The Beach Boy’s God Only
Knows played on the radio the other day and as I always do when I hear it I
thought ‘that has got to be the most beautiful song ever recorded.’ (Yes, I
confess to using the word ‘beautiful’ to describe music. I also use intense, haunting, cool-as-hell
and for certain genres—country and modern-day Top420 immediately come to
mind—total crap. I heard someone say
that for him ‘music died in 1983.’ I
think he may be right.)
Getting back to beautiful music…
I decided I would make a list of the most beautiful songs I’ve
ever heard. Originally I thought I would
come up with 10 or so songs, but it didn’t take long to realize I
underestimated how beautiful the music of the last five decades has been. Then again maybe I just underestimated how
much of my memory I still had going for me.
Anyway, in no particular order (other than the order in which I
remembered them) here are the songs I would put on my personal soundtrack of
the most beautiful songs ever recorded:
The First Time Ever I Saw Your
Face – Roberta
Flack
Maybe I’m Amazed – Paul McCartney
Lady/You Decorated My Life – Kenny Rogers
Missing You – John Waite
Just the Way You Are – Billy Joel
Superstar/For All We Know – Carpenters
Hello It’s Me – Todd Rundgren
Daisy Jane – America
Can’t Help Falling in Love – Elvis Presley
Careless Whisper – Wham!
Live to Tell - Madonna
Up Where We Belong – Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes
The Rain Song – Led Zeppelin
Cancer – My Chemical Romance
You Are So Beautiful – Joe Cocker
Every Woman in the World – Air Supply
More Than a Woman – Tavares/Bee Gees
Faithfully – Journey
Amanda – Boston
I’m Not in Love – 10cc
He Ain’t Heavy – Hollies
Because the Night – 10,000 Maniacs
The World I Know – Collective Soul
Don’t Dream It’s Over – Crowded House
Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm – Crash Test Dummies
Wind Beneath My Wings – Bette Midler
Unchained Melody – Righteous Brothers
We’re All Alone/Look What You’ve
Done to Me – Boz
Skaggs
Colour My World/Beginnings – Chicago
Can’t Take My Eyes off You/My
Eyes Adored You –
Frankie Valli
I Can’t Tell You Why – Eagles
While My Guitar Gently Weeps – Beatles
Two out of Three ain’t Bad – Meat Loaf
Love on the Rocks – Neil Diamond
November Rain – Guns N’ Roses
Everybody Hurts – REM
Candle in the Wind/Your Song – Elton John
The Crow and the Butterfly – Shinedown
Sarah – Fleetwood Mac
My Cherie Amour
– Stevie Wonder
Elenore – Turtles
Existentialism on Prom Night – Straylight Run
My Girls – Temptations
Never Too Late – Three Days Grace
Easy to Be Hard – Three Dog Night
If You Could Only See – Tonic
Glamour Boy/These Eyes –
Guess Who
Always on My Mind – Willie Nelson
Black Magic Woman – Santana
She Talks to Angels – Black Crowes
Astronomy – Blue Oyster Cult
If – Bread
Tears in Heaven – Eric Clapton
Daydream Believer – Monkees
MacArthur Park – Donna Summer/Richard Harris
Black – Pearl Jam
Without You – Nillson
Harvest Moon – Neil Young
Mandy/Could this be the Magic – Barry Manilow
Cherish – Association
Bridge Over Troubled Water/The
Sound of Silence –
Simon and Garfunkel
You don’t have to Say you Love Me – Dusty Springfield
After the Love is Gone – Earth, Wind and Fire
Best Thing that Ever Happened to
Me – Gladys
Knight and the Pips
Auld Lang Syne – Dan Fogelberg
Evergreen/The Way We Were – Barbra Streisand
How Can I Be Sure – Rascals
How Deep is Your Love – Bee Gees
When I See You Smile – Bad English
Badge – Cream
One – U2
True – Spandau Ballet
In Your Eyes – Peter Gabriel
Annie’s Song – John Denver
Hello – Lionel Richie
Endless Love – Diana Ross and Lionel Richie
This Guy’s in Love with You – Herb Alpert
At This Moment – Billy Vera and the Beaters
I Want to Know What Love Is – Foreigner
Against All Odds – Phil Collins
I Will Always Love You – Whitney Houston
It Must Have Been Love – Roxette
Angel Eyes –
Jeff Healy Band
Lovin’ You -
Minnie Riperton
Eternal Flame – Bangles
Imagine –
John Lennon
Little Wing –
Jimi Hendrix
(Everything I Do) I Do It for You – Bryan Adams
Walk Away Renee – Four Tops
Amazing/I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing – Aerosmith
And You and I – Yes
Hurt –
Johnny Cash
Yellow/Clocks – Coldplay
Brothers in Arms – Dire Straits
Home Sweet Home – Motley Crue
Adia – Sarah
McLachlan
It’s Too Late – Carol King
Fire and
Rain – James Taylor
Time in a Bottle – Jim Croce
Lucky Man –
Emerson, Lake and Palmer
So, what
started out as a list of 10 or so songs turned out to be over well over one-hundred.
Are there more? Most certainly, but I can’t remember all of
them at the moment.
But when I
hear them I’ll know them. My memory
might be failing me, but my ears can still recognize a beautiful song. How long that will last, however…
God only
knows.
