I am a child of the 60s.

10cc - I'm Not In Love
1910 Fruitgum Co. - 1, 2, 3, Red Light
Archies - Sugar Sugar
Cowsills - Hair
David Essex - Rock On
Deep Purple - Smoke on the Water (single)
Eddie & The Hot Rods - Get Out Of Denver
Edgar Winter Group - Frankenstein
Focus - Hocus Pocus
Gary Wright - Dream Weaver
Golden Earring - Radar Love
Hair - Aquarius
Harry Nilsson - Without You
Hot Butter - Popcorn
James Gang - Must Be Love
Jessi Colter - I'm Not Lisa
Joan Jett - I Love Rock 'N' Roll
Kraftwerk - Autobahn (single)
M - Pop Muzik
Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells
Murray The Cop - Jump Baby
Nancy Sinatra - In My Room
Nena - 99 Luftballoons
Paul McCartney - Live And Let Die
Petula Clark - Downtown
Placebo - 20th Century Boy
Platic Bertrand - Ca Plane Pour Moi
Rocky Horror Picture Show - Time Warp
Rolling Stones - Sympathy For The Devil
Shocking Blue - Venus
Smith - Baby, It's You
Steppenwolf - Magic Carpet Ride
Steve Harley - Seeking A Love (GI Valentine)
Steve Miller - The Joker
Styx - Lady
T. Rex - Bang A Gong
Thin Lizzy - Jailbreak
Til Tuesday - Voices Carry
Twin Peaks - Opening theme
ZZ Top - Tush

Has it been two weeks already?! Yikes! I'll finalize my list this morning and get it posted!

Mine will be along much later in the day as well. Hurray!

This was HARD. The songs on my list appear for all kinds of reasons: some are ones that I will always stop and listen to if I hear them playing in public; some are songs that make me see a little movie playing in my head. A lot of them make me smile, and a couple of them can make me cry. Some of them I consider to be a perfection of the form. And of course a lot of them have good memories associated with them, but that alone wouldn't have been enough to make it appear on the list. I also set a limit on myself that I'd only allow ONE song per artist.

13th Floor Elevators - Slip Inside This House
The Archies - Sugar Sugar
The B-52s - Rock Lobster
Big Star - September Gurls
Blue Oyster Cult - Then Came The Last Days of May
Brian Eno - Needles in the Camel’s Eye
The Chills - Heavenly Pop Hit
David Bowie & Queen - Under Pressure
Devo - Freedom of Choice
The Donner Party - John Wilkes Booth
Drive-By Truckers - Puttin’ People On The Moon
Eels - P.S. You Rock My World
Funkadelic - Cosmic Slop
Gang of Four - I Found That Essence Rare
Joy Division - Transmission
The Kinks - Celluloid Heroes
Kirsty MacColl - They Don’t Know
Kraftwerk - Computer Love
Lady Gaga - Bad Romance
LCD Soundsystem - North American Scum
Looking Glass - Brandy (You’re A Fine Girl)
Miaow - When It All Comes Down
Mogwai - Hunted By A Freak
Neutral Milk Hotel - The King of Carrot Flowers, Pt. 1
New Order - Blue Monday
of Montreal - Scenes From My Funeral
The Opal Foxx Quartet - Clean White Bed
The Pixies - Debaser
Prince - When You Were Mine
The Psychedelic Furs - The Ghost In You
Pylon - Crazy
REM - Shaking Through
Robyn Hitchcock - I Often Dream Of Trains
Sonic Youth - Teenage Riot
Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space
Sugar - If I Can't Change Your Mind
Swans - Song For The Sun
Unrest - Cherry Cream On
The Velvet Underground & Nico - I’ll Be Your Mirror
Wire - The 15th

Noooo, I need more time.

1 - The Clash "White man in Hammersmith Palais"
2 - Bob Dylan "Idiot Wind"
3 - The Beatles "I've Just Seen a Face"
4 - The Flying Burrito Brothers "Hot Burrito #1"
5 - The Undertones "Teenage Kicks"
6 - The Who "A Quick One, While He's Away"
7 - The Jam "I Got By In Time"
8 - Stevie Wonder "Uptight"
9 - Johnny Thunders "You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory" (especially when sung by Ronnie Spector...MAN)
10 - The Band "King Harvest (Has Surely Come)"
11 - Neko Case "In California"
12 - Joe Strummer "Coma Girl"
13 - Big Star "I'm in Love With a Girl"
14 - The Replacements "Can't Hardly Wait"
15 - The Ronettes "I Can Hear Music"
16 - Hank Williams "Your Cheating Heart"
17 - Lou Reed "Satellite of Love" (for me it's all about Bowie's backing vocals at the end...)
18 - Gram Parsons "$1000 Wedding"
19 - Sam Cooke "I'll Come Running Back To You"
20 - Nick Lowe "Cruel to be Kind"
21 - Big Star "Thirteen"
22 - Bruce Springsteen - Atlantic City (though I'm also found of The Band's version)
23 - Bobby Charles "Grow Too Old" (which is also really good when Joe Strummer does it, although he called it "Silver And Gold")
24 - David Bowie "Bombers"
25 - Lou Reed "Street Hassle"
26 - Faces "Ooh La La"
27 - Iggy Pop - "The Passenger" (that RIFF!)
28 - John Prine "Souvenirs"
29 - Johnny Cash "Folsom Prison Blues"
30 - Big Star "When My Baby's Beside Me"
31 - Liz Phair "Divorce Song"
32 - Mayer Hawthorne "Your Easy Lovin' Ain't Pleasin' Nothin'"
33 - Tom Waits "Jersey Girl"
34 - Buddy Holly "Everyday"
35 - Willie Nelson "Me & Paul"
36 - Jim Carroll Band "People Who Died"
37 - Gram Parson "Return of the Grievous Angel"
38 - The Kinks "Village Green Preservation Society"
39 - Sam Cooke "A Change is Gonna Come"
40- The Beach Boys "God Only Knows"

Also, I did a new list for this...and yup, some have shown up here but...I didn't want to be forced to repeat myself, so I didn't use everything from that list...Hope that doesn't disqualify me. There's some bands I feel badly for omitting, but I shall not mention names!

Ardiril, when LCD Soundsystem did their last-ever concert in NYC last month, they were playing that 10cc song over the PA system as they took the stage.

richat, you have two songs that were on my own list right up till the very end. :)

This was really, really hard. Especially since I only did one song per band.

1. Audubon Park--The Blasted Heath
2. The Band--Up on Cripple Creek
3. Belle and Sebastian--I want the world to stop
4. Ben Folds Five--Smoke
5. Bjorn Olsson--Juli
6. Calexico--Alone Again Or
7. Crooked Fingers--Valerie
8. Dump--Last Minute
9. Essex Green--Chartiers
10. Ferraby Lionheart--The Ballad of Gus and Sam
11. Galactic Heroes--Payphone Country
12. Hey Willpower--Hundredaire
13. Jawbreaker--Chemistry
14. Janelle Monae--Cold War
15. Joe Jackson--Steppin' Out
16. Kissing Tigers--I Died in a Mall
17. Lambchop--I Will Drive Slowly
18. Long Winters--Delicate Hands
19. Magic Kids--Phone
20. New Pornographers--The Laws Have changed
21. Owl and the Pussycat--Tigers
22. Palomar--New Day
23. Portastatic--Oh Come Down
24. Rabbit--Magic
25. Radio Dept.--1995
26. REM--Near Wild Heaven
27. Richard Buckner-Rafters
28. Rogue Wave--Chicago x12
29. Roman Candle--Eden was a Garden
30. The Rosebuds--Hold Hands and Fight
31. Salteens--Last Train from London
32. Schooner--Ballad of Rocky P
33. Shout Out Louds--Impossible
34. Sleater-Kinney--Burn, Don't Freeze
35. The Sprites--Bionic Hands
36. Sun Kil Moon--Carry Me Ohio
37. Superchunk--100,000 Fireflies
38. Teenage Fanclub--It's all in my mind
39. Yo La Tengo--Season of the Shark
40. Yuka Honda--I Dream About You

1. Metallica-No Leaf Clover
2. Dido-My Life
3. VNV Nation-Honour
4. Stabbing Westward-What Do I Have To Do
5. Velvet Acid Christ-Phucking Phreak
6. Patti Smith-Dancing Barefoot
7. Otep-Shattered Pieces
8. Prodigy-Poison
9. Ace of Base-Happy Nation
10. Britney Spears-Toxic
11. Metallica-Nothing Else Matters
12. Moulin Rouge soundtrack-El Tango de Roxanne
13. Snow Patrol-Make This Go On Forever
14. Garbage-The World Is Not Enough
15. Apocalyptica-Path Vol 2
16. Gravity Kills-Here (The Hell Everyone Misses mix)
17. Collapse Into Reason-Faith (remix)
18. Dope-Easier
19. Otep-Battle Ready
20. Bush-Out Of This World
21. Nine Inch Nails-The Perfect Drug
22. Otep-Thots
23. A Perfect Circle-Orestes
24. Red 7 Fury-Sea of Pain
25. A Perfect Circle-Weak and Powerless
26. Gravity Kills-Guilty
27. Disturbed-Droppin' Plates
28. Linkin Park-Runaway
29. Muse-Map of the Problematique
30. Matchbox Twenty-You Won't Be Mine
31. Dido-Slide
32. Bush-Letting the Cables Sleep
33. Dido-Don't Leave Home
34. Rhianna-Distubria
35. Professional Murder Music-A Night Like This
36. Coal Chamber-Untrue
37. Static X-The Trance is the Motion
38. Stabbing Westward-Happy
39. U2-The Ground Beneath Her Feet
40. Nightwish-Ghost Love Score

OK! In alphabetical order, and there would probably be changes if you asked me again, hell, tomorrow.

I've linked to some of the NZ songs that I love.

Now off to peruse everyone else's lists!

Archers of Loaf - Wrong
The Bats - North by North
The Beatles - A Day in the Life
The Beatles - Eleanor Rigby
The Beatles - Here Comes the Sun
Belle & Sebastian - Get me Away from Here I'm Dying
David Bowie - Suffragette City
The Cars - Just What I Needed
The Chills - Pink Frost
Chris Knox - Not Given Lightly
The Clash - Spanish Bombs
The Clean - Tally Ho
Crowded House - Weather with You
The Cure - Fascination Street
The Decemberists - The Infanta
The Decemberists - Yankee Bayonet
Dinosaur Jr - Out There
Les Savy Fav - The Sweat Descends
Mission of Burma - That's When I Reach for my Revolver
Modest Mouse - Ocean Breathes Salty
Modest Mouse - Never Ending Math Equation
My Bloody Valentine - Only Shallow
Neutral Milk Hotel - The King of Carrot Flowers Pt 1
The New Pornographers - The Bleeding Heart Show
Nirvana - In Bloom
The Pixies - Gigantic
The Pixies - Debaser
The Pretenders - Brass in Pocket
Radiohead - Fake Plastic Trees
REM - Turn You Inside Out
Paul Simon - Late in the Evening
Slint - Good Morning, Captain
Slowdive - Alison
Split Enz - Message to my Girl
Straitjacket Fits - She Speeds
Straitjacket Fits - If I were You
Straitjacket Fits - Down in Splendour
Talking Heads - Slippery People
The Verlaines - Death and the Maiden

some thoughts:
If I had limited myself to one song per artist then there would probably have been Beach Boys, PJ Harvey, Iggy, Interpol on there, too.
Oh snap, Ardiril, T-Rex. LOVE. BP: Awesome, a few overlaps and many of yours would have made my 40-80 list. Crap, Under Pressure should definitely have been on my top 40, though, it would be in my top ten. Also Ladies and Gentlemen we are Floating in Space. richat - knew that was yours :) leesh - your list reminded me of a buncha songs I haven't listened to for ages. And Teenage Fanclub! Yay! I saw them play a few months ago with The Clean. sperose - you reminded me of Muse. Somehow I was never even aware of them and then all of my friends had loved them for ages. I still haven't ever listened to them, beyond their Nina Simone cover.

gaspode, your list just gave me several cases of "I can't believe I forgot __________!!" *sigh* Also, like richat, you have several songs that were on my list right up until the final cut.

leesh, there are so many of yours I like that now I want to check out some of the stuff on your list I don't recognize.

I can see already that I am going to spend most of this week on youtube.

Uh-oh. I, um, didn't get it done. I might have to take another whack at it later this week. All y'all's lists are inspiring!

Okay, this was hard. I've included the name of the songwriters, how many versions I have in my collection, and whose version in my collection I think is the best.

America (P.Simon)(2) Best: Simon and Garfunkel
Anathea (N. Roth/L. Wood, based on a traditional Hungarian folk song) (4) Best: Judy Collins
Angry All The Time (B. Robison) Best: Bruce Robison with Kelly Willis.
Back When We Were Beautiful (M. Berg) (2) Best: Matraca Berg
Busted (H. Howard) (5) Best: Johnny Cash, Hazel Dickens.
Can't Help Falling In Love (G.D. Weiss/H. Peretsky/L. Creatore) (2) I dislike Elvis music generally, but love this song so very much. Never has a song so good been recorded by so many people that I can not bear to listen to!
A Case of You (J. Mitchell) (7) Best: Joni Mitchell)
Cowboy Take Me Away (M. Seidel/M. Hummon) (Dixie Chicks)
Crazy (W.Nelson) (4) Best: Patsy Cline)
Eleanor Rigby (J.Lennon/P.McCartney) (6) Best: Aretha Franklin, the Beatles
Everybody Wants to Be An Art Director (S.Freberg) (Stan Freberg and June Foray) For years, this was my theme song.
Flowers on the Wall (L. Dewitt) (Statler Brothers)
Frankie and Johnny (Traditional American folk song) (23) Best: Mississippi John Hurt, Pete Seeger. #1 Favorite Song.
Good Morning Heartache (I. Huggenbotham/E.Drake/D.Fisher) (4) Best: Billie Holiday
I Can't Stand the Rain (A. Peebles/D. Bryant/B. Miller) (2) Best: Cassandra Wilson
I Never Cared For You (W.Nelson) (2) Best: Willie Nelson
I Still Miss Someone (J. Cash/R. Cash) (8) Best: Johnny Cash
I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry (H. Williams) (9) Best: Cassandra Wilson, Hank Williams
Leaving on a Jet Plane (J. Denver) (2) Best: Peter, Paul and Mary
Louisiana 1927 (R. Newman) (2) Best: Aaron Neville)
Lover Man (Oh Where Can You Be?) (J. Davis/R. Ramirez/J. Sherman) (6) Best: Billie Holliday
The Magdelene Laundries (J. Mitchell) (2) Best: Joni Mitchell
Pirate Jenny(K. Weill) (3) Best: Nina Simone
R.E.S.P.E.C.T (O.Redding) (2) Best: Aretha Franklin
River (J. Mitchell) (5) Best: Joni Mitchell
Send Me to the 'lectric Chair (G. Brooks) (2) Best: Dinah Washington
She Thinks I Still Care (D. Lee/S. Duffy) (2) Best: James Taylor
Single Girl, Married Girl (Author unknown, song collected by A.P. Carter) (8) Best: The Carter Family. I have 8 versions of the Harlan Howard's "update", I Wish I was a Single Girl, as well.
Somebody Pick Up My Pieces (W. Nelson) (2) Best: Willie Nelson and Bettye LaVette
Stormy Weather (H. Arlen/T. Koehler) (6) Best: Billie Holiday, Etta James
Strange Fruit (A. Meeropol ) (6) Best: Billie Holiday, Nina Simone
Sunday Morning Coming Down (K. Kristofferson) (4) Best: Johnny Cash
The Water is Wide (Traditional American Folk Song based on a Traditional Scottish Folk Song) (6) Best: Maura O'Connell
Think (A. Franklin/T. White ) (2) Best: Aretha Franklin
This Land Is Your Land (W. Guthrie) (6) Best: Woody Guthrie, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings
This Shirt (M. C. Carpenter) (2) Best: Mary Chapin Carpenter
Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone (Traditional, collected by A. P. Carter) (4) Best: June Carter Cash and Johnny Cash
You Are My Sunshine (P. Rice, but J. Davis/C. Mitchell are officially the writers) (8) Best: Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin
You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive (D. Scott) (2) Best: Patty Loveless
You've Changed (B. Carey/C. Fisher) (7) Best: Eva Cassidy & Chuck Brown, Billie Holiday

Because I am lazy, I didn't do my homework and I just put this together. Still it was hard, particularly when I narrowed it down to one song per artist. I mean, one Smiths? One Clash? And I might even choose differently next time. Fun, though!

Allman Brothers - Blue Sky
Amadou and Mariam - Senegal Fast Food
Billy Bragg - A New England
Bob Dylan - Tangled Up in Blue
Bonnie Raitt - Angel from Montgomery
Camper Van Beethoven - Take the Skinheads Bowling
Clash - Lost in the Supermarket
Counting Crows - A Long December
David Bowie - Life on Mars
Dead Milkmen - Punk Rock Girl
Decemberists - After the Bombs
Dusty Springfield - Son of a Preacher Man
English Beat - Mirror in the Bathroom
Genesis - Misunderstanding
Grateful Dead - Box of Rain
James McMurtry - Dry River
Joni Mitchell - The Last Time I Saw Richard
Kevin Kinney - Hey Landlord
Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
Martin Newell - Goodbye Dreaming Fields
Mary Prankster - Punk Rock Heaven
Michelle Shocked - Come A Long Way
Modest Mouse - 3rd Planet
Nanci Griffith - Wall of Death
Neil Young - Sugar Mountain
Pogues - Dirty Old Town
Presidents of the United States of America - Peaches
Psychedelic Furs - Pretty in Pink
Ramones - I Wanna Be Sedated
Refreshments - Down Together
REM - Driver 8
Shonen Knife - Twist Barbie
Smiths - Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
Soul Asylum - Summer of Drugs
Specials - Too Much Too Young
Sublime - What I Got
Talking Heads - Wild Wild Life
The Band - Acadian Driftwood
UB40 - Rat in Mi Kitchen
Warren Zevon - Lawyers Guns and Money

I did not agonize over this, but also found it hard to leave stuff off. I had no problem with listing multiple songs from my favorite artists.

Not in order of preference. Also, there was stuff I LOVED in the past but now I cannot listen to (Jefferson Airplane, Eagles and a few others).

1. Devil’s Paintbrush Road – Annabelle Chvostek
2. Hey Jude – The Beatles
3. No Reply – The Beatles
4. Trouble Bound – The Blasters
5. Masters of War – Bob Dylan
6. Ballad of a Thin Man – Bob Dylan
7. Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues – Bob Dylan
8. Desolation Row – Bob Dylan
9. Witchi-Tai-To – Brewer and Shipley
10. Frank to Valentino – Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer
11. When I Go – Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer
12. Merlin’s Lament – Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer
13. I Was Meant for the Stage – The Decemberists
14. American Tune – Paul Simon
15. Sleep of the Just – Elvis Costello
16. Indoor Fireworks – Elvis Costello
17. Watching the Detectives – Elvis Costello
18. Tulsa Queen – Emmylou Harris
19. Sleepless Nights – Gram Parsons
20. She – Gram Parsons
21. Sugaree – The Grateful Dead
22. City Drops Into the Night – Jim Carroll Band
23. Riding With the King – John Hiatt
24. River – Joni Mitchell
25. The Captain – Kasey Chambers
26. Democracy – Leonard Cohen
27. Everybody Knows – Leonard Cohen
28. Joan of Arc – Leonard Cohen
29. If It Be Your Will – Leonard Cohen
30. Famous Blue Raincoat – Leonard Cohen
31. Hallelujah – Leonard Cohen
32. Lake Charles – Lucinda Willliams
33. Greenville – Lucinda Williams
34. Something About what Happens When We Talk – Lucinda Williams
35. Essense – Lucinda Williams
36. Twelve Thirty – Mamas and Papas
37. Teclo – PJ Harvey
38. Avalance – Thea Gilmore
39. Crying – Roy Orbison
40. Woman in Love (It’s Not Me) – Tom Petty

Richat - $1000 Wedding BARELY missed the cut for me!

I have almost every song on MGL's list. I knew I wouldn't be able to say the same about BP's Top 40, cuz where our tastes diverge is a very sharp branch indeed.

I am really enjoying the deep cuts of musicians I only know through their hits.

Now that I've sat through and read through the other lists, I'm beginning to think I should make another playlist, 40 I Can't Believe I Forgot, in addition to my Top 40 and Next 40 playlists. Heh.

Thanks for the love, gaspode and BoringPostcards! gaspode, if you're into the poppier Teenage Fanclub stuff (as I am), check out Jonny--Norman Blake from TF plus Euro Childs from Gorky's Zygotic Mynci. Their song Candyfloss ALMOST made my list.

I've been working on this for too long. Mine are all easily recognizable. I see some of mine are some of your favorites. This was fun but difficult.

Looking Glass - Brandy (You’re A Fine Girl)
The Monroes - What Do All The People Know
Van Halen - Dance The Night Away
A Flock of Seagulls - Wishing
Hey Jude - Beatles
The Ronettes - Be My Baby
The Four Seasons - Can't Take My Eyes Off You
The Four Tops - I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)
Paul Young - Every Time You Go Away
Tears For Fears - Everybody Wants To Rule The World
Dire Straits - So Far Away
Tom Petty - Free Fallin'
The Troggs - Love Is All Around
Aretha Franklin - I Say A Little Prayer
Big Country - In A Big Country
Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer
Peter Gabriel - Big Time
Psychedelic Furs - Pretty in Pink
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Free Bird
Aerosmith - Dream On
U2 - With Or Without You
Talking Heads - Wild Wild Life
Steve Earle - Guitar Town
Heather Nova - Heart And Shoulder
Chuck Berry - You Never Can Tell
Van Morrison - Someone Like You
Led Zeppelin - Tangerine
The Mavericks - What A Crying Shame
Depeche Mode - Personal Jesus
Joni Mitchell - River
Kirsty MacColl - They Don't Know
Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers - Don't Do Me Like That
Prince - I Would Die 4 U
Belly - Feed The Tree
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Dani California
Moody Blues - Your Wildest Dreams
Big Head Todd and The Monsters - Bittersweet
The Turtles - Happy Together
B.W. Stevenson - My Maria
George Harrison - Got My Mind Set On You

This has been a major distraction for me for the last two weeks (and that's a GOOD thing). I started out writing brief annotations (because some of the songs are quite obscure, and others are not everybody else's idea of the greatest hits from the specific artists) and ended up with a couple thousand words about my relationship with music since I was a widdle kid. Edited out the annotations from all but the most obscure songs and included links to YouTube vids of all but one of the songs, for those of you who would otherwise go "HUH?" I copy/pasted the whole list an hour after the post, then decided to sleep on it, waking to find several songs and artists on your lists that made me wish it was a Top 50, but prompting only one last-minute change.

Enjoy the Foop Top 40 (in alphabetical order by title)

* 30,000 Pounds of Bananas - Harry Chapin (I love funny songs and I love sad songs. I was a sucker for Harry Chapin's melodramatic story songs, but this song proved he had a wicked and wonderful sense of humor. A side-swipe at Country music in the form of a shaggy-dog tale of a trucker and his runaway rig, this song was best enjoyed in his live performance, which he interrupted before the last verse to play a couple of rejected endings.)
* Baroque Hoedown (Main Theme for Disneyland Main Street Electrical Parade) - Jean-Jacques Perrey and Gershon Kingsley
* Bury My Lovely - October Project (An obscure act from the '90s, their music is so thick with moodiness, so bittersweet, so emotionally full, that even the songs without strong lyrics can bring a tear to my eye, and this song I cannot listen to without crying. No other music hits my emotions more strongly!)
* CNR - Weird Al Yankovic (I was a Weird Al fan from day one, and for the last dozen years, I've enjoyed the songs that were not direct parodies the most. And topping the list is his recent musical tribute to Charles Nelson Reiley.)
* Deacon Blues - Steely Dan
* Drop the Pilot - Joan Armatrading
* The Elements - Tom Lehrer
* Existential Blues - Tom "T-Bone" Stankus (All-Time Favorite Dr. Demento Song Not By Weird Al or Tom Lehrer)
* Grand Hotel - Procol Harum
* Green Eyed Lady - Sugarloaf
* Grey Seal (both versions) - Elton John
* Hocus Pocus - Focus
* Home and Dry - Gerry Rafferty (from the same album that included "Baker Street", but - long story involved - this is my favorite piece of 'traveling music' of all time)
* Just One Victory - Hello People (My most obscure favorite, no direct link available but there is an mp3 blog with the whole album in a zip file. The Hello People had started out as a musical collective/performance art/seven-piece band in the 60s and had the inevitably unsuccessful gimmick of performing in mime makeup. By '74, they were down to four members, still wearing the makeup and singing doo-wop harmonies - talk about incongruity - when they were 'discovered' by Todd Rundgren, who used them as an opening act and produced this album. Every song was a different style, from Prog Rock to Rockabilly to Prehistoric Techno, and most were pretty good. But the best song was one written by Rundgren and previously recorded by him. And Hello People's version sounded so much better than Todd's - the harmonies were perfect and they really made it sound like a Rock Anthem... "we've been fighting for it all night, praying for it all day, give us just one victory and we're on our way"... And when an obscure song sticks in my head for 30 years between having the vinyl and finding an MP3 - and doing so without driving me nuts - it has to be on the list)
* Justified and Ancient - The KLF and Tammy Wynette
* Karn Evil 9 - Emerson Lake & Palmer (1st Impression, 2nd Impression, 3rd Impression, the whole 29-minute album-side-and-a-half megaproduction.)
* Keep Yourself Alive - Queen
* Leave It - Yes
* Life Is a Minestrone - 10cc
* Living on the Ceiling - Blancmange
* Lovely Day - Bill Withers
* Nature Boy - Nat King Cole
* Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) - The Beatles (All-Time Favorite Beatles Song)
* Our National Pastime - Rupert Holmes (Yes, the "Pina Colada Song" guy, but this was five years and three albums earlier, when he did an album, "Widescreen", that mixed expertly-made traditional pop music with some of the most creative, humorous, subversive lyrics he could come up with. The most controversial thing on the album, to the tune of The Star Spangled Banner, he sang about picking up a girl at a baseball game, and ultimately striking out... "Won't you come home with me? I've a room you should see. With a warm waterbed, And a pillow for your head..." After that, I would forgive him a dozen "Pina Colada Songs".)
* Prejudice (Only A Ginger) - Tim Minchin
* Promised You A Miracle - Simple Minds
* Puff the Magic Dragon - Peter Paul & Mary
* Radio Silence (rare original guitar version) - Thomas Dolby (I bought Dolby's first album even before "She Blinded Me With Science" took off, based on other songs of his played on KROQ. And loved most this rocking tribute to the Pirate Radio stations of Europe. It never got airplay, and years later, when I replaced the cassette with a CD, I was shocked - shocked! - to find that this one song had been re-recorded, changing the tempo and replacing the strong guitar parts with more synths and female backup singers. It made me love the original even more and finding an MP3 of the original became a quest. And once I finally found the version I had loved, I was delighted to find it was as good as I remembered it.)
* Right Back Where We Started From - Maxine Nightingale
* Strawberry Letter 23 - Brothers Johnson
* Take the Highway - The Marshall Tucker Band
* That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be - Carly Simon
* This Must Be the Place (Naive Song) - Talking Heads
* True Faith - New Order
* TVC15 - David Bowie
* Veronica - Elvis Costello
* Watching the Wheels - John Lennon (All-Time Favorite Ex-Beatle Song)
* What Can I Say - Boz Scaggs
* Won't Get Fooled Again - The Who
* The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald - Gordon Lightfoot

A lot of these were my favorite songs when I was 12, but I think they've held up pretty well.

1. neil young -heart of gold
2 . neil young - powderfinger
3. rod stewart - maggie may
4. rod stewart - reason to believe
5. george harrison - here comes the sun
6. george harrison-awaiting on you all
7. al green - you ought to be with me
8. aretha frankln - i say a little prayer
9. badfinger -day after day
10. the band - when you awake
11. beach boys -darlin'
12. billy paul - me and mrs. jones
13. van morrison - tupelo honey
14. bob dylan -it takes a lot to laugh
15. bobby darin -mack the knife
16. johnny cash -hurt
17. u2 - i still haven't found what i'm looking for
18. daniel lanois - the collection of marie claire
19. dave edmunds - crawling from the wreckage
20. derek and the dominoes - I looked away
21. the supremes -someday we'll be together
22. jackson 5 -i want you back
23. grateful dead -bertha
24. jackson browne - fountain of sorrow
25. james taylor - you can close your eyes
26. joan baez-the night they drove dixie down
27. led zeppelin - the rain song
28. little feat -willin'
29. velvet underground - sweet jane
30. jeff buckley -hallelujah
31. otis redding - sitting on the dock of the bay
32. paul simon - american tune
33. peter gabriel -solsbury hill
34. peter gabriel -in your eyes
35. rem - finest worksong
36. ramones - blitzkrieg bop
37. rolling stones - sweet virginia
38. sly and the family stone - i want to take you higher
39. squeeze - another nail in my heart
40. stevie wonder -living for the city

There are SO many on other's lists that I could have included. Lots I'd say you were CRAZY to include too, of course. And, more than a handful I've never even heard of! This is very cool.

I spent good positive time on this. I am not a musician or a singer, but I am a storyteller (actor/director), and a dancer (like to, fair ammount of training), so most of these I'm responding to the voice and story, or eccentric percussion. Some relationship specific tunes, and a few social/musical watersheds. Lots of 70's and 90's - I think the 80's were fairly weak in terms of what I like, and the 00's are great, but I don't know how they'll hold up.

1. Miss You - The Rolling Stones (1978)
2. Take Me To The River - Talking Heads (1977) (w. Al Green)
3. Jackie Wilson Said - Van Morrison (1972) - first song at my wedding
4. Orange Colored Sky (1950) (w. DeLugg & Stein) Writers get credit here, so many good versions, link is to Wikipedia. Sky is not all ornage, singers get to sing OR-Ange, and it is impossible to be ironic.
5. Come Dancing - The Kinks (1983)
6. Cloudbursting - Kate Bush (1985)
7. Let Her Down Easy - Terrence T'rent Darby (now Sandana Maiteya) yeah that guy, just listen
8. I Won't - The Replacements (1989)
9. Stand By Me - Ben E. King (1961)
10. Fever - Little Willie John (1956) & Peggy Lee (1958)
11. Heroes - David Bowie (1977)
12. Wild Horses - The Rolling Stones (1977)
13. Love is Stronger Than Death - The The (1993)
14. Hounds of Love - Kate Bush (1985)
15. Losing My Religion - REM (1985) great video
16. Oye Como Va - Santana (1970) (w. Tito Puente, 1963)
17. Night Swimming 0 REM (1992)
18. Beloved Wife - Natalie Merchant (1995) I dare you.
19. Love Song for Bobby Long - Grayson Capps (2004) ok I know this guy
20. 911 Is A Joke - Public Enemy (1990) - yeah, this one from this album, because you can't want to fight the power till 911 is a joke
21. Tusk - Fleetwood Mac (1979) wth you crazy people, this is insane
22. Wheels - Maria McKee & Lone Justice (1986) what a voice
23. Song for Shelter - Fat Boy Slim (2000)
24. Alive - Pearl Jam (1991)
25. Rosalita - Bruce Springteen (1973)
26. Almost as Blue - Syd Straw (1996)
27. Love You Suzanne - Lou Reed (1984)
28. Dock of the Bay - Otis Redding (1968)
29. Them There Eyes - Billie Holiday (1939) I do have a thing for brown eyes
30. Crazy - Gnarls Barkley (2006)
31. Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana (1991) say what you will but so many different races and genders came together to say what the heck am I hearing this is amazing
32. Gymnopedies #2 - Eric Satie (1888-ish) - the only classical (light, recent) piece, this melody kills me
33. Super Bon Bon - Soul Coughing (1996)
34. The Ballad of Curtis Loew - Lynyrd Skynyrd (1974)
35. Tennessee - Arrested Development (1992)
36. Ballad of Lucy Jordan - Marianne Faithful (1979) (w. Shel Silverstein!)
37. Almost Lover - A Fine Frenzy (2007) if you want to think this about you, feel free - I don't think I was ever drunk and balsy to send this to anyone, if I did, you're still special
38. Beast of Burden - The Rolling Stones (1978)
39. Jackson - Johnny & June Carter Cash (1968)

Thirty nine! Ok - I see it - 40. = Love and Affection - Joan Armatrating.

These are so cool. Thanks for the links, oneswellfoop, and Lori, almost ANY of yours could have been on my own list.

I love the fact that each list definitely has a certain consistent taste reflected in it, but every one of them also has a couple of left-field surprises. And SO much stuff that I have to explore now... which is awesome.

SO much stuff that I have to explore now

I have been having a great day, youtubing songs. I like that extra kick of knowing that a song is actually special to someone.

I still don't think I could do this for myself, but I love love love reading everyone's lists.

I am feeling the need to submit a slightly revised list. . not due to others' submissions, just due to further reflection. Is this appropriate?

Heh, that's Ardiril's call, yeah, danf? He's the boss of us in this thread.

Me, I'm just trying to make wildly sweeping generalizations about everyone's personalities based on their songs. I will say that it's pretty easy to guess everyone's approximate ages based on their songs.

Would it be proper to point out the songs on somebody elses's list that are runners-up on mine? (Looking Glass - Brandy (You’re A Fine Girl), Joe Jackson - Steppin' Out, most of the Peter Gabriel songs) Or should that be a separate thread?

I wasn't going to do this, but now I can't resist - down to 76 songs so far. This is haaaard!

Howsabouts... if a song already appears on someone else's list, then you can say whatever you will about it.

In alphabetical order and without reading anyone else's list first (because them I would have to start again), but really, 40 is just not enough :-(

1. All Along the Watchtower – Jimi Hendrix
2. American Pie – Don McLean
3. Amused to Death – Roger Waters
4. And When I Die – Blood, Sweat & Tears
5. Are You Gonna Go My Way – Lenny Kravitz
6. Art for Art’s Sake – 10cc
7. Black Betty – Ram Jam
8. Cat’s in the Cradle – Cat Stevens
9. Cum on Feel The Noise – Quiet Riot
10. Do You Feel Like We Do – Peter Frampton
11. The End – The Doors
12. Flash Gordon – Queen
13. Grey Cortina – Tom Robinson Band
14. Helter Skelter – The Beatles
15. Hoochie Gucci Fioruchi Mama – Australian Crawl
16. House of the Rising Sun – The Animals
17. Hurricane – Bob Dylan
18. In the Year 2525 – Zager and Evans
19. Jumpin’ Jack Flash – Rolling Stones
20. The Last Resort – The Eagles
21. Lawyers, Guns & Money – Warren Zevon
22. The Leader of the Pack – The Shangri-las
23. Little Red Corvette – Prince
24. London Calling – The Clash
25. More Than a Feeling – Boston
26. Only Women Bleed – Alice Cooper
27. Paradise by the Dashboard Light – Meatloaf
28. Piano Man – Billy Joel
29. Pinball Wizard – The Who
30. Radar Love – Golden Earing
31. Roxanne – The Police
32. Shine On You Crazy Diamond – Pink Floyd
33. Smoke On The Water – Deep Purple
34. The Sound of Silence – Simon and Garfunkel
35. Space Oddity – David Bowie
36. Stairway to Heaven – Led Zeppelin
37. Telegraph Road – Dire Straits
38. Time – Pink Floyd
39. Turn the Page – Bob Seger
40. Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd.

A hint for compiling a revised list: I made a playlist of my Top 40 and played it for a few days. About the third time through, the outliers started sticking out like sore thumbs, and their replacements were mostly obvious.

This is in no particular order. I narrowed it down to around 120 songs and after that it was super hard to cut anything. If I kept thinking about it I'd probably change a dozen or more of these but that this point I just give up. heh

1. Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence
2. Asian Kung-Fu Generation - Rewrite
3. Cyndi Lauper - I Drove All Night
4. Rilo Kiley - Dreamworld
5. 10,000 Maniacs - Trouble Me
6. Our Lady Peace - Lying Awake
7. Pixies - Monkey Gone to Heaven
8. Kent - 747 (We Ran Out of Time)
9. Gin Blossoms - Found Out About You
10. Lush - Sweetness and Light
11. Nine Inch Nails - Only
12. Tori Amos - Precious Things
13. Poe - Wild
14. Nirvana - In Bloom
15. October Project - Bury My Lovely
16. Ivy - Four in the Morning
17. Til Tuesday - Voices Carry
18. Garbage - You Look So Fine
19. Kate Bush - Cloudbusting
20. U2 - Stay (Faraway, So Close)
21. Dave Matthews Band - #41
22. Psychedelic Furs - Love My Way
23. The Cure - Lullaby
24. Stretch Princess - Free
25. Frou Frou - Let Go
26. Joydrop - Replaced
27. Buck-Tick - Dress (Bloody Trinity Mix)
28. Duncan Shiek - Nothing Fades
29. The Twilight Singers - Bonnie Brae
30. Eisley - Invasion
31. Goldfrapp - Dreaming
32. Do as Infinity - Shinjitsu no Shi
33. A Girl Called Eddy - Tears All Over Town
34. The Cult - Fire Woman
35. Third Eye Blind - Losing a Whole Year
36. Splender - Monotone
37. Metric - Torture Me
38. Edie Brickell & New Bohemians - The Air of December
39. Lacuna Coil - Falling Again
40. Cracker - The Good Life

Gin Blossoms!! That was my first concert when I was 14!! Haha.

Gaspode. . .I am old and morose. . .what more do you need to know?

Very hard to single stuff out - some things I picked because I had bought the single.

1 Willin' - Little Feat
2 Stand - Sly and the Family Stone
3 Waterloo Sunset - The Kinks
4 Carey - Joni Mitchell
5 Jackie Wilson Says - Van Morrison
6 Someone to Watch Over Me - Ella Fitzgerald
7 Easy to Love - Billie Holiday
8 Uncle Salty - Aerosmith
9 You're All I need to get By - Aretha
10 Cruisin' - Smokey Robinson
11 Chest Fever - The Band
12 All is Full of Love - Bjork
13 Mr Tambourine Man - Dylan
14 Here He comes - Brian Eno
15 Downed - Cheap Trick
16 Take Me for a Little While - Dave Edmunds
17 Rebel Rebel - Bowie
18 Tell the Truth - Derek & the Dominoes
19 Down Home Girl - The Coasters
20 Luxury Liner - Emmylou Harris
21 Love Hurts - Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris
22 Carmelita - Flaco Jimenez & Dwight Yokum
23 Beware of Darkness - George Harrison
24 The Race is On - George Jones
25 Chinese Rock - Heartbreakers
26 Spoonful - Howlin' Wolf
27 I Wanna Be Your Dog - Stooges
28 River Deep, Mountain High - Ike & Tina Turner
29 This Old Heart of Mine - Isleys
30 I'm Lucky - Joan Armatrading
31 I Know One - Johnn Prine
32 Ol' 55 - Tom Waits
33 As - Stevie Wonder
34 Don't Forget Me - Marianna Faithfull
35 Helpless - Neil Young
36 The Moonbeam Song - Nilsson
37 My Lover's Prayer - Otis Redding
38 You Ain't Nothing But Fine - Rockpile
39 Wild horses - Rolling Stones
40 The Emperor's New Clothes - Sinead O'Connor

Can't believe I didn't have any psychedelic furs on mine. Bad gaspode!

Dang, 2 weeks really comes flying. It's interesting to me to see what "favorite" means for different people, since we all approach music in so many different ways. None of these songs changed my life. I don't generally use music for therapy or sentimental reasons; I'm more likely to be listening to something I haven't heard before than to anything on this list. But this is a list of the music I like best, and though it obviously needs revision, it's representative enough that it will stand, at least until I listen to a playlist of these tracks (for instance, there should be a lot more classical music on there, I just didn't want to do too much idiom-switching, and also there's only one song per artist, I can't have half my list be Sam Cooke and Solomon Burke, can I? and I've included songs I love listening to over ones I love playing or singing, except in the case of my favorite song of all time, "Happy Birthday to You," which is as fun to sing as it is to hear).

This has been a great exercise. I think I'll spend a little more time with it and share my revisions if an opportunity arises.

Aayega Aanewala - Lata Mangeshkar
Agoniza Mas Nao Morre - Nelson Sargento
Bring It On Home To Me - Sam Cooke
Bus Dem Shut – The Wailers
Candy Man Blues - Mississippi John Hurt
Candy's Room - Bruce Springsteen
Cello Concerto in b - Antonin Dvorak
Do Right Woman, Do Right Man – Aretha Franklin
Even the Losers - Tom Petty
Get Off of My Cloud - Rolling Stones
Godzilla - Blue Oyster Cult
Got To Get You Into My Life - The Beatles
Happy Birthday to You - friends & family
Help Me Rhonda - The Beach Boys
I Bleed - Pixies
I Feel Like Cryin' -Sam & Bill
John the Revelator - Reverend Gary Davis
Living After Midnight - Judas Priest
Lola - The Kinks
Moment of Truth - Gang Starr
Mosquito Dance (from 44 Duos for 2 Violins) - Bela Bartok
Motor Away - Guided By Voices
Mule-Ridin' Blues - Big Bill Broonzy
Overture to Tannhauser - Richard Wagner
Pretty Little Thing - 60 Ft. Dolls
Radio Radio – Elvis Costello & The Attractions
Relax - Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Rosie - Jackson Browne
Sally Girl - Bob Dylan
Shaking Up Orange Street - Prince Buster
Someone to Pull the Trigger - Matthew Sweet
T.R.O.Y (They Reminisce Over You) - Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth
The Unanswered Question - Charles Ives
The Working Hour - Tears For Fears
Viens, Mallika, les lianes en fleurs from Lakmé - Léo Delibes
What About Your Friends - TLC
What Makes Grandpa Love My Grandma So - Jimmy Lee Williams
When I Laugh - Toots & The Maytals
You're Good For Me - Solomon Burke
1,000 Miles From Nowhere - Dwight Yoakam

This has been and continues to be awesome. Thank you Ardiril for putting this together. I've got a long list of music to listen to again soon, and a list of music to track down and purchase, and have totally enjoyed this whole thing.

Everyone's lists have been so interesting and evocative - especially when they include songs or artists that ended up in my Next 40 - I've been youtubing things like crazy.

Seconding julen: thanks for thinking this up, Ardiril! I'm a little more than halfway through my list, and it's been really fun! More than that, it's been a little startling to me, and has given me a reason to listen to more music. I'd fallen out of the habit, and this has been a very welcome push.

I am loving the hell out of these lists, and I hope there are more to come! (Don't make me name names, people.)

I wasn't planning on participating, but of course I've been mulling this over for two weeks, so fuck it, here's my sort of hasty version.

A Tribe Called Quest - Scenario
Aesop Rock - Big Bang
Avail - Simple Song
Bad Religion - We're Only Gonna Die
Beastie Boys - So What'cha Want
Big Boys - Which Way To Go
Big Star - The Ballad of El Goodo
Brother Inferior - Bent Over Backwards
Calexico - Across The Wire
Cannibal Ox - Raspberry Fields
Charlie Mingus - Better Git it in Your Soul
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Fortunate Son
Crooked Fingers - Valerie*
Dinosaur Jr. - Get Me
Elvis Costello - Oliver's Army
Fugazi - KYEO
Fugazi - Margin Walker
Jane's Addiction - Stop
Jimi Hendrix - Fire
Johnny Cash - I Still Miss Someone
Minutemen - Shit From An Old Notebook
Mission of Burma - Peking Spring
Mission of Burma - Wounded World
Old 97s - Won't Be Home
Phil Ochs - Outside of a Small Circle of Friends
Pixies - Digging For Fire
Ramones - Rock and Roll Radio
Sonic Youth - Chapel Hill
Stiff Little Fingers - 78 RPM
Subhumans (UK) - Rats
The Clash - Guns of Brixton
Tom Waits - Blind Love
Tom Waits - Never Let Go
Townes Van Zandt - To Live Is To Fly
Uncle Tupelo - Live Worth Living
Velvet Underground - Rock and Roll
Velvet Underground - Sweet Jane
X - Back 2 The Base
Youth Brigade - Believe in Something

I could die happy with that list, I think

*Holy shit, leesh. I can't believe someone else included "Valerie"

Okay, I couldn't sleep, so here I am.

These aren't the best songs by the respective artists, or even the most personally meaningful, but they are the songs that I would stop everything to listen to, that I would hear in my head all day, all week. These are songs I croon absentmindedly, songs I belt out alone or with friends, songs I dance to with real enthusiasm, or songs I play when I want to feel the most like myself.

This proved both instructive and startling: I found an unsuspected folky streak in myself, and I was surprised at how many of my favorite artists got edged out by songs that just make me feel good.

This exercise drove home something I've been thinking already: I need to find a way to get more music into my daily life. I need to get better speakers for the laptop, buy a cheapie iPod and fill it, move the stereo (which is now in a little-used corner) or maybe just move the speakers.

These are in no particular order, except that I put my single long note first.

1. Picture in a Frame - Tom Waits (I coulda picked any of a dozen Waits songs, but this one is special: I pitched hard for this to be the first song at our wedding. The Fella, who loves Tom Waits even more than I do, nixed it, though I've never understood why. C'mon: "I'm gonna love you 'til the wheels come off"? Every time I hear it, I get all teary-eyed.)
2. No One Will Ever Love You Honestly - Magnetic Fields
3. A Town Called Malice - The Jam
4. 1952 Vincent Black Lightning - Richard Thompson
5. Baby's On Fire - Brian Eno
6. I'd Like That - XTC
7. Is She Really Going Out with Him?- Joe Jackson
8. Crazy Little Thing Called Love - Queen
9. Los Angeles - X
10. Jezebel - Iron & Wine
11. My Baby Just Cares For Me - Nina Simone
12. Suffragette City - David Bowie.
13. Wicked Little Town from Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
14. That's When I Reach for my Revolver - Mission of Burma.
15. The KKK Took My Baby Away - The Ramones
16. Elvis Costello --- like with Tom Waits, I could've chosen almost any song at random, but I actually gave it some thought and came up with I'm Not Angry, one of those rare songs that still sounds as amazing to me as it did when I 30 years ago.
17. Girl - Beck.
18. Love Will Tear Us Apart Again - Joy Division
19. I Don't Love Anyone - Belle and Sebastian
20. Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love) - Ella Fitzgerald
21. Sway. I just love the song, not a particular version --- but I first noticed the song while watching "Dark City," so I'll link that version.
22. Who Loves the Sun - Velvet Underground
23. Life During Wartime - Talking Heads
24. I'll Follow the Sun - The Beatles
25. A Day in the Life - The Beatles
26. When You're Next to Me - "Mitch & Mickey" (Eugene Levy & Catherine O'Hara)
27. Working in a Coalmine - Devo
28. Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker) - Parliament Funkadelic
29. Llorando - Delores del Rio a cappella [Note 1: warning! Mulholland Dr. spoiler in that clip! Note 2: oddly enough, I don't care for Roy Orbison's English-language version at all.
30. I Hear the Rain - Violent Femmes
31. Driver 8 - R.E.M.
32. Why Don't You Do Right - Peggy Lee (more recently made famous by Jessica Rabbit)
33. the abysmally depressing My Man - Billie Holiday
34. Lithium - Nirvana
35. Bye Bye Blackbird - I don't have a favorite version, but I've linked to one by Diana Krall that approximates what I hear in my head when I sing it. (What comes out of my mouth is almost certainly quite different.)
36. Brick House - The Commodores
37. Bear Necessities - Phil Harris (The Jungle Book soundtrack)
38. If I Should Fall from Grace with God - The Pogues
39. All Day and All of the Night - The Kinks
40. (You will think I'm kidding but I'm not.) How High the Mountain (Y'all Are Brutalizin' Me) - Ronnie Dobbs (David Cross)

I know there will be a handful of songs I CANNOT BELIEVE I left off this list, but for the moment, this feels pretty solid. "Well, what the hell, let's go have us a champagne jam."

ufez, SERIOUS high five!!! And that was narrowed down from like four Crooked Fingers songs. :)

Already, I have thought of two songs (which I WILL NOT NAME, because of the rules) that I wish I'd included here, and I even know which ones I'd bump to make room. I think I'm going to update this list, just for myself, in a coupla-three weeks.

I've done this too, Elsa- I saw a song on someone else's list that TOTALLY should have been on mine, and I know exactly what I would have replaced.

It would be fun to look at these in a week or two and see if we can stick by them, or if we'd want to tweak them again.

My new choices don't appear here, they're just songs I happened to think of this afternoon. But despite my own inevitable omissions and errors of judgment, this was REALLY fun!

It would be fun to look at these in a week or two and see if we can stick by them, or if we'd want to tweak them again.

I posted my list on my own blog, too, and I'm already planning to revisit later this month and see what stays and what drops out.

I missed this thread when it was fresh, but someone just mentioned it in a newer thread and I felt like playing. Forgive my lateness to the party! This was done pretty quickly off the top of my head, which I think is best - I'm already thinking of things I'm disappointed to have left off, but first thought will have to be best thought. I put the pop stuff just in alphabetical order, and separated off some of the most important classical works at the bottom - not really songs, but certainly works that occupy a special place or play a special role for me. Too lazy to linkify everything right now! I limited to just one song from any given artist, so some of them are doing duty standing in for whole albums or oeuvres.

1. America - The Last Unicorn
2. Amorphis - Elegy
3. At the Gates - Slaughter of the Soul
4. Bathory - One Rode to Asa Bay
5. Black Sabbath - Die Young
6. Blind Guardian - Nightfall
7. Bryan Adams - Summer of '69
8. Carcass - Heartwork
9. Def Leppard - Animal
10. Edge of Sanity - Black Tears
11. Edguy - The Piper Never Dies
12. Ensiferum - Lai Lai Hei
13. Gamma Ray - Lust for Life
14. Groove Coverage - Runaway
15. Helloween - I Want Out
16. Iron Maiden - Rime of the Ancient Mariner
17. Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick
18. John Denver - Take Me Home, Country Roads
19. Meat Loaf - Bat Out of Hell
20. Nightwish - Amaranth
21. Pink Floyd - Learning to Fly
22. Rainbow - The Temple of the King
23. Roger Miller - Oo De Lally
24. Roxette - Fading Like a Flower
25. Rush - Time Stand Still
26. Scorpions - In Trance
27. Sentenced - May Today Become the Day
28. Smashing Pumpkins - Cherub Rock
29. Sweet - Fox on the Run
30. Tankcsapda - Mennyorszag Tourist
31. Värttinä - Sulhassi

32. Bela Bartok - String Quartet #5
33. Dmitri Shostakovich - 24 Preludes and Fugues Op 87
34. Kalevi Aho - Symphony #9
35. Alban Berg - Wozzeck
36. Ludwig van Beethoven - String Quartet Op 95, "Quartetto Serioso"
37. Paul Hindemith - Symphony, Mathis der Maler
38. Jean Sibelius - Symphony #5
39. Johann Sebastian Bach - The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080
40. Felix Mendelssohn - Octet Op 20