I’ve been listening to a lot of old music lately, mainly from the 70s, when I was attending high school (the 1970s, that is). It’s really hard to believe that was half a century ago.
Simultaneously, I have been making a list of my all-time favorite songs. After adding several songs to it in the last few days (I’m writing this May 3rd, 2021), it is no longer woefully incomplete. I will doubtless add more songs to the list over time, but it is now a reasonably complete list. Without further ado or adon’t, here they are, listed in alphanumerical order:
59th Street Bridge Song - Simon & Garfunkel
A Better Man - Clint Black (very Haggardesque – which is a good thing!)
A Pirate Looks at 40 - Jimmy Buffett
Ah! May The Red Rose Live Always - Stephen Foster
Air on a G String - J.S. Bach
All I Have To Do Is Dream - Everly Brothers
Already Gone - The Eagles
Always on My Mind - Willie Nelson
Amarillo by Morning - George Strait
Authority Song - John "Cougar" Mellencamp
Back Home Again - John Denver
Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers - ZZ Top
Before the Deluge - Jackson Browne
Begin the Beguine - Artie Shaw
Black Magic Woman - Santana
Blind Eye - Uriah Heep
Blue Sky - The Allman Brothers
Boogie On Reggae Woman - Stevie Wonder
Born to be Wild - Steppenwolf
Breaker Breaker - the Outlaws
Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison
Can't Buy Me Love - The Beatles
Can't Help Falling in Love With You - Elvis Presley
Candle in the Wind - Elton John
Canon in D - Johannes Pachelbel
Can't Take My Eyes Off of You - Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons
Cathy's Clown - the Everly Brothers
Choo Choo Ch'Boogie - Louis Jordan
Closer to Free - BoDeans
Come On, Let's Go - Ritchie Valens
Dancing in the Dark – Bruce Springsteen
Danny's Song - Loggins & Messina (this was "our song" when my wife was pregnant with our firstborn)
Day of the Eagle - Robin Trower (vocals by James Dewar)
Deportee - Woody Guthrie
Desperado - The Eagles
Dollar Got the Blues - Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown
Don't Cry for Me, Argentina - Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, Madonna, Karen Carpenter
Don't Fear the Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult (with just enough cowbell)
Drift Away - Dobie Gray
End of the World - Skeeter Davis, The Carpenters, Herman's Hermits, Lobo, etc. etc.
Eve of Destruction - Barry McGuire, written by P.F. Sloan, who also wrote "Secret Agent Man"
Every Breath You Take - the Police
Family Tradition - Hank Williams Jr.
Father and Son - Cat Stevens
Fields of Gold - Sting
Fire - Jimi Hendrix
Fire On the Mountain - the Marshall Tucker Band
The Four Seasons - Antonio Vivaldi
From a Distance - the Byrds (who, like Me First & the Gimme Gimmes, made every song they did better than the original)
Für Elise - Ludwig van Beethoven
Garden Party - Rick Nelson
Gentle On My Mind - Glen Campbell, The Petersons (written by John Hartford)
Go Your Own Way - Fleetwood Mac
Goodbye Earl - The [Dixie] Chicks, Me First & the Gimme Gimmes
Green Onions - Booker T & the MGs
Happy Together - The Turtles
The Happy Wanderer (Mein Vater War Ein Wandersmann) - by Heino (traditional German hiking song)
Have You Ever Seen the Rain - CCR
He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother - the Hollies
He Went to Paris - Jimmy Buffett
Heard It In a Love Song - the Marshall Tucker Band
Heart of Gold - Neil Young
Honey Bee - Stevie Ray Vaughan
Hot Rod Lincoln - Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen
I Can't Explain - The Who
I Feel Free - Cream
I'd Love to Change the World - Ten Years After
I'm Your Captain - Grand Funk
It's the End of the World As We Know It - R.E.M.
Irish Heartbeat - Van Morrison
I Won't Back Down - Tom Petty
Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring - J.S. Bach
Just What I Needed - The Cars
King of the Road - Roger Miller (a creative genius on the level of J.S. Bach)
La Bamba - Ritchie Valens
Land of Make Believe - Moody Blues
Landslide - Fleetwood Mac
Last Song - Edward Bear
Laughing - The Guess Who
Lazy - Deep Purple
Lean on Me - Bill Withers
Let Her Cry - Hootie and the Blowfish
Look What You've Done - Bread
Love is All Around - Wet Wet Wet (originally by The Troggs)
Money for Nothing - Dire Straits
New Horizons - The Moody Blues
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down - The Band, Joan Baez
Okie Dokie Stomp - Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown
Oh, Girl - The Chi-Lites
Only Wanna Be With You - Hootie and the Blowfish
Operator – Jim Croce
Pancho & Lefty - Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson
Pride & Joy - Stevie Ray Vaughan
Red Red Wine - UB40 (written by Neil Diamond)
Ridin' the Storm Out - REO Speedwagon
Rock and Roll - Led Zeppelin
Runaway - Del Shannon
Scuttle Buttin' - Stevie Ray Vaughan
Secret Agent Man - Johnny Rivers
Seminole Wind - John Anderson
Share the Land - The Guess Who
She Don't Love Nobody - The Desert Rose Band
Sister Golden Hair - America
Sleepers Awake - J.S. Bach
Small Town - John "Cougar" Mellencamp
Smoke! Smoke! Smoke!- Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen
Stand By Me - Ben E. King
Sunshine of Your Love - Cream
Superstar - The Carpenters
Take 5 - Dave Brubeck
Take It Easy - The Eagles (co-written by Jackson Browne)
Take Me Home, Country Roads - John Denver
Teacher - Jethro Tull
These Days - Jackson Browne
Thunder Road - Bruce Springsteen
Time - Hootie and the Blowfish
Time of the Season - The Zombies
Top of the World - Carpenters and Shonen Knife
Trouble Man - Marvin Gaye
Unchained Melody - Righteous Brothers
Uncle Jam - Ten Years After
Up on the Roof - the Drifters
Vincent - Don McLean
Walking on Sunshine - Katrina and the Waves
Waterhole - the Outlaws
Where Did Our Love Go? - The Supremes
You Ain't Goin' Nowhere - The Byrds, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (written by Bob Dylan)
You Made It Right - The Ozark Mountain Daredevils (the three best country rock bands (Ok, my favorite) are all "Ds": The Nitty Gritty DIRT band, the DESERT Rose Band, and the Ozark Mountain DAREDEVILS).
You Really Got Me - Van Halen
You Send Me - Sam Cooke
As you can see, most of these songs are not from the 1970s or, in some cases, even the 1670s.
However, I was reminded of the song that I want to expound on a little (bolded above) when listening to a bunch of songs by a singer/songwriter who goes by the name “Lobo” (Ronald Kent Lavoie). In the 1970s Lobo had such hits as “Me and You and a Dog Named Boo,” "I'd Love You to Want Me," and "Don't Expect Me to Be Your Friend."
Lobo did a cover of the song “End of the World,” which I had previously considered to be a Herman’s Hermits song; I had assumed that Peter Noone of that band had written it. But on further research, I found out that it has been given to us by the songwriting team of Arthur Kent and Sylvia Dee. They wrote it for Skeeter Davis, a country and pop singer who recorded it first, in 1963.
And of course, without the song, it can’t be sung and played and recorded to begin with. So to the songwriters go the greatest accolades.
Although the words in the song appear to be about the breakup of a romance, the lyricist (Sylvia Dee) said that her inspiration for the utter despondency expressed in the tune was recalling how she felt when her father died.
Doubtless many of us who have lost loved ones can relate to the bolded words below. In fact, only the unbolded lines are what changes it from a song of grief over death to one of unrequited love.
Why does the sun go on shining?
Why does the sea rush to shore?
Don't they know it's the end of the world?
'Cause you don't love me any more
Why do the birds go on singing?
Why do the stars glow above?
Don't they know it's the end of the world?
It ended when I lost your love
I wake-up in the morning, and I wonder
Why everything's the same as it was
I can't understand, no, I can't understand
How life goes on the way it does
Why does my heart go on beating?
Why do these eyes of mine cry?
Don't they know it's the end of the world?
It ended when you said, "Good-bye"
That is how it feels; I lost my firstborn son just under nine years ago (on March 17th, 2012). I can really relate to the sentiments Ms. Dee expressed in her lyrics (What does the sun have to shine about? What could the birds possibly have to sing about? How can life just go on as it always has — as if nothing of tectonic import and impact has just occurred?)
Perhaps that is why the song is so poignant to me. It strongly strikes chords of sympathy in my heart.
And so I consider “The End of the World” to be a truly great song — a classic if there ever was one. It has been covered by several other well-known artists – not only Herman’s Hermits and Lobo (both of whom did great versions), but also other notables such as The Carpenters, Brenda Lee, and Patti Page.
Not only that, though -- many other people have recorded covers of it that can be seen and heard on YouTube. All of these covers are good – in fact, my least favorite of the more than two dozen that I listened to was by Cyndi Lauper (and I like Cyndi Lauper!); I’m also a huge fan of Karen Carpenter’s singing, but her version does not quite make the cut of my favorite versions.
For those curious, below is a bevy or plethora of links to some of my favorite versions of this song; they are listed in no particular order. The recording locations range from bedrooms to concert stages and recording studios; the instrumentation ranges from a single instrument to a full orchestra.
Feel free to leave a comment on which is your favorite version. As for me, I would probably go with the original (by Skeeter Davis) as well as the one I was most familiar with by Herman’s Hermits (one of the most underrated / unjustly disremembered bands), and those by Julia Arredondo, Satoko Ishimine, Mariya Takeuchi, Mandy Barnett, Laura Korinth, Sharon Van Etten, and the one by the artist I have simply noted as “?” because I don’t know who she is (the text is in Japanese). Perhaps it is another version by Satoko Ishimine?
All of the interpretations of the song listed below are valuable, though; some of the singers are doing a “Karaoke” version, some are accompanying themselves on guitar or piano, while others have full bands or even orchestras backing them up. One of the most heartfelt ones is by a lady with a chihuahua perched on her lap as she sings it while sitting on the floor in her bedroom.
My thanks to all these artists, and my hats are off to them. I would love to be able to sing like they can. My favorites are asterisked (*).
*Skeeter Davis:
*Herman's Hermits:
Carpenters:
Lobo / Lavoie:
Brenda Lee:
Sangah Noona:
Patti Page:
Hi Grass Sessions:
Allison Young:
*Julia Arredondo:
*Mandy Barnett
*?
*Laura Korinth:
Kid Travis:
*Satoko Ishimine:
*J-Min:
*Mariya Takeuchi:
Terry Harrison:
Matt Brown:
Lauryn Marie:
Malinda:
Naomi & Tabitha Snikkers:
The Cat Strings:
Personal Effects:
*Sharon Van Etten:
Kappa Danielson:
…and, last but not least, coffbebe: