Greatest rock song of all time

[Jung Roe]

After much consideration, here are my choices for greatest of all time.

1..A Day In the Life – Beatles
My reason for choosing this song for #1 is because it is a true John Lennon and Paul McCartney collaboration, with John coming up with half the song and Paul the other and putting them together to create something truly remarkable with such great emotional depth that can reach down deep into the soul. It’s also the final song from the greatest album of all time, Sargent Peppers.

2..Hey Jude – Beatles
3..Let It Be – Beatles
4..Yesterday – Beatles
5..Imagine – John Lennon
6..Stairway to Heaven – Led Zeppelin
7..Good Vibrations – Beach Boys
8..Bridge Over Troubled Waters – Simon and Garfunkle
9..Nights In White Satin – Moody Blues
10. Satisfaction – Rolling Stones

[Francis Gerald (Jerry) Chamness]

1) Close to You – MonaLisa-Twins

2) In It For Love – MonaLisa-Twins

3) Count On Me – MonaLisa-Twins

4) When We’re Together – MonaLisa-Twins

5) Yesterday – The Beatles

6) Penny Lane – The Beatles

7) Dreams – MonaLisa-Twins

All time favorite: Close to You by the MonaLisa-Twins

[Darryl Boyd]

I’m going to be boring and predictable and say Bohemian Rhapsody.

[Jung Roe]

Yeah!, I love your list Jerry.  As MLT music proliferates the world, which is just a matter of time, your list is a glimpse into what it will be for many, with MLT music taking it’s rightful place with the greatest.

Close To You is a song so full of beautiful longing emotion of lost love and moving on, and I love the poetic lyrics.  From the sweet guitar riffs to the heart felt singing, it is so beautiful.  I believe Lisa wrote this song, and is full of truths and wisdom.  A truly inspired song.  One of my MLT favorites.

[Jacki Hopper]

Sure… Like picking out a needle in haystack… I could easily make a separate listing for MLT top 5-20that would all be #1s equally….

But, for this purpose, I’ll do top 20 for today’s mood of song choices that appeal to me at the moment and not MLT… Lol… The order is random… Just whatever song came to mind, that ‘s what I put down as I went along and came to mind…. It constantly would be changing, and MLT is a separate entity in itself for their songs… Lol?

Here goes it:

#1– All stuff by Patsy Cline

#2–All stuff by Cass Elliot

#3–All stuff by Denny Doherty

#4– Go Rest High On That Mountain – Vince Gill (I love VG stuff too)

#5– Back to Black-Amy Winehouse

#6–Hey Jude

#7–Paperback Writer

#8–Long and Winding Road

#9–Creeque Alley

#10– Taking Care of Business-BTO

#11–Animal Heart-Glass Tiger

#12– American Woman – The Guess Who

#15–Bohemian Rhapsody

#16 – – Landslide – Fleetwood Mac

#17– Get It On Bang A Gong cover–Power Station

#18–Stairway To Heaven

#19– Summer of 69–Bryan Adams

#20– Take It Easy–Eagles

[Howard]

Maybe your Topic should be “Favourite rock song of all time”, based on your selections Jung. As for favourite MLT songs, There have been similar posts before, including this very early one from Timothy Connelly on 13/10/2018 AT 01:25 “Favourite and least favourite MonaLisa Twins songs”.

There are some of the greatest that I can no longer listen to as they have been flogged to death over the years. These include, Stairway to Heaven – Led Zeppelin, Good Vibrations – Beach Boys, Nights In White Satin – Moody Blues, Satisfaction – Rolling Stones, and  Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen

“Ranker” has an interesting list, determined by reader vote, including the following top ten, in descending order from number one: Hey Jude, Imagine, Stairway to Heaven, A Day in the Life, What a Wonderful World, Paint it Black, The Sounds of Silence, Good Vibrations, Satisfaction, Yesterday.

As for me, today at least, I would be happy with the following: Gimme Shelter – Stones, Imagine – Lennon, A Day in the Life – The Beatles, Hey Jude – The Beatles, Like a Rolling Stone – Bob Dylan, All Along the Watchtower – Jimi Hendrix. Stairway to Heaven – Led Zeppelin, Paint it Black – Stones, Baba O’Riley – The Who, The Sounds of Silence – Simon and Garfunkel.

Maybe after the MLT release their pending new originals album it will be time for a review of our favourite MLT songs.

[David Herrick]

The greatest rock song of all time?  That’s easy:  “Pink Shoelaces” by Dodie Stevens.  (Just kidding.  But that’s my current earworm, and I’m desperate to transfer it into someone else’s head.)

I’ve never actually tried to compile a top ten, so this one will likely change substantially by tomorrow as I think of obvious candidates that I omitted.  But taking “greatest” to mean just the songs I most enjoy listening to, here’s my list at the moment.

 

1)  “California Dreamin'” by The Mamas & Papas

2)  “Good Vibrations” by The Beach Boys

3)  “One Fine Day” by The Chiffons

4)  “If I Fell” by The Beatles

5)  “Puff the Magic Dragon” by Peter, Paul & Mary

6)  “Elenore” by The Turtles

7)  “Undun” by The Guess Who

8)  “Build Me Up Buttercup” by The Foundations

9)  “How Can I Be Sure” by The Young Rascals

10)  “Spinning Wheel” by Blood, Sweat & Tears

 

My favorite MLT song is “Sweet Lorraine”, but honestly I think it would fall somewhere in my second ten.

 

[Jung Roe]

Darryl, Bohemian Rhapsody is a great song indeed and I’ve seen it rated as #1 on some lists.  It would have made it in my top 10 if there weren’t so many Beatles songs 🙂

[Jung Roe]

Jacki, that is a very extensive list and I think you covered it well, with some I’m going to have to go check out as you piqued my curiosity.

Howard, I guess sometimes “favorite” and an objective “the greatest” can be just a grey line that separates the two.  I tried to be objective, so that is why I don’t have more Beach Boys and AC/DC votes in my list, but I tried my best.  🙂

David, I like your list, and I have to say Puff the Magic Dragon was never on my radar, but after you referred me to it and it’s magnificent lyrics, I have to agree it is one of the greats for sure!

 

[David Herrick]

Thanks, Jung.  I nearly left that one off the list because it’s quite a stretch to call it a rock song, but I couldn’t stand the idea of Puff being abandoned yet again.

 

[Howard]

We can select a list of the greatest songs based on a predetermined criteria or we can create a list based on what we prefer to listen to. Our favourite may be the greatest while the greatest may not necessarily be a favourite.  I can except it when a large number of successful musicians vote that “Like a Rolling Stone” is the greatest rock song ever. While agreeing it is a great song for many reasons, it is not my favourite however. My favourite may still be in their top ten though.  Just the same as your favourite top ten may be Beatles and Beach Boys heavy, mine would be Rolling Stones heavy. However, this isn’t sufficient reason for us to call them the greatest songs ever.

If you were to poll the MLT Club to determine what they considered to be the greatest top ten songs ever, you’d expect it to be Beatles heavy. However, you must agree this is neither representative of all music fans or based on any criteria rather than what they prefer to listen to.

[Tomás F. Calvo]

Crazy to note that “A Day In The Life” was not released as a single.

I’d have to make separate lists, and my criteria to find the best, is songs that’t I’d take to a desert island to listen to over and over again, and be happy with them.

MonaLisa Twins (only 10??)

1. The Wide Wide Land
2. All I Want Christmas To Be
3. Count On Me
4. Once Upon A Time
5. Dreams
6. Nothing Is In Vain
7. Waiting For The Waiter
8. All About Falling In Love
9. Still A Friend of Mine
10. Club 27

The Beatles

1. Let It Be
2. Hey Jude
3. I Am The Walrus
4. Penny Lane
5. Strawberry Fields Forever
6. Blackbird
7. Something
8. Here Comes The Sun
9. Oh! Darling
10. While My Guitar Gently Weeps

BONUS: When asked what’s my favorite Beatles song, I answer Hello, Goodbye as this was the song that was ringing at the top of the charts across the world when I was born.

Post Beatles

1. Imagine
2. Maybe I’m Amazed
3. Photograph
4. Give me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)
5. My Sweet Lord
6. Band On the Run
7. Rising Sun
8. It Don’t Come Easy
9. Watching the Wheels
10. Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey

Rest of The Field

1. Bohemian Rhapsody -Queen
2. Space Oddity -David Bowie
3. Sounds Of Silence -Simon and Garfunkel
4. Wish You Were Here -Pink Floyd
5. Every Breath You Take -The Police
6. Spaceman -The Killers
7. Sowing The Seeds Of Love -Tears For Fears
8. Road To Nowhere -Talking Heads
9. Linger -The Cranberries
10. West End Girls -Pet Shop Boys

I have to say, this was a very hard exercise! 10 are so few songs! So many great songs, list will sure change regularly…

[Jung Roe]

Wow Tomas!  Thanks for  such an extensive list.  This is how I should have categorized my requested list.  Your MLT list looks much like mine, except mine might have Sweet Lorraine in the top 3.

[Jung Roe]

“If you were to poll the MLT Club to determine what they considered to be the greatest top ten songs ever, you’d expect it to be Beatles heavy. However, you must agree this is neither representative of all music fans or based on any criteria rather than what they prefer to listen to.”

Howard, this is just my opinion, but the way I see it considering just how popular and widely proliferated Beatles music is across the world and generations than any other rock/pop act by a super huge margin, it makes sense Beatles music would dominate any top 10 list.  A Day In the Life, Hey Jude, Let It Be, Yesterday each would be considered by its own right the greatest rock song of all time, so any top 10 list I think would make sense to have multiple spots occupied by the Beatles.   I don’t think a list being Beatles heavy is representative to just a music fan base that prefers the Beatles.  It is representative of the entire population of the world that knows and appreciates western rock/pop music.  Every other famous band or individual artist, and I mean everyone, are niche compared to the Beatles, admired by a relatively narrow hard core fan base.  The Beatles tower above the rest.

I think psychologically if people are asked to submit a list of their top 10, rated from 1 to 10, there will be a tendency to allocate only one spot per band to each of the 10 positions, because it feels unnatural to allocate multiple positions to a single band.  So it will be artificially skewed.  If you did it more random by having everyone through in their one vote for what they think is the single greatest song of all time on a big scale,  you would get a more accurate unskewed result and I bet multiple Beatles songs would occupy the top 10 list.

[Jung Roe]

As music videos go, I think John Lennon’s Imagine is one of the greatest of all time in line with the stature of the song itself.

While it is a relatively simple video that starts with John and Yoko walking along a dark and foggy pathway into a house, and then he sits at the piano and starts singing.  It’s symbolism is brilliant.  John is playing in a room with so many windows all around, but it is dark.
The lyrics of the song in contrast are incredibly enlightening

Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people living life in peace,

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people sharing all the world,….

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope some day you’ll join us
And the world will live as one

These concepts may be hard to comprehend nor accept today by many, but John’s vision in this song was ahead of it’s time.

Yoko Ono opens the blinds on each window one at a time, letting in more light, until it is completely light and everything comes into clarity.

The light to me symbolizes the enlightened meaning of the song that could bring the world out of darkness.