Another list, another bust. I guess Rolling Stone had to “update” it’s 2004 greatest songs of all time list to accomodate the Y2KO’s but I say bunk. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036789/vp/37374786#37374786
And I guess I’m not the only one who feels this way…http://www.canada.com/entertainment/Rolling+Stone+songs+Time+after+time+they+wrong/3089120/story.html
Here’s the list if you haven’t shelled out the bucks for the prints yet…http://forum.nin.com/bb/read.php?30,1086538,1086538
It’s almost hysterical. Some of these choices to be “politically correct” left out some fantastic songs by great artists.
You know, a great song should be a defining moment in our culture. Bangladesh by George Harrison. Back in 1971 George did it first by sponsoring a charity event, The Concert for Bangladesh. Unselfishly, a world renown artist did something to make a difference. That song should be considered one of the greatest of all time simply because of what it started.
On the heels of George Harrison, Micheal Jackson helped organize We Are the World for charity. It was a rallying cry for people to make a difference. I think that song deserves to be ranked as one of the greatest of all time ahead of Rolling Stones choice for #417, Fuck the Police. Don’t you? Beat It did manage to rank #337, kind of like an afterthought.
Let’s see, the Moody Blues recorded the first stereo album, Days of Future Passed, back in 1967. That is a landmark achievement not only because of it being stereo, but because it blended classical instruments with rock for the first time! Perhaps rather than No Woman, No Cry (which sucks) we could have had Knights in White Satin.
There was no mention of Harry Nilsson, personally I think Everybody’s Talkin’ or I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City does it for me much better than Nirvana’s Feels Like Teen Spirit, ranked at an unbelievable #9!
Neil Diamond, accomplished singer and songwriter, didn’t get a spot on Rolling Stones list. I Am, I Said should have been included somewhere.
Jim Croce’s Time in a Bottle beats anything Iggy Pop put out, in my humble opinion.
One For My Baby (and One More For the Road) by Frank Sinatra? Nothing by The Voice on this list.
Kris Kristofferson was an obvious oversight. Loving Her Was Easier Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again should have beat out at least a hundred lesser songs chosen by Rolling Stone’s panel, or at the very least… Sunday Morning Coming Down.
I would have liked to see Charlie Rich, either Rollin’ With the Flow or Good Time Charlie’s Got the Blues but who says Rolling Stone really knows what they are talking about?
It’s Only Make Believe by Conway Twitty. Blue Eyes Cryin’ in the Rain by Willie Nelson. You’re So Young and Beautiful by Elvis Presley. I Saw the Light or I Can’t Help It If I’m Still in Love With You by Hank Williams. From a Jack to a King by Ned Miller. He’ll Have to Go by Jim Reeves. Devil Woman by Marty Robbins. I Will Always Love You or Coat of Many Colors by Dolly Parton. Coalminer’s Daughter or You Ain’t Woman Enough by Loretta Lynn. Me and Bobby McGee by Janis Joplin. At Last by Etta James. Blue Bayou by Linda Ronstadt. This Guy’s In Love With You by Burt Bacharach. No Waylon, no Merle, no Roy Clark, no Boy Named Sue? and on, and on, and on…
And no Grateful Dead?
Why omit this song?
We Can Run
Lyrics: John Barlow
Music: Brent Mydland
We don’t own this place though we act as if we did
It belongs to the children of our children’s kids
The actual owners haven’t even been born yet
But we never tend the garden and we rarely pay the rent
Most of it is broken and the rest of it is bent
Put it all on plastic and I wonder where we’ll be when the bills hit
Chorus
We can run but we can’t hide from it
Of all possible worlds we only got one, we gotta ride on it
Whatever we’ve done we’ll never get far from what we leave behind
Baby we can run, run, run but we can’t hide
Well I’m dumping my trash in your back yard
Making certain you don’t notice really isn’t so hard
You’re so busy with your guns and all of your excuses to use
them
Well it’s oil for the rich and babies for the poor
We’ve got everyone believing that more is more
If a reckoning comes maybe we’ll know what to do then
[chorus]
All these complications seem to leave no choice
I heard the tongues of billions speak with just one voice
Saying just leave all the rest to me, I need it worse than you, you see
Then I heard the sound of one child crying
Today I went out walking in the amber wind
There’s a hole in the sky where the light pours in
I remember the days when I wasn’t afraid of the sunshine
But now it beats down on the asphalt land
Like hammering blow from God’s left hand
What little still grows
Cringes in the shade till the night-time
[chorus]
as recorded by the Grateful Dead
This song was way out of character for them and it struck a chord with all of us, sort of a modern send up of… It’s Natures Way by Spirit.
Or how about this one?
He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother (B. Scott and B. Russell)
The road is long
With many a winding turn
That leads us to who knows where
Who knows when
But I’m strong
Strong enough to carry him
He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother
So on we go
His welfare is of my concern
No burden is he to bear
We’ll get there
For I know
He would not encumber me
He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother
If I’m laden at all
I’m laden with sadness
That everyone’s heart
Isn’t filled with the gladness
Of love for one another
It’s a long, long road
From which there is no return
While we’re on the way to there
Why not share
And the load
Doesn’t weigh me down at all
He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother
He’s my brother
He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother…
as recorded by the Hollies
Or how about the single most recorded song of all time?http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentle_on_My_Mind …
http://www.johnhartford.com/gentle.cfm
check it out…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glc9lzV8_S4&feature=related
Gentle On My Mind by John Hartford
It’s knowing that your door is always open
And your path is free to walk
That makes me tend to leave my sleeping bag
Rolled up and stashed behind your couch
And it’s knowing I’m not shackled
By forgotten words and bonds
And the ink stains that have dried upon some line
That keeps you in the backroads
By the rivers of my mem’ry
That keeps you ever gentle on my mind
It’s not clinging to the rocks and ivy
Planted on their columns now that binds me
Or something that somebody said
Because they thought we fit together walking
It’s just knowing that the world will not be cursing
Or forgiving when I walk along some railroad track and find
That you are moving on the backroads
By the rivers of my mem’ry
And for hours you’re just gentle on my mind
Though the wheat fields and the clothes lines
And the junkyards and the highways come between us
And some other woman crying to her mother
‘Cause she turned and I was gone
I still might run in silence tears of joy might stain my face
And the summer sun might burn me ’til I’m blind
But not to where I cannot see you walkin’ on the backroads
By the rivers flowing gentle on my mind
I dip my cup of soup back from the gurglin’
Cracklin’ caldron in some train yard
My beard a roughning coal pile and
A dirty hat pulled low across my face
Through cupped hands ’round a tin can
I pretend I hold you to my breast and find
That you’re waving from the backroads
By the rivers of my mem’ry
Ever smilin’ ever gentle on my mind
as recorded by Glen Campbell
.
Yes, I could go on but I won’t. Suffice it to say I don’t buy into Rolling Stones “something for everybody” greatest songs list.
You shouldn’t either!
peace.
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