Top 5 Pop Songs Ever
Photo by priscilla-du-preez
Could you list your top 5 favorite pop songs of all time if there were only 5 slots? Not 6. Not 7.
In the Lyft from JFK to NYC recently Adam and I had one of those moments that happen every so often in a relationship — especially if both parties are song junkies.
“Landslide” came on the radio and we looked at each other like…here we go again. We’ve had endless conversations about “Landslide.” How good it is. Why it’s so good. What exactly is the tone Stevie is singing on “took it down”? And off we headed for the rabbit hole. We had time — we were in NYC traffic.
Try it. It’s not easy. Only you can determine your criterior. But you won’t be surprised to know I have some suggestions. For example, if you’re a songwriter they might be 5 superbly crafted songs or 5 songs you wish you wrote:
“What’s Love Got To Do With It”
“I Hope You Dance”
“I Touch Myself”
“Can’t Make You Love Me”
“Jealous” (Nick Jonas’)
We agreed not to consider anything Beatles because no other song would have a chance at any slot.
It’s an excruciating choice, this handful of titles.
“Sara Smile” (I could write a whole blog about that one. Maybe I will.)
“At Last” (is that a pop song?)
“One Headlight”
“Light My Fire” (Jose’s version)
“O-o-Child”
I’m past quota already.
I can’t include current songs because even though I might adore them only another decade or two will tell if my heart will skip an anticipatory beat at the sound of the drum pick-up at the top of the intro.
If you’re Gen-xyz and can’t think back as far as I’m going (because you weren’t born yet) just list tunes from your zeitgeist. What do you imagine you’ll remember “Sixty Years On.” (That’s a profoundly gorgeous Elton John/Bernie Taupin Collab btw.)
“Watermelon Sugar”?
“Drivers License”?
“Wet Ass you-know-what”? 😳
“Let It Go”?
“Despacito”?
This just in from my 23 year old daughter…
(I’m so proud of her for including “MacArther Park” — an exquisite choice.
Is it a song that gives you butterflies? Triggers a memory? Puts you back in the back seat of someone’s car. Makes you deliriously happy? Or insufferably nostalgic.
“Saturday In The Park”
“I Saw The Light”
“Stairway To Heaven”
“Taxi”
“Don’t Dream It’s Over”
(I lean on side of melancholy in case you hadn’t noticed.)
I considered adding “Closest Thing To Crazy,” (written by Mike Batt and performed by Katie Melua) — which I discovered while on interminable hold with JetBlue. I became obsessed. But…alas…it’s too obscure for anyone else to relate (my criteria). But if you have a moment, here it is. You’re welcome.
It’s preferable (IMO) that a title be unique — not a multiple-duplicate like “Human”/The Killers or “Human”/The Pretenders (even though I wrote that one!), “Human”/Rag’n’Bone Man, “Human,” Brandy because it dilutes the recognizability. So I guess I have to disqualify that Nick Jonas track :(
When you’re listening to it do you swear, at least for those 3 minutes, it’s the best song in the world? But then you reconsider — it can’t just be great (“Fast Car,” “Superstition,” “Satisfaction,”) it has to be EPIC to qualify for top five OF ALL TIME. I (still) have my (psychedelic) box full of 45s — and upon purchase I swore that each and everyone of them was the best song on the face of the earth.
Do you remember exactly where you were the first time you heard it? Does it have cultural relevance — “Man In The Mirror,” “Royals”…or is it part of the soundtrack to your childhood?
“American Pie”
“Cowgirl In The Sand”
“Sweet Caroline”
“Cruel To Be Kind”
“Brick house”
“Disco Inferno” 😃
“Betcha By Golly Wow”
Fuck!
That last one isn’t a title. It’s my thought-bubble when I realize I just can’t do it. It’s impossible to narrow it down to 5. You know what else is impossible? Narrowing it down to 10 or 50 or even 100. The list is incalculable.
Maybe this is an easier challenge when you’re younger because you don’t have as much music memory on your hard-drive. And I don’t mean your laptop or phone — I mean the hard drive in your head. But then again, it’s not easy for my daughter either.
So, I guess if you thought I was actually going to curate my top 5 you were mistaken. I can’t. I know I started the game, but I can’t finish.
Deep down it’s too painful to turn my back on an infinite amount of masterpieces that brought me so much joy, twisted my gut, turned me inside out, had me squeal with delight, pull over to the side of the road, lose my breath. Eargasm after Eargasm wouldn’t make the grade because there’s not enough real estate on a list of 5.
Beloved songs are like chips in our souls that embed themselves and stay with us forever. I guess it’s a good problem there are too many.
If you can actually pick your handful and go to sleep tonight with no second thoughts — congratulations. Sincerely. Please let me know what they are.
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