Once upon a time I started an insane listening project. Listen to one million songs, in alphabetical order by song title. I turned it into a website, where each song I like was given a separate page, listing as much interesting information about the song as I could scrape up.
Recently, for another project, I was revisiting this project, and decided to do something I had been thinking about for a while, choosing my all-time favorites.
After looking through about 4,400 songs that begin with non-alphanumeric characters, I have chosen these 44 as my all time favorites.
Each song is only represented once, so consider all covers, live versions, and anything else as folded into these individual songs. This list is in “alphabetical” order. There is a YouTube playlist, missing one song (Ray Charles), and a Spotify playlist missing 3 files (Ray Charles, Public Enemy & Fishbone)
Song Title — Artist Name — Most Easily Found Album
“45” — The Gaslight Anthem — Handwritten
“B” Movie — Gil Scott-Heron — Reflections
“Breakfast” By Tiger (Kiss It All Goodbye) — Imperial Drag — Imperial Drag
“Heroes” — David Bowie — “Heroes”
“T” Plays It Cool — Marvin Gaye — Trouble Man
$1000 Wedding — Gram Parsons — Grievous Angel
& Rock & Roll — A Giant Dog — Pile
(1-2-3-4-5-6-7) Count The Days — Inez & Charlie Foxx — The Dynamo Duo
(Ain’t That) Good News — Sam Cooke — Portrait Of A Legend (1951-1964)
(Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth — Metallica — Kill ‘Em All
(Antichrist Television Blues) — Arcade Fire — Neon Bible
(Are You) The One That I’ve Been Waiting For? — Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds — The Boatman’s Call
(Back Home Again In) Indiana (Live) — Louis Armstrong And The All Stars — Satchmo At Pasadena
(Do The) Mashed Potatoes (Part 1) — James Brown — Star Time
(Do The) Push And Pull (Parts 1 & 2) — Rufus Thomas — Did You Heard Me?
(Don’t Worry) If There’s A Hell Below We’re All Going To Go — Curtis Mayfield — Curtis
(Everybody Wanna Get Rich) Rite Away — Dr. John — Desitively Bonnaroo
(Get A) Grip (On Yourself) — The Stranglers — Rattus Norvegicus
(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66 — Nat King Cole — L-O-V-E: The Complete Capitol Recordings (1960-1964)
(Give Me Back My) Bunty Bunty — The Bombay Royale — The Island Of Dr Electrico
(I Belong To The) Blank Generation — Richard Hell — Another World (EP)
(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction (Live) — Otis Redding — Live At The Whisky A Go Go: The Complete Recordings (Friday, April 8, 1966: Set One)
(I Don’t Want To Go To) Chelsea — Elvis Costello — This Year’s Model
(I Just Wanna Be) Your Steve McQueen — Eytan Mirsky — Was It Something I Said?
(I’ll Be Glad When You’re Dead) You Rascal You — Louis Armstrong with Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five — “Satchmo”: Ambassador Of Jazz
(I’m A) Road Runner — Jr. Walker & The All Stars — Shotgun
(I’m Gonna) Run Away — Joan Jett & The Blackhearts — I Love Rock ‘N Roll
(I’m) Stranded — The Saints — (I’m) Stranded
(If You Think You’re) Groovy — P.P. Arnold — The First Lady Of Immediate
(Looking For) The Heart Of Saturday Night — Tom Waits — The Heart Of Saturday Night
(Not Just) Knee Deep — Funkadelic — Uncle Jam Wants You
(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay — Otis Redding — The Dock Of The Bay
(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes — Elvis Costello — My Aim Is True
(There’s Gonna Be) A Showdown — Archie Bell & The Drells — There’s Gonna Be A Showdown
(Turn Out The Light And) Love Me Tonight — Ray Charles — The Complete Country & Western Recordings (1959-1986)
(Was I) In Your Dreams — Wilco — Being There
(Welcome) Television — The Beatnigs — The Beatnigs
(What A) Wonderful World — Sam Cooke — The Wonderful World Of Sam Cooke
(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais — The Clash — The Clash (US)
(You’re The Only One) Can Make Me Cry — Concrete Blonde — Concrete Blonde
******* — The Flaming Lips — Transmissions From The Satellite Heart
…Everything — Public Enemy — The Evil Empire Of Everything
? (Modern Industry) — Fishbone — Fishbone (EP)
¿Do The Digs Dug? — The Goats — Tricks Of The Shade