What are your most essential songs? Here’s what listeners to WFUV at Fordham University in New York said. (For our part, we would like to have seen more Johnny Cash:)
1. Bruce Springsteen – “Thunder Road”
2. Bob Dylan – “Like a Rolling Stone”
3. Bruce Springsteen – “Born to Run”
4. Van Morrison – “Into the Mystic”
5. Jeff Buckley – “Hallelujah”
6. The Beatles – “In My Life”
7. Bob Dylan – “Tangled Up in Blue”
8. The Beach Boys – “God Only Knows”
9. The Band – “The Weight”
10. Simon and Garfunkel – “America”
11. Van Morrison – “Moondance”
12. Richard Thompson – “1952 Vincent Black Lightning”
13. Derek & the Dominoes – “Layla”
14. Dire Straits – “Sultans of Swing”
15. Bruce Springsteen – “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)”
16. Joni Mitchell – “A Case Of You”
17. Louis Armstrong – “What a Wonderful World”
18. John Lennon – “Imagine”
19. The Rolling Stones – “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”
20. The Beatles – “I Want to Hold Your Hand”
21. Joni Mitchell – “All I Want”
22. The Grateful Dead – “Eyes of the World”
23. Elvis Costello – “Alison”
24. Don McLean – “American Pie”
25. Bruce Springsteen – “Jungleland”
26. Bob Dylan – “Visions of Johanna”
27. The Grateful Dead – “Box Of Rain”
28. Janis Joplin – “Me & Bobby McGee”
29. Elvis Costello – “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace Love and Understanding”
30. The Velvet Underground – “Sweet Jane”
31. The Beatles – “Hey Jude”
32. The Beatles – “A Day In The Life”
33. Simon & Garfunkel – “Bridge Over Troubled Water”
34. Neil Young – “Harvest Moon”
35. Joni Mitchell – “River”
36. Dar Williams – “When I Was a Boy”
37. Bob Dylan – “Positively 4th Street”
38. Van Morrison – “Tupelo Honey”
39. The Grateful Dead – “Uncle John’s Band”
40. The Beatles – “Here Comes The Sun”
41. Steve Goodman – “The Dutchman”
42. Robert Earl Kean – “Feels So Good Feelin’ Good Again”
43. Kirsty MacColl – “In These Shoes?”
44. John Prine – “Angel from Montgomery”
45. James Taylor – “Sweet Baby James”
46. Jackson Browne – “For a Dancer”
47. U2 – “One”
48. The Who – “Won’t Get Fooled Again”
49. The Rolling Stones – “Sympathy for the Devil”
50. The Kinks – “Waterloo Sunset”
51. The Beatles – “Here, There, and Everywhere”
52. The Beatles – “Blackbird”
53. Paul Simon – “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes”
54. Otis Redding – “Try A Little Tenderness”
55. Miles Davis – “So What?”
56. Jimi Hendrix – “All Along the Watchtower”
57. Indigo Girls – “Closer to Fine”
58. Crosby, Stills & Nash – “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes”
59. Bob Dylan – “Mr. Tambourine Man”
60. Allman Brothers – “Melissa”
61. Allman Brothers – “Blue Skies”
62. Joni Mitchell – “Carey”
63. Van Morrison – “Brown Eyed Girl”
64. Traffic – “Low Spark of High Heel Boys”
65. The Talking Heads – “This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)”
66. The Grateful Dead – “Sugar Magnolia”
67. The Beatles – “Norwegian Wood”
68. The Beach Boys – “Good Vibrations”
69. The Band – “It Makes No Difference”
70. Paul McCartney – “Maybe I’m Amazed”
71. Neil Young – “After the Goldrush”
72. Michelle Shocked – “Come a Long Way”
73. Marvin Gaye – “What’s Goin’ On?”
74. Lucy Kaplansky – “Ten Year Night”
75. Lucinda Williams – “Sweet Old World”
76. Johnny Cash – “Folsom Prison Blues”
77. James Taylor – “Fire and Rain”
78. Frank Sinatra – “New York, New York”
79. Etta James – “At Last”
80. Bob Marley – “No Woman No Cry”
81. Bob Dylan – “The Times They Are A-Changin'”
82. Bob Dylan – “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright”
83. Aretha Franklin – “Respect”
84. Ryan Adams – “New York, New York”
85. Ray Charles – “Georgia”
86. R.E.M. – Losing My Religion”
87. Wilco – “Jesus, Etc.”
88. The Clash – “London Calling”
89. Stevie Wonder – “As”
90. Patti Smith – “Gloria”
