Showing posts with label Songs That Made a Mark. Show all posts

Thursday, January 19, 2023

Book: Songs That Made a Mark

Songs That Made a Mark:

100 of Mark Whitaker’s Favorites

For Christmas 2022, I told my brother I’d make a book – just for him – of 100 of his favorite songs. We worked together to come up with the list offered here. Songs are not ranked; they are listed alphabetically by the recording acts. While the book is not available for purchase, all the songs are listed here with links to dedicated Dave’s Music Database pages, each with information about the song’s chart, sales, and airplay statistics as well as links to awards won by the songs, videos, and lyrics.

Click here to see other lists from critics and individuals and here to see other lists from publications and/or organizations.

Spotify Playlist:

You can listen to all these songs via the Spotify playlist Songs That Made a Mark.

1. Ace “How Long” (1974)
2. Adele “Skyfall” (2012)
3. Aerosmith “Janie’s Got a Gun” (1989)
4. Alabama “Mountain Music” (1982)
5. Animal Logic “I’m Sorry Baby (I Want You in My Life)” (1989)
6. Asia “Heat of the Moment” (1982)
7. Asia “Only Time Will Tell” (1982)
8. Asia “Don’t Cry” (1983)
9. The Beatles “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” (1968)
10. Pat Benatar “Shadows of the Night” (1982)

11. Clint Black “Killin’ Time” (1989)
12. David Bowie “Changes” (1971)
13. Boyz II Men “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday” (1991)
14. Garth Brooks “> Unanswered Prayers” (1990)
15. Kate Bush “This Woman’s Work” (1988)
16. Johnny Cash “Hurt” (2002)
17. Harry Chapin “Cat’s in the Cradle” (1974)
18. Chic “Le Freak” (1978)
19. Chicago “If You Leave Me Now” (1976)
20. Eric Clapton “Wonderful Tonight” (1977)

21. Eric Clapton “Tears in Heaven” (1992)
22. Phil Collins “In the Air Tonight” (1981)
23. Commodores “Three Times a Lady” (1978)
24. Robert Cray “Smoking Gun” (1986)
25. Bing Crosby with David Bowie “Peace on Earth/The Little Drummer Boy” (1977)
26. Crowded House “Don’t Dream It’s Over” (1986)
27. Crowded House “Better Be Home Soon” (1988)
28. Charlie Daniels Band “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” (1979)
29. Def Leppard “Photograph” (1983)
30. Depeche Mode “Somebody” (1984)

31. Dennis DeYoung “Desert Moon” (1984)
32. Eagles “Take It Easy” (1972)
33. Eagles “Desperado” (1973)
34. Foreigner “Waiting for a Girl Like You” (1981)
35. Peter Gabriel “Biko” (1980)
36. Genesis “Mama” (1983)
37. Hootie & the Blowfish “Only Wanna Be with You” (1995)
38. Billy Joel “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)” (1977)
39. Billy Joel “The Stranger” (1977)
40. Billy Joel with Ray Charles “Baby Grand” (1986)

41. Elton John “Candle in the Wind” (1973) / “Candle in the Wind 1997 (Goodbye England’s Rose)” (1997)
42. Journey “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)” (1983)
43. Journey “Faithfully” (1983)
44. Journey “Ask the Lonely” (1983)
45. Kansas “Carry on Wayward Son” (1976)
46. Kansas “Dust in the Wind” (1977)
47. Jonny Lang “Lie to Me” (1997)
48. Led Zeppelin “The Battle of Evermore” (1971)
49. John Lennon “Imagine” (1971)
50. Huey Lewis & the News “Naturally” (1986)

51. Linkin Park “In the End” (2000)
52. Little River Band “Lonesome Loser” (1979)
53. Nick Lowe “Cruel to Be Kind” (1979)
54. Manfred Mann’s Earth Band “Blinded by the Light” (1976)
55. Paul McCartney & Stevie Wonder “Ebony and Ivory” (1982)
56. John Cougar Mellencamp “Rain on the Scarecrow” (1985)
57. Metallica “One” (1989)
58. Metallica “Nothing Else Matters” (1992)
59. Mike + the Mechanics “Silent Running” (1985)
60. Mike + the Mechanics “The Living Years” (1988)

61. Mr. Mister “Broken Wings” (1985)
62. Night Ranger “Four in the Morning” (1985)
63. OutKast “Hey Ya!” (2003)
64. The Alan Parsons Project “Old and Wise” (1982)
65. The Alan Parsons Project “Let’s Talk About Me” (1985)
66. Dolly Parton “Jolene” (1973)
67. Pearl Jam “Jeremy” (1991)
68. Steve Perry “Oh Sherrie” (1984)
69. The Police “Roxanne” (1978)
70. The Police “Message in a Bottle” (1979)

71. Elvis Presley “Can’t Help Falling in Love” (1961)
72. Prince & the Revolution “Purple Rain” (1984)
73. Queen “We Will Rock You” / “We Are the Champions” (1977)
74. Queensrÿche “Empire” (1990)
75. Queensrÿche “Silent Lucidity” (1991)
76. The Rainmakers “Downstream” (1986)
77. Bonnie Raitt “Nick of Time” (1989)
78. R.E.M. “It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” (1987)
79. REO Speedwagon “Can’t Fight This Feeling” (1984)
80. Lionel Richie “Hello” (1984)

81. Lionel Richie “Say You Say Me” (1985)
82. Kenny Rogers “Coward of the County” (1979)
83. Rush “Free Will” (1980)
84. Kenny Wayne Shepherd “Blue on Black” (1998)
85. Rick Springfield “Affair of the Heart” (1983)
86. Bruce Springsteen “Dancing in the Dark” (1984)
87. Squeeze “Tempted” (1981)
88. Styx “Come Sail Away” (1977)
89. Styx “Renegade” (1978)
90. Tears for Fears “Mad World” (1982) / Michael Andrews & Gary Jules “Mad World” (2002)

91. Toto “Africa” (1982)
92. Toto “Stranger in Town” (1984)
93. Tina Turner “We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)” (1985)
94. Bonnie Tyler “Total Eclipse of the Heart” (1983)
95. U2 “Sunday Bloody Sunday” (1983)
96. U2 “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” (1987)
97. Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble “The Sky Is Crying” (1985)
98. Madisen Ward & the Mama Bear “Silent Movies” (2015)
99. Stevie Wonder “Superstition” (1972)
100. Stevie Wonder “Isn’t She Lovely” (1977)

Resources/Related Links:

Dave’s Music Database: lists from critics and individuals
Dave’s Music Database: lists from publications and/or organizations

First posted 12/26/2022; last updated 1/19/2023.

Friday, March 8, 2019

50 years ago: The Beatles “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” hit #1 in Australia

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

The Beatles

Writer(s): George Harrison (see lyrics here)

Released: November 25, 1968 (album cut)

Peak: 1 CL, 1⁶ AU, 5 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.)

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 133.0 video, -- streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

The Beatles’ unparelled success was built at least in part on the distinct personalities of its four members. Paul McCartney became celebrated as a pop tunesmith while John Lennon appealed to more artistic tastes. Ringo Starr had a goofy, fun style and George Harrison earned the reputation of the mystical, silent member.

His quieter personality led to him often being overshadowed by the songwriting team of Lennon and McCartney. Most of the group’s most celebrated songs are credited to the songwriting duo. They certainly penned classic after classic, but Harrison wasn’t given a lot of opportunity to complete, being typically relegated to one song per album.

In later years, he started to exert his songwriting prowess, most notably on the #1 single “Something.” He also contributed one of the group’s most beloved album tracks, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” on the Beatles’ White Album. Rolling Stone ranked “Weeps” as the seventh greatest guitar song of all time. Alan Smith of New Musical Express called it “a slightly [Jimi] Hendrix thing.” ^WK

Harrison write the song after returning from India, where the Beatles studied transcendental meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. It prompted Harrison to return to guitar as his primary instrument after he’d focused on the sitar over the last two years. Author Jonathan Gould called “Weeps” “virtually a declaration of his recommitment to rock.” ^WK

The song also marked the beginning of his period as a prolific songwriter. The seeds for “Weeps” were sown when Harrison decided to open a book randomly and write a song based on the first words he saw, which happened to be “gently weeps.” ^WK Harrison’s subsequent lyrics reflected on “how a universal love for humankind is latent” ^WK and how Harrison felt spiritually isolated from the group. ^WK It also showed how the band didn’t always respect his contributions when they were apathetic toward the song. This led Harrison to invite his friend Eric Clapton to contribute on lead guitar. The two also famously collaborated on “Badge” for Clapton’s group Cream.

During his solo career, Harrison performed this song more than any other. ^SF It has been covered by Peter Frampton, Jeff Healy, Todd Rundgren, Santana, and Regina Spektor. When Harrison was posthumously inducted as a solo artist into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, the song was famously performed by an all-star band including Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Steve Winwood, and Prince with a ferocious guitar solo.

Resources:

DMDB encyclopedia entry for The Beatles
^SF Songfacts
^WK Wikipedia

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Madisen Ward & the Mama Bear “Silent Movies” released on debut album