100 Classic Songs Everyone Should Know

I think there are certain songs that everyone should know.  Here's my list - how many do you know?

Led Zeppelin

1. Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin
2. All Along the Watchtower - Bob Dylan (also Jimi Hendrix version)
3. Come Together - Beatles
4. Superstition - Stevie Wonder
5. No Woman No Cry - Bob Marley
6. Chameleon - Herbie Hancock & the Headhunters
7. Voodoo Chile - Jimi Hendrix
8. Take the A Train - Billy Strayhorn (made famous by Duke Ellington)
9. Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon and Garfunkel
10. Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana

Ludwig von Beethoven

11. Fifth Symphony - Ludwig von Beethoven
12. Summertime - Geroge Gershwin
13. So What - Miles Davis
14.  Johnny B. Goode - Chuck Berry
15. Imagine - John Lennon
16. In the Mood - Glenn Miller
17. Misty - Erroll Garner
18. Ring of Fire - Johnny Cash
19. Great Balls of Fire - Otis Blackwell and Jack Hammer (Jerry Lee Lewis)
20. Georgia On My Mind - Hoagy Carmichael & Stuart Gorrell (made famous by Ray Charles)
21. Take Five - Dave Brubeck

Dave Brubeck Quartet

22. Pinball Wizard - The Who

23. Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring) - Igor Stravinsky

24. Birdland - Joe Zawinul (Weather Report)

25. Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd

26. Crossroads - Robert Johnson

27. Layla - Derek & the Dominoes

28. Cissy Strut - The Meters

29. Higher Ground - Stevie Wonder

30. Salt Peanuts - Dizzy Gillespie

31. Kashmir - Led Zeppelin

32. Rhapsody in Blue - George Gershwin

33. You Can Call Me Al - Paul Simon

Billy Joel

34. Piano Man - Billy Joel

35. Thriller - Michael Jackson

36. Blue Train - John Coltrane

37. Papa Was A Rolling Stone - Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong
38. Tom Sawyer - Rush
39. Stars and Stripes Forever - John Philip Sousa
40. Sir Duke - Stevie Wonder
41. Strawberry Fields - Beatles
42. I Know You Rider - traditional
43. Roundabout - Yes
44. New York, New York - Frank Sinatra

45. Foggy Mountain Breakdown - Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs

46. Pretty Woman - Roy Orbison



Billie Holiday

47. Money - Pink Floyd

48. Use Me - Bill Withers

49. Benny and the Jets - Elton John

50. R.E.S.P.E.C.T. - Aretha Franklin

51. Strange Fruit - Billie Holiday

52. Freebird - Lynyrd Skynyrd
53. Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen
54. Eleanor Rigby - Beatles
55. Frankenstein - Edgar Winter
56. Looking out My Back Door - Credence Clearwater Revival
57. Imperial March - John Williams
58. For What It's Worth - Buffalo Springfield
59. Up On Cripple Creek - The Band


The Band

60. American Pie - Don McLean
61. Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley - Allen Toussaint

62. Moondance - Van Morrison

63. Also Sprach Zarathustra - Richard Strauss
64. Black Water - The Doobie Brothers
65. Dazed and Confused - Led Zeppelin

66. Billie Jean - Michael Jackson

67. We Didn't Start the Fire - Billy Joel
68. Jessica - Allman Brothers Band

69. Straight No Chaser - Thelonious Monk

The Beatles

70. While My Guitar Gently Weeps - Beatles

71. Purple Haze - Jimi Hendrix

72. Lean On Me - Bill Withers

73. Foreplay/Long Time - Boston
74. Green Onions - Booker T and the MG's
75. Three Little Birds - Bob Marley
76. Sugar Magnolia - Grateful Dead
77. Appalachian Spring - Aaron Copeland
78. Bad Moon Rising - Credence Clearwater Revival

79. Another Brick In The Wall (Parts I, II, and III) - Pink Floyd



Bobby McFerrin

80. Thank You (Falletinme Be Mice Elf Agin) - Sly & the Family Stone
81. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Elton John
82. Slippng Into Darkness - War
83. Don't Worry, Be Happy - Bobby McFerrin
84. Watermelon Man - Herbie Hancock
85. Mustang Sally - Sir Mack Rice (Wilson Pickett)
86. Burning Down the House - Talking Heads
87. Sweet Caroline - Neil Diamond
88. La Grange - ZZ Top
89. Proud Mary - John Fogerty
90. Rockin' in the Freeworld - Neil Young

ZZ Top

91. Born in the USA - Bruce Springsteen

92. Stayin' Alive - The Bee Gees

93. Sing, Sing, Sing (With A Swing) - Louis Prima

94. Toccatta and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 565 - Johann Sebastian Bach
95. My Girl - The Temptations

96. Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson (Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye)

97. Blue Skies - Irving Berlin

98. Kokomo - The Beach Boys

99. Blue Suede Shoes - Elvis Presley
100. Claire de Lune - Claude Debussey

Well, there you have it.  I actually found it very difficult to put these in order.  I'm still not totally convinced I got it exactly right.  I also began making this list with the intent of listing 50 songs, and that very quickly and easily grew to 100 songs.  I would challenge you to come up with your own list of songs that you think everyone should know.  Are there any songs you think I missed?

Happy listening!