{"id":47879,"date":"2020-04-07T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-07T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/features\/jason-warburgs-101-favorite-songs\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T11:09:44","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T11:09:44","slug":"jason-warburgs-101-favorite-songs","status":"publish","type":"feature","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/features\/jason-warburgs-101-favorite-songs\/","title":{"rendered":"Jason Warburg&#8217;s 101 Favorite Songs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A list of favorite songs can never be more than a snapshot of a particular moment in your life. Tomorrow a song that you barely paid attention to before may hit home in a whole new way. The day after that, a song that meant so much may feel trite or overblown or somehow insufficient to the moment you\u2019re now inhabiting. Songs are friends you keep for years, fading in and out of touch, mostly connecting and reconnecting, but sometimes disappearing into memory. This is my list today. Next month it will look different, and six months from now it might be nearly unrecognizable. But probably not\u2014some friends you never lose touch with; they are the best, in every sense of the word.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Two substantial caveats. First, I\u2019ve excluded entire genres from this list. Jazz, for one; I listen to a fair bit of it, but jazz is mostly instrumental, and when I think in terms of favorite \u201csongs,\u201d I inevitably think of music with vocals and lyrics. So while these are my favorite songs, if the charge was to list favorite pieces of music, the list would look substantially different (and likely include instrumental pieces from all genres, not just jazz). Showtunes, for another; otherwise half the <i>Hamilton<\/i> soundtrack might be on here.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Second, a lot of factors are at play in making a list like this. These aren\u2019t necessarily the songs I would rank as the \u201cbest\u201d; rather, they are my personal favorites, the ones I would (and do) listen to again and again. Also, some artists simply have to appear, even if I enjoy their body of work more than I do any particular song. And, some songs that should probably be here in the name of accuracy must be left off purely to make room for other artists\u2014otherwise this might consist of 100-plus songs by my 10 favorite artists\u2026 or even just my 101 favorite Beatles songs. <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">All of which is to say: please don\u2019t take this list any more seriously than I did, which was slightly too seriously, without losing track of the whole point, which was to have some fun.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Final note: after a very painful process of elimination, I had my list down to 101 a few days ahead of publication. Then Bill Withers passed and reminded me of another song that simply had to be there. So\u2026<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b><br \/>102. Big Smoke \u2013 \u201cSomething Good\u201d<img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" align=\"right\" height=\"150\" hspace=\"10\" vspace=\"5\" width=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/bigsmoke_golden_150.jpg\" alt=\"bigsmoke_golden_150\" title=\"bigsmoke_golden_150\" \/><\/b> <br \/> Australian singer-songwriter Adrian Slattery, while dying of cancer, exhorts his band, loved ones, and himself to \u201cturn it into something good\u201d\u2014and succeeds.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>101. Jeremy Nail \u2013 \u201cMy Mountain\u201d<\/b><br \/>Texas singer-songwriter Jeremy Nail, after losing a leg to cancer, learns to walk again, and turns his journey into a harrowing chronicle of determination.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>100. Ian Hunter \u2013 \u201cMichael Picasso\u201d<\/b> <br \/> British singer-songwriter Ian Hunter, after losing his best friend and longtime musical foil to cancer, pours out his grief in this raw, poignant tribute.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>99. Sheryl Crow \u2013 \u201cA Change Would Do You Good\u201d<\/b><br \/>Crow was never better than on her self-titled second album, highlighted by this driving, chunky number overflowing with snarky asides and sly pop-culture references.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>98. Dave Matthews Band \u2013 \u201cAnts Marching\u201d<\/b><br \/>After a quarter century of mostly diminishing returns, it\u2019s easy to forget how good the DMB\u2019s first two albums were; if this cut isn\u2019t your favorite, swap it for \u201cWhat Would You Say\u201d or \u201cJimi Thing\u201d or \u201cSatellite\u201d or \u201cToo Much\u201d or \u201cCrash Into Me.\u201d    <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>97. The Kinks \u2013 \u201cAttitude\u201d<\/b> <br \/> So many possibilities in this group\u2019s songbook, but this has always been a personal favorite for both its admirably direct message and its irresistible drive.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>96. Phil Collins \u2013 \u201cIn The Air Tonight\u201d<img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" align=\"right\" height=\"150\" hspace=\"10\" vspace=\"5\" width=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/philcollins_face.jpg\" alt=\"philcollins_face\" title=\"philcollins_face\" \/><\/b><br \/>Those. Drums.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>95. Ben Folds \u2013 \u201cRockin\u2019 The Suburbs\u201d<\/b><br \/>An epic piece of satire: \u201cIt&#8217;s so intense that I can&#8217;t explain \/ All alone in my white-boy pain\u2026\u201d    <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>94. Boston \u2013 \u201cForeplay\/Long Time\u201d<\/b><br \/>If you don\u2019t include this one, my high school years might as well never have happened.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>93. Van Halen \u2013 \u201cYou Really Got Me\u201d<\/b><br \/>See previous entry. Plus, I\u2019ve always wondered what Ray Davies thought of this cover. (Probably: \u201cRoyalties!\u201d)    <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>92. Bill Withers &#8212; \u201cLean On Me\u201d<\/b><br \/>Thank you, Bill, for this gift of a song, an anthem for the very moment when you departed.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>91. Carly Simon \u2013 \u201cYou\u2019re So Vain\u201d<\/b><br \/>Exceptional performance of a song that is remarkable in every detail, from Mick Jagger\u2019s harmony vocals to the way Carly turns the word \u201capricot\u201d into an entire conversation.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>90. Green Day \u2013 \u201cAmerican Idiot\u201d <br \/> <\/b>The funny part is that I\u2019m pretty sure Billie Joe himself would trade the president he wrote this song about for the one we have now.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>89. Gin Blossoms \u2013 \u201cLost Horizons\u201d<img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" align=\"right\" height=\"150\" hspace=\"10\" vspace=\"5\" width=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ginblossoms_new.jpg\" alt=\"ginblossoms_new\" title=\"ginblossoms_new\" \/><\/b> <br \/> Sure, \u201cHey Jealousy\u201d is the one everyone remembers, but the Blossoms\u2019 bright-and-gloomy vibe hit its apex with \u201cShe had nothing left to say so she said she loved me \/ I stood there grateful for the lie&#8230;\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>88. Stevie Ray Vaughan \u2013 \u201cCrossfire\u201d<\/b><br \/>A churning, driving hard blues that SRV burns to the ground with a pair of incendiary solos.     <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>87. Alan Parsons Project \u2013 \u201cBreakdown\u201d<\/b> <br \/> One thing the Alan Parsons Project consistently did so well is craft arrangements that create a distinct vibe; here every single element contributes to a sense of foreboding and dissolution.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>86. Jeff Buckley \u2013 \u201cHallelujah\u201d<\/b> <br \/> I know, it\u2019s Leonard Cohen\u2019s song, and has roughly a zillion more verses than Buckley sang. But this version, into which Buckley pours every filament of his soul, is definitive.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>85. Gary Clark Jr. \u2013 \u201cAin\u2019t Messin\u2019 \u2019Round\u201d<\/b><br \/>What do you get when you fold Motown horns and Hendrix-level guitar playing into a blistering funk-rock anthem? Gary Clark Jr.\u2019s swaggering, 100% true personal mission statement: \u201cAin&#8217;t nobody else like me around.\u201d    <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>84. Courtney Barnett \u2013 \u201cPedestrian At Best\u201d<\/b> <br \/> This is rock and roll in the 20-teens: motor-mouthed, deadpan, reflexively ironic and relentlessly witty. A feverish jam from a terrific writer and performer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>83. Casey Frazier \u2013 \u201cIn My Good Time\u201d<\/b> <br \/> The best singer-songwriters inhabit their songs completely even when they\u2019re about someone else. I don\u2019t know how autobiographical this song is, but it\u2019s as authentic as anything you\u2019ll ever hear.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>82. Becky Warren \u2013 \u201cWe\u2019re All We Got\u201d<img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" align=\"right\" height=\"150\" hspace=\"10\" vspace=\"5\" width=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/beckywarren_undesirable_150.jpg\" alt=\"beckywarren_undesirable_150\" title=\"beckywarren_undesirable_150\" \/><\/b> <br \/> People sometimes look at me funny when I tell them Becky Warren sounds like you merged Lucinda Williams and Tom Petty into one person. Then I play this song and they go \u201cOh. Right.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>81. Keb\u2019 Mo\u2019 \u2013 \u201cGod Trying To Get Your Attention\u201d<\/b> <br \/> Keb\u2019 Mo\u2019 is at his best when he combines sharp insight into human nature with his sharp sense of humor.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>80. Death Cab For Cutie \u2013 \u201cBixby Canyon Bridge\u201d<\/b> <br \/> Yes, I\u2019m partial to this one because its titular bridge is a half hour down the road. But it\u2019s also an amazing song about grappling with grief.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>79. Fastball \u2013 \u201cFire Escape\u201d<\/b><br \/>Of all the hooks Fastball has ever sunk into my power-pop-loving ear, this is the one I come back to again and again.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>78. U2 \u2013 \u201cMysterious Ways\u201d<\/b><br \/>Twisted, ecstatic Edge guitar plus soulful, ecstatic Bono vocal plus a heavy funk-inflected groove equals aural dynamite.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>77. The Police \u2013 \u201cMessage in a Bottle\u201d<\/b> <br \/> That circular riff, that keening vocal, that buoyant punch line.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>76. Talking Heads \u2013 \u201cOnce In A Lifetime\u201d<\/b><br \/>\u201cSane as it ever was\u201d feels like it should be the subtitle for a book called <i>The 21<sup>st<\/sup> Century So Far<\/i>.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>75. David Bowie \u2013 \u201cChanges\u201d<\/b> <br \/> Too obvious a choice? Tough; I\u2019ve always preferred straight-up melodic rocker Bowie over any of his quirkier identities. Plus, the message has proven timeless.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>74. Jimi Hendrix \u2013 \u201cAll Along The Watchtower\u201d<\/b> <br \/> Dylan isn\u2019t on this list, but his songs are. And again, you can argue for the original, but this is the definitive version.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>73. Queen \u2013 \u201cTie Your Mother Down\u201d<img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" align=\"right\" height=\"150\" hspace=\"10\" vspace=\"5\" width=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/queen_aday.jpg\" alt=\"queen_aday\" title=\"queen_aday\" \/><\/b> <br \/> Queen is synonymous with \u201cover the top\u201d; this is as true of their hard rock numbers as any of the myriad other styles they explored. Epic head-banging fun. <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>72. AC\/DC \u2013 \u201cShot Down In Flames\u201d<\/b> <br \/> For me AC\/DC were at their best when Bon Scott was flinging self-deprecating one-liners as furiously as the Young brothers were slinging monster riffs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>71. Jason Isbell \u2013 \u201cIf We Were Vampires\u201d<\/b> <br \/> Chorus, meet ears; lump, meet throat.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>70. Fountains of Wayne \u2013 \u201cAll Kinds of Time\u201d<\/b> <br \/> Part of what makes some songs great is simply that no one else could possibly have written them. A 4:22 masterpiece spanning approximately five seconds in the lives of its characters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>69. Semisonic \u2013 \u201cClosing Time\u201d<\/b> <br \/> A song about birth and rebirth, disguised as a set-closing anthem.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>68. U2 \u2013 \u201cPride (In the Name of Love)\u201d<\/b> <br \/> Ringing, soulful, sky-filling, and all those other things the best U2 songs are.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>67. Los Lobos \u2013 \u201cLa Bamba\u201d<\/b><br \/>Like a couple of others on this list, this one is tied up in fond memories of a movie\u2014the Ritchie Valens biopic of the same name\u2014but that doesn\u2019t change the fact it\u2019s a great song.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>66. Ben Folds Five \u2013 \u201cBrick\u201d<\/b> <br \/> Ben Folds has been many things in his career; the most important one is \u201chonest.\u201d A devastating song about a devastating moment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>65. Peter Gabriel \u2013 \u201cIn Your Eyes\u201d<\/b> <br \/> When Peter Gabriel writes a love song, he goes all in.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>64. The Cars \u2013 \u201cJust What I Needed\u201d<img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" align=\"right\" height=\"150\" hspace=\"10\" vspace=\"5\" width=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/cars_s-t.jpg\" alt=\"cars_s-t\" title=\"cars_s-t\" \/><\/b> <br \/> The Perfect Pop Single: 1978 Edition, as well as the very definition of power pop.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>63. The Who \u2013 \u201cI Can\u2019t Explain\u201d<\/b> <br \/> Sometimes the simplest things are the most powerful\u2014a comment that applies equally to the song\u2019s main riff and the piercing self-analysis of Townshend\u2019s lyric.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>62. Creedence Clearwater Revival \u2013 \u201cFortunate Son\u201d <br \/> <\/b>John Fogerty\u2019s best song\u2014which is saying something\u2014was the theme song from an era when your economic status could represent the difference between life and death. Just like today.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>61. Beach Boys \u2013 \u201cGood Vibrations\u201d <br \/> <\/b>Would progressive rock, space-rock, psych-rock, and a dozen other related subgenres exist without this song? I dunno\u2026 but it\u2019s a great song.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>60. Tom Petty &#038; The Heartbreakers \u2013 \u201cEven The Losers\u201d <br \/> <\/b>The underdogs\u2019 national anthem.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>59. Mary Chapin Carpenter \u2013 \u201cI Feel Lucky\u201d <br \/> <\/b>The thing about Carpenter is, regardless of the subject matter of a song, she invests every one with writerly detail and snappy punchlines.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>58. Bruce Springsteen \u2013 \u201cBrilliant Disguise\u201d<\/b> <br \/> A ferociously honest portrait of a relationship on the edge.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>57. Ben E. King &#8212; \u201cStand By Me\u201d<\/b><br \/>A secular hymn of loyalty and devotion.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>56. Switchfoot &#8211; \u201cWe Are One Tonight\u201d<img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" align=\"right\" height=\"150\" hspace=\"10\" vspace=\"5\" width=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/switchfoot_nothing_150.jpg\" alt=\"switchfoot_nothing_150\" title=\"switchfoot_nothing_150\" \/><\/b> <br \/> The soundtrack to the climactic scene of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jasonwarburg.com\/about-believe-in-me\/\">my first novel<\/a> earns that spotlight with a stadium-sized anthem of unity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>55. The Beatles \u2013 \u201cWith A Little Help From My Friends\u201d <\/b><br \/> A great John song with a great Ringo vocal, immortalized for good by Joe Cocker as <i>The Wonder Years<\/i> theme song. <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>54. Fleetwood Mac \u2013 \u201cLandslide\u201d<\/b> <br \/> I know, I know\u2014it\u2019s been overplayed. Enduring classics are like that sometimes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>53. REM \u2013 \u201cIt\u2019s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)\u201d<\/b> <br \/> Too soon?<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>52. U2 \u2013 \u201cWhere The Streets Have No Name\u201d<\/b> <br \/> Enough propulsive urgency to power a small city, and that guitar\u2026<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>51. Gamma \u2013 \u201cVoyager\u201d<\/b> <br \/> If required to choose a single spectacular guitar performance from a career full of them, this would be the one I would choose for Ronnie Montrose: passionate, moving, unforgettable.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>50. The Spinners \u2013 \u201cCould It Be I\u2019m Falling in Love?\u201d<\/b>\u00a0 <br \/> A stone cold soul classic.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>49. Bob Seger \u2013 \u201cRamblin\u2019 Gamblin\u2019 Man\u201d<\/b> <br \/> Seger produced a bunch of great songs, but this is the one that revs my engine every single time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>48. Simon &#038; Garfunkel \u2013 \u201cMrs. Robinson\u201d<\/b> <br \/> Another artist whose catalogue of songs could easily have produced a six-way tie for this list, but this time around Mrs. R\u2019s killer hook takes the prize.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>47. Led Zeppelin \u2013 \u201cRamble On\u201d<\/b> <br \/> Lilting verses plus headbanging choruses equals my favorite single-song mashup of the renowned Zeppelin yin and yang.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>46. The Pretenders \u2013 \u201cThe Wait\u201d<img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" align=\"right\" height=\"150\" hspace=\"10\" vspace=\"5\" width=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/pretenders_st_150.jpg\" alt=\"pretenders_st_150\" title=\"pretenders_st_150\" \/><\/b> <br \/> Like most of my 17-year-old buddies listening to <i>The Pretenders<\/i> for the first time, I quickly concluded that Chrissie Hynde could probably kick my ass. <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>45. Sam Cooke \u2013 \u201c(What A) Wonderful World\u201d<\/b> <br \/> That. Voice.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>44. Jimi Hendrix \u2013 \u201cFire\u201d<\/b> <br \/> The song that makes you wonder if maybe Jimi\u2019s guitar just spontaneously combusted that time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>43. Pink Floyd \u2013 \u201cWish You Were Here\u201d<\/b> <br \/> Gorgeous and devastating.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>42. Tom Petty \u2013 \u201cWildflowers\u201d<\/b> <br \/> Just so damned beautiful in every way.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>41. Smokey Robinson &#038; The Miracles \u2013 \u201cI Second That Emotion\u201d<\/b> <br \/> In which the smoothest showman in all of Motown pens the hookiest hit single of a career studded with them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>40. Big Big Train \u2013 \u201cThe Transit Of Venus Across The Sun\u201d<\/b> <br \/> Of all the tracks I\u2019ve ever called \u201csublime,\u201d this may be the sublimest; it\u2019s so gorgeous it has me making up new words.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>39. Rolling Stones \u2013 \u201cSympathy For The Devil\u201d<\/b> <br \/> This song IS the Rolling Stones.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>38. Genesis \u2013 \u201cHome By The Sea \/ Second Home By The Sea\u201d<\/b> <br \/> I\u2019m one of those weirdos who prefers Genesis without Peter Gabriel, and Peter Gabriel without Genesis. This hard-hitting, beautifully arranged suite has long been my favorite Genesis tune.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>37. Rush \u2013 \u201cTom Sawyer\u201d<\/b> <br \/> This song IS Rush.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>36. Death Cab For Cutie \u2013 \u201cI Will Follow You Into The Dark\u201d<img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" align=\"right\" height=\"150\" hspace=\"10\" vspace=\"5\" width=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/deathcab_plans.jpg\" alt=\"deathcab_plans\" title=\"deathcab_plans\" \/><\/b> <br \/> No one makes fatalistic elegance more sweet and compelling than Ben Gibbard and company.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>35. Last Charge Of The Light Horse \u2013 \u201cThis Is Where\u201d<\/b> <br \/> The dance between the guitars and the rhythm section is every bit as hypnotic as the scene Jean-Paul Vest paints with his haunting words.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>34. The Beatles \u2013 \u201cHelp!\u201d<\/b> <br \/> How do you turn an existential crisis into a hit single, and album, and movie? (It helps if you\u2019re the Beatles.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>33. Tom Petty &#038; The Heartbreakers \u2013 \u201cListen To Her Heart\u201d<\/b> <br \/> The Tom Petty version of the Perfect Pop Single.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>32. James Taylor \u2013 \u201cYou Can Close Your Eyes\u201d<\/b> <br \/> Never released as a single but beloved by JT aficionados, this lullaby feels like the answer to every question ever asked about love, death, music, and the universe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>31. Chicago \u2013 \u201c25 Or 6 To 4\u201d<\/b> <br \/> A tidal wave of percussion, guitar, horns, voices, groove and syncopation that\u2019s as vital and visceral today as it was 50 years ago.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>30. Counting Crows \u2013 \u201cMr. Jones\u201d<\/b> <br \/> The best Van Morrison song ever written by a dreadlocked Berkeley dropout. \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jasonwarburg.com\/about-believe-in-me\/\">Believe in me<\/a> \/ Help me believe in anything \/ &#8216;Cause I want to be someone who believes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>29. Marvin Gaye &#038; Tammi Terrell &#8212; \u201cAin\u2019t No Mountain High Enough\u201d<\/b><br \/>The purest magic this side of Harry Potter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>28. Big Big Train \u2013 \u201cThe Underfall Yard\u201d<\/b> <br \/> Big Big Train\u2019s \u201cClose to the Edge\u201d or \u201cSupper\u2019s Ready\u201d \u2013 a stupendous prog epic that carries the listener away on a 20-minute journey of discovery.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>27. Fountains Of Wayne \u2013 \u201cNo Better Place\u201d<img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" align=\"right\" height=\"150\" hspace=\"10\" vspace=\"5\" width=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/fountainsofwayne_welcome.jpg\" alt=\"fountainsofwayne_welcome\" title=\"fountainsofwayne_welcome\" \/><\/b> <br \/> Everything that was great about FoW\u2014 an indelible hook, witty wordplay, novelistic detail\u2014packed into a concise 4:06 package. \u201cIs that supposed to be your poker face \/ Or was someone run over by a train?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>26. Fleetwood Mac \u2013 \u201cThe Chain\u201d<\/b> <br \/> The thing about \u201cThe Chain\u201d is, even if you set aside the real-life context from which is emerged, it\u2019s still an emotional atom bomb of a song.<\/p>\n<p><b>25. Van Morrison \u2013 \u201cDomino\u201d<\/b><br \/>Snap the fingers and tap the toes, \u2019cause preacher Van is here with a reading from the gospel of rhythm and blues.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>24. Last Charge Of The Light Horse \u2013 \u201cWhat If\u201d<\/b> <br \/> A Socratic dialogue about destiny, faith, and the meaning of life that unexpectedly blossoms into the richest, purest kind of love song; just remarkable.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>23. Stevie Wonder \u2013 \u201cHigher Ground\u201d<\/b> <br \/> That. Groove.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>22. Jason Isbell \u2013 \u201cCover Me Up\u201d<\/b> <br \/> Love challenges, endures, redeems, and heals. Most importantly, love is honest and true. <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>21. Bruce Springsteen \u2013 \u201cThunder Road\u201d<\/b> <br \/> An operatic ballad of longing and release that\u2019s basically a prologue to \u201cBorn To Run.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>20. Elton John \u2013 \u201cTiny Dancer\u201d<\/b> <br \/> Yes I\u2019m a sentimental fool whose eyes still dampen every damn time at the <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/_qW9wqUI4Lg\">on-the-bus singalong scene<\/a> in <i>Almost Famous<\/i>. What of it?<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>19. Big Big Train \u2013 \u201cVictorian Brickwork\u201d<img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" align=\"right\" height=\"150\" hspace=\"10\" vspace=\"5\" width=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/bigbigtrain_underfall_150.jpg\" alt=\"bigbigtrain_underfall_150\" title=\"bigbigtrain_underfall_150\" \/><\/b> <br \/> The magic behind BBT is the way they invest rangy progressive rock with genuine human emotion. Greg Spawton\u2019s elegy for his father in simply magnificent.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>18. Yes \u2013 \u201cAwaken\u201d<\/b> <br \/> The perfect balance of yin and yang, light and heavy, and the band\u2019s last truly great work.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>17. The Beatles \u2013 \u201cTwist And Shout\u201d<\/b> <br \/> If you could bottle exuberance, it would sound like this.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>16. James Taylor \u2013 \u201cSomething In The Way She Moves\u201d<\/b> <br \/> You\u2019re 20 years old and you write a love song so potent and timeless that your new friend George Harrison borrows the title to write a #1 hit for the Beatles. I mean, it\u2019s a good start, right?\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>15. Queen \u2013 \u201cBohemian Rhapsody\u201d<\/b> <br \/> Insanely brilliant, or brilliantly insane? The answer, of course, is yes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>14. Fleetwood Mac \u2013 \u201cGo Your Own Way\u201d<\/b> <br \/> The mother of all breakup songs, powered by one of the most propulsive drum performances of the rock era.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>13. John Lennon \u2013 \u201cImagine\u201d<\/b> <br \/> Both a secular hymn and a requiem for a decade.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>12. Montrose \u2013 \u201cMake It Last\u201d<\/b> <br \/> I remember when I was seventeen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>11. Yes &#8211; \u201cClose To The Edge\u201d<img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" align=\"right\" height=\"150\" hspace=\"10\" vspace=\"5\" width=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/yes_close.jpg\" alt=\"yes_close\" title=\"yes_close\" \/><\/b> <br \/> Sharply aggressive, stunningly gorgeous, and groundbreaking in scope, it\u2019s the 18-minute epic that assured Yes\u2019 place in history.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>10. Marvin Gaye \u2013 \u201cI Heard It Through The Grapevine\u201d<\/b> <br \/> A three minute and fifteen second single with the vocal and emotional range of a full-length opera.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>9. The Beatles \u2013 \u201cHere Comes The Sun\u201d<\/b> <br \/> A luminous, enduring masterpiece.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>8. Al Green \u2013 \u201cLet\u2019s Stay Together\u201d<\/b> <br \/> It\u2019s amazing anyone ever bothered trying to write or sing another love song after this one came along.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>7. Aretha Franklin \u2013 \u201c(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman\u201d<\/b> <br \/> Pure gold, a Goffin-King classic composed for and sung by the Queen herself.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>6. The Who \u2013 \u201cWon\u2019t Get Fooled Again\u201d<\/b> <br \/> That slashing, thundering guitar. That hair-on-fire drumming. That merciless lyric, capped by that epic scream. Pure nitroglycerin.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>5. Carole King \u2013 \u201cYou\u2019ve Got A Friend\u201d<\/b> <br \/> Of the dozens of wonderful songs she wrote, this is the one people come back to again and again. So simple, so direct, so kind that it feels like aloe vera for the soul.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>4. Tom Petty &#038; The Heartbreakers \u2013 \u201cAmerican Girl\u201d<\/b> <br \/> My first favorite TP song. The opening bars still make the hairs on the back of my neck stand at attention every time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>3. James Taylor \u2013 \u201cFire And Rain\u201d<\/b> <br \/> Some songs are of their moment, and some transcend time and place and generation. There is beauty in grief;<b><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" align=\"right\" height=\"150\" hspace=\"10\" vspace=\"5\" width=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/brucespringsteen_borntorun.jpg\" title=\"brucespringsteen_borntorun\" alt=\"brucespringsteen_borntorun\" \/><\/b> here\u2019s all the proof anyone will ever need again.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>2. The Beatles \u2013 \u201cA Hard Day\u2019s Night\u201d<\/b> <br \/> The first song in my life that I remember loving\u201450 years later every word, every beat, and every note of the guitar solo remains lodged in memory.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>1. Bruce Springsteen \u2013 \u201cBorn To Run\u201d<\/b> <br \/> A 24-year-old Jersey street rat\u2019s ecstatic vision of rock and roll and the open road as the ultimate vehicles of exhilaration, exaltation, and escape. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(More Or Less)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":48782,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"tags":[],"feature_type":[32],"class_list":["post-47879","feature","type-feature","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","feature_type-feature"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/feature\/47879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/feature"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/feature"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/feature\/47879\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47879"},{"taxonomy":"feature_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/feature_type?post=47879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}