Part 2 51 - 100

Link to the full list text only:

Top 1,000 Songs Everyone Should Hear in Their Lifetime The List

 
51. Arthur Gibbs And His Gang - The Charleston 

10.10.1923

The Charleston is a jazz composition that was written to accompany the Charleston dance. It was composed in 1923, with lyrics by Cecil Mack and music by James P. Johnson, who first introduced the stride piano method of playing. The song was featured in the American black Broadway musical comedy show Runnin' Wild. The music of the dockworkers from South Carolina inspired Johnson to compose the music. The dance known as the Charleston came to characterize the times. It was this song that propelled the dance to international popularity and a place in musical history. Lyrics, though rarely sung (an exception is Chubby Checker's 1961 recording), were penned by Cecil Mack, himself one of the most accomplished songwriters of the early 1900s. 

52. Artie Shaw - Begin the Beguine

7.24.1938

Begin the Beguine" is a song written by Cole Porter (1891–1964). Porter composed the song between Kalabahi, Indonesia, and Fiji during a 1935 Pacific cruise aboard Cunard's ocean liner Franconia. In October 1935, it was introduced by June Knight in the Broadway musical Jubilee, produced at the Imperial Theatre in New York City.

A Beguine was originally a Christian lay woman of the 13th or 14th century living in a religious community without formal vows, but in the Creole of the Caribbean, especially in Martinique and Guadeloupe, the term came to mean "white woman", and then to be applied to a style of music and dance, and in particular a slow, close couples' dance. This combination of French ballroom dance and Latin folk dance became popular in Paris and spread further abroad in the 1940s, largely due to the influence of the Porter song.

After signing a new recording contract with RCA Victor in the summer of 1938, Shaw chose "Beguine" to be the first of six tunes he would record at his initial recording session on July 24. Until then, Shaw's band had been having a tough time finding an identity and maintaining its existence without having had any popular hits of significance; his previous recording contract with Brunswick had lapsed at the end of 1937 without being renewed.

RCA's pessimism with the whole idea of recording the long tune "that nobody could remember from beginning to end anyway" resulted in it being released on the "B" side of the record "Artie Shaw and His Orchestra", issued by Bluebird Records as catalog number B-7746 B. Shaw's persistence paid off, though, when "Begin the Beguine" became a best-selling record in 1938, peaking at No. 3., skyrocketing Shaw and his band to fame and popularity. The recording became one of the most famous and popular anthems of the entire Swing Era.

53. Artist Stand Up to Cancer –

Just Stand Up! (Stand Up To Cancer)

8.21.2008 (digital)
9.30.2008 (CD single)

Just Stand Up! is a song performed by an all-star charity supergroup of pop, R&B, rock, country artists during the live version during the telethon "Stand Up to Cancer". The group was purposely billed as Artists Stand Up to Cancer to the public.

American songwriter and producer Antonio "L.A." Reid conceived the collaboration after a meeting with the founder of Stand Up to Cancer, which will benefit from the proceeds of the record. Reid co-produced the track with American singer Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, and the single was released on August 21, 2008.

The singers performed the song live on the "Stand Up to Cancer" show, which aired simultaneously on US TV networks ABC, CBS and NBC on September 5, 2008.

The single was re-released on September 30, 2008, with the original recording, as well as the audio of the live performance. The CD was enhanced so it had special features for a computer. A music video was not produced for the single.

On October 15, 2010, the song was confirmed to be double-Platinum by the RIAA, and the live music video included on the enhnaced CD single was confirmed to be Gold.

 Nicole Scherzinger (only on live version) and not listed on single cover.

54. Artist United Against Apartheid - Sun City

10.25.1985

(Album cover and single cover are the same. The above photos has the entire list of artists who performed on the song.)

Sun City is a 1985 protest song written by Steven Van Zandt, produced by Van Zandt and Arthur Baker and recorded by Artists United Against Apartheid to convey opposition to the South African policy of apartheid. The primary means of that opposition is to declare that all the artists involved would refuse any and all offers to perform at Sun City, a resort which was located in Bantustan of Bophuthatswana, one of a number of internationally unrecognized supposed "independent" states created by the South African government to forcibly relocate its black population.

Van Zandt was interested in writing a song about South Africa's Sun City casino resort, to make parallels with the plight of Native Americans. Danny Schechter, a journalist who was then working with ABC News' 20/20, suggested turning the song into a different kind of "We Are the World", or as Schechter explains, "a song about change not charity, freedom not famine.

55.  Artists For Haiti – 

We Are The World 25 for Haiti

 2.12.2010

 Soloists (in order of appearance):

  Justin Bieber/Nicole Scherzinger/

 Jennifer Hudson/Jennifer Nettles/Josh Groban/    Tony Bennett/Mary J. Blige/Michael Jackson (stock footage)/Janet Jackson/Barbra Streisand/

Miley Cyrus/Enrique Iglesias/Jamie Foxx
    Wyclef Jean/Adam Levine/P!nk/BeBe Winans/
    Usher/Celine Dion/Orianthi (on guitar)/Fergie/
    Nick Jonas/Toni Braxton/Mary Mary/Isaac Slade
    Carlos Santana (on guitar)/Lil Wayne/Akon
    T-Pain/LL Cool J (rap)/will.i.am (rap)/
    Snoop Dogg (rap)/Nipsey Hussle (rap)/
    Busta Rhymes (rap)/Swizz Beatz (rap)/

Kid Cudi (rap)/Mann (rap)/Kanye West (rap)

Chorus:

Patti Austin/Philip Bailey/Piero Barone
    Fonzworth Bentley/Ignazio Boschetto/Bizzy Bone
    Shakira/Ethan Bortnick/Brandy/Jeff Bridges
    Zac Brown/Kristian Bush/Natalie Cole
    Harry Connick, Jr./Nikka Costa/Faith Evans
    Melanie Fiona/Sean Garrett/Tyrese Gibson
    Gianluca Ginoble/Anthony Hamilton/Keri Hilson
    John Legend/Julianne Hough/India.Arie
    Randy Jackson/Taj Jackson/Taryll Jackson
    TJ Jackson/Al Jardine/Jimmy Jean-Louis
    Ralph Johnson/Joe Jonas/Kevin Jonas
    Rashida Jones/Gladys Knight/Benji Madden
    Joel Madden/Katharine McPhee/Jason Mraz
    Mýa/Freda Payne/A. R. Rahman/RedOne
    Nicole Richie/Kelly Rowland/Raphael Saadiq
    Carlos Santana/Trey Songz/Musiq Soulchild
    Jordin Sparks/Robin Thicke/Rob Thomas/

Vince Vaughn/Mervyn Warren/Verdine White
    Ann Wilson/Brian Wilson/Nancy Wilson

We Are the World 25 for Haiti is a charity single recorded by the supergroup Artists for Haiti in 2010. It is a remake of the 1985 hit song "We Are the World", which was written by American musicians Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, and was recorded by USA for Africa to benefit famine relief in Africa. Initially, in late 2009, it had been suggested to Richie and Quincy Jones—producer of the original "We Are the World"—that a re-cut version of the song be re-released under the title "Live 25". Following the magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake in Haiti, which devastated the area and killed thousands of people, it was agreed that the song would be re-recorded by new artists, in the hope that it would reach a new generation and help benefit the people of Haiti.

The song was recorded in fourteen and a half hours by over eighty artists on February 1, and was released on February 12, 2010, during the opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics. "We Are the World 25 for Haiti" was released as a CD single and a music download. It was produced by Quincy Jones, and executively produced by Lionel Richie, and Haitian-American musician Wyclef Jean. A music video directed by Paul Haggis was released to accompany and promote the song. The song was also recorded in Spanish by a Latin supergroup and was named Somos el Mundo. The song was directed by Emilio Estefan and his wife, Gloria Estefan.

"We Are the World 25 for Haiti" is musically structured similar to "We Are the World", but includes a rap verse which was written by some of the song's hip hop artists. Michael Jackson died months before the song's release, but his material from the 1985 recording sessions was incorporated into the song and music video, as per the request of his mother, Katherine. His sister Janet duets with him on the song, and his nephews Taj, TJ, and Taryll—collectively known as 3T—feature on the track's chorus. "We Are the World 25 for Haiti" received generally negative reviews by contemporary music critics, with criticism focused on the song's new musical additions, as well as the choice of artists who appear on the track. The song was commercially successful worldwide, charting within the top 20 in multiple countries.
 

Released as a CD Single other tracks were downloadable only 

56.  Association – Never My Love

8.26.1967

Never My Love is a pop standard written by American siblings Donald and Richard Addrisi and best known from a hit 1967 recording by The Association. The Addrisi Brothers had two Top 40 hits as recording artists, but their biggest success was as the songwriters of "Never My Love". Recorded by dozens of notable artists in the decades since, in late 1999 the Publishing Rights Organization Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI) announced it was the second most-played song on radio and television of the 20th century.

Third most played song on radio of all time 7 million times. 

57. B.B. King - Lucille
1968

Lucille is an album by blues artist B. B. King. It is named for his famous succession of Gibson guitars, currently the Signature ES-355.

Non single track. 

58. B.J. Thomas - 
Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head
10.14.1969

 

Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head is B. J. Thomas's #1 song, written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach for the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. It won an Academy Award for Best Original Song. David and Bacharach also won Best Original Score. It was recorded in seven takes, after Bacharach expressed dissatisfaction with the first six. In the film version of the song, B. J. Thomas had been recovering from laryngitis, which made his voice sound hoarser than in the 7" release. The film version featured a separate instrumental break when Paul Newman undertook stunts on a bicycle.

Ray Stevens was first offered the opportunity to record it for the film, but turned it down. He chose instead to record the song "Sunday Morning Coming Down", written by Kris Kristofferson. Bob Dylan is supposed to have been approached for the song, but he too reportedly declined.

The single by B. J. Thomas reached #1 on charts in the United States, Canada, and Norway. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks in January 1970 and was also the first American number-one hit of the 1970s. The song also spent seven weeks atop the Billboard adult contemporary chart. In 2008, Thomas's version was ranked as the 85th biggest song on Billboard's Hot 100 All-Time Top Songs. His version reached #38 in the UK Singles Chart.   

59. B.o.B – I’ll Be In The Sky
1.31.2011

I'll Be in the Sky is a song by American rapper, singer-songwriter and record producer B.o.B. The single serves as the fourth international release from the album B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray. The song was recorded in 2008 and was featured and originally released on his fourth mixtape Who the F#*k Is B.o.B?. It was released in the United Kingdom on 31 January 2011.

60. B.o.B. Feat. Hayley Williams of Paramore – Airplanes
4.27.2010

Airplanes is the second official and third overall single from B.o.B's debut studio album, B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray. The track features Hayley Williams and was produced by Alex da Kid with DJ Frank E receiving a co-production credit on the song. The music and chorus were written by Kinetics & One Love. The song was sent to urban radio on April 27, 2010.

Airplanes peaked at number one on the charts in the United Kingdom and New Zealand, as well as the top three in Australia, Canada, the Republic of Ireland and the United States. "Airplanes, Part II", the sequel to the song, features rapper Eminem as well as Williams. This collaboration led to a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals.

The original version had verses written by Lupe Fiasco. Later, the song was given to B.o.B by his label. Williams' appearance in the song was explained by herself and B.o.B in different interviews to MTV. Williams said Paramore was on tour when she was given the song and she "liked the part too much" and accepted to appear on it. B.o.B said he has "always been a Hayley fan" and he did not expect a collaboration between them too soon. The duo did not get in the studio together to record the song and had never even met each other in person, according to Williams. B.o.B and Williams first met during the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, when they performed "Airplanes" live for the first time together. The second time the song was performed together live was during Vanderbilt University's Fall 2010 "Commodore Quake" concert in Nashville, TN. During B.o.B.'s performance, Williams came out as a special guest to perform the song.

61. The Bachelors – I Believe
1964

I Believe is the name of a popular song written by Ervin Drake, Irvin Graham, Jimmy Shirl and Al Stillman in 1953. I Believe was commissioned and introduced by Jane Froman on her television show, and became the first hit song ever introduced on TV. Froman, troubled by the uprising of the Korean War in 1952 so soon after World War II, asked Drake, Graham, Shirl and Stillman to compose a song that would offer hope and faith to the populace. In addition to Froman, "I Believe" has been recorded by many others, and has become both a popular and religious standard.

Frankie Laine had the big hit version of the song, which still holds the record for the most weeks spent at number one in the UK Singles Chart.

62. The Band - The Weight
8.31.1968

The Weight is a song originally by the Canadian-American group The Band that was released as Capitol Records single 2269 in 1968 and on the group's debut album Music from Big Pink. Credited to The Band member Robbie Robertson, the song is about a visitor's experiences in a town called Nazareth. "The Weight" has significantly influenced American popular music, having been listed as #41 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time published in 2004.Pitchfork Media named it the thirteenth best song of the Sixties, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame named it one of the 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.[3] PBS, which broadcasted performances of the song in "Ramble at the Ryman" (2011), "Austin City Limits" (2012), and "Quick Hits" (2012), describes it as "a masterpiece of Biblical allusions, enigmatic lines and iconic characters" and notes its enduring popularity as "an essential part of the American songbook."

The inspiration for and influences affecting the composition of "The Weight" came from the music of the American South, the life experiences of band members, particularly Levon Helm, and movies of Spanish filmmaker Luis Buñuel.

The original members of The Band performed the "The Weight" as an American Southern folk song with country music (vocals, guitars and drums) and gospel music (piano and organ) elements. The lyrics, written in the first-person, are about a traveler's experiences arriving, visiting, and departing a town called Nazareth. The singers, led by Helm, vocalize the traveler's encounters with people in the town from the perspective of a Bible Belt American Southerner, like Helm himself, a native of rural Arkansas. After Helm's death in 2012, Robertson, who was raised in Canada, described how visits to the Memphis, Tennessee area, around which Helm grew up, affected him and influenced his songwriting:

    "To me ... going there was like going to the source. Because I was at such a vulnerable age then, it made a really big impact on me. Just that I had the honor joining up with this group and then even going to this place, which was close to a religious experience – even being able to put my feet on the ground there, because I was from Canada, right? So it was like, 'Woah, this is where this music grows in the ground, and [flows from] the Mississippi river. My goodness.' It very much affected my songwriting and, because I knew Levon's musicality so well, I wanted to write songs that I thought he could sing better than anybody in the world.

    "While I was there, I was just gathering images and names, and ideas and rhythms, and I was storing all of these things ... in my mind somewhere. And when it was time to sit down and write songs, when I reached into the attic to see what I was gonna write about, that's what was there. I just felt a strong passion toward the discovery of going there, and it opened my eyes, and all my senses were overwhelmed by the feeling of that place. When I sat down to write songs, that's all I could think of at the time."

The colorful characters in "The Weight" were based on real people members of The Band knew, as Levon Helm explained in his autobiography, This Wheel's on Fire. In particular, "young Anna Lee" mentioned in the third verse is Helm's longtime friend Anna Lee Amsden, and, according to her, "Carmen" and "Crazy Chester" were people from Helm's hometown, Turkey Scratch, Arkansas.

According to Robertson, "The Weight" was inspired by the movies of Spanish filmmaker Luis Buñuel. Buñuel's films are known for their surreal imagery and criticism of organized religion, particularly Roman Catholicism. While the song's lyrics and music invoke vivid imagery and the main character's perspective is influenced by the Bible, the song's episodic story was inspired by the predicaments Buñuel's film characters faced that undermined their goals for maintaining or improving their moral character. Of this, Robertson once stated:

    "(Buñuel) did so many films on the impossibility of sainthood. People trying to be good in Viridiana and Nazarin, people trying to do their thing. In "The Weight" it's the same thing. People like Buñuel would make films that had these religious connotations to them but it wasn't necessarily a religious meaning. In Buñuel there were these people trying to be good and it's impossible to be good. In "The Weight" it was this very simple thing. Someone says, "Listen, would you do me this favour? When you get there will you say 'hello' to somebody or will you give somebody this or will you pick up one of these for me? Oh? You're going to Nazareth, that's where the Martin guitar factory is. Do me a favour when you're there." This is what it's all about. So the guy goes and one thing leads to another and it's like "Holy shit, what's this turned into? I've only come here to say 'hello' for somebody and I've got myself in this incredible predicament." It was very Buñuelish to me at the time."

The traveler begins "The Weight" by giving the impression that he is visiting the Holy Land. The traveler is weary from his long journey alone in a truck or automobile (e.g., "feelin' half past dead"), and is refused a place to stay and sleep, as in the New Testament Gospel of Luke story of Joseph and Mary prior to the birth of Jesus of Nazareth in Bethlehem. In the town, the traveler encounters people with names taken from Biblical characters – the Devil, Miss Moses, and Luke. The traveler encounters others, including Carmen walking with the Devil, who the traveler meets while trying to find a hidden place to sleep. The traveler asks Carmen to go downtown with him. She responds by telling the traveler that she has something else to do but the Devil "can stick around" with him. The traveler wrecks his vehicle (e.g. "rack" which is also spelled "wrack"). and meets Crazy Chester, who offers to repair it if the traveler takes his vicious dog named Jack. The chorus and last verse mention Miss Fanny (not intended to be sung as "Annie").  who had charged the traveler the responsibility (e.g., "The Weight" or "load") for giving "her regards to everyone" in the town. In the final verse, the traveler leaves Nazareth, dispirited by his experiences (e.g. "my bag is sinking low"). Having failed to have his vehicle repaired, the traveler catches a "cannon ball" (e.g., a train, as in the American folk song "Wabash Cannonball") to go back to see Miss Fanny.

The traveler's apparent visit to a holy city was a goal of the writer and composer, Robbie Robertson, who located the story in Nazareth, because Nazareth, Pennsylvania is the hometown of the C.F. Martin & Company, a famed, long-time producer of guitars and other musical instruments. Such a city might be considered "holy" to American musicians and their friends. In the third verse, the traveler characterizes, using only Biblical references, a disagreement between two friends, Miss Moses and Luke. The traveler tells Miss Moses, "Go down, Miss Moses, there's nothin' you can say" to Luke, using the Negro spiritual song of liberation "Go Down Moses"  to associate her with the African-American civil rights struggle, a crisis that transformed America throughout the 1960s. (In the spiritual, Moses's God commands him to "Tell old Pharaoh, 'Let my people go.'") In doing so, the traveler tells Miss Moses that it is futile to persuade Luke to join or support the movement since his friend is preoccupied with "waitin' on the Judgement Day." Though Luke refuses to participate, he is so concerned that he asks the traveler to stay in Nazareth to take care of the young girl, Anna Lee. In addition, the song's characters have high spiritual meaning to the traveler because the earthly characters mentioned in the song were based on real people The Band knew. However, the traveler's mission, that started with a religious-like fervor, fails to uplift him. At each turn, the people Miss Fanny asks him to meet disappoint him. At the end, by leaving Nazareth, the traveler abandons Anna Lee, his broken vehicle, and his commitment to Fanny, though he is not so disaffected that he travels back to return to Fanny, an indicator of the strength of their relationship that is an uplifting experience to the listener.

63. Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas?
11.28.1984

The original Band Aid ensemble consisted of (in sleeve order):

Adam Clayton (U2)/Phil Collins (Genesis)/Bob Geldof (The Boomtown Rats)/Steve Norman (Spandau Ballet)/Chris Cross (Ultravox)/John Taylor (Duran Duran)/Paul Young/Tony Hadley (Spandau Ballet)/Glenn Gregory (Heaven 17)/Simon Le Bon (Duran Duran)/Simon Crowe (The Boomtown Rats)/Marilyn
Keren Woodward (Bananarama)/Martin Kemp (Spandau Ballet)/Jody Watley (Shalamar)/Bono (U2)/Paul Weller (The Style Council)/James "J.T." Taylor (Kool & the Gang)/George Michael (Wham!)/Midge Ure (Ultravox)/Martyn Ware (Heaven 17)
John Keeble (Spandau Ballet)/Gary Kemp (Spandau Ballet)/Roger Taylor (Duran Duran)/Sara Dallin (Bananarama)/Siobhan Fahey (Bananarama)/Pete Briquette (The Boomtown Rats)/Francis Rossi (Status Quo)/Robert 'Kool' Bell (Kool & the Gang)/
Dennis J. T. Thomas (Kool & the Gang)/Andy Taylor (Duran Duran)/Jon Moss (Culture Club)/Sting (The Police)/Rick Parfitt (Status Quo)/Nick Rhodes (Duran Duran)/Johnny Fingers (The Boomtown Rats)/David Bowie/Boy George (Culture Club)
Holly Johnson (Frankie Goes to Hollywood)/Paul McCartney/Stuart Adamson (Big Country)/Bruce Watson (Big Country)/Tony Butler (Big Country)/Mark Brzezicki (Big Country)

Musicians: 

John Taylor (Duran Duran) - bass
    Phil Collins (Genesis) - drums
    Midge Ure (Ultravox) - keyboards
    Gary Kemp (Spandau Ballet) - guitar
    Jon Moss (Culture Club) - Percussion/Bells
    Tears for Fears - Drum Samples from the track 'The Hurting'
Do They Know It's Christmas? is a song written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in 1984 to raise money for relief of the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia.

In October 1984, a BBC report by Michael Buerk was aired in the UK, which highlighted the famine that had hit the people of Ethiopia. Irish singer Bob Geldof saw the report and wanted to raise money. He called Midge Ure from Ultravox and together they quickly co-wrote the song, "Do They Know It's Christmas?".

Geldof kept a November appointment with BBC Radio 1 DJ Richard Skinner to appear on his show, but instead of discussing his new album (the original reason for his booking), he used his airtime to publicise the idea for the charity single, so by the time the musicians were recruited there was intense media interest in the subject. Geldof put together a group called Band Aid, consisting of leading British and Irish musicians who were among the most popular of the era. The 1984 original became the biggest selling single in UK Singles Chart history, selling a million copies in the first week alone. It stayed at Number 1 for five weeks, becoming Christmas number one, and has sold 3.7 million copies domestically. It remained the highest selling single in UK chart history until 1997, when Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997" was released in tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales, which sold almost 5 million copies in Britain. Worldwide, the single had sold 11.8 million copies by 1989.

64. Band Aid II - Do They Know It's Christmas?
12.11.1989

The line up for the Band Aid II project consisted of (in alphabetical order):

Bananarama/Big Fun/Bros/Cathy Dennis/D Mob/Jason Donovan/Kevin Godley/Glen Goldsmith/Kylie Minogue/The Pasadenas/Chris Rea/Cliff Richard/Jimmy Somerville/
Sonia/Lisa Stansfield/Technotronic/Wet Wet Wet

Musicians:

Mike Stock - keyboards
    Matt Aitken - keyboards & guitar
    Chris Rea - guitar
    Luke Goss (Bros) - drums
 
This version, released in 1989 was produced by British songwriting and production team formed of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman known as Stock Aitken Waterman. The only artists from the original Band Aid to be featured again on this version were Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward of Bananarama. This version topped the UK Singles Chart for three weeks, but ultimately achieved far less historical significance and status than its predecessor.
    


On Friday 1 December 1989, Bob Geldof called Pete Waterman to ask if he would consider producing a new version of the song featuring the big stars from that time. Waterman immediately cancelled his wedding (planned for that very day) and began calling up the artists. With just two days' notice, on Sunday 3 December, recording took place at PWL Studios in South London. Present in the studio was Bob Geldof, wife Paula Yates and six-year-old daughter, Fifi Trixiebelle, who was eager to meet Jason Donovan.

Production continued through the Monday, and by Tuesday 5 December the song was aired for the first time on London's Capital Radio. Advance sales of the record reached 500,000 and a number-one was inevitable. The song was released the following week on 11 December and spent three weeks at number one, becoming the 9th biggest selling song of the year, outselling Madonna's "Like a Prayer".

65. Band Aid 20 - Do They Know It's Christmas?
11.29.2004

Vocals: 

Bono (U2)/Daniel Bedingfield/Natasha Bedingfield/Busted/Chris Martin (Coldplay)/Dido – performed separately from a studio in Melbourne/Dizzee Rascal – the only artist to add lyrics to the song/Ms Dynamite/Skye Edwards (Morcheeba)/Estelle/Neil Hannon (The Divine Comedy)/Justin Hawkins (The Darkness)/Jamelia/Tom Chaplin (Keane)/Tim Rice-Oxley (Keane)/Beverley Knight/   Lemar/Shaznay Lewis (formerly of All Saints)/Katie Melua/Róisín Murphy (Moloko)
Feeder/Snow Patrol/Rachel Stevens/Joss Stone/Sugababes/The Thrills/Turin Brakes/Robbie Williams – performed separately from a studio in Los Angeles/    Will Young/Fran Healy (Travis)

Musicians:

 Danny Goffey (Supergrass) – (drums)
    Thom Yorke – (piano) and 
Jonny Greenwood – (guitar) – (Radiohead)
    Sir Paul McCartney – (bass guitar)
    Justin Hawkins and Dan Hawkins (The Darkness) – (guitar)

The Band Aid 20 single was actually doubled when it was first played simultaneously on The Chris Moyles Show (on BBC Radio 1) and the breakfast shows on Virgin and Capital radio, at 8am on 16 November 2004. The video was first broadcast in the UK simultaneously over multiple channels, including the five UK terrestrial channels, at 5.55pm on 18 November 2004, with an introduction by Madonna.

One of the new ways to buy the song, by downloading it from the internet, hit a problem when Apple Computer's iTunes Music Store initially refused to supply it, due to their fixed-pricing policy. A partial solution was reached after a few days, enabling UK users to download the song at the standard iTunes price, with Apple donating an extra amount (equivalent to the price difference) to the Band Aid Trust.

The single sold 72,000 copies in the first 24 hours when it was released on 29 November 2004, and went straight in at No. 1 in the UK charts on 5 December 2004. The CD version sold over 200,000 copies in the first week, and became the fastest-selling single of the year. It stayed at No. 1 for Christmas and the week after, all in all holding onto the top spot for four weeks, just one week shorter than the original had done in 1984.

66. Barry Manilow - I Write the Songs
11.15.1975

I Write the Songs is a popular song written by Bruce Johnston in 1975 and made famous by Barry Manilow. Manilow's version reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in January 1976 after spending two weeks atop the Billboard adult contemporary chart in December 1975. It won a Grammy Award for Song of the Year and was nominated for Record of the Year in 1977.

The original version was recorded by The Captain & Tennille, who worked with Johnston in the early 1970s with The Beach Boys. It appears on their 1975 album, Love Will Keep Us Together. The first release of I Write the Songs as a single was by then teen-idol David Cassidy from his 1975 solo album The Higher They Climb, which was also produced by Bruce Johnston. Cassidy's version reached #11 on the UK Singles Chart in August of that year.

(Captain and Tennile Version)

 

 Johnston, has stated that, for him, the "I" in the song is "God" and that songs come from the spirit of creativity in all of us. He has said that the song is not about his Beach Boys bandmate Brian Wilson.

Manilow was initially reluctant to record the song, stating in his autobiography Sweet Life: "The problem with the song was that if you didn't listen carefully to the lyric, you would think that the singer was singing about himself. It could be misinterpreted as a monumental ego trip." After persuasion by Clive Davis, then president of Arista Records, Manilow recorded the song, and his version of "I Write the Songs" was the first single taken from the album Tryin' to Get the Feeling. It first charted on the Billboard Hot 100 on November 15, 1975, reaching the top of the chart nine weeks later, on January 17, 1976.

 

Part 1 Songs 1-50

     This is what I consider the 1,000 songs everyone should hear in their lifetime. I have broken up the list into chunks of 50 songs per post.

          It would be too hard for me to try and even begin to arrange my songs as the best to the least. So instead all songs are in alphabetical order according to artist. 

     I hope you enjoy the list. I have supplied information with each song along with the single and album cover.  Again I hope you enjoy the list. 

Here is the link for the complete list without any covers or information. ENJOY! :)

http://1000songs2hearnlifetime.blogspot.com/2013/03/1000-songs-everyone-should-hear-in.html

 
Link to music player with songs 1 - 50

Music Player Songs 1 - 50

1. 10 CC - I'm Not In Love

 5.31.1975

  I'm Not in Love is a song written by Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman. The lyric reveals a narrator in denial about the title's ostensible theme. 

2. 2Pac - Brenda's Got A Baby

12.20.1991

The song, which features R&B singer Dave Hollister, is about a fictional twelve year-old girl named Brenda who lives in a ghetto, has a baby, and is incapable of supporting it. The song explores the issue of teen pregnancy and its effect on the young mothers and their families. Like many of Shakur's songs, "Brenda's Got a baby" draws from the plight of the impoverished. Using Brenda to represent young mothers in general, Shakur criticises the low level of support from the baby's father, the government, and society in general. Shakur wrote the song when he read a newspaper article about a twelve-year-old girl who got pregnant from her cousin and, because she did not want her parents to know about the baby, threw it in a trash can. 

3.  2Pac - Changes

10.13.1998

 Changes is a hip hop song by 2Pac, the song was originally recorded during his tenure at Interscope records in 1992 and was produced by Shock G. Changes was later remixed during 1997-1998. The song re-uses lines from "I Wonder If Heaven Got A Ghetto" which was recorded during the same year. The song samples the 1986 hit "The Way It Is" by Bruce Hornsby and the Range. At times 2Pac re-used lines from other unreleased songs because he planned to make an updated version at a later date. However, since his death many of the unreleased and unmastered songs are being officially released. The song makes references to the Black Panther Party."Changes" remains one of 2Pac's most notable and popular songs.

4. 2Pac - Dear Mama

2.21.1995

 Dear Mama was written in homage to his mother, Afeni Shakur. Record producer Tony Pizarro, explained that

"Pac used to make references to Dear Mama in a lot of different songs and I'd always be like 'You know thats a songs in itself. And one day he was like 'I got somethin' for that.' And he was like 'Man, you have In My Wildest Dreams by the Crusaders and I was like 'Yeah.' He was like 'Yeah, I got something for that.' So I got the track ready. Pac just came through and just dropped it and blessed it with them vocals."

^{5. 2Pac Feat. Danny Boy - I Ain't Mad At 'Cha}

^9.15.1996

^{Samples The Debarge song A Dream}

 The single was released shortly after his death. The song is a heartfelt tribute, possibly to his friend Napoleon who had converted to Islam. The song features contemporary soul singer Danny Boy who provided the vocals for the song's hook.

 6. 2Pac - Keep Ya Head Up

10.28.1993

It addresses issues concerning lack of respect toward the female gender, especially poor black women. It has a very positive message, and is often used as an example of Shakur's softer side. Many fans and critics consider it to be one of the deepest rap songs ever made and is often referenced by other artists in their work, building Shakur's persona as a very conscientious and influential rapper. It features Dave Hollister and is dedicated to Latasha Harlins.

  7. 2Pac Feat. Dr. Dre & Roger Troutman - 

California Love  
12.28.1995

 Samples Joe Cocker's Woman to Woman

 The line, "California knows how to party", and mention of Los Angeles, the neighborhood of Watts and the city of Compton are sung by Roger Troutman. Pac and Dre mention the following other California cities in their verses and the outro: San Diego, Bay Area (includes San Francisco and Oakland), Long Beach, Sacramento, Pasadena, Inglewood and Hollywood. However, the entire chorus of the song was taken from the song "West Coast Poplock" by Ronnie Hudson & The Street People, released in 1982. 

  8. 5 Royales - Dedicated To The One I Love

1961

 A subsequent and more famous cover by The Mamas & the Papas released on the Dunhill label went to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1967. And also to #2 on the UK Charts. Lead singer on the Mamas & the Papas version was Michelle Phillips. It was the first time Phillips was given the lead over Mama Cass Elliott in any of their songs.

 ^{9. 8th Day - She's Not Just Another Woman
5.15.1971}

 ^{The Holland-Dozier-Holland (HDH) songwriting team had scored hits in 1970 with the group 100 Proof (Aged in Soul). When the latter's song "Somebody's Been Sleeping in My Bed" became a hit, radio stations also began playing the tune "She's Not Just Another Woman". HDH wanted to release the song as another single, but did not want to hurt the sales of "Somebody's Been Sleeping in My Bed", so they released "She's Not Just Another Woman" on Invictus Records under the name group name of 8th Day in 1971. The song became a hit, peaking at #11 in the U.S. chart, even though there was technically no group actually in existence by this name. This disc of "She's Not Just Another Woman", supposedly written by C. Wilson and Ronald Dunbar (who were pseudonyms for HDH) sold over one million copies, and received a gold disc awarded by the Recording Industry Association of America on 15 September 1971.}

^{10. Abba - Waterloo}

^3.12.1974

 Waterloo was originally written as a song for the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest. The original title was "Honey Pie", with lyrics to the same tune.
Waterloo is about a girl who is about to surrender to romance, as Napoleon had to surrender at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

 

^{11. Adiemus - Adiemus}

^9.9.1995

^{The word Adiemus itself resembles the Latin word 'adeamus' meaning 'let us approach' (or "let us submit a cause to a referee"). Jenkins has said he was unaware of this. Perhaps even more appropriately, the song title also resembles two forms of the Latin verb 'audire' (to hear), i.e. 'audiemus' (we shall hear) and 'audiamus' (let us hear).} 

^Lyrics: 

<sup>A-ri-a-di-a-mus-la-te, a-ri-a-di-a-mus-da,
A-ri-a-na-tus-la-te-a-do-a
A-re-va-ne-tu-e-va-te, a-re-va-ne-tu-e-va-te,
A-re-va-ne-tu-e-va-te-na-di-a

A-ri-a-di-a-mus-la-te, a-ri-a-di-a-mus-da,
A-ri-a-na-tus-gra-te-a-do-a
A-re-va-ne-tu-e-va-te, a-re-va-ne-tu-e-va-te,
A-re-va-ne-tu-e-va-te-la-di-a

A-ne-ma-ne-coo-re-ra-we, a-ne-ma-ne-coo-re-a,
A-ne-ma-ne-coo-re-ra-we-a-ka-la
A-ne-ma-ne-coo-re-a-we-a-ka-la (a-ya-do-wa-ye-)
A-ne-ma-ne-coo-re-ra-we-a-ka-la (a-ya-do-wa-ye-)
A—ya-do-wa-ye
A—ya-do-wa-ye-e-

Instrumental

A-ne-ma-ne-coo-re-ra-we, a-ne-ma-ne-coo-re-ra,
A-ne-ma-ne-coo-re-a-we-a-ka-la
A-ne-ma-ne-coo-re-a-we-a-ka-la (a-ya-do-wa-ye-)
A-ne-ma-ne-coo-re-ra-we-a-ka-la (a-ya-do-wa-ye-)
A—ya-do-wa-ye
A—ya-do-wa-ye-e-

A-ri-a-di-a-mus-la-te, a-ri-a-di-a-mus-da,
A-ri-a-na-tus-gra-te-a-do-a
A-re-va-ne-tu-e-va-te, a-re-va-ne-tu-e-va-te,
A-re-va-ne-tu-e-va-te-na-di-a

A-ne-ma-ne-coo-re-a-we, a-ne-ma-ne-coo-re-a,
A-ne-ma-ne-coo-re-ra-we-a-ka-la
(Na-we-e-a-wa)
A-ne-ma-ne-coo-re-a-we-a-ka-la (a-ya-do-wa-ye-)
A-ne-ma-ne-coo-re-ra-we-a-ka-la (a-ya-do-wa-ye-)
A—ya-do-wa-ye
A—ya-do-wa-ye-e-</sup>

  ^{12. Aerosmith - Dream On}

^6.27.1973

 Dream On was first played live in Willimantic, Connecticut at the Shaboo Inn. In a 2011 interview, Steven Tyler reminisced about his father, a Juilliard-trained musician, and recalled "lying beneath his dad's piano as a three-year-old, listening to him play classical music. That's where I got that Dream On chordage," he said. Steven Tyler says that this was the only song on the band's first album where he used his "real" voice. He was insecure about how his voice sounded on tape, so for the other songs, he tried to sing a bit lower and sound more like soul artists, such as James Brown.

The album version of "Dream On" (4:28, as opposed to the 3:25 1973 45rpm edit), was re-issued early in 1976, debuting at number 81 On January 10th, breaking into the Top 40 on February 14th and peaking at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 national chart, April 10th. Columbia records chose to service Top 40 radio stations with a re-issue of the 3:25 edited version, thus, many 1976 Pop Radio listeners were exposed to the group's first Top 10 effort through the 45 edit.

 ^{13. Aerosmith - Janie's Got A Gun}

^11.8.1989

  On the album, "Janie's Got a Gun" is preceded by a 10-second instrumental called "Water Song", which features the work of instrumentalist Randy Raine-Reusch, who uses a glass harmonica, wind gong, and bullroarers to produce the special effects heard at the start of the song. Tyler said he came up with the title and melody before he knew what direction he wanted the song to take. It had taken nine months to finish the lyrics; after Tyler read a Newsweek article on gunshot victims, he was able to connect the song with the theme of child abuse and incest. The singer declared that "I got really angry that nobody was paying homage to those who were abused by Mom and Dad". The line "He jacked a little bitty baby" was originally "He raped a little bitty baby," but was changed for commercial purposes. Tyler often sings the original line when performing live. In addition, the line "...and put a bullet in his brain" was sometimes changed to "...and left him in the pouring rain" for the radio airplay version to make the song sound less graphic.

14. Aerosmith - Livin' On The Edge

3.23.1993

The song is one of Aerosmith's most successful attempts at tackling social issues. It reflects on the sorry state of the world ("There's something wrong with the world today"), religion ("We're seeing things in a different way and God knows it ain't his"), racism ("If you can judge a wise man by the color of his skin"), among other things. However, the lyrics in the song also suggest that the world is still worth living in ("We could tell 'em no, or we could let it go, but I would rather be a-hangin' on"). The lyrics also contain a reference to the Yardbirds song, "Mister You're a Better Man Than I" (Aerosmith had previously recorded a version of a song popularized by the Yardbirds, "Train Kept A-Rollin'").

According to the band's autobiography Walk This Way, the song was inspired by the Los Angeles riots of 1992. Steven Tyler also mentions in the book, that the song features the sound of a bass drum he stole from his high school; four loud beats are heard from that drum in a pause between the final verse and

  15. Afrika  Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force - Planet Rock

4.17.1982

 The main melody of "Planet Rock" is interpolated from the title track of Kraftwerk's influential album Trans-Europe Express, while the drum pattern resembles "Numbers" from the 1981 Kraftwerk album Computer World, another popular underground club record. The borrowings eventually resulted in an out-of-court settlement between Kraftwerk and Tommy Boy Records head Tom Silverman. Afrika Bambaataa has acknowledged a debt to Kraftwerk, but has expressed that their contributions to his aesthetic have been over-emphasized. Bambaataa stated that "Kraftwerk was one part of a sound," while citing Yellow Magic Orchestra and Gary Numan as other major influences on his work; Yellow Magic Orchestra, for example, utilized the Roland TR-808 programmable drum machine in in 1980, and anticipated the beats and sounds of electro with "Riot in Lagos" (1980). The influence of "Planet Rock" can still be heard in hip-hop sub-genres such G-funk and in the work of producers such as the Neptunes, which use electro-based sounds in its productions.

16. A-ha - Take On Me

  9.16.1985

 Take on Me" is a synthpop song that includes acoustic guitars, keyboards, and synthesizers. It moves at a very quick tempo of 170 beats per minute. The lyrics are a plea for love, and are constructed in a verse-chorus form with a bridge before the third and final chorus. In the song, Harket demonstrates a vocal range of over two and a half octaves. He sings the lowest pitch in the song, A2, at the beginning of the chorus, on the first syllable of the phrase "Take on me." As the chorus progresses, Harket's voice hits ever higher notes, reaching a falsetto and hitting the song's highest note (E5) at the end. There is a temporary change of markings in the drum pattern in the chorus, where for two bars the drums play in half time, returning to the same rhythm as before for the climax of the vocal line. A mix of drums, acoustic guitars and electronic instrumentation serves as the song's backing track.

 The original "Take on Me" was recorded in 1984, and took three releases to chart in the United Kingdom, reaching number two on the UK Singles Chart in November 1985. In the United States, the song reached the top position of the Billboard Hot 100 in October 1985, due in no small part to the wide exposure of its memorable and cutting-edge music video on MTV, directed by Steve Barron. The video features the band in a pencil-sketch animation method called rotoscoping, combined with live action. The video won six awards, and was nominated for two others at the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards.

Lyrics:

Talking away
I don't know what
I'm to say
I'll say it anyway
Today is another day to find you
Shying away
I'll be coming for your love, okay?

Take on me (Take on me)
Take me on (Take on me)
I'll be gone
In a day or two

So needless to say
I'm odds and ends
But I'll be
Stumbling away
Slowly learning that life is okay
Say after me
It's no better to be safe than sorry

Take on me (Take on me)
Take me on (Take on me)
I'll be gone
In a day or two

Oh, things that you say
Yeah, is it a life or
Just to play
My worries away
You're all the things I've got to remember
You're shying away
I'll be coming for you anyway

Take on me (Take on me)
Take me on (Take on me)
I'll be gone
In a day

Take on me (Take on me)
Take me on (Take on me)
I'll be gone (Take on me)
In a day (Take me on)
(Take on me)

Take on me (Take on me)
Take me on (Take on me)
Take on me

17. Air Supply - Even The Nights Are Better

1982

 This song also had the distinction of peaking the highest on the Billboard chart and then exiting the Top 40 the following week, moving from #6 to #42 in September of 1982. Taylor Swift has since beaten that chart phenomenon when her song "Red" fell from #6 to #54 in October of 2012.

Although Air Supply would continue to record and perform concerts (except for a few year hiatus in the late 1980s and early 1990s), "Even the Nights Are Better" was one of the last hit records for the group in the United States.

18. Al Jolson – California, Here I Come

5.1924

(Albums were not avaiable in this period of music. Sheet music was king. 78s and Shellac records were issued in brown bags with the artist and song title listed on them. Also Wax cylinders were available in the late 1800s to early 1900s which came in a cylinder can displaying Edison company and his photo as the logo. The song was written on the lid. In Any event throught these posts I will be using record labels and sheet music as discriptive photos.)

 California, Here I Come" is a song written for the 1921 Broadway musical Bombo, starring Al Jolson. The song was written by Buddy DeSylva and Joseph Meyer, with Jolson often listed as a co-author. Jolson recorded the song in 1924. It is often called the unofficial state song of California.

19. Al Jolson - You Made Me Love You (I Didn't Want to Do It)

6.14.1913

You Made Me Love You (I Didn't Want to Do It)" is a popular song. The music was written by James V. Monaco, the lyrics by Joseph McCarthy. The song was published in 1913. It was introduced in the Broadway revue The Honeymoon Express and used in the 1973 revival of the musical Irene.

One of the earliest recordings of the song was by Al Jolson. Jolson recorded the song on June 4, 1913. It was released on Columbia A-1374. He performed it on the soundtrack of the 1946 film The Jolson Story and recorded it on March 20, 1946. The record was released on Decca 23613.

Roger Edens wrote additional lyrics to the song for Judy Garland. The new lyrics cast Garland in the role of a teenage fan of Clark Gable. Garland sang the song to Gable at a birthday party thrown for him by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. MGM executives were so charmed by her rendition that she and the song were added to the film Broadway Melody of 1938. Garland recorded the "Gable" version on September 24, 1937. It was released on Decca 1463. MGM released the song as a b-side in 1939, opposite Garland's recording of "Over the Rainbow" for The Wizard of Oz.

20. Alan Holmes & His New Tones – Supercalafajalistickespeealadojus 

(The Super Song)

1951

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious is the popular song from the 1964 Disney musical film Mary Poppins.

In 1965, the song was the subject of an unsuccessful lawsuit by songwriters Gloria Parker and Barney Young against Wonderland Music, who published the version of the song from the Walt Disney film. The plaintiffs alleged that it was a copyright infringement of a 1951 song  (posted above) of their own called "Supercalafajalistickespeealadojus". Also known as "The Super Song", "Supercalafajalistickespeealadojus" was recorded by Alan Holmes and his New Tones on Columbia Records, vocal by Hal Marquess and the Holmes Men, music and lyrics by Patricia Smith (a Gloria Parker pen name). In addition, "Supercalafajalistickespeealadojus" was recorded by The Arabian Knights in doo-wop form. 

 The Disney publishers won the lawsuit partially because affidavits were produced showing that "variants of the word were known ... many years prior to 1949".

Lyrics:

 Alan Holmes Version 

 

 The Arabian Knights Version

 21. Alan Parsons Project - Time 

4.1981

 The song was the first Alan Parsons Project single to feature the late Eric Woolfson as lead vocalist, and one of the group's few songs in which Alan Parsons' own voice can be heard singing

22. Albert King – Born Under a Bad Sign

1967

 The style of "Born Under a Bad Sign" is hallmark of Albert King in the late 1960s. The lead guitar is bright, nasal and cutting, partly because of Albert King's choice of a custom Gibson guitar with neck pickup selected. The looping bass line is composed of a C# pentatonic or blues scale while the piano and horn accompaniment remains major in its tonality.

 23. Alexander Vertinsky - Dorogoi dlinnoyu (Дорогой длинною - By the Long Road) 
( Those Were The Days)
1925

"Those Were the Days" is a song credited to Gene Raskin, who put English lyrics to the Russian romance song "Dorogoi dlinnoyu" ("Дорогой длинною", lit. "By the long road"), composed by Boris Fomin (1900–1948) with words by the poet Konstantin Podrevskii. It deals with reminiscence upon youth and romantic idealism.

Georgian singer Tamara Tsereteli (1900–1968) and Russian singer Alexander Vertinsky made what were probably the earliest recordings of the song, in 1925 and in 1926 respectively.

The song is best remembered, however, in English-speaking countries, for Mary Hopkin's 1968 recording, which was a top-ten hit in both the U.S. and the U.K. On most recorded versions of the song, Raskin is credited as the writer, even though he wrote only the later English lyrics and not the melody.  

Lyrics in Russian Cyrillic (кириллица) alphabet:

Song Title: Дорогой длинною

  Ехали на тройке с бубенцами,
А вдали мелькали огоньки.
Мне б мне, соколики, за Вами,
Душу бы развеять от тоски.

[припев]
Дорогой длинною, да ночью лунною,
Да с песней той, что вдаль летит звеня,
И с той старинною с той семиструнною,
Что по ночам так мучала меня...

Так живя без радости, без муки,
Помню я ушедшие года,
И твои серебряные руки
В тройке, улетевшей навсегда...

Да, выходит, пели мы за даром
Понапрасну ночь за ночью жгли
Если б мы покончили со старым
Так и ночи эти отошли

Дни бегут, печали умножая,
Мне так трудно прошлое забыть.
Как-нибудь однажды, дорогая,
Вы меня свезете хоронить.

В даль родную новыми путями
Нам отныне ехать суждено
Ехали на тройке с бубенцами
Да теперь проехали давно

Lyrics in English Alphabet: 

Song Title: Dorogoy Dlinnoyu
 
Yehali na troyke s bubentsami,
A vdali mel'kali ogon'ki.
Mne b seichas, sokoliki, za vami,
Dushu bi razveyat' ot toski.

[Refrain]
Dorogoy dlinnoyu, da noch'yu lunnoyu,
Da s pesney toy, chto vdal' letit, zvenya,
I s toy starinnoyu, toy semistrunnoyu.
Chto po nocham tak muchila menya...

Tak zhiv'a bez radosti, bez muki,
Pomnyu ya ushedshiye goda
I tvoi serebryanie ruki
V troyke, uletevshey navsegda...

Da, vykhodit, peli my zadarom,
Ponaprasnu noch’ za noch’yu zhgli.
esli my pokonchili so starym,
Tak i nochi eti otoshli!

Dni begut, pechali umnozhaya,
Mne tak trudno proshloe zabit'.
Kak-nibud' odnazhdi, dorogaya,
Vi menya svezete horonit'.

V dal’ rodnuyu novymi putyami
Nam otnyne ekhat’ suzhdeno!
…ekhali na troyke s bubentsami,
Da teper’ proekhali davno!

Lyrics In English: 

Song Title: The Long Road

They were riding in a troika with bells,
and in the distance there were glimmering lights.
I'd rather go now with you, my dears,
I'd rather distract my soul from the yearning.

[Chorus]
Along a long road, and on a moonlit night,
And with that song that flies away with jingle-jangle,
And with that ancient, seven-stringed one (guitar)
That tortured me so much at nights...

Living this way, without joy, without torture,
I do remember the past years
and your silvery hands
in a troika that flew away forever....

But it turns out our song was futile,
In vain we burned night in and night out.
If we have finished with the old,
Then those nights have also left us!

The days run on, multiplying the sorrows,
it is so hard for me to forget the past.
Some day, my dear,
you shall take me to bury (dead hero to the cemetery)

Out into our native land, and by new paths,
We have been fated to go now!
…You rode on a troika with sleigh bells,
[But] you’ve long since passed by!

   
Lastley Lyrics converted to 
English Spoken Language:

What we know as song title: 
Those Were The Days
First English sung version by Mary Hopkins:

 Once upon a time there was a tavern
Where we used to raise a glass or two
Remember how we laughed away the hours
Think of all the great things we would do

Those were the days my friend
We thought they'd never end
We'd sing and dance forever and a day
We'd live the life we'd choose
We'd fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way
La la la la la la la la la
Those were the days, oh yes, those were the days
 
Then the busy years went rushing by us
We lost our starry notions on the way
If by chance I'd see you in the tavern
We'd smile at one another and we'd say...

Just tonight I stood before the tavern
Nothing seemed the way it used to be
In the glass I saw a strange reflection
Was that lonely woman really me?

Through the door there came familiar laughter
I saw your face and heard you call my name
Oh my friend we're older but no wiser
For in our hearts the dreams are still the same...

 24. Alice in Chains - Rooster
5.15.1993

 This song was written by Alice in Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell for his father Jerry Cantrell Sr., who went by the nickname "Rooster" while serving with the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. Jerry Cantrell has stated that his father, Cantrell, Sr., had this family nickname "Rooster" since childhood due to the way his hair stood up on end as a youth. The "Rooster" nickname is often mistakenly attributed to a reference to men carrying the M60 machine gun (see the second verse, first line), the muzzle flash from which makes an outline or pattern reminiscent of a rooster's tail. It is also often mistakenly attributed to the 101st Airborne Division - in which Cantrell's father served - who wore shoulder sleeve insignia on their arms featuring a bald eagle. As there are no bald eagles in Vietnam, the closest thing to which the Vietnamese could draw a comparison was the chicken, thus leading to the pejorative "chicken men."

In the liner notes of 1999's Music Bank box set collection, Jerry Cantrell said of the song:

    It was the start of the healing process between my Dad and I from all that damage that Vietnam caused. This was all my perception of his experiences out there. The first time I ever heard him talk about it was when we made the video and he did a 45-minute interview with Mark Pellington and I was amazed he did it. He was totally cool, totally calm, accepted it all and had a good time doing it. It even brought him to the point of tears. It was beautiful. He said it was a weird experience, a sad experience and he hoped that nobody else had to go through it.

  25. Alison Krauss - When You Say Nothing At All 
1995

Krauss, already a veteran bluegrass fiddler and vocalist at age 23, recorded "When You Say Nothing at All" with her group, Union Station, in 1994 for a tribute album to Whitley. After the song began to receive unsolicited airplay, BNA Records, the label that had released the album, issued Krauss' version to radio in January 1995. That version, also featured on Krauss' compilation Now That I've Found You: A Collection, peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart, and a commercial single reached No. 2 on the same magazine's Hot Country Singles Sales chart. Its success, as well as that of the album, caught Krauss by surprise. "It's a freak thing," she told a Los Angeles Times reporter in March 1995. "It's kinda ticklin' us all. We haven't had anything really chart before. At all. Isn't it funny though? We don't know what's goin' on....The office said, 'Hey, it's charting,' and we're like, 'Huh?'" While Krauss' version was on the charts, Mike Cromwell, then the production director at WMIL-FM in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, concocted a duet merging elements of Krauss' version with Whitley's original hit version. The "duet" garnered national attention, and it spread from at least Philadelphia to Albuquerque, and has been heard on radio stations in California as well. It was never officially serviced to radio and has never been available commercially. Krauss' recording won the 1995 CMA award for "Single of the Year". The song has been featured a couple of times in the soap opera The Young and the Restless. Krauss' version was also used in the 1999 motion picture "The Other Sister".

  26. American Quartet - Over There
9.1917

Over There was written by George M. Cohan during World War I. Cohan later recalled that the words and music to the song came to him while traveling by train from New Rochelle to New York shortly after the U.S. had declared war against Germany in April 1917.

27. Andrew Gold - Thank You For Being A Friend
2.1978

 The song was later re-recorded by Cynthia Fee to serve as the theme song for the NBC sitcom The Golden Girls, and recorded again for the series' CBS spin-off The Golden Palace.
The song was also featured on Casey Kasem's final American Top 40, the end of two World Series games (Game 5 in 1988 and Game 4 in 1990), "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" episode "Mac's Mom Burns Her House Down", the end of Super Bowl XL, The Simpsons episode "Double, Double, Boy in Trouble" and on a May 2010 episode of Saturday Night Live hosted by Betty White in which past and present cast members sang the song followed by a death metal version of the song performed by White while wearing a ski mask. Elaine Paige and Dionne Warwick released a recording of the song on Paige's duet album 'Elaine Paige and Friends' in 2010.

28. Andrews Sisters - Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy
3.1.1941

 The song was written by Don Raye and Hughie Prince, and was recorded at Decca's Hollywood studios on January 2, 1941, nearly a year before the United States entered World War II but after the start of a peacetime draft to expand the armed forces in anticipation of American involvement. The Andrews Sisters introduced the song in the 1941 Abbott and Costello film Buck Privates, which was in production when they made the record. "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song.

In an interview broadcast July 3, 2006 on CNN, World War II veteran Bill Arter said he often played in jam sessions with the black unit in Company C, who gave him the nickname Bugle Boy from Company B. Arter was a medic who landed during D-day. There is no evidence that he was the inspiration for the song; however, since it was written before the U.S. entered the war he may have been dubbed the Bugle Boy from Company B in reference to the song, not the other way around.

Articles published in Stars & Stripes, as well as Billboard Magazine, and The Cleveland Plain Dealer during WWII credit Clarence Zylman of Muskegon, Michigan, as the original Boogie Woogie Bugler. The lyrics in the song seem to agree with several aspects of Zylman's life. Drafted at age 38, Clarence had been performing for 20 years, beginning with radio station WBBM in Chicago and moving on to several big bands, starting with Paul Specht and Connie Connaughton, and most recently with the Tommy Tucker Orchestra. He brought his playing style to England where he was a bugler for an engineer company, using his trumpet for taps and reveille, eventually being transferred to an army band. Articles in Billboard and The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio) support this, including the fact that Clarence was sent to teach other buglers his techniques.

Another claimant to the title (though he seldom mentioned it) would be Harry L. Gish, Jr. (1922–2005). At age 17, after a meteoric rise in the mid 1930s based out of the Ritz Hotel in Paducah, Kentucky, he ventured to New York City where he appeared (studio only) with the Will Bradley "All Star Orchestra" with highly regarded solos on the Raye-Prince songs "Celery Stalks at Midnight", "Scrub Me Mama With a Boogie Beat", and "The Boogilly Woogilly Piggie". He also performed with the Olsen & Johnson (of Hellzapoppin' fame) band, Ray Anthony and was popular in the Plattsburgh, New York (Lake Placid) area before returning to Decca Records in Chicago. He also had a "summer replacement" radio show there for CBS from WBBM radio.

In the 1980s and 1990s he honored many requests to play at services for veterans' funerals, and in 1995, in the character of The Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy (still able to fit in his WWII uniform: he enlisted in the Army Air Corps) he opened the combined service units (American Legion, VFW and others) celebration of the 50th anniversary of the end of WWII in Little Rock, Arkansas, where he opened with "Reveille" and closed the ceremony with "Taps".

29. Animals - We Gotta Get Out Of This Place
7.1965

Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil were husband and wife (and future Hall of Fame) songwriters associated with the 1960s Brill Building scene in New York City.

"We Gotta Get out of This Place" was written and recorded as a demo by Mann and Weil, with Mann singing and playing piano. It was intended for The Righteous Brothers, for whom they had written the number one hit "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'". But then Mann gained a recording contract for himself, and his label Redbird Records wanted him to release it instead. Meanwhile, record executive Allen Klein had heard it and given the demo to Mickie Most, producer for The Animals. Most already had a call out to Brill Building songwriters for material for the group's next recording session (the Animals hits "It's My Life" and "Don't Bring Me Down" came from the same call), and The Animals recorded it before Mann could.

In The Animals' rendition, the lyrics were slightly reordered and reworded from the demo, and opened with a locational allusion – although different from that in the songwriters' minds – that was often taken as fitting the group's industrial, working class Newcastle-upon-Tyne origins:

    In this dirty old part of the city
    Where the sun refused to shine
    People tell me, there ain't no use in tryin'

Next came a verse about the singer's father in his deathbed after a lifetime of working his life away, followed by a call-and-response buildup, leading to the start of the chorus:

    We gotta get out of this place!
    If it's the last thing we ever do ... 

30. Ann Peebles - I Can't Stand The Rain

9.1.1973

 It was one of John Lennon's favorite songs and in a Billboard magazine article he commented, "It's the best song ever."

31. Anne Murray - Snowbird

6.1970

Anne Murray and Gene MacLellan had met while both were regulars on the CBC television series Singalong Jubilee and Murray recorded two of MacLellan's compositions: "Snowbird" and "Biding My Time" for her first major label album release, This Way Is My Way recorded in 1969. Murray would recall: "Gene told me he wrote ["Snowbird"] in twenty minutes while walking on a beach in PEI."

The theme and approach broadly resemble that of the earlier hit "Yellow Bird" in contrasting the narrator's being stuck in the place of his/her heartache to the bird's ability to just up and fly away. "Snowbird" sold well over a million copies and was recently picked as 19th on the 50 Tracks: The Canadian Version list, a partially populist approach to defining the most influential songs by Canadians.

32. Anne Murray - You Needed Me

7.15.1978

   The song won Murray the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 21st Grammy Awards, the first to be awarded to a Canadian artist.

33. Annie (Aileen Quinn) & The Orphans - Tomorrow

  It had appeared in prominence in productions of the musical throughout its history: it was heard in several versions in the original 1977 Broadway production, including ending the show. It wains the entry and concluding credits score for the 1982 film adaptation.

  34. Anthrax Feat. Chuck D. from Public Enemy - 

Bring the Noise

7.8.1991

Also was featured on the Public Enemy Album 

Apocalypse 91...The Enemy Strikes Black   

In 1991, Public Enemy recorded a new version of "Bring the Noise" in a collaboration with the thrash metal band Anthrax. Chuck D has stated that upon the initial request of Anthrax, he "didn't take them wholehearted seriously", but after the collaboration was done, "it made too much sense". 

Lyrics:

Bass!
How low can you go?
Death row, what a brother knows
Once again back is the incredible
The rhyme animal
The incredible d, public enemy, number one
"five-o" said, "freeze!" and I got numb
Can I tell 'em that I really never had a gun
But it's the wax that the terminator x spun
Now they got me in a cell 'cause my records, they sell
Cause a brother like me said, "well...
...farrakahn's a prophet and I think you ought to listen to
What he can say to you, what you ought to do"
Follow for now, power of the people, say,
"make a miracle, d, pump the lyrical"
Black is back, all in, we're gonna win
Check it out, yeah y'all c'mon, here we go again

Turn it up! bring the noise

Never badder than bad 'cause the brother is madder than mad
At the fact that's corrupt as a senator
Soul on a roll, but you treat it like soap on a rope
Cause the beats in the lines are so dope
Listen for lessons I'm saying inside music
That the critics are blasting me for
They'll never care for the brothers and sisters now across
The country has us up for the war
We got to demonstrate, come on now, 

they're gonna have to wait,
'till we get it right
Radio stations I question their blackness
They call themselves black, but we'll see if they'll play this

Turn it up, bring the noise

Get from in front of me, the crowd runs to me
My deejay is warm, he's x, I call him norm ya know
He can cut a record from side to side
So what, the ride, the glide should be much safer than a suicide
Soul control, beat is the father of your rock 'n' roll
Music for whatcha, for whichin', you call a band man
Makin' a music, abuse it, but you can't do it, ya know
You call'em demos, but we ride limos too
Whatcha gonna do? rap is not afraid of you
Beat is for sonny bono, beat is for yoko ono
Run-dmc first said a deejay could be a band
Stand on it's own feet, get you out your seat
Beat is for eric b and l. l. as well, hell
Wax is for anthrax, still I can rock bells ever
Forever, universal it will sell
Time for me to exit, terminator x-it

Turn it up, bring the noise

From coast to coast, so you stop being like a comatose
Stand my man? the beat's the same with a boost-toast
Rock with some pizzazz, it will last, why you ask?
Roll with the rock stars, you'll never get accepted as
We got to plead the fifth, we can investigate
Don't need to wait, get the record straight
Hey, posse's in effect, got flavor, terminator
X to sign checks, play to get paid
We got to check it out down on the avenue
A magazine or two is dissing me and dissing you
Yeah, I'm telling you... 

35.  Antonio Vivaldi - Concerto No. 1 in E major, Op. 8, RV 269, "La primavera" (Spring)

1723

 

Concerto No. 1 in E major, Op. 8, RV 269, "La primavera" (Spring)

1. Allegro
2. Largo e pianissimo sempre
3. Allegro Pastorale
 
The four concertos were written to accompany four sonnets. Though it is not known who wrote these sonnets, there is a theory that Vivaldi wrote them himself, given that each sonnet is broken down into three sections, neatly corresponding to a movement in the concerto. Whoever wrote the sonnets, The Four Seasons may be classified as program music, instrumental music that intends to evoke something extra-musical.

In addition to these sonnets, Vivaldi provided instructions such as "The barking dog" (in the second movement of "Spring"), "Languor caused by the heat" (in the first movement of "Summer"), and "the drunkards have fallen asleep" (in the second movement of "Autumn").  

 The first recording of The Four Seasons is a matter of some dispute. There is a compact disc of one made by the violinist Alfredo Campoli which is taken from acetates of a French radio broadcast; these are thought to date from early in 1939. The first proper electrical recording was made in 1942 by Bernardino Molinari, and though his adaptation is somewhat different from what we have come to expect from modern performances, it is clearly recognisable. This first recording by Molinari was made for Cetra, issued in Italy and subsequently in the United States on six double-sided 78s in the 1940s. It was then reissued on long-playing album in 1950, and was once again reissued on compact disc.

The World's Encyclopedia of Recorded Music in 1952 cites only two recordings of The Four Seasons – by Molinari and Kaufman. By 2011 approximately 1,000 different recorded versions have been made since Campoli's in 1939.

36. Antonio Vivaldi - Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 8, RV 315, "L'estate" (Summer)

1723

 

Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 8, RV 315, "L'estate" (Summer)

1. Allegro non molto
2. Adagio e piano – Presto e forte
3. Presto
The four concertos were written to accompany four sonnets. Though it is not known who wrote these sonnets, there is a theory that Vivaldi wrote them himself, given that each sonnet is broken down into three sections, neatly corresponding to a movement in the concerto. Whoever wrote the sonnets, The Four Seasons may be classified as program music, instrumental music that intends to evoke something extra-musical.

In addition to these sonnets, Vivaldi provided instructions such as "The barking dog" (in the second movement of "Spring"), "Languor caused by the heat" (in the first movement of "Summer"), and "the drunkards have fallen asleep" (in the second movement of "Autumn").

The first recording of The Four Seasons is a matter of some dispute. There is a compact disc of one made by the violinist Alfredo Campoli which is taken from acetates of a French radio broadcast; these are thought to date from early in 1939. The first proper electrical recording was made in 1942 by Bernardino Molinari, and though his adaptation is somewhat different from what we have come to expect from modern performances, it is clearly recognisable. This first recording by Molinari was made for Cetra, issued in Italy and subsequently in the United States on six double-sided 78s in the 1940s. It was then reissued on long-playing album in 1950, and was once again reissued on compact disc.

The World's Encyclopedia of Recorded Music in 1952 cites only two recordings of The Four Seasons – by Molinari and Kaufman. By 2011 approximately 1,000 different recorded versions have been made since Campoli's in 1939.

37. Antonio Vivaldi - Concerto No. 3 in F major, Op. 8, RV 293, "L'autunno" also known as the "Danza Pastorale" (Autumn)
 1723

 

 

 Concerto No. 3 in F major, Op. 8, RV 293, "L'autunno" also known as the "Danza Pastorale" (Autumn)

1. Allegro
2. Adagio molto
3. Allegro

 The four concertos were written to accompany four sonnets. Though it is not known who wrote these sonnets, there is a theory that Vivaldi wrote them himself, given that each sonnet is broken down into three sections, neatly corresponding to a movement in the concerto. Whoever wrote the sonnets, The Four Seasons may be classified as program music, instrumental music that intends to evoke something extra-musical.

In addition to these sonnets, Vivaldi provided instructions such as "The barking dog" (in the second movement of "Spring"), "Languor caused by the heat" (in the first movement of "Summer"), and "the drunkards have fallen asleep" (in the second movement of "Autumn").

The first recording of The Four Seasons is a matter of some dispute. There is a compact disc of one made by the violinist Alfredo Campoli which is taken from acetates of a French radio broadcast; these are thought to date from early in 1939. The first proper electrical recording was made in 1942 by Bernardino Molinari, and though his adaptation is somewhat different from what we have come to expect from modern performances, it is clearly recognisable. This first recording by Molinari was made for Cetra, issued in Italy and subsequently in the United States on six double-sided 78s in the 1940s. It was then reissued on long-playing album in 1950, and was once again reissued on compact disc.

The World's Encyclopedia of Recorded Music in 1952 cites only two recordings of The Four Seasons – by Molinari and Kaufman. By 2011 approximately 1,000 different recorded versions have been made since Campoli's in 1939.

38. Antonio Vivaldi - Concerto No. 4 in F minor, Op. 8, RV 297, "L'inverno" (Winter)

 1723

 

Concerto No. 4 in F minor, Op. 8, RV 297, "L'inverno" (Winter)

1. Allegro non molto
2. Largo
3. Allegro

 The four concertos were written to accompany four sonnets. Though it is not known who wrote these sonnets, there is a theory that Vivaldi wrote them himself, given that each sonnet is broken down into three sections, neatly corresponding to a movement in the concerto. Whoever wrote the sonnets, The Four Seasons may be classified as program music, instrumental music that intends to evoke something extra-musical.

In addition to these sonnets, Vivaldi provided instructions such as "The barking dog" (in the second movement of "Spring"), "Languor caused by the heat" (in the first movement of "Summer"), and "the drunkards have fallen asleep" (in the second movement of "Autumn").

The first recording of The Four Seasons is a matter of some dispute. There is a compact disc of one made by the violinist Alfredo Campoli which is taken from acetates of a French radio broadcast; these are thought to date from early in 1939. The first proper electrical recording was made in 1942 by Bernardino Molinari, and though his adaptation is somewhat different from what we have come to expect from modern performances, it is clearly recognisable. This first recording by Molinari was made for Cetra, issued in Italy and subsequently in the United States on six double-sided 78s in the 1940s. It was then reissued on long-playing album in 1950, and was once again reissued on compact disc.

The World's Encyclopedia of Recorded Music in 1952 cites only two recordings of The Four Seasons – by Molinari and Kaufman. By 2011 approximately 1,000 different recorded versions have been made since Campoli's in 1939.

39. Archies - Sugar Sugar 
7.26.1969

Studio musicians on this song: Ron Frangipane - keyboard, Chuck Rainey - bass, Gary Chester - drums, Dave Appell - guitar, Harry Amanatian - guitar, Ray Stevens - handclaps

When the song was initially released, Kirshner had promotion men play it for radio station execs without telling them the name of the group (due to the somewhat disappointing chart performance of the Archies' previous single, "Bang-Shang-a-Lang", which went to number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts). Only after most of the DJs liked the song were they told that it was performed by a cartoon group. The Archies' hit wound up as one of the biggest (and most unexpected) number-one hits of the year, one of the biggest bubblegum hits of all time, both in America and in Great Britain, thanks partly to association with the hit CBS-TV Saturday morning cartoon series. 

The Archies' "Sugar, Sugar" was the 1969 number-one single of the year.  A week after topping the RPM 100 national singles chart in Canada on September 13, 1969 (where it spent three weeks), it went on to spend four weeks at the top of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 from September 20 and eight weeks at the top of the UK singles chart. The song lists at number 63 on Billboard's Greatest Songs of All Time. On February 5, 2006, "Sugar, Sugar" was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, as co-writer Andy Kim is originally from Montreal, Quebec.

Sugar, Sugar" is also considered to be the most produced recording ever after the breakfast cereal company Post Cereal placed millions of the records on the back of their Super Sugar Crisp cereal boxes.

 40. Aretha Franklin - 
 (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman
9.30.1967

Co-written by the celebrated writing-producing team of Carole King and Gerry Goffin, the song was inspired by Atlantic Records co-owner and producer Jerry Wexler. As recounted in his autobiography, Wexler, a student of African-American musical culture, had been mulling over the concept of the "natural man", when he drove by King on the streets of New York. He shouted out to her he wanted a "natural woman" song for Franklin's next album. In thanks, Goffin and King granted Wexler a co-writing credit.


41. Aretha Franklin - Respect
4.29.1967

Respect is a song written and originally released by Stax recording artist Otis Redding in 1965. The song became a 1967 hit and signature song for R&B singer Aretha Franklin. The music in the two versions is significantly different, and through a few minor changes in the lyrics, the stories told by the songs have a different flavor. Redding's version is a plea from a desperate man, who will give his woman anything she wants. He won't care if she does him wrong, as long as he gets his due respect, when he comes home ("respect" being a euphemism). However, Franklin's version is a declaration from a strong, confident woman, who knows that she has everything her man wants. She never does him wrong, and demands his "respect". Franklin's version adds the "R-E-S-P-E-C-T" chorus and the backup singers' refrain of "Sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me..."

Franklin's cover was a landmark for the feminist movement, and is often considered as one of the best songs of the R&B era, earning her two Grammy Awards in 1968 for "Best Rhythm & Blues Recording" and "Best Rhythm & Blues Solo Vocal Performance, Female", and was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1987. In 2002, the Library of Congress honored Franklin's version by adding it to the National Recording Registry. It is number five on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It was also included in the list of Songs of the Century, by the Recording Industry of America and the National Endowment for the Arts. 

42.  Argent - God Gave Rock N Roll To You 
3.24.1973

43. Arlo Guthrie - City of New Orleans
7.29.1972

 City of New Orleans is a folk song written by Steve Goodman (and first recorded for Goodman's self-titled 1971 album), describing a train ride from Chicago to New Orleans on the Illinois Central Railroad's City of New Orleans in bittersweet and nostalgic terms. Goodman got the idea while traveling on the Illinois Central line for a visit to his wife's family. He performed the song for Arlo Guthrie in the Quiet Knight, a bar in Chicago, and Guthrie agreed to add it to his repertoire. The song was a hit for Guthrie on his 1972 album Hobo's Lullaby, and is now more closely associated with him, although Goodman performed it until his death in 1984.


44. Arrested Development – Mr. Wendal
12.19.1992

The song was written about the plight of the homeless and encourages people not to ignore them just because of their status or how they look. During a performance of the song in 1993, members of the homeless community were invited on stage during the performance, furthering the message of the song.


45. Arrested Development - Revolution
12.12.1992

46. Arrested Development - Tennessee
4.11.1992

Speech was inspired to write the song after meeting up with his brother at his grandmother's funeral in Tennessee. Shortly afterwards, his brother died suddenly from a bad asthma attack, and Speech wrote the song about the experience of losing two loved ones so close together. The song uses a sample from Prince's "Alphabet Street" which was not cleared ahead of time. Prince's lawyers waited until after the song sold well and then charged the group $100,000 for the use of said sample.  

47. Art Reynolds Singers - Jesus Is Just Alright
1966

The song's title makes use of the American slang term "all-right", which during the 1960s was used to describe something that was considered 'cool' or very good. 

48. Art Tatum - Tea For Two
1939

 Tea for Two is a song from the 1925 musical No, No, Nanette with music by Vincent Youmans and lyrics by Irving Caesar. It is a duet sung by Nanette and Tom (Louise Groody and Jack Barker) in Act II as they imagine their future.

49.  Arthur Collins - Hello! Ma Baby
1899

Hello! Ma Baby is a Tin Pan Alley song written in 1899 by the team of Joseph E. Howard and Ida Emerson ("Howard and Emerson"). Its subject is a man who has a girlfriend he knows only through the telephone; it was the first well-known song to refer to the telephone. The song was first recorded by Arthur Collins on Edison 5470. The music also features similar rhythms to the short piano piece Le Petit Nègre by Claude Debussy from 1909.

50.  Arthur Collins and Byron Harland – 
Alexander’s Ragtime Band
9.16.1911

 Alexander's Ragtime Band is a song by Irving Berlin. It was his first major hit, in 1911. There is some evidence, although inconclusive, that Berlin borrowed the melody from a draft of "A Real Slow Drag" by Scott Joplin that had been submitted to a publisher.

The opening lines establish the African-American context:

    Oh ma honey . . . ain't you goin' to the leaderman, the ragged meter man

        and:

    If you care to hear the Swanee River played in ragtime

The new style included new ways of playing traditional instruments as well:

    There's a fiddle with notes that screeches
    Like a chicken
    And the clarinet is a colored pet

Four different versions of the tune charted at # 1, # 2, # 3 and # 4 in 1911 including one by Arthur Collins which stayed at number one for 10 weeks