream of feedback on it. Cobain's shredded vocals maintain the punk edge in the hushed MTV Unplugged in New York rendition.",In Utero (Geffen),Nirvana,Kurt Cobain,Steve Albini,"Sept. , 1993",22 weeks, No. 45
+Sheena Is a Punk Rocker,"This was cut twice: first as a single that was rushed to radio and became one of the Ramones' few modest hits, then in a slightly souped-up version for the band's album Rocket to Russia. ""I combined Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, with the primalness of punk rock,"" said Joey Ramone. ""It was funny, because all the girls in New York seemed to change their names to Sheena after that.""",Rocket to Russia (Rhino),Ramones,Ramones,"Tony Bongiovi, T. Erdelyi","May , 1977",13 weeks, No. 81
+My Sweet Lord,"The first hit for an ex-Beatle, it features Harrison's teardrop slide licks and a melody virtually identical to the Chiffons' ""He's So Fine."" After a lawsuit, Harrison had to pay $587,000 to his former manager Allen Klein, who then owned the rights to ""He's So Fine."" ""It made me so paranoid about writing,"" Harrison said. ""I thought, 'I don't even want to touch the guitar, in case I'm touching somebody's note.'""",All Things Must Pass (Capitol),George Harrison,Harrison,"Harrison, Phil Spector","Nov. , 1970",14 weeks, No. 1
+Paradise City,"For nearly seven minutes, Axl Rose expounds on the joys of green grass, pretty girls and toxic chemicals. The song was written in the back of a van as the band drove home to L.A. after a gig in San Francisco, with all the members tossing in lines. In a typically tasteful G n' R move, the video has footage of the band's 1988 gig at Castle Donington in the U.K. — where two fans were crushed to death.",Appetite for Destruction (Geffen),Guns N' Roses,Guns n' Roses,Mike Clink,"Aug. , 1987",17 weeks, No. 5
+Cupid,"Cooke's producers had asked him to write a song for a girl they had seen on a Perry Como TV show — but once they heard her sing, they kept ""Cupid"" for Cooke to do himself. It was Cooke's idea to drop in the sound of an arrow being fired ""straight to my lover's heart.""",Greatest Hits (RCA),Sam Cooke,Cooke,"Cooke, Hugo and Luigi","July , 1961",17 weeks, No. 12
+The Twist,"""The Twist"" began as a B side for Ballard and the Midnighters in 1958. But in 1960, former chicken plucker Checker covered it at Dick Clark's suggestion. ""Going crazy is what I was looking for — where the music is so good you lose control,"" Checker said. "" 'The Twist' did that.""",Greatest Hits (Prime Cuts),Chubby Checker,Hank Ballard,Karl Mann,"Aug. , 1960",39 weeks, No. 1
+Penny Lane,"After Lennon composed ""Strawberry Fields Forever,"" McCartney wrote his own snappy memoir. Penny Lane was a Liverpool bus stop where Lennon and McCartney often met. ""John came over and helped me with the third verse, as was often the case,"" McCartney said. ""We were writing recently faded memories from eight or 10 years before.""",Magical Mystery Tour (Capitol/Apple),The Beatles,"John Lennon, Paul McCartney",George Martin,"Feb. , 1967",10 weeks, No. 1
+Heroin,"This seven-minute, two-chord track spiked out its territory with lyrics about shooting up until you felt like Jesus' son. ""It wasn't pro or con,"" Reed said. ""It was about taking heroin from the point of view of someone taking it. I'm still not sure what was such a big deal. So there's a song called 'Heroin.' So what?"" Drummer Moe Tucker disagreed: ""I consider it our greatest triumph.""",The Velvet Underground and Nico (Polydor),The Velvet Underground,Lou Reed,"Andy Warhol, Tom Wilson","March , 1967",Non-Single,
+Leader of the Pack,"Morton found the inspiration for this song at a diner in Hicksville, New York. ""Bikers, hot rodders, gum-smacking ladies,"" he said, ""not careful at all about their language."" He brought a bike into the studio for the motorcycle sounds.",Myrmidons of Melodrama: Definitive Collection (RPM),The Shangri-Las,"George ""Shadow"" Morton, Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich","Morton, Barry, Greenwich","Oct. , 1964",12 weeks, No. 1
+Pressure Drop,"Toots and the Maytals were already reggae stars — they coined the word on 1968's ""Do the Reggay"" — before ""Pressure Drop."" They were rumored to be Chris Blackwell's choice over Bob Marley and the Wailers when he wanted a group for his Island label.",The Harder They Come (Hip-O),Toots and the Maytals,Toots Hibbert,Leslie Kong,"Feb. , 1973",Did Not Chart,
+Come As You Are,"""It's just about people and what they're expected to act like,"" Cobain said. ""The lines in the song are really contradictory. They're kind of a rebuttal to each other."" The song is driven by a simple riff that Vig goosed with a flanged, subaquatic guitar effect. Cobain apparently lifted it from a 1985 song by U.K. art-metal band Killing Joke, whom Dave Grohl paid back 12 years later by drumming on their 2003 album.",Nevermind (Geffen),Nirvana,"Kurt Cobain, Nirvana","Butch Vig, Nirvana","Sept. , 1991",18 weeks, No. 32
+I Got You Babe,"Late one night, while Sonny and Cher were living in their manager's house, Bono woke up Cher and asked her to listen to ""I Got You Babe"" and to sing the lyrics, which he had written on a piece of shirt cardboard. She thought it was OK but really wanted a song that modulated. So he changed the key at the bridge and woke Cher up again hours later to hear it; she was delighted.",The Beat Goes On: The Best of Sonny and Cher (Atlantic),Sonny and Cher,Sonny Bono,Bono,"July , 1965",14 weeks, No. 1

src/main/scala/TopSongs/TopSongs.scala

@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+package TopSongs
+import scala.io.Source
+import java.io.File
+import com.github.tototoshi.csv._
+
+trait Person:
+  val name: String
+
+case class Artist(name: String) extends Person
+case class Writer(name: String) extends Person
+case class Producer(name: String) extends Person
+class Album(title: String, label: String)
+class Streak(val s: String) {
+  val streak: Option[Int] = {
+    val regex = "\\d+".r
+    if(s.equalsIgnoreCase("Did not chart")) {
+      Some(0)
+    } else {
+      regex.findFirstIn(s) match {
+        case Some(value) => Some(Integer.parseInt(value))
+        case None => None
+      }
+    }
+  }
+}
+class Position(val p: String) {
+  val position: Option[Int] = {
+    val regex = "\\d+".r
+    regex.findFirstIn(p) match {
+      case Some(value) => Some(Integer.parseInt(value))
+      case None => None
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+class Song(
+  val title: String,
+  val description: Option[String],
+  val artist: List[Artist],
+  val writer: List[Writer],
+  val producer: List[Producer],
+  val album: Option[Album],
+  val streak: Streak,
+  val position: Position
+)
+
+
+object TopSongs {
+  var songs: List[Song] = List()
+  def addSong(song: Song): Unit = {
+    songs = song :: songs
+  }
+  def printSongs(): Unit = {
+    songs.foreach(song => println(
+      s"${song.title} by ${song.artist.map(_.name).mkString(", ")} " +
+        s"produced by ${song.producer.map(_.name).mkString(", ")} " +
+        s"spent ${song.streak.streak.getOrElse("no")} weeks " +
+        s"on the charts on Pos. ${song.position.position.getOrElse("NA")}"
+    ))
+  }
+}
+
+@main def main(): Unit =
+  // create a new TopSongs object
+  val topSongs = TopSongs
+
+  val reader = CSVReader.open(new File("src/main/resources/songs.csv"))
+  val allRows = reader.allWithHeaders()
+  for (row <- allRows) {
+    val s = Song(
+      title = row("title"),
+      description = Some(row("description")),
+      artist = List(Artist(row("artist"))),
+      writer = List(Writer(row("writers"))),
+      producer = List(Producer(row("producer"))),
+      album = Some(Album(row("appears on"), "NA")),
+      streak = Streak(row("streak")),
+      position = Position(row("position"))
+    )
+
+    // add the song to the TopSongs object
+    topSongs.addSong(s)
+  }
+  reader.close()
+
+  // print the songs
+  topSongs.printSongs()