Derek’s all-time, bow-down, stick-to-your-ribs Top 10 fave rave songs ever

It is Guest Blog Post time.  This one is from a fellow 6149′er and good friend of mine from way back – Derek (that’s Derek to the left at an Allman Brothers concert at Red Rocks).  Derek had an itch and thought the best place to scratch it would be here on The 6149.

Be careful. The stuff this itch is made from could be contagious. Before you know it, you too will be trying to create your own all-time, bow-down, stick-to-your-ribs, fave rave list of Top 10 songs.

Song freaks and music fans need to get this kind of stuff off of their chests. It ain’t no declaration or proclamation … nope, it is bonafide adoration of the music we hold dearest and nearest.

Check out Derek’s Top 10 and feel free to add your Top 10 in the comments if you have your own itch to scratch.

If you want to listen while you read, here is a link to Derek’s Top 10 on Spotify

Ok, let’s do this thing …

Derek’s all-time, bow-down, stick-to-your-ribs, fave rave list of Top 10 songs.

As anyone who’s known me five minutes will attest, my life has a soundtrack.  Music’s been an integral part of my life since I showed up on earth.  I don’t play in a band, have never learned an instrument, and essentially have no talent (though I’ve never been afraid to take the stage and lend a hand on vocals).  What I am is a fan, and probably one of the best ones you’ll find walking the streets today.  I have diverse tastes, from classical to jazz, from rock to country, and blues to reggae.  I’m 37 years old, but have been told for decades I grew up in the wrong era, never having much respect for pop culture and the shit that hits the mainstream airwaves today.  On the contrary, I’m a self-proclaimed aficionado of music with character, the stuff that stands the tests of time.

All that said, a simple, but thought-provoking question was posed to me recently over a beer.  “What’s your favorite song of all time?”  I stopped, thought about that one for a moment, and couldn’t come up with an answer.  The question stuck with me for a few days, and finally, I thought to myself, what a great idea it’d be to publish an All Time Top 20 list.  The best of the best, a personal hall of fame, if you will.  I floated the idea out there to my buddy Judd, who lives in London, and happens to be the only person I know who outpaces my own level of insanity when it comes to music.  (Judd, after all, will routinely fly to other continents just to see live bands you’ve never heard of).  His take: Great idea.  I’m on the bandwagon, but let’s make it an even tougher cut – an All Time Top 10, with room for a few honorable mentions.

So, here we are.  After filtering through hundreds of favorites, many of which have accompanied me through multiple stages of life, I’ve whittled it all down to ten tunes, each unique in their own way, but all masterful.  There were no rules to the selection process, but in hindsight, each has one thing in common, beyond the quality of the song itself.  They’re all reminiscent of experiences and people who’ve shaped my life.  That’s what music’s all about.

So without further ado, my All Time Top 10…

10 – Riders on the Storm (The Doors).  I bought my first Doors tape (yes, cassette tape) somewhere around the age of 12, fifteen years following the death of singer Jim Morrison.  Symbolic of my own tendency to question authority as a kid, Morrison was an early influence on my tastes in music – classic stuff, with powerful and intriguing lyrics.  Riders was a late career gem from The Doors, with a haunting, infectious beat, and a killer electric piano, played in perfect accompaniment to the sounds of thunder and rain that make this tune quickly recognizable to most.

9 – Bell Bottom Blues (Derek & the Dominoes).  In the wee hours of a Friday morning, sometime in the spring of 1993, a half dozen or so Lambda Chi and Phi Beta fraternity brothers could be found belting out the course to this tune at the top of their lungs, “Do you want to see me crawl across the floor for you??”  Ah, great memories.  Released in 1971, this is one of the great early masterpieces of Eric Clapton, written for the girl he couldn’t get (at least at the time), Patty Boyd.  If this song didn’t seal the deal, I don’t know what could.  Clapton’s the sole guitarist on this track, and scores big.

8 – My Way (Frank Sinatra).  Written by Paul Anka, My Way is probably one of the most covered songs in history, but immortalized by Ol’ Blue Eyes.  The list of personal memories cued up to this one is long and noteworthy, the soundtrack to many successes in business and other highlights, but none more prominent than being played over a cigar and a scotch on my roof-deck in Kansas City two years ago at 3:00 am, the night I got the call that my beloved grandmother had passed away.  She’d have approved.

7 – Mannish Boy (Muddy Waters).  The ultimate granddaddy of the blues, Muddy Waters shapes the landscape of the music world for decades to come with this classic.  Originally recorded 57 years ago in 1955, this tune boosts testosterone levels of any dude in the room when played, with the line “When I was a young boy, ‘bout the age of five, my mother said I’d be the greatest man alive.”   The song’s been covered by bluesmen far and wide for years, and in the 70’s, was a featured track on the Stones’ Love You Live.  The prominence of this track in my world is no better evidenced than in the fact that the opening riffs are the ring tone on my iPhone.

6 – Gimme Shelter (The Rolling Stones).  What list would be complete without the work of the Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the world?  Like a fine Bordeaux, this one just gets better with age.  Symbolic of the violent late 60’s, Gimme Shelter was released with the album Let it Bleed, widely acknowledged as one of the best albums ever made.  A live favorite of mine, this song marks the first time a female vocalist was used on a Stones’ track.  Merry Clayton’s solo performance, beginning with the line “rape, murder, it’s just a shot away…” is so emotional, it draws goose bumps out of me every damn time I hear it, even to this day.  Martin Scorsese’s use of the song in the opening scene of the 2006 movie “The Departed” is priceless, reaffirming the song’s stature as the ultimate apocalyptic anthem.

5 – Tangled up in Blue (Bob Dylan).  Widely understood to be one of the greatest songwriters ever, Dylan has an uncanny ability to put a story to song.  In fact, it’s so good, you feel as though you’re part of the story.  Tangled up in Blue is an epic story of lost love, and the literal journey to re-connect; only the journey never does end.  “Me I’m still on the road, headin’ for another joint, we always did feel the same, we just saw it from a different point of view.”  From the first notes, this song just puts you in a good mood every time it’s played.

4 – Time (Pink Floyd).  From the historic album, The Dark Side of the Moon, this song epitomizes my own outlook on life.  Grab the world by the balls, and take control of your life.  There’s no time like the present.  “Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time, plans that either come to naught, or half a page of scribbled lines” is an early 70’s reference to the concept of a Bucket List, now a popular phenomenon for retired yuppies.  I say start working on it when you’re 21!  The song itself is incredibly progressive for its time, blending two and a half minutes of clocks chiming, alarms ringing, and drums solos with the powerful lyrics and guitars of Roger Waters and David Gilmour.

3 – Dead Flowers (The Rolling Stones).  How this song, from the 1971 album Sticky Fingers, reached the level of personal importance it has, I’ll never know.  A Gram Parsons-influenced country track, Dead Flowers has a contagious “sing-a-long” feel to it that transcends music itself, and binds friendships in a way no other song can, evidenced in 1996 at Jigger Johnsons in Plymouth, NH, when John Scott, Bundy, Bensen, and I took the stage over from the band, and belted this song out in its’ entirety, as though we were the Rolling F-in’ Stones.  True to the words of the song, I send dead flowers to all my pals’ weddings.  And I won’t forget to put roses on their graves.

2 – Like a Rolling Stone (Bob Dylan).  If there was one song that immediately came to mind when this list was created, this was it.  Written in 1965 in Woodstock, NY, the song is still Dylan’s most popular and recognizable work, and for good reason.  As with many of his songs, Like a Rolling Stone elicits multiple meanings and themes, but the cynicism about the overconfidence of one’s position in the world is candid and pointed in the lyrics.  “Nobody ever taught you how to live out on the street, but now you gonna have to get used to it” is a powerful, humbling reference to reality.  Honorable mention to the Stones – once again – on a killer live cover years later, but Brother Bob takes the prize on this one.

1 – Sympathy for the Devil (The Rolling Stones).  The greatest song of all time, plain and simple.  As I thought through it, it really wasn’t a contest at all.  Sympathy is not just a great song; it’s a historic masterpiece, a chronology of good vs. evil through the centuries.  I’m as hardcore a Stones’ fan as they come; I’ve been to 22 concerts over the past 18 years, and there’s an unstoppable energy that comes over the crowd each time the opening samba beats of this song start thumping.  It’s the unofficial anthem of Plymouth State College, and the audio backdrop of much of the campus shenanigans of the early to mid 90’s.  With influences from the French poet Baudelaire, and references to major world events through the Russian revolution of the early 1900’s, World War II, and so on, the song is an institution in and of itself.  Tell me, baby.  What’s my name.

Give my Top 10 Spotify playlist a listen …

There you have it.  The top 10 songs of all time, according to yours truly.  In assembling this list, some notable favorite artists of mine never cracked the Top 10, while others claimed multiple spots.  Apologies to the Allman Brothers Band, Louie Armstrong, Buddy Guy, B.B. King, Bob Segar, U2, John Lee Hooker, Miles Davis, Van Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, and Ray Charles.

“Music doesn’t lie. If there is something to be changed in this world, then it can only happen through music.”  - Jimi Hendrix

Okay, it is your turn … what is your all-time, bow-down, fave rave list of Top 10 songs ever. Come on now, don’t be shy …

p.s. You can check out Judd’s bow-down Top 10 list here.