Note: The numbering of this list is not intended to be an indication of musical importance, influence, or my own personal favoritism, but is rather an attempt to collect such an eclectic group of songs into some playable order, beginning with 1 and ending with 10.

1. Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen
from A Night at the Opera
I was somewhat hesitant to include "Bohemian Rhapsody" in this list; it seems like such an obvious choice. But with its unusual musical structure, multi-tracked vocals and other complex recording, and all the rest, the song is either a work of genius or is overindulgent dreck. Either way, it deserves a place.

2. Pain in My Heart - Otis Redding
from Pain in My Heart
Otis Redding was The Man. That's all I can say, really. Any other praise I might give would be superfluous. "Pain in My Heart" is a spectacular example of his pure, emotionally charged, raw vocal talent. It's pure soul, and though "(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay" may give us a tantalizing glimpse of what he may have become, "Pain in My Heart" is what he was.

3. Janie Jones - The Clash
from The Clash
As the first track on The Clash's first album, "Janie Jones" is a superb introduction. They were neither as nihilistic as the Sex Pistols or as simple as The Ramones (and, frankly, with more talent than both). This song acts as a reminder, at least to me, that although we may work crap jobs to pay the bills, hate our bosses, and all that, this doesn't have to be our entire lives.

4. Sweet Home Chicago - Robert Johnson
from The Complete Recordings
Robert Johnson has been hailed as a demi-god by many artists, including Robert Plant, Eric Clapton, and Bob Dylan, but many first-time listeners are surprised to find that the King of the Delta Blues is nothing like they expected based on the legendary guitarist's reputation. His voice is high and somewhat thin, recorded long before the invention of double tracking, and his entire musical output of 29 songs (42 tracks) sounds as if it was played into a tin can and pressed onto a wax cylinder. It probably was. It's ghostlike, and the undeniable talent and emotion haunt us from the dim past.

5. Kiss Off - Violent Femmes
from Violent Femmes

The Violent Femmes are, in my opinion, severely under-appreciated, yet they maintain a small cult following (to which I admit that I belong). The music is simply great: Gordon Gano's vocals, expressing all the angst felt in youth, which never really leaves us. Brian Ritchie's manhandling of the bass - knowing he played thinking "WWJD - What would Jimi do?" The anger of Victor DeLorenzo's percussion. "Kiss Off" may be this at its best - or worse, as it were. Pissed off, frustrated.

6. I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry - Hank Williams
I've long tried to convince people that country music is worth listening to. Not the stuff they call country these days, but the real stuff. My wife left me, I'm an alcoholic, pain-killer addicted, suicide-inducing country. Hank Williams. Listening to "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry," you know that man's got problems.

7. Mercedes Benz, - Janis Joplin and the Full Tilt Boogie Band
from Pearl
Everyone seems to think "Mercedes Benz" is a funny song about wanting a Mercedes. It's frivolous. It's not. Listening to it, there's a quality to the vocals - that's someone who is just about to lose it. Crack. Break down. I'm fairly sure that someone who can put it all out there, and sing like that, just can't survive long in our world. Which is fairly accurate in this case, as it's the last song Joplin ever recorded.

8. Red House - The Jimi Hendrix Experience
from Are You Experienced
In the 60s there was a graffiti fad in Britain: "Clapton is God" started appearing on buildings all over. What the graffiti artists didn't realize, however, was that at that time God was actually posing as a young black man from Seattle. Though remembered by many for his performance of "psychedelic rock" such as "Purple Haze," Hendrix played the blues. Albeit in a way not heard before or since - and likely never to be heard again. "Red House" is classic blues. But not; the things done with that guitar...

9. "The Times They Are A-Changin' - Bob Dylan
from The Times They Are A- Changin'
There's not a lot that can be said about Bob Dylan that hasn't been said a thousand times. Poet. Voice of a generation. Et cetera. Though widely cited as THE song that symbolizes the 1960s, "The Times They Are A-Changin'" is timeless: it could be sung by Dylan today as a statement about the current world, or it could have been sung by Woody Guthrie in the Dustbowl during the Depression.

10. A Day in the Life - The Beatles
from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
The Beatles could easily fill out a Top 10 Songs list all by themselves. Or 10 or 20 lists. But I limited myself to one - John's "up your pipe" to Paul. A serious song on Paul's mostly "fun" album, with full orchestration, and possibly the longest piano chord ever recorded. It's not the pure rock 'n' roll of their beginnings, nor the wholly experimental stuff that came later. It's somewhere in the middle, and it's just right.

More Top Tens

Back to Fed II page

Return to top of the page