Here it is, friends. My latest “top 50 songs ever” list. There aren’t a ton of changes from last year – a few newer songs shot up the list, a few older favorites were deemed not necessary to listen to much more often – but I worked tirelessly on it, so it’s going public. Have a look after the jump, if you wish. Mock away.
1. “Can’t Hardly Wait” – The Replacements
2. “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing” – Stevie Wonder
3. “Thunder Road” – Bruce Springsteen
4. “Hallelujah” – Jeff Buckley
5. “Living For the City” (Edited version) – Stevie Wonder
6. “Rebellion (Lies)” – The Arcade Fire
7. “(Sittin’ On The) Dock of the Bay” – Otis Redding
8. “The King of Carrot Flowers, Pt. 1” – Neutral Milk Hotel
9. “Bring It On Home to Me” – Sam Cooke
10. “Please Don’t Go” – Stevie Wonder
11. “Moonlight Mile” – The Rolling Stones
12. “Last Goodbye” – Jeff Buckley
13. “Something” – The Beatles
14. “Suspicious Minds” – Elvis Presley
15. “Everyday I Write the Book” – Elvis Costello
16. “Forever Young” – Youth Group
17. “California Stars” – Billy Bragg & Wilco
18. “All These Things That I’ve Done” – The Killers
19. “Nightswimming” – R.E.M.
20. “The Engine Driver” – The Decemberists
21. “Here Comes Your Man” – Pixies
22. “Just Like Heaven” – The Cure
23. “Under Pressure” – David Bowie & Queen
24. “Do You Realize” – The Flaming Lips
25. “I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man” – Prince
26. “Mr. Brightside” – The Killers
27. “Wolf Like Me” – TV On The Radio
28. “Theologians” – Wilco
29. “Your Daddy Don’t Know” – The New Pornographers
30. “My Doorbell” – The White Stripes
31. “Good Vibrations” – The Beach Boys
32. “Jesus, Etc.” – Wilco
33. “It Makes No Difference” – The Band
34. “Achin’ To Be” – The Replacements
35. “Oceanside” – The Decemberists
36. “Los Angeles, I’m Yours” – The Decemberists
37. “Little Red Corvette” – Prince
38. “Waitin’ For a Superman” – The Flaming Lips
39. “She’s a Jar” – Wilco
40. “Gone for Good” – The Shins
41. “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots” – The Flaming Lips
42. “Take Me With U” – Prince
43. “God Only Knows” – The Beach Boys
44. “It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry” – Bob Dylan
45. “Friday I’m In Love” – The Cure
46. “Trouble” – Ray LaMontagne
47. “Crazy About You” – Whiskeytown
48. “The World at Large” – Modest Mouse
49. “One” – U2
50. “Multiply” – Jamie Lidell
The World of B. 
i’m delighted to see the addition of “California Stars” at #17. thanks Pandora for introducing me to that song.
also, in regard to #19 – i’m happy to see this song on here but have you ever gone one track further in the album and tried, “Find the River”?
actually, “It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It takes a Train to Cry.”
An Assessment (in which I judge your perfectly valid personal choices and let you know how you can do better via song choices by the same artist or someone in the same genre)
1. “Can’t Hardly Wait” – The Replacements CORRECT (Would also have accepted “Answering Machine”)
2. “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing” – Stevie Wonder INCORRECT (“Inner City Blues,” Marvin Gaye)
3. “Thunder Road” – Bruce Springsteen CORRECT
4. “Hallelujah” – Jeff Buckley CORRECT (He owns this song now.)
5. “Living For the City” (Edited version) – Stevie Wonder CORRECT
6. “Rebellion (Lies)” – The Arcade Fire INCORRECT (“Casimir Pulaski Day,” Sufjan Stevens)
7. “(Sittin’ On The) Dock of the Bay” – Otis Redding CORRECT
8. “The King of Carrot Flowers, Pt. 1” – Neutral Milk Hotel INCORRECT (“Holland 1945” by same)
9. “Bring It On Home to Me” – Sam Cooke CORRECT
10. “Please Don’t Go” – Stevie Wonder INCORRECT (“Use Me,” Bill Withers)
11. “Moonlight Mile” – The Rolling Stones INCORRECT (“Bitch” by same)
12. “Last Goodbye” – The Rolling Stones N/A (I honestly don’t know this one)
13. “Something” – The Beatles INCORRECT (“Glass Onion” by same)
14. “Suspicious Minds” – Elvis Presley CORRECT
15. “Everyday I Write the Book” – Elvis Costello INCORRECT (“This Year’s Girl” by same)
16. “Forever Young” – Youth Group INCORRECT (“What Do All the People Know,” the Monroes)
17. “California Stars” – Billy Bragg & Wilco INSANELY CORRECT
18. “All These Things That I’ve Done” – The Killers CORRECT
19. “Nightswimming” – R.E.M. INCORRECT (“Pilgrimage” by same)
20. “The Engine Driver” – The Decemberists INCORRECT (“Victoria” by the Kinks)
It appears that stupid WordPress won’t let me post the other 30 songs. Ah well.
21. “Here Comes Your Man” – Pixies INCORRECT (“UMass” by same)
22. “Just Like Heaven” – The Cure CORRECT
23. “Under Pressure” – David Bowie & Queen CORRECT
24. “Do You Realize” – The Flaming Lips CORRECT
25. “I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man” – Prince CORRECT
Come on Stu, don’t stop what you’re doing. Bring it.
(PS. the two embarrassing mistakes, to #12 and #44, have been corrected.)
thank you both B and Stu. enjoyable suggestions by both. i’m curious what you boys would deem as a TOP 10 (?), 20 (?) cover songs.
(only curious cause i noticed there were a few covers on the original list.)
my own TOP TEN Cover songs:
1. Hallelujah – J. Buckley
2. All Along the Watchtower – J. Hendrix
3. Wonderwall – R. Adams
4. Sunday Bloody Sunday – Radiohead
5. Rainbow Connection – W. Nelson
6. I Will Always Love You – W. Houston
7. Hey Ya! – Obadiah Parker
8. What’s Your Fantasy – Travis Morrison
9. Lake of Fire – Nirvana
10. Up on Cripple Creek (acapella) – Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers
B: I’ll e-mail you 26-50, since WordPress is threatening bloody murder.
UNDENIABLE COVER SONGS OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD:
1. Superman, REM
2. 20th Century Boy, the Replacements
3. Love Is All Around, Husker Du
4. Hallelujah, Jeff Buckley
5. Faith, the Boy Least Likely To
6. When the Levee Breaks, Led Zeppelin
7. What’s So Funny about Peace Love and Understanding, Elvis Costello
8. She’s Got Everything, the Old ’97s
9. Magnet & Steel, Matthew Sweet
10. Sweet Jane, Cowboy Junkies
11. Seven Year Ache, Golden Smog
12. Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?, Uncle Tupelo w/Joe Ely
13. What Goes On, Built to Spill
14. Brand New Cadillac, the Clash
15. Sweet Child o’ Mine, Luna
16. Hey Sailor, the Detroit Cobras
17. Jealous Guy, Donny Hathaway
18. I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man, Eels
19. Dreams, Whiskeytown
20. Gin & Juice, the Gourds
21. $1000 Wedding, Evan Dando and Juliana Hatfield
22. Toxic, Local H
23. Paradise City/The Gambler, Mike Doughty
24. Pretty in Pink, the National
25. Some Velvet Morning, Primal Scream
26. Crazy, Ray LaMontagne
27. 1952 Vincent Black Lightning, Reckless Kelly
28. I Figured You Out, Mary Lou Lord
29. What a Fool Believes, Self
30. Over You, Sloan
31. James at 16, Soul Asylum
32. Since U Been Gone/Maps, Ted Leo
33. Feel a Whole Lot Better, Tom Petty
34. Emmaline, Urge Overkill
35. Baker Street, Foo Fighters
36. Wait, Ben Kweller and Albert Hammond
37. Subterranean Homesick Blues, the Walkmen
38. Jolene, the White Stripes
39. Runnin’ Out of Fools, Neko Case
40. It’s a Mighty Thin Line (Between Love and Hate), Kelly Hogan
41. I Still Can’t Believe You’re Gone, Kelly Hogan
42. Fearless, Ambulance Ltd
43. Wasted, Camper Van Beethoven
44. Mendocino, Bottle Rockets
45. Corona, Calexico
46. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?, the Hold Steady
47. Long White Cadillac, Dwight Yoakam
48. Colours, Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips
49. It Don’t Matter to Me, Josh Rouse
50. Stripped, Rammstein
51. Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around, Loud Lucy
52. Thunder Road, Badly Drawn Boy
53. Because, Elliott Smith
War Pigs by Faith No More is a pretty fantastic cover
As is “You Make My Dreams Come True” by Melee
I do enjoy The Postal Service’s version of “Against All Odds”
World Party’s “All The Young Dudes.” One of the best.
54. Easy, Faith No More (thanks for reminding me of them, Dave)
55. I Heard It Through the Grapevine, CCR
56. They Don’t Know, Ben Gibbard (again, thanks Dave)
57. Tangerine, the Thermals
58. Memo to My Son, Guster
59. Speed of the Sound of Loneliness, Amos Lee
60. Buckets of Rain, Neko Case
61. Rich Woman, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
62. You May Be Right, What Made Milwaukee Famous
63. Back of Love, Burning Airlines
64. There She Goes Again, REM
65. When You Were Mine, Tegan & Sara
66. The Man Who Sold the World, Nirvana
67. Ever Fallen In Love, Thea Gilmore
68. California Sun, the Ramones
69. Homecoming, Joe Henry
70. I Hope It Rains at My Funeral, Whiskeytown
71. Harper Valley PTA, Syd Straw and the Skeletons
72. Highway 61 Revisited, PJ Harvey
73. Christine Sixteen, the Gin Blossoms
74. Black Diamond, the Replacements
75. Return of the Grievous Angel, Lucinda Williams
76. Sin City, Beck and Emmylou Harris
77. One Hundred Years From Now, Wilco
78. Respect, Aretha Franklin
79. Bad Time, the Jayhawks
80. Any Major Dude Will Tell You, Wilco
And now for the other half of my list…
Just kidding. Thanks for letting me nerd the fvck out, sir.
Dude, no Format??? I don’t know who you are anymore.
House of the rising sun-The Animals
The Ballad of El Goodo-Evan Dando
I Will Survive-CAKE
It Makes No Difference-My Morning Jacket
Atlantic City-The Band
Bad Time-The Jayhawks
Hurt-Johnny Cash
Love in Vain-Rolling Stones
Travelling Riverside Blues-Led Zeppelin
All the Young Dudes-Mott the Hoople
All the young dudes-World Party
You really got a hold on me-Beatles
Jesus is Just Alright – Robert Randolph and the Family Band feat. Eric Clapton
That song has held a special place with me since they used it on Freaks and Geeks.
Stu, I randomly downloaded “I hope it rains at my funeral” off Napster when I was a freshman in college. Great tune.
One more:
“Bron-Y-Aur Stomp” – Carbon Leaf (They play this at every show, it’s a sure fire crowd pleaser, and I actually like theirs better than the original. Extra trivia, this is the song that the band Blue Merle derived their name from)
It’s strange, but I fuuly agree with this list. Thus, there is only one moment – first songs must be replaced by some songs of Rammstein, it’s my opinion.