Not the best songs ever, but a look at my favorites of all time

A Facebook friend asked me a question the other day.

He told me his brother wondered if I had ever done a list of my favorite 100 songs of all time. Since I'm a moron, I said I would give it a try. I could go back all the way to the songs of Stephen Foster if I wanted.

I realized immediately it was an impossible ask to be completely accurate. Where could I find all the songs and how could I compare things I loved when was 15 with things I love now.

I decided to limit the universe I would consider to songs on my iPod and songs I have bookmarked on YouTube. Since the total of the two is nearly 12,500 songs, I figured that was OK.

I went through the two lists with the goal of cutting as much as possible. My first cut took me down to 236 songs. I decided I would not consider patriotic songs, although a couple that are in the neighborhood slipped through.

This is actually a massive task, but I'll try to make some sense of it. I'll do four days, so here for today is 100-76.

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100. "WALTZING MATILDA," Various Artists -- I've never been to Australia, but I desperately want to go there someday. I first heard Banjo Patterson's song in the movie "On the Beach," and I've loved it ever since. Also: Making the list of 236 and earning consideration but not making the 100 are a couple of Eric Bogle songs I love, his "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" about the battle of Gallipoli and his "I Hate Wogs," maybe the best tongue-in-cheek anti-racism song ever.

99. "DOUBLE SHOT (OF MY BABY'S LOVE)," The Swingin' Medallions -- Until I moved to Virginia from Ohio in the eighth grade, I thought beach music was the Beach Boys and Jan & Dean, but in the fall of 1967, when I started college, I learned that in the east, beach music was, as someone described it, middle-aged black men singing to drunken white kids. I*t was -- and is -- wonderful. Also:  "Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy" by the Tams, and "I've been hurt, by Virginia Beach's own Bill Deal and the Rhondells, were great songs. Still, there were even better ones and they'll come up later.

98. "STRANGER ON THE SHORE," Acker Bilk -- Starting in 1961, there were some great instrumentals in the '60s. This was the first one, a haunting clarinet solo that has been winding up in movies ever since. Also: "Telstar" by the Tornadoes a year later honored the first communications satellite, and "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" by Sounds Orchestral in 1965 was really beautiful as well.


97. "CALIFORNIA PROMISES," Various Artists -- Chicagoan Steve Goodman, who died far too young, wrote and performed this lovely ballad, but it was Jimmy Buffett's version that most people heard. Goodman also wrote "Banana Republics" for Buffett and wrote "City of New Orleans," the song most people will know him for. Also: How can you not love the guy who wrote "A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request."

96. "FRIENDS IN LOW PLACES," Garth Brooks -- For a few years, Brooks was the king of country music, with crossover appeal as well. But this song was more worthy of a clown prince. It was the show-ender in many of his performances, one that always left the crowd laughing. Also: Brooks had plenty of wonderful songs, particularly "If Tomorrow Never Comes," "Unanswered Prayers" and "Much too Young to Feel This Damn Old."

95. "YELLOW ROSE OF TEXAS," Various Artists -- One of the best of the old folk songs, both Gene Autry and Roy Rogers did well-known versions. What a lot of folks don't know is that the "yellow" rose refers to a beautiful young mulatto woman. Also: Other great American folk songs worthy of mention are Foster's "Beautiful Dreamer" and a host of others.

94. "3RD BASE, DODGER STADIUM," Ry Cooder" -- A wonderful song that probably nine of 10 folks have never heard of, it's the lovely wrap-up to Cooder's brilliant "Chavez Ravine," a concept album about Los Angeles in the days leading up to the building of Dodger Stadium. With amazing songs about the Chicano experience in Southern California. Also: Another terrific song on the subject of baseball was Terry Cashman's "Willie, Mickey and the Duke."

93. "EVERYBODY KNOWS," Various Artists -- Leonard Cohen wrote it and performed it, and Don Henley took it to another level in a caustic criticism of what happened to America in the '80s. Also: Along the same lines, Henley's "Dirty Laundry" nailed the role of the media. "It's interesting when people die ..."

92. "BE MY BABY," the Ronettes -- In the early '60s, girl groups were all over the charts, and Ronnie Spector and her group were the best of them all. Of course there were others even bigger, but they fall under a different heading -- Motown.

91. "BOOGIE WOOGIE BUGLE BOY," Andrews Sisters -- In the 1940s, Patty, Maxine and Lavern were as popular as anyone in the country, and their sound has lived on until this day. You can still buy collections of their music and they still sound good. In the early days of her own career, Bette Midler did some great versions of Andrews Sisters songs.

90. "SWEET CAROLINE," Neil Diamond -- I've never been a big fan of Diamond's stuff, but I do like this particular song because of its Red Sox connection. Songs that get sung at ballgames are cool. Also: At Red Sox games, there's also "Tessie" by the Dropkick Murphys, and at Dodger games they were playing Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" in the ninth inning.

89. "LIFE AS WE KNEW IT," Kathy Mattea -- Twenty years ago, I don't think there would have been nearly as many country songs on this list, but just like a lot of other boomers, when we reached a certain age we saw that popular music had gone in a weird direction and a lot of country artists were sounding like the music we used to love. Also: Some terrific female artists have been singing about some great subjects, like Martina McBride's "Independence Day" and the Dixie Chicks' "Goodbye Earl." they're not standing by their man anymore."

88. "MTA," the Kingston Trio -- When folk music captured the music scene in the late '50s, nobody was more popular than the Trio. So many of their songs managed to live on, songs like "Where Have All the Flowers Gone," "The Patriot Game" and "Ally Ally Oxen Free." Nobody did it better.

John Prine

87. "SAM STONE," John Prine -- "There's a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes ..." It has been a long time since I've heard a line in a song more powerful than that. Prine ruled the early '70s folk scene with songs like "Your Flag Decal Won't Get You into Heaven anymore" and "Sam Stone," while also writing lovely songs like "Hello in There." Later ones like "Unwed Fathers" and "Speed of the Sound of Loneliness" showed his staying power. He's one of the great ones.

86. "WHEN YOU AND I WERE YOUNG, MAGGIE," Various Artists -- A wonderful love song, written back in 1866 by a man whose lovely young wife died after they had been married just one year. He has spent the rest of his life missing her, and he sings as if they have grown old together. John McDermott's version is my favorite.

85. "YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE," Various Artists -- The song was written in 1933 by Jimmie Davis, a country singer who later because governor of Louisiana. It has been covered by everyone from Gene Autry and Bing Crosby to Brian Wilson and Aretha Franklin. It is now one of the state songs of the state of Louisiana.

84. "HE STOPPED LOVING HER TODAY," George Jones -- The Possum would have to be on any short list for greatest male country singer ever, and this one is perhaps his greatest song. It's the story of a man whose wife left him and said he would get over her, but he loved her till the day he died. A country classic. Also: Jones did many other amazing songs. Favorites of mine are "A Good Year for the Roses," "Radio Lover" and "Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes."

83. "HEARD IT IN A LOVE SONG." Marshall Tucker Band -- In the 1970s, Southern rock 'n' roll became popular. This one was my favorite from the genre, although groups like the Flying Burrito Brothers ("Colorado"), Little Feat ("Willin'), various versions of "Six Days on the Road" and Lynyrd Skynryrd ("Sweet Home Alabama") also resonate down through the years.

82. "DAYDREAM BELIEVER," the Monkees -- It was written by John Stewart just before he left the Kingston Trio, and it became one of the Monkees' biggest hits in late 1967. This upbeat, optimistic song about a young couple starting out in the world "without dollar one to spend" topped Billboard's Hot 100 for four weeks. A song I'm always happy to hear again and again.

81. "LADIES LOVE OUTLAWS," Tom Rush -- I first heard this song in the summer of '75 when Rush was opening for Loggins & Messina on their tour. I loved the song and went right out and bought the album. I later heard a different version of the song by Waylon Jennings, but to me it was Tom Rush's song. Also: When I was in high school and listening to WBZ out of Boston late at night, I heard Rush's "Urge for Going." Another great song.

80. "A WHITER SHADE OF PALE," Procol Harum -- One of the first really cool songs of the late '60s, a haunting sound and arcane lyrics created a terrific three minutes. A song I liked so much I used the title as the title of my college novel. Procol Harum was essentially a one-hit wonder, although they did come back in the '70s with "Conquistador."

79. "HOW CAN I BE SURE?" the Rascals -- From 1965 to 68, there wasn't a better band at churning out hit singles than the (Young) Rascals. Their two biggest hits were "Good Lovin'" and "Groovin'," but this one was my favorite. "In a world that's constantly changing, how can I be sure?"  Also: In 1968, with the world changing even more, they got more issue oriented with "People Want to Be Free," "A Ray of Hope" and "Heaven."

Ross and Hope

78. "THANKS FOR THE MEMORY," Bob Hope -- Not the version Hope used as his theme song for the rest of his life, but the original duet with Shirley Ross from "The Big Broadcast of 1938,"

77. "FALLEN ANGEL," Frankie Valli -- Maybe it's because of my own failed first marriage to my own fallen angel, but this Valli solo effort is a song I've always loved.

76. "GREEN GRASS," Gary Lewis and the Playboys -- I was 15 when this song was popular, and it might be the most happy, upbeat, optimistic song I've ever heard.

NEXT: 75-51