50 For 40

I surveyed my iPod to put together a playlist of, for lack of a better term, my favorite songs of the past forty years. I ended up with 50, a nice round number.

Why forty years? Because that pushes us back to 1970, intentionally skipping the '60s. We've all watched the VH1 Greatest Songs countdowns, and read the canonical Rolling Stone History of Rock. And I, for one, am tired of seeing lists dominated by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, and Bob Dylan. Don't get me wrong. I love those folks. But the 1970 barrier forces us to pass by most of the acknowledged classics.

A couple other caveats:

-- I focused on "pop" and "rock." I don't have any jazz, blues, country, or hip-hop here, and there's precious little soul. A broader list would certainly include those genres, but the list was tough enough for me to compile as it was.

-- It's a pretty white list, and it's a list dominated by Americans and Brits. This leaves me wide open to the charge of Good Ol' Boy Chauvinism. I don't know precisely why that is. If I had ventured back to the fifties and sixties, there would have been a more representative sample of African American greats. And certainly if I had included jazz and blues it would have been more diverse. But as it is, it's a singer/songwriter list, with a smattering of punks and guitar slingers. To rectify the situation somewhat, the graphic at the upper left includes a picture of Barack Obama and a Bob Dylan song featuring a woman's name.

-- The '80's were not the greatest musical decade for me. That's just the way it is.

But here's what I ended up with. How about you?

1970s

Tired of Being Alone – Al Green

Every Picture Tells a Story – Rod Stewart

Percy’s Song – Fairport Convention

Baby Blue – Badfinger

The Last Time I Saw Richard – Joni Mitchell

Listen to the Lion – Van Morrison

September Gurls – Big Star

The Return of the Grievous Angel – Gram Parsons/Emmylou Harris

Farther On – Jackson Browne

Place to Be – Nick Drake

Cortez the Killer – Neil Young

Thunder Road – Bruce Springsteen

God Save the Queen – The Sex Pistols

Blitzkrieg Bop – The Ramones

Heroes – David Bowie

Deacon Blues – Steely Dan

This Year’s Girl – Elvis Costello

Teenage Kicks – The Undertones

1980s

What I Like About You – The Romantics

Gloria – U2

A Million Miles Away -- The Plimsouls

April Fool’s Day Morn – Loudon Wainwright III

Streets of Sorrow/Birmingham Six – The Pogues

Bastards of the Young – The Replacements

1990s

There She Goes – The La’s

I Believe In You – Talk Talk

Chickamauga – Uncle Tupelo

Fake Plastic Trees – Radiohead

Echoes Myron – Guided By Voices

1952 Vincent Black Lightning – Richard Thompson

The Mercy Seat – Nick Cave

The Lakes of Canada – The Innocence Mission

Star Sign – Teenage Fanclub

Moses – Patty Griffin

I Can’t Remember – Vigilantes of Love

Tired of Sex – Weezer

Fort Worth Blues – Steve Earle

Windfall – Son Volt

Holland, 1945 – Neutral Milk Hotel

2000s

Don’t Let Me Go – Michael Penn

Fell In Love With a Girl – The White Stripes

One Great City! – The Weakerthans

Hate to Say I Told You So – The Hives

Casimir Pulaski Day – Sufjan Stevens

Richard Pryor Addresses a Tearful Nation – Joe Henry

Glenn Tipton – Sun Kil Moon

Hey Ya – Outkast

Glosoli – Sigur Ros

Stuck Between Stations – The Hold Steady