100 Songs for Eternity E-Book

Ferdinand Köther

• Herausgeber: BoD - Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 207

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

A personal selection of the 100 greatest songs of all time. Some should be well known, some are lesser know, some hardly, except maybe by die-hard music lovers. A treasure chest to delve into and discover old and new songs, never heard or forgotten - for music fans old and young.

Leseprobe

MUSIC WAS MY FIRST LOVE, AND IT WILL BE MY LAST ...

(JOHN MILES - MUSIC)

Anyone who finds a small spelling mistake can keep it. A BIG one, please return it to [email protected]

Note for e-book readers: This book was written with 100% recyclable electrons.

Appendix: Title – Artist

Aegian Sea – Aphrodite’s Child

Ain’t No Sunshine – Mama Lion

All Along The Watchtower – Jimi Hendrix Experience

All The Way From Memphis – Mott The Hoople

A Whiter Shade of Pale – Procol Harum

Baker Street – Gerry Rafferty

Beds Are Burning – Midnight Oil

Black Hole Sun - Soundgarden

Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen – Santana

Bridge Of Sighs – Robin Trower

California Dreamin’ – The Mamas and the Papas

Child in Time – Deep Purple

Coast To Coast – Ducks DeLuxe

Dear Jean (I'm Nervous) – City Boy

Eight Miles High – Neil Merryweather

Epitaph – King Crimson

Eve of Destruction – Barry McGuire

(

Everything I Do) I Do It For You – Bryan Adams

Excerpt From A Teenage Opera – Keith West

Faith Healer – Sensational Alex Harvey Band

Father Of Night – Manfred Mann’s Earthband

Fly Like An Eagle – Steve Miller Band

Free Bird – Lynyrd Skynyrd

From A Dry Camel – Dust

Glad All Over – The Dave Clark Five

Good Vibrations – Beach Boys

Halo Of Flies – Alice Cooper

Handle With Care – Traveling Wilburys

Heartless World – Teaze

Highway To Hell – AC DC

Hippy Hippy Shake – The Swinging Blue Jeans

Hound Dog – Elvis Presley

House of the Rising Sun – The Animals

(

I Can't Get No) Satisfaction – The Rolling Stones

I Do – Frankie Miller

I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing – Aerosmith

Imagine – John Lennon

I’m A Man – Chicago Transit Authority

In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida – Iron Butterfly

In The Year 2525 – Zager & Evans

I See No Reason – Titanic

I See The Rain – Marmalade

Itchycoo Park – Small Faces

It’s About Pride – Outlaws

Jessica – Allman Brothers Band

Key To The Highway – Derek and the Dominos

Leader of the Pack – Shangri-Las

Let’s Work Together – Canned Heat

Levitation - Hawkwind

Locomotive Breath – Jethro Tull

Look At Yourself – Uriah Heep

Mississippi Queen – Mountain

Moonlight Shadow – Mike Oldfield (feat. Maggie Reilly)

More Than A Feeling – Boston

Mr. Tambourine Man - The Byrds

Music – John Miles

Needles and Pins – The Searchers

Nights In White Satin – The Moody Blues

Nine Million Bicycles – Katie Melua

No More Walks In The Wood /How Long – Eagles

Nothing Else Matters – Metallica

Oh Well (Parts 1 & 2) – Fleetwood Mac

Only You (And You Alone) – Platters

Phoenix – Wishbone Ash

Red Hot – Robert Gordon

Riders on the Storm – The Doors

Sabre Dance – Love Sculpture

San Francisco - Scott McKenzie

See Emily Play – Pink Floyd

September Parts 1 & 2 – Peter & The Test Tube Babies

Sometimes I Feel like Screaming – Deep Purple

Space Oddity – David Bowie

Stairway To Heaven – Led Zeppelin

Starless - King Crimson

Still I’m Sad – Yardbirds

Stranglehold – Ted Nugent

Summertime – Brainbox

Summertime Blues - Eddie Cochran

The Air That I Breathe – Hollies

The Bluest Blues – Alvin Lee

The Final Countdown – Europe

The Night We Drank The Stars – Dave Evans & Nitzinger

The Sound of Silence – Simon & Garfunkel

The Valentyne Suite – Colosseum

Time Has Come Today – Chambers Brothers

Time Seller – Spencer Davis Group

Tribute To Buddy Holly – Mike Berry and the Outlaws

Unchained Melody – Righteous Brothers

We Are The Champions – Queen

Wheel in the Sky – Journey

When A Man Loves A Woman – Percy Sledge

When Death Calls – Black Sabbath

When Evening Comes – Ken Hensley

Whiskey In The Jar – Thin Lizzy

White Room – Cream

With A Little Help From My Friends – Joe Cocker

Won’t Get Fooled Again – The Who

You Keep Me Hangin’ On – Rod Stewart

You’ll Never Walk Alone – Gerry & The Pacemakers

You Really Got Me – The Kinks

INTRODUCTION

This is an audiobook for reading – ideally, the reader has the song in their archive or can download and listen to it while reading, either before or after.

By “song”, incidentally, I always mean this version, even if it is usually, but not always, the first original recording of the composition. But what is a song without interpreters? A piece of paper with notes on it, if at all. A song only breathes life through its interpretation, and so here it is also about the musicians, not least the composers... but last, unfortunately, as this would exceed the scope.

Composers are rarely in the spotlight but can console themselves with the fact that they often can claim the majority of the royalties to their account, rightfully so. Moreover, “song” for me means that it is a piece of music that lingers in the ear due to the melody, sometimes just because of the rhythm and/or the combination of these two elements, and above all the dedication of the artist (by which individuals and groups are meant). “Song” generally means a piece of music with vocals, which applies to the vast majority presented here, and as always, exceptions prove the rule.

The selection and almost everything written here is subjective, but it may also offer the opportunity for some readers/listeners to delve deeper into this or that artist or song, or to remember, back then...

Nevertheless, I have tried to incorporate a certain objectivity regarding the significance of these or at least some pieces of music and also musicians in the history of music. There may and should be shared opinions on this, ultimately (almost) everything is a matter of taste.

That's good, and those who share my taste and perhaps especially those who do not, may discover or rediscover some things here.

And what is my taste? Clearly on the heavy/hard rock side, but also with a great inclination towards melody and emotions, and who says that emotions cannot be heavy? And how so...

100 Songs for Eternity could also be 100 Beatles songs, which I deliberately did not consider. In fact all Beatles songs are an eternal heritage.

The Beatles are the gods of Olympus, upon whom all other music demigods and heroes wanted to ascend and without whom they would not exist, at least not in this form and manner (and the Beatles could not have climbed the summit of Olympus without some preceding music demigods and heroes, at least not in this form and manner).

That’s what I claim, and it may sound strange with my heavy preference, but it is so. Period. Different topic. Period. And who says anyway that the Beatles are not heavy, in every respect?

Nevertheless, we will encounter the Beatles here and there, how could the earth be without the sky? My “taste”' largely ends in the 1980s, this as a “warning”. So, this selection of songs, including some “standards”, predominantly offers a retrospective of the 1960s to 1980s of the last century (and a bit of 21st century), with the 60s being the most innovative decade for ages and unsurpassed since, I claim as a rock grandpa.

I consider the ability to describe songs in words to be limited – the reader/listener may forgive me for some, hopefully not too many, repetitions, but this book should not necessarily be read/listened to in order from A-Z.

Therefore, often little is written about the song itself and I try to awaken interest with references to the artist themselves and also to other songs and artists and background information and other ramblings, to delve deeper into this or that group or artist or song and the history of music in general. Sometimes the enthusiasm may get the better of me, but that's good – music is passion and enthusiasm, and everyone feels it differently.

Some will surely think from time to time “oh, this bloody old stuff again”, some especially young readers may have never heard this old stuff before. Doesn't matter, I hope this small selection of songs may inspire some to delve deeper into the wonderful world of music. There are many more (at least) songs for eternity that everyone may discover for themselves. Have fun with it!

But now, put your headphones on (preferably), turn the volume up LOUD, and off you go!

And it is as banal as timeless:

KEEP ON ROCKIN’!

Notes on notation: I first mention the song title, then the performer, and below, the composer(s) in parentheses. The generally common, but not always consistent, notation is music composer/lyric composer. I always separated all names with a comma, often the distinction between music and lyric composer is not clear (in the book text, however, if mentioned, written as x/y, as a comma at this point would impair readability).

The songs are alphabetically ordered by title, according to the index in the appendix with the names of the performers. There is also an index of the performers in alphabetical order (without the song titles and without “The”, as indicated for some groups where it seemed appropriate) incorporating the first name for the first letter – contrary to my habit.

In the text, the song title is written in bold, as in the heading, other mentioned songs or album titles are written in italics. The performer itself and other performers are not highlighted in the text. [A few current additions, made during the proofreading or this post-production in 2023, are placed in square brackets.]

I deliberately did not include years with the title; sometimes in the text, the same goes for references to albums. This book is/was supposed to be an incentive to delve deeper into the subject, I have already said so. Everyone has internet access, everyone can and should use it wisely.

[See the imprint for playlists related to this book.]

Wikipedia is a great source of information, to which I owe some of the information mentioned here and have compiled it because I might have forgotten or didn't know it at all. My sincere thanks to Wikipedia (which everyone should support with a small donation from time to time).

The length of a (my) text, by the way, has nothing to do with the (subjective) quality and appreciation of the song.

Thanks to Chat GPT – faster than me, quite as good, only few alterations were needed.

AEGIAN SEA – APHRODITE'S CHILD

(Vangelis Papathanassiou, Costas Ferris)

Aphrodite's Child, weren't they those Greeks with the cheesy canoodle song Rain and Tears? Yes, that's right, they were "those Greeks," especially Demis Roussos with his disarming voice and Vangelis Papathanassiou, who later had a successful solo career as a keyboardist under the simple name "Vangelis," just like his colleague Demis Roussos as a singer and heartthrob for (house)wives – don’t get me wrong, I don't want to offend either him or housewives or women in general (on the contrary). And I also liked Rain and Tears.

I have to digress here – this song comes from the concept album 666 (double LP from 1971, later 2-CD), which could also be called a rock opera (I hate that term because I hate operas). 666 (The Number of the Beast – the official subtitle is The Apocalypse of John, 13/18) is a remarkable, littleknown, and sometimes hard-to-digest opus.

Irene Papas' screaming/moaning in ∞ (that's the name of the song) makes Jane Birkin's Je t'aime sound like happy baby talk.

Although or perhaps precisely because taken out of context, Aegian Sea is an absolutely outstanding piece of music for me. On floating synth sounds, accompanied by a beautiful bass line and choir singing, follows a "drumbeat" (drums) and a cascading downward sequence of notes... repeat the whole thing... and again... if anyone finds this boring, yawning or falling asleep by then, I won't argue with them, but recommend they keep listening (if they haven't already fallen asleep). On the third time, when you're waiting for the drumbeat (if...), a beautiful guitar (I think so, could also be a synth?) with heavenly sound begins and a deep male voice (not Demis Roussos) starts to briefly and succinctly tell the story of the end of the world – not singing! A little later, a wonderfully creaking-sawing synth sound (I'm sure of that) joins in the background, and with this heavenly guitar, everything merges into a wonderfully... heavenly sound, in stark contrast to the spoken text.

Music is often difficult to describe in words, and this is once again particularly true in this case.

A calm and very atmospheric song that you must let work on yourself and that strongly affects the emotions if you are receptive to it. Strangely, a little bit of Rain and Tears cheesiness comes through, and I estimate that this is one of my highly personal eternal songs for which "no pig cares".

But pigs are intelligent and capable of learning, especially those who read books...

By the way, in correct English it should be “Aegean Sea"; whether this deviation was intentional or a "typo," I don't know.

Anyway, Demis and Vangelis were much more successful commercially later on. But none of their songs ever touched me as deeply as Aegean Sea (correctly spelled), and I am delightedly diving into the eternity of the Aegean Sea (despite the un-delightful lyrics)!

AIN’T NO SUNSHINE – MAMA LION

(Bill Withers)

I confess – like many others, my first attention was drawn to Mama Lion's album Preserve Wildlife because of the cover. The attractive blonde with a slight silver gaze, looking seductively, was definitely an eye-catcher, especially when you open the grid window of the cover and see her holding a lion cub to her opulent bare chest. You'd want to be wildlife yourself.

With this beautiful fold-out cover, you probably could avoid being "not suitable for youth" and stimulate curiosity. Sex sells... or maybe not, as the album and the Mama Lion project as such didn't achieve great success. Perhaps this display was even counterproductive, as many may have thought, "well, she's pretty, but there's probably not much substance there."

Far from it! There's not just something for your eyes, but also something to blow your ears. Californian rock singer Lynn Carey, who shows off her daring nature behind the cover grid so impressively, and Canadian multi-talented musician Neil Merryweather (who has his own entry in this book) had already collaborated before forming the group Mama Lion. Lynn is occasionally compared to Janis Joplin, but why make comparisons? Both women could be proud to be compared to each other.

Their introduction to the first song on the album, with Neil's bass gently adding in (and later, of course, other instruments), kicks off and doesn't let up – the lioness roars, and Mama Lion turn this wonderful, lightly jazzy song into a strong piece of rock/blues rock that hits hard. This continues throughout this album as well as their second and unfortunately last album.

Ain't No Sunshine is probably one of the most covered songs, and in this case Wikipedia has some big gaps to fill. Often, as mentioned before, it's jazz-influenced, soulful and/or presented in a lounge style, but never as racy as it is here, without losing the character of the song. The late Bill Withers would have probably appreciated this interpretation of his brilliant composition.

And if not – Wildlife is definitely worth preserving, not just when it's presented visually and, above all, acoustically like this by Mama Lion. A lioness for eternity, even if there's probably no sunshine there!

All ALONG THE WATCHTOWER – JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE

(Bob Dylan)

Two icons in one fell swoop – Jimi, the guitar master of all classes, trailblazer and innovator with immeasurable influence on generations of musicians, and Bob, actually Robert, a great lyricist and composer, with a similarly great impact and lasting significance, now also a Nobel laureate.

Looking at it the other way around – Jimi has composed some classic songs, while Bob as a musician has also delivered some nice tunes, but otherwise is more of an “afterthought” for me. The Zimmermans (Dylan followers – Robert Allen Zimmerman is his real name) will stone me, but I can handle it, like a rolling stone...

Jimi made every piece of music “his piece of music” with his guitar and unique singing style (or even without singing, like the American national anthem Star Spangled Banner), first demonstrated with his first big hit Hey Joe, an ancient standard, from then on a "Hendrix song". Jimi didn't just interpret the songs, he completely made them his own and gave them a new, completely different life.

This also applies to this song, many people only know All Along The Watchtower as a "Hendrix song", which does great injustice to the brilliant composer.

Two geniuses working together create something new, each contributing their own unique aspect. Like many Dylan songs, this one has been interpreted by many other artists, but never as penetrating, heavy and at the same time floating as by Jimi. The fantasy text is reminiscent of early King Crimson lyrics, or vice versa, All Along The Watchtower came earlier.

Writing more about Jimi Hendrix would be more than futile, there are hardly any other artists with more publications, except for the Beatles. And with hardly any other artist's legacy, or none at all, has more mischief been done, that's another story. This doesn't mean that there aren't some gems to be found among his estate.

Always along the wall... no, always along the watchtower, for eternity, into which Jimi entered much too early and which he probably thoroughly dominates with his guitar. Nothing better could happen to it.

All THE WAY FROM MEMPHIS – MOTT THE HOOPLE

(Ian Hunter)

Motze... who? Some may ask this question if they are not familiar with the band named after a novel (not by Charles Dickens or J.R.R. Tolkien, but by Willard Manus). Alright, I don't know that novel either (maybe a failure?), but I do know this great band very well, which reached its peak during the glam rock era of the 70s.

Their good debut album with the fantastic Hieronymus Bosch cover and the stunning instrumental version (!) of You Really Got Me (see there) attracted attention and created a small fan community, but just like their following, quite remarkable albums, it didn't lead to a breakthrough.

It wasn't until David Bowie composed All The Young Dudes for them while they were considering their dissolution out of frustration, that things started to take off. Bowie and Mott The Hoople somehow fit together well, both being stylistically chameleon-like, very changeable and colourful. Bowie himself recorded this song only much later, almost "incidentally", but often performed it live; there is a version with Mott The Hoople and David Bowie performing it together.

Anyway, suddenly Mott The Hoople were "in demand" and produced some great hits, transforming from a long-haired hippie rock band to a still long-haired, stylized glam rock band, led by the always sunglass-wearing, charismatic singer Ian Hunter. Not only he knew how to control his voice, but also the other guys had nothing to hide from anyone.

Their mentioned great hits are all similar in a way, they had found their successful formula, triggered by All The Young Dudes. Which one should I choose here... Honaloochie Boogie, The Golden Age Of Rock 'n' Roll or maybe Roll Away The Stone?

No, All The Way From Memphis (strangely also called All the Way To Memphis sometimes) is the essence of their sound during those successful years: the wonderfully rolling honky-tonk piano intro immediately gets you moving and sets the equally wonderful rolling rhythm. Then Ian Hunter's singing skills come in, a strong guitar in the background, also some saxophone – rock 'n' roll, in short. During the solo, saxophone and guitar alternate, the honky-tonk piano is always audible, just like everything else. That rocks!

The way from Memphis may take a long time, but we have enough time for this wonderful song, until the end of eternity.

A WHITER SHADE OF PALE – PROCOL HARUM

(Gary Brooker, Keith Reed, Matthew Fisher)

Can you bathe in tones? I certainly can, especially in guitar tones, but organ tones are also wellsuited for it, if they have that "bathing sound".

I was never an enthusiastic churchgoer; as a little boy, it was simply something you were "forced" to do without enthusiasm, as an altar boy it wasn't quite as boring, then not at all anymore – but a small glimmer of hope was usually the roaring organ sound, which made the stay a little less boring.

But never did any organ sound more heavenly than in this mega-hit of the year 1967, still one of the ultimate love songs of all time, as more than 10 million singles sold are a clear proof (not many singles have achieved that). Presumably, at least temporarily, many singles also became "twingles" as a result...

Classically influenced, with a slight blues rhythm and Gary Brooker's unmistakable voice, this incomparable melody sneaks into every pore of your skin, hair and heart, and strangely enough fits perfectly into the flower power era, not least because of the nonsensical fantasy lyrics. LSD in musical form, but in this form, it lasts forever.

It would be very unfair to reduce Procol Harum to this song, they have delivered many excellent albums with often very complex songs, often with that certain classical touch and more and more with Robin Trower's unique guitar playing in the foreground – he then embarked on a great solo career. (And is also represented in this book.)

Nevertheless, the name Procol Harum cannot shake off the "blemish" of forever being synonymous with this unmatched soft rock (“fabric softener“) giant – a blemish that many others would like to have.

The record for the most misspelled name is also not to be taken away from them (mostly "Procul Harum", or "Procul Harem", etc.).

BAKER STREET – GERRY RAFFERTY

(G. Rafferty)

The “street of bakers” in London is nothing special, pretty long like many streets in London, that's it... almost.

The same goes, incidentally, for Penny Lane in Liverpool, which had the honour of being the title of a Beatles song, but that's another story... In song titles, there are some streets, or roads (e.g. to Cairo, Julie Driscoll with Brian Auger & Trinity or to Hell, Chris Rea), but rarely existing ones.

The Baker Street became famous thanks to Gerry Rafferty's song, a huge worldwide hit. The Beatles had their Apple Boutique and offices there, Ringo's former apartment is nearby where John and Jimi Hendrix also lived, but those are other stories again.

Nowadays, there is at least a fairly large official Beatles shop there (not in the former boutique location), and if you want to go to Madame Tussaud's, you take the tube to Baker Street, which may cause some confusion – the wax figures reside on Marylebone Road. If I’ll ever have nothing to do, I'll become a tour guide in London... so never.

Gerry doesn't deal with these facts in his song, rather he was there often at his lawyer's during legal battles with his former band Stealers Wheel (nice, but never really my thing) and also liked to drink too much... too much, which later led to his relatively early death.

The loose and casual song is more about these circumstances (except for death), somewhat hidden and packaged in a grand melody.

The unspectacular but very pleasant voice of the Scot is embedded in a sound package of a spectacular saxophone riff (which sounds almost like a guitar), a fantastic guitar solo and occasional, light background "growling" in the transitions, which I can only assume was somehow generated with keyboards. If you know exactly, you can let me know.

This impressive blend smoothly, and casually, brilliantly paves the auditory canals, and even though Baker Street is not the longest street, it leads directly into eternity.