Top 10 Songs

Ninja blogfest master Alex J Cavanaugh has done it again. Another awesome blogfest idea. Another brain boggler for me. I mean, seriously Alex! 10 songs! From a lifetime of music??? You're kidding right?

*sigh*

Apparently not.

I usually add in a few bonus choices, but I'm not going to cheat this time -even though 10 is incredibly hard!! I should include a warning - most of these songs are not from recent years - in fact several of them are before my time - I tend to like all kinds of music. :) Some of you younger folks may not know them at all!

I limited myself to one song per artist - that was really hard. And one of my favourite artists of all time didn't even make it on the list!!! I didn't put these in order. Couldn't. It was hard enough Alex!!! Okay. 'Nuf said. Let's move on.

Jack & Diane - John Cougar Mellancamp. Those first few chords are iconic. You KNOW this song when it starts. Saw him in concert and this song rocked the house. I think the audience knew every single word! Lots of fun!

Papa Can You Hear Me? - Barbra Streisand. This one's from her movie Yentl. It's got a haunting melody and the first time she sings it in the movie it is beautiful. But when she sings it at the end of the movie and does a duet with herself, I get chills. What a voice!! Stunning!

California Dreamin'. I'm a sucker for harmonies and good voices. This song can be incredible when sung well. It can also be destroyed quite easily! I've heard a lot of good versions - of course I'm including the MaMas and the Papas in that - but I think my favourite is by Queen Latifah singing under her real name Dana Owens. She puts a great jazz spin on it!

The Rose by Bette Midler. This was one of my dad's ultimate favourite songs. In his last few hours, he asked me to sing this for him a few times in the hospital. He loved it. Every time it plays, I'm flooded with memories of him. It had to make the list for dad. :)

Human Family by the Nylons. Love these guys. They're an acapella group who create the most beautiful harmonies. They sing a lot of do-wop stuff from the 50s and 60s. They also do a terrific version of O Canada! Human Family is one of their own creations with a message we all need to hear. Buy Back the Amazon is another in this vein. Beautiful messages wrapped in gorgeous harmonies! What's not to love?

Beautiful by the Bare Naked Ladies. These guys are hilarious! You probably know them from "If I Had  Million Dollars." They have awesome voices and great harmonies. This song is soft and sweet and charming. And like most of their music, the words are well worth a listen.

Piano Man. Billy Joel obviously. Awesome! I know it's the classic choice for Billy - but things become classic for a reason! It's 9 o'clock on a Saturday... (sing along - you know you want to!)

Your Song. Elton John. The master. There are so many fantastic songs this man has created and performed. I was lucky enough to see him perform live once and got chills as he sang this song. Beautiful. Almost went with Crocodile Rock here because not only is it a fun song, but my sister used to play it on the piano. She was good!

Bohemian Rhapsody. Queen. Bizarre song. Addictive too! I was never as good as my sister, but I was so dang proud of myself when I conquered almost all of this song on the piano. Years later I'm still able to play about a third of it - and I haven't owned a piano in years and years. This song just stays in your head!

Ain't No Sunshine When He's Gone. Or She's Gone, depending on who's singing. :) There are so many beautiful versions of this song. I'm not altogether sure why I love this song so much, but it gets me each and every time I hear it. Otis Redding. Van Morrison. James Taylor. Kris Allen from American Idol. Bill Withers. Sting. So many fabulous singers have redone this song, and for me it never gets old.

See - no cheating!! Although I made myself write this in one shot without backing out of any choices. I'd better get off now before I add 20 or 30 more! I'll be at school today, but I'll try to catch up with everyone over the next few days. I bet I see a 100 songs I wish I'd chosen!

What's your #1 favourite song of all time??