100 Greatest Songs Of All Time

Mojo ^ | August 2000 | MOJO magazine

[Big Guy and Rusty 99]

This list was put together by the writers and staff of Mojo magazine, together with invited songwriters, and first published in the August 2000 issue (#81). The artists are those considered by Mojo to be the original or definitive. If there are two artists the first is the original and the second the "definitive"; if there is an artist in brackets then this as an alternative which I personally strongly associate with the song, not necessarily better than the original or "definitive" version.

1. In My Life - The Beatles
2. Satisfaction - The Rolling Stones
3. Over The Rainbow - Judy Garland (John Martyn)
4. Here There And Everywhere - The Beatles
5. Tracks Of My Tears - The Miracles
6. The Times They Are A Changin' Bob Dylan
7. Strange Fruit - Billie Holiday
8. I Can't Make You Love Me - Bonnie Raitt (George Michael)
9. People Get Ready - The Impressions
10. You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling - The Righteous Brothers
11. Yesterday - The Beatles
12. I Say A Little Prayer - Dionne Warwick
13. God Only Knows - Beach Boys
14. Something - The Beatles; Frank Sinatra with Nelson Riddle
15. Every Time We Say Goodbye - Nan Wyn; Ella Fitzgerald
16. Fire And Rain - James Taylor; The Isley Brothers
17. Moon River - Andy Williams (Henry Mancini)
18. Stand By Me - Ben E King
19. Eleanor Rigby - The Beatles
20. Ain't No Sunshine - Bill Withers
21. I Heard It Through The Grapevine - Gladys Knight & The Pips; Marvin Gaye
22. Be My Baby - Ronettes
23. Many Rivers To Cross - Jimmy Cliff
24. Without You - Badfinger; Harry Nilsson
25. There A Light That Never Goes Out - The Smiths
26. Somewhere - Marilyn Cooper; Barbara Streisand
27. Jersey Girl - Tom Waits
28. I Go To Sleep - Peggy Lee; The Pretenders
29. Hey Jude - The Beatles
30. I Think It's Going To Rain Today - Judy Collins; Randy Newman
31. Mack The Knife - Kurt Gerren; Bobby Darin'
32. It's Too late - Carole King
33. Tired Of Being Alone - Al Green
34. There She Goes - The La's
35. I'm Stone In Love With You - The Stylistics
36. Just Like A Woman - Bob Dylan
37. Feel Like Going Home - Charlie Rich
38. Song To The Siren - Tim Buckley (This Mortal Coil)
39. Live Forever - Oasis
40. In The Ghetto - Elvis Presley
41. Love Letters - Dick Haymes; Ketty Lester (Alison Moyet/ Elvis Presley)
42. River Man - Nick Drake
43. The Long And Winding Road - - The Beatles
44. Dark End Of The Street - James Carr (Ry Cooder)
45. America - Simon & Garfunkel
46. Tower Of Song - Leonard Cohen
47. First Time Ever I Saw Your Face - Peggy Seeger; Roberta Flack
48. Sweet Jane - Velvet Underground; Lou Reed
49. It's All In The Game - Tommy Edwards
50. Everybody's Talkin' - Fred Neil (Harry Nilsson)
51. Johnny B. Goode - Chuck Berry
52. A Case Of You - Joni Mitchell
53. Suspicious Minds - Mark James; Elvis Presley
54. Who Knows Where The Time Goes - Sandy Denny & the Strawbs; Fairport Convention
55. The Weight - The Band
56. Walk Away Renee - The Left Banke/ Four Tops
57. Someone To Watch Over Me - Gertrude Lawrence; Frank Sinatra
58. Only Love Can Break Your Heart - Neil Young; St Etienne
59. If You Don't Know Me By Now - Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes
60. Let It Be - The Beatles
61. Waterloo Sunset - The Kinks
62. Windmills Of Your Mind - Noel Harrison (Dusty Springfield)
63. White Christmas - Bing Crosby
64. God Bless The Child - Billie Holiday
65. Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon & Garfunkel
66. Baby I Need Your Loving - Four Tops
67. Killing Me Softly With His Song - Lori Leiberman;Roberta Flack
68. Ne Me Quitte Pas - Jacques Brel
69. Jealous Guy - John Lennon
70. One For My Baby - Frank Sinatra
71. To Love Somebody - Bee Gees (Jimmy Somerville)
72. Walking In Memphis - Marc Cohn
73. Blue Moon - Glen Gray; Elvis Presley (Marcels)
74. Just My Imagination - The Temptations
75. What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted - Jimmy Ruffin
76. Superstition - Stevie Wonder
77. Maybe I'm Amazed - Paul McCartney (The Faces)
78. Guantanamera - Perez Prado
79. My Funny Valentine - Chet Baker (Elvis Costello)
80. Different Drum - Linda Ronstadt
81. Make It Easy On Yourself - Jerry Butler; The Walker Brothers
82. Summertime - Abbie Mitchell; Janis Joplin (Ella Fitzgerald, Fun Boy Three)
83. Makin' Whoopee - Eddie Cantor; Ray Charles
84. By the Time I Get to Phoenix - Johnny Rivers; Glen Campbell
85. September Song - Walter Huston (Frank Sinatra)
86. Proud Mary - Creedence Clearwater Revival
87. What A Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong
88. Always On My Mind - Brenda Lee; Willie Nelson (Elvis Presley)
89. Reason To Believe - Tim Hardin (Rod Stewart)
90. This Land Is Your Land - Woody Guthrie
91. Ode To Billie Joe - Bobby Gentry
92. Losing My Mind - Dorothy Collins; Julia McKenzie (Liza Minnelli & the Pet Shop Boys)
93. As Time Goes By - Jacques Renard; Dick Haymes (Dooley Wilson)
94. Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
95. Goodnight Irene - Leadbelly
96. The Moon's A Harsh Mistress - Glen Campbell (Linda Ronstadt)
97. Baby One More Time - Britney Spears
98. Ever Fallen In Love ()? - Buzzcocks
99. We Shall Overcome - Pete Seeger; Joan Baez
100. Desperado - The Eagles

[Big Guy and Rusty 99]

Cooments? What would you add or subtract?

[Born on the Storm King]

Where's the BARF ALERT!

[Mike Darancette]

Add:
Suzanne - Leonard Cohen
Lazy Old Sun - Ray Charles
The Boxer - Simon and Garfunkle
Mr. Tamborine Man - Malenie
Happy Trails - Roy Rogers and Dale Evans
I Started a Joke - Bee Gees
Sunday Morning Sidewalk - Johnny Cash
Magic Bus - The Who
Puff the Magic Dragon - Peter Paul and Mary

I can think of so may more but I wouldn't remove any of your choices.

[gg188]

This was discussed in a thread another time on FR.

Is it a list of the top 100 SONGS or the top 100 PERFORMANCES of songs? I don't think these people---who seem to be more like groupies---at MOJO understand the difference. They do a disservice to the "songwriters" they supposedly "invited" to participate.

IF it is the SONG that is voted on, then it has nothing to do with the performer---original, "definitive," or whatever, but rather credit goes to the SONGWRITER(s). If it is the top 100 songs of all time as performed or whatever (however they wish to describe it), then just say so, and they shouldn't mix in "songwriter" at all in the mix. Like most people, they don't seem to understand that the creative process of the creation of the song is different than the person singing and performing the song. Even with the ubiquitous singer-songwriter of the rock-era, the song is only written once, though then performed eternally (or maybe, in the case of much rock music, it just SEEMS that way.) The song exists external to the singer's performance of the song. Hence, many or most of the great songwriters toil in anonymity, but that is ok with them. (example: does anyone at Mojo know---or care---who WROTE "Over The Rainbow"? I'd BET that if you took a poll at Mojo it would be like asking the blondes questions on Howard Stern......I bet most would say, oh, Judy Garland wrote it. BTW...the ans is E. Y Harburg and Harold Arlen wrote "Over The Rainbow.")

[Big Guy and Rusty 99]

E. Y Harburg, who by the way, was a huge communist.

[Jeff Chandler]

I'm going to go one step further and point out that these are only "popular" songs. (I'm going to get flamed, I just know it.)

[Big Guy and Rusty 99]

I will agree with you, in fact I don't agree with their 'definitive' versions of songs on a lot of these.

[Savage Beast]

Hey, you know that "writer" from New York that thinks George Bush is intellectually deficient because he's not up on the latest pop culture? What's his name? He wrote an article in which he unwittingly equated a thorough knowledge of trendy pop-culture with high intellect and unintentionally revealed his own stupidity. I just can't remember that birdbrain's name.

BTW, I've never heard of most of these songs.

P.S. I wonder if those Mojo people ever heard of Old Man River, I'll Be Home for Christmas, One Alone, Basin Street Blues, Blue-tail Fly, Careless Love, Deep River, Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes, Loch Lomond, When Irish Eyes Are Smiling, My Old Kentucky Home, I Got Rhythm, Ah Sweet Mystery of Life, Carry Me Back to Old Virginie, Annie Laurie, The Minstral Boy, Mother Machree, Sweet and Low, I Been Workin' on the Railroad, Greensleaves, Molly Malone, Go Down Moses, Thinking of You, The Dark Town Strutters Ball, California Here I Come, Chattanooga Choo Choo... (Oops! Forgot! That's classical music? Opera?)

P.P.S. What the hell is Mojo anyway? Are they connected with that "writer" from New York?

[Savage Beast]

Are these the same people who think Joan of Arc discovered America on the Fourth of July?

[E Rocc]

Where's Yatta?

-Eric

[Tennessee_Bob]

Kate Bush - Love and Anger, Hounds of Love, Running Up That Hill.

The Waterboys - The Whole of the Moon, Like Trumpets.

[LibertyGirl77]

Britney Spears made it to the '100 Greatest Songs of All Time" list? Give me a break...BARF.

What makes these people think that their list of their 100 favorite songs is definitive for everyone? (By the way, anyone who has 100 favorite songs has entirely too much time on their hands.) Taste in music is SO subjective...my top ten list looks nothing like theirs.

And what's with the Greatest Songs of All Time title? They're honestly going to say that Britney Spears ranks above the Psalmist, Mozart, Bach, etc.? Please.

[Texaggie79]

The writers of Mojo are obviously all over 60 years old.

[Texaggie79]

Britney was haplessly thrown in there to try to hide the fact that I stated above.

[Physicist]

"I've Got the World Up My Ass" --The Circle Jerks

[kinsman redeemer]

It's a good list.

I would like to nominate :

Nick of Time
Bonnie Raitt
-------
A friend of mine she cries at night, and she
Calls me on the phone
Sees babies everywhere she goes and she
Wants one of her own.
She's waited long enough she says
And still she can't decide
Pretty soon she'll have to choose and it tears her up inside...
She's scared...scared she'll run out of time.

--------
I see my folks, they're getting old, I watch their bodies change...
I know they see the same in me, And it makes us both feel strange...
No matter how you tell yourself, It's what we all go through...
Those eyes are pretty hard to take when they're staring' back at you.
Scared you'll run out of time.

Chorus
------
When did the choices get so hard?
With so much more at stake.
Life gets mighty precious when there's less of it to waste.
Hummmm...Scared she'll run out of time.

---------
Just when I thought I'd had enough
All my tears were shed...
No promise left unbroken,
There were no painful words unsaid.
You came along and showed me
How to leave it all behind....
You opened up my heart again and then much to my surprise.

I found love, Love in the Nick of Time. 3x

[gracie1]

What, no Born to Run?

I Actually think Thunder Road is the better song that had the misfortune of being on the same album, but Born to Run is the ultimate rock anthem.

[Big Guy and Rusty 99]

'no values' by black flag . . . it could be the Clinton legacy theme song.