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THE 100 TOP VOCAL SONGS SINCE 1950

by Miles Mathis

After looking at the leading online lists, I decided a new list was badly needed. The top three lists that come up on a normal websearch are those of the Recording Industry of America, Billboard, and some guy named John Sandford. The RIAA top 365 lists the top songs of the century, with the highest rated after 1950 being Woody Guthrie's “This Land is Your Land” and Aretha Franklin's “Respect.” Both good songs from a radio listener's perspective, maybe, but not the cream of the crop from a songwriting perspective. Much worse is the Billboard top 100 of the rock era. This list is topped by “The Twist,” and the top ten also includes Leann Rimes, “The Macarena,” Debbie Boone, Mariah Carey, and Toni Braxton. Usher appears multiple times. So we can pass that list over as a list based on sales, not on quality. Billboard has never been interested in making artistic judgments. As for John Sandford, he leads with two songs by ZZ Top, so we can move on. Another highly placed list on the net leads with Heart's Alone. At Bestuff.com, some guy named Gerard Way gets 50% more votes than Bob Dylan and John Lennon, as best songwriter. You can see why I am here.

Don't care much for Rolling Stone's top 500 list, either, since they bury “The Boxer” down at 105, below Donna Summer's “Hot Stuff.” Joni Mitchell debuts at #170, below Eminem, Public Enemy, The Penguins, Grandmaster Flash, Dionne Warwick, and The Five Satins. Nick Drake doesn't make the list, putting him below OutKast, the Dixie Cups, Run-DMC, Toot and the Maytals, and the Stooges. Jim Croce is also off the list, putting him below the Carpenters and Glen Campbell. The experts at Rolling Stone have never heard of The Hollies, Gordon Lightfoot, or Don McLean, either. And despite the fact that their list is called the 500 best of ALL TIME, they haven't heard of Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Johnny Mathis, Judy Collins, Andy Williams, or Bing Crosby. Crosby was too early for my list, but I fit in the rest.

In another list, Rolling Stone actually lists Madonna above John Lennon and Paul Simon, this despite the fact that Madonna doesn't write her own songs, can't sing, and has never had a hit that was more than a mediocre dance tune. RS also lists Dr. Dre and the Sex Pistols above Joni Mitchell. And this is supposed to be a list of top musical artists. They should have titled it top posers, then they could have left off Joni and Paul altogether, as I'm sure they would have preferred. Rolling Stone has nominated itself to the annals of ignominy with these lists, which are a much clearer commentary on the editors than they are on music or artistry of any kind. If someone ever makes a list of top realists of the late 20th century, and if they include Kinkaid or Pino on the list, I hope they will leave me off altogether. I would rather be buried deep in the earth with Nick Drake than have my name polluted by proximity.

My list is based mainly on songwriting skill, though I also include skill of execution in vocals as well as instruments. I am not interested in sales or popularity. Nor am I interested in timeliness, coolness, political correctness, or relevance. My list will include only those songs that seem to me to have a timelessness: they will sound about the same in 100 years as they sound now, because they are quality constructions.

My list is broad and eclectic, but it does have large holes. It has only six songs after 1990, and only three after 2000. It has no rap, very little country, and very little hard rock, metal rock, or dance music. These sub-categories tend to be very repetitive, and therefore disqualify themselves from the top spots based on songwriting skill, melody, harmony, or vocals.

For instance, in researching this list, I found VH1's top 100 of the 90's. I wanted to be sure I wasn't leaving anything out. I only found about three songs out of 100 that I didn't actively hate, and Linger by the Cranberries was the only one I really liked. It was a decade of bad dance music, bad rap, and bad alt. Lots of phony people trying (and failing) to be cool. Our current decade is another such decade, with so-called bands making best-of lists for piss-poor covers of old songs that didn't need to be covered, especially by posers like the Fugees or Pdiddy or Destiny's Child. We even have Van Morrison, Elton John, and Rod Stewart covering eachother in circles. Not to mention Bono covering Frank Sinatra. End-of-the-world, apocalyptic, judgment-day badness, and I don't mean goodness.

That said, I did try to spread it around a little bit. Paul Simon and Joni Mitchell make multiple appearances here, for instance, but they could have made more. Instead, I tried to include the best song from a lot of very good songwriters and singers, rather than load the list with repeats from the very best.

Lists like this are controversial, which is why you see so few lists that aren't hiding behind a committee. You always leave someone's favorite song out. Beyond that, it is difficult to narrow the field down to just 100. There have been thousands of very good songs written in this period, many more than in other periods of history. I had to cut about 50 of my own favorites, just to make the number. So you can imagine your favorite song would have been at 101, if you like. Unless, of course, your favorite song is by Madonna, Shania Twain, Cher, Britney, The Spice Girls, Barbara Streisand, Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Nsync, George Michael, Keith Urban, Garth Brooks, 50Cent or Eminem, in which case I could have gone to 10,000 and it would not have made any difference.

And no, I didn't forget Bohemian Rhapsody, so don't write and tell me I did. I don't dislike BR, but it has never struck me as especially earnest. Galileo and Figaro are just mentioned to rhyme and impress, and serve no real function, as one example. Freddy is trying a little too hard here. It would probably make a top 200, but it sounds phony next to the top songs. Listen to BR after listening to Nick Drake, for instance, and you will see what I mean.

1. The Boxer. Simon & Garfunkel 2. Heard it Through the Grapevine. Whitfield/Strong/Marvin Gaye 3. Fruit Tree. Nick Drake 4. Yesterday. The Beatles 5. Cactus Tree. Joni Mitchell 6. Bridge over Troubled Water. Simon and Garfunkel 7. Suzanne. Leonard Cohen/Judy Collins 8. The House of the Rising Sun. The Animals 9. Blowin' in the Wind. Bob Dylan

tie Shelter from the Storm. Cohen/Bob Dylan 10. California Dreamin'. The Mamas and the Papas 11. Sounds of Silence. Simon and Garfunkel 12. Dreams. Fleetwood Mac 13. Operator. Jim Croce 14. The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face. Ewan MacColl/Roberta Flack 15. Which Will. Nick Drake 16. Both Sides Now. Joni Mitchell (1969 version) 17. For Emily. Simon and Garfunkel 18. When a Man Loves a Woman. Percy Sledge

tie Too Much Heaven. BeeGees 19. Long Cool Woman. The Hollies tie Gimme Some Lovin'. Spencer Davis Group 20. Lyin' Eyes. The Eagles 21. Brown-Eyed Girl. Van Morrison 22. Georgia on my Mind. Carmichael/Gorrell/Ray Charles 23. He Ain't Heavy. The Hollies 24. On the Border. Al Stewart 25. And I Love Her. The Beatles 26. Never my Love. The Association 27. Proud Mary. CCR 28. Riders on the Storm. The Doors 29. Night Moves. Bob Seger 30. Time in a Bottle. Jim Croce 31. Vincent. Don McLean 32. Nights in White Satin. The Moody Blues (tie) Ride my Seesaw. Moody Blues 33. Tall Trees in Georgia. Buffy St. Marie/Eva Cassidy 34. They Call the Wind Maria. Lerner & Loewe/Harve Presnell 35. Layla. Derek and the Dominoes

tie Born to be Wild. Steppenwolf 36. Mercy Mercy Me. Marvin Gaye 37. Heart of Gold. Neil Young 38. The Town I Loved So Well. Phil Coulter/Luke Kelly 39. Send in the Clowns. Stephen Sondheim/Judy Collins 40. Daniel. Bernie Taupin/Elton John 41. Whiter Shade of Pale. Procol Harum 42. Help Me. Joni Mitchell 43. Chances Are. Allen/Stillman/Johnny Mathis 44. Fire and Rain. James Taylor 45. Piano Man. Billy Joel 46. River Man. Nick Drake 47. I'm not in Love. 10cc 48. The Pretender. Jackson Browne 49. Stairway to Heaven. Led Zeppelin 50. Roxanne. The Police 51. Born to Run. Bruce Springsteen 52. Won't get Fooled Again. The Who 53. Dust in the Wind. Kansas 54. Have you Ever Seen the Rain? CCR 55. Leavin' on a Jet Plane. John Denver/Peter, Paul & Mary 56. Sunshine of My Life. Stevie Wonder 57. Let's Stay Together. Al Green 58. Day after Day. Badfinger

tie. A Change is Gonna Come. Sam Cooke. 59. What's Goin' On? Marvin Gaye 60. Don't Fear the Reaper. Blue Oyster Cult 61. Like a Rolling Stone. Bob Dylan 62. Moon River. Henry Mancini/Andy Williams (tie) Smoke gets in your eyes. The Platters 63. Carry On. CSNY 64. The Last Farewell. Lawrence/Webster/Roger Whittaker 65. How Deep is Your Love? The BeeGees 66. How Much I Feel. Ambrosia 67. Stand by Me. Ben E. King 68. Unforgettable. Gordon/Nat King Cole 69. Unchained Melody. Al Hibbler/Righteous Brothers 70. Crazy. Willie Nelson/Patsy Cline 71. You've Got a Friend. Carol King/James Taylor 72. All the Way. Cahn/Van Heusen/Frank Sinatra 73. It's Too Late. Carol King 74. Hello, It's Me. Todd Rundgren 75. Bitter Green. Gordon Lightfoot 76. Turn Turn Turn. The Byrds 77. Just the Way you Are. Billy Joel 78. Blue Eyes Cryin' in the Rain. Fred Rose/Willie Nelson

tie Ain't No Sunshine. Bill Withers 79. Deja Vu. CSNY 80. I Left my Heart in San Francisco. Cory/Cross/Tony Bennett 81. Mona Lisa. Evens/Livingston/Nat King Cole 82. Sweet Dreams. Don Gibson/Patsy Cline 83. These Eyes. Guess Who 84. Year of the Cat. Al Stewart 85. American Pie. Don McLean 86. Baker Street. Gerry Rafferty 87. Time of the Season. The Zombies 88. Hallelujah. Leonard Cohen/Jeff Buckley 89. Moonshadow. Cat Stevens 90. The Lady of Shalott. Tennyson/Loreena McKennitt 91. If You Could Read my Mind. Gordon Lightfoot 92. At Seventeen. Janis Ian 93. Strangers in the Night. Chicorel/Frank Sinatra 94. Let's Get Lost. Loesser/McHugh/Chet Baker 95. Stranger in Paradise. Wright/Forrest/Tony Bennett 96. Chasing Cars. Snow Patrol 97. Here's Where the Story Ends. The Sundays 98. Love is all Around. Troggs 99. Linger. The Cranberries 100. Everybody's Changing. Keane

And some that almost made it: Pride. U2 Maggie May. Rod Stewart Beyond the Sea. Bobby Darin Ghost in You. The Psychedelic Furs All I Want. Toad the Wet Sprocket Circle Game. Joni Mitchell The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Gordon Lightfoot She Belongs to Me. Bob Dylan Castles in the Air. Don McLean Substitute. The Who Fast Car. Tracey Chapman Long Train Runnin'. The Doobie Brothers Best I Ever Had. Vertical Horizon Found out about You. Gin Blossoms Sunny Sailor Boy. Mike Scott/Luka Bloom Lorelei. Cocteau Twins Run. Collective Soul Can't Get it Out of my Head. ELO Ventura Highway. America The Times They are a-Changin'. Bob Dylan Sundown. Gordon Lightfoot Lost Cause. Beck She's not There. The Zombies Court and Spark. Joni Mitchell Desperado. The Eagles Imagine. John Lennon Melt with You. Modern English High. The Cure Just Can't Get Enough. Depeche Mode Drive. The Cars Please Come to Boston. Dave Loggins Norwegian Wood. The Beatles When Will We be Married? The Waterboys

The Girl from Ipanema. Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto.

Where I Stood. Missy Higgins.

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