Top Tens!

For several years now, the folks in my department at work have made Top Ten Lists. Top Ten Pies. Top Ten Television Opening Themes. Top Ten Jacksons. Etc. In our earlier list-making days, we’d typically just write or type up the lists and post them outside our offices. These days, we typically do more of a verbal reveal, usually at lunchtime.

If you want to get all corporate about it, you could say these lists are great team-building exercises. And they are, but that’s not the point. The point is, lists are fun.

Amazingly, we’d never done a straight-up Top Ten favorite songs list. Until this week. After several delays, we revealed our lists today, and they were worth the wait. The lists themselves were all over the musical map, everything from Nine Inch Nails to John Denver to Britney Spears to Daft Punk to Tom Jones. But it was the stories that accompanied the songs, and the enthusiasm with which these stories were told, that put this Top Ten near the top of our list of Top Ten lists.

In short, if you want to have an engaging conversation with a group of people, talk about things you love. And, it ought to go without saying, save the snark for another day. When you think about it, it’s an act of vulnerability to reveal what you love. Let people love what they love. In fact, revel in that love!

Here is the list of my all-time favorite songs. I was surprised at how quickly this list came together for me, with very little deliberation. Of course, there are certain songs that could have jumped in and replaced certain songs here — see my list of honorable mentions after the Top Ten — but this feels like a definitive list. And please! Consider this list an invitation to talk to me about what your favorite songs are! I would love to know.

Aside from the first song on this list, these are not necessarily in order.

“(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” — Otis Redding (1968). It is a very poorly-kept secret that Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” is my absolute favorite song and has been for decades. People are often surprised that I have a singular favorite song but this it it, and it has been for decades.

Though I do not love the concept of nostalgia — I think it can becloud critical thinking — I also can’t deny it. I have owned a 45 r.p.m. single copy of “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” for very nearly my entire life. As shown above, it was passed on to me by my Aunt Terry (now Teri), probably even before I started kindergarten, only a year or two after Redding’s tragic death.

So, yes, I played this single on a toy record player as a young kid. But I also apparently loved “Winchester Cathedral” as a kid and you’re not going to see that on this list. The personal connection I have to my copy of Otis’ final masterpiece is strong, but it is my ever-growing appreciation for the songwriting, the production, the vocals — all of it beautifully understated — that continuously leave me in awe of the song.

“(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” will always be my favorite song.

“Philadelphia Freedom” / “Someone Saved My Life Tonight” — Elton John (both 1975). Again, these songs are deeply wrapped up in early life story. I had recently decided that Elton John was my favorite rock star when he released “Philadelphia Freedom” in early 1975. My new rock idol singing a song about my nearby city? I can’t even describe how cool that was. The fact that the music to “Philadelphia Freedom” was inspired by the “Sound of Philadelphia” — embodied by Gamble & Huff, the O’Jays, Spinners, Stylistics and many others — was not immediately apparent to me, but that is a huge reason why I still love EJ’s tribute to a city and its music (and, yes, its tennis team).

“Someone Saved My Life Tonight”, released just months after “Philadelphia Freedom”, is a much different song. It’s a long meditation on a dark time in Elton’s life. “Someone…” was the only single released from Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, an album that would have a tremendous impact on me as a young pop music fan. My aunt Cathy gave me the album for my tenth birthday, the week of the album’s release, and it’s still one of my favorites.

Thanks to our son Jimmy, Donna and I saw Elton John’s farewell concert in Philadelphia in July 2022. Not gonna lie: hearing Elton play both of these songs got me a little emotional that night.

“Man on the Moon” — R.E.M. (1992). “Man on the Moon” has stiff competition in the category of my favorite song by my favorite band, most notably with R.E.M.’s National Recording Registry-enshrined “Radio Free Europe”. However, “Man on the Moon” checks so many boxes for me — I love the music, I love the enigmatic lyrics, I love the sound, I love the mood, I love what I kind of think the song is about — that it was inevitable this song would make this list.

“Picture This” — Blondie (1978). Sometimes a song sneaks up on you. “Picture This” is from Blondie’s third album, their breakthrough Parallel Lines. That album contains one massive hit single, the disco-drenched “Heart of Glass”, as well as a second big hit, “One Way or Another”, plus several popular album tracks like “Hangin’ on the Telephone” and “Sunday Girl.” It’s no exaggeration to say that I love every nanosecond of Parallel Lines. Somehow though, “Picture This” has emerged as Blondie’s greatest moment to me, earning this spot on my list.

“I Wish It Would Rain” — Temptations (1968). This melancholy ballad shares much in common with my “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay”. Both songs were released in 1968 and both contain ambient sound effects that subtly heighten the mood of the songs. Both also feature powerful singers — on this song, David Ruffin — who dial it down a notch for these performances. Most notably for me, both songs were early singles that I owned, passed on to me by the aunts who have obviously proven to be an influence in my early musical experience.

And, of course, “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay” and “I Wish It Would Rain” are both extraordinarily beautiful songs.

“The Tears of a Clown” — Smokey Robinson & the Miracles (1967). First released in ‘67, this masterpiece didn’t blast into the charts until 1970, but it was clearly worth the wait. I don’t have much to say about this song, other than “My God, could this possibly be more brilliant?” And the answer is, probably not. Also the English Beat’s cover is my favorite Motown cover ever.

“Instant Karma (We All Shine On)” — John Lennon (1970). Another surprise! Until I made this list, I am not sure I realized that this is my favorite Beatles / Beatles-adjacent song. Again, lots of boxes checked here: I love the music, I love the performances and production, and I love the lyrics. I think this, and not even “Imagine” is the single greatest distillation of Lennon’s philosophy.

“It’s Not Unusual” — Tom Jones (1965). It’s Tom Jones. It “It’s Not Unusual”. Of course this made the list.

“Once In a Lifetime” — Talking Heads (1980). I was entranced by this song back when it was just another “new wave” hit floating out of the radio in the early 1980’s. I am even more entranced by it now, for reasons I am not certain I can even begin to explain.

“Good Times” — Chic (1979). I love this song. Love, love, love this song. Love this song so much, I wrote an entire PopMatters article about it.

Finally, here are ten more songs that could have easily found a place in my Top Ten, though each of these is more than a mere “runner-up”:

“Me and Mrs. Jones” — Billy Paul

“How High the Moon” — Les Paul & Mary Ford

“Going to a Go-Go” — Smokey Robinson & the Miracles

“Hey Ya!” — Outkast

“Since U Been Gone” — Kelly Clarkson

“The Girl Can’t Help It” — Little Richard

“This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)” — Talking Heads

“Radio Free Europe” — R.E.M.

“Baker Street” — Gerry Rafferty

“All for Leyna” — Billy Joel