10 Greatest Singles

 

MY 10 GREATEST SINGLES
 
How often lately have I said. “That must be the greatest single ever” … countless times… so I thought I’d give it some thought and come up with what I think are the 10 greatest singles.. of course much of this decision is emotional, tomorrow I may come up with a different list… and probably would have done a couple of days ago… but here it is, as of April 11th 2025 - in alphabetic order of the recoding artist!

The Band - the Weight

The Band started of in Canada backing Ronnie Hawkins, moved to New York and toured the world backing Bob Dylan then found their own voices… and in the precess all but created a new genre of Southern country rock… music that rocks hard but has the soft wistful overtones of the deep south and country music. “The Weight” was the first single, culled from the first album “Music from Big Pink”. It defines musically what the Band were about. Great melody, fascinating lyric and a totally irresistible hook… Musically close to perfect totally irresistible… for me, a masterpiece defining a whole new approach to music, Rocking, Lilting yet somehow very peaceful and relaxing

Beach Boys - God Only Knows

So we had always suspected that Brian Wilson was a genius… he dreamed of topping ”Revolver” so when the band went off on a world tour Brian stayed home to conceive and write the next album… When the band came back the album was written and recorded except for the voices… all the band had to do was add those wonderful voices and soaring harmonies… and “Pet Sounds” became a finished reality. The single of “God Only Knows” was released… it is the album where the Beach Boys, maybe even popular music, grew up… it moved away from the familiar surf and cars theme of the band…
“God Only Know is an achingly beautiful song,..  Carl Wilsons voice had never sounded better… bathed in pathos and tenderness as he delicately sings lead… the harmonies as they come in are simply breathtaking, exquisite… absolutely beautiful record that can really stop you in your tracks… probably as close as you get to perfection

Beatlles - Help 

The Beatles had already had a triumphant record career when they branched into films. All four had their talents and were very different to each other… many of the great songs were by John and Paul, but a good number are clearly by one or the other rather than joint compositions.”Help!” Was always pure Lennon… and for me the turning point from a pop teeny band (albeit a truly phenomenal teeny band) into something unique, a band with a voice to tell their stories… and “Help!” Is a really tough song… a song where John shares his insecurities that have grown since the successful years of brash boyhood… it comes to many of us… but John spells it out in a way unique in popular music. Not only is it a courageous song to have written… but a huge step to include it in a Beatles album being so different to their usual output.
Beyond that, the performance is impassioned and musically superbly crafted… A simply superb impassioned record that broke a mould, pushed a boundary or two…

Bob Dylan - Like a Rolling Stone

Bob had made a name as a folk singer/protest singer… he was neither… but his song writing grew in maturity and poetic vision and as he told us, ”The Times They Are A-Changing” and electric installed truants and rocky vibes were coming into his music from the second outing… “Brining it All Back Home” ended with “It’s All Over Now Baby Blue”… the feel of each of those first five groundbreaking albums was different… so with the launch of “Highway 61 Revisited” we should have been expecting changes… but no-one I think quite saw it coming!!… The lead track, “Like a Rolling Stone” was completely jaw dropping… no acoustic guitar, it opens with a drumbeat (Bobby Gregg) with Al Koopers iconic organ and Paul Griffin on piano dominated the music, with Bob and Mike Bloomfield going in on electric guitars… the line up completed by Joe Echo Junior on bass and Bruce Langhorn on tambourine… an iconic superstar cast…
The music flows, beautifully dense and textured and Bob’s voice spits the lyric out.. a real change of direction… and a truly superb record.
There is another element to the song, whether Bob meant it or not I don’t know, but if you perform it gently with sympathy in the voice… it takes on a whole new meaning… changing it from a bitter tirade to a more gentle song showing some support and empathy

Eddie Cochran.- Summertime Blues

Elvis Presley has often been considered the King of Rock’n’Roll… I’ve never bought into that… there were already better on the scene… for me the the King of Rock’n’Roll is Eddie Cochran… other contenders were Chuck, Jerry Lee and Little Richard… but of all of them Eddie is the one the most embodies the Rock’n’Roll youth spirit… the attitude… the parties… girls… cars… his tragically early death at only 21 cut off what would have been a monumental career.
Eddie had released a host of singles with animal success before he recorded “Summertime Blues”… built on a terrific memorable riff, as soon as it starts you know the song.. and most of us know it inside out!. It has all the elements of American teenage angst and fun… cutting work, borrowing dad’s car, getting no support from authority… weighing in at marginally under 2 minutes this record simply defines an American youth story… rocks like mad and features  superb vocals by Eddie The orchestration is somewhat sparse… predominantly guitar abs and minimal drums but it has more power in those couple of minutes than most rock songs…
A track to plays loud and celebrate… the song became a staple for many a rock band including the Who

Eric Burden - San Franciscan Nights

I guess this may be the surprise in this list  for many… but Eric’s tribute to the hippy ideals and Haight Ashbury absolutely defines the mood of the time as well as the overall ambience…
But it is more than that…it is a beautiful song and I think Burdens finest hour… he sings in a soft warm voice conjuring up perfectly the relaxed sunshine vibes of the days… the soft enveloping voice accompanied just by a sparse delicate guitar and bass backing… a track to bring a warm smile and feeling of peace… though sadly the dream born at Monterey was to be destroyed only a year later at Woodstock… but that is no detriment to this superb record


Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit

One of the ultimate west coast hippy bands, the Airplane, famous for playing with their back to the audience and an exotic oil wheel light show going on the band were unique… playing a mix of blues, rock and psychedelia… the first album, “Surrealistic Pillow”  is a wonderful mix of all three… the real tour de force from the album, which was released as a single… is “White Rabbit”
A huge departure toothy I regular airwaves… an openly drug fuelled song based around a them of “Alice in Wonderland”… definitely a high risk release but it opened many doors….and minds…
As for the record, it opens with s military drumbeat and insistent guitar before Grace’s voice comes in with the rest of the band. Grace’s voice is stunning… strong clear and pure and the whole piece builds and builds in intensity throughout, Grace getting stronger and more powerful by there one until the overwhelming climax as Grace extols the listener to “Remember what the dormouse said… Feed your head”… a wonderful track ending on a totally overwhelming vocal tour de force…

 
Pink Floyd - Arnold Lyne

The early Pink Floyd, before the grandiose shows and themed albums played a mix of spacey psychedelic pieces and some short sharp quirky pieces courtesy the Madcap Sad Barrett.
Arnold Layne was one of the earliest such songs, dealing with a unique lyrical theme and fabulous quirky lyrics. Musically it is hard to define, so madcap psychedelic seems to fit the bill… whatever it is a lot of bands latched on to the style, though never matched it, and the early British psychedelia had been launched…
This is a really different, unusual record which I think you love or hate… I personally find it a totally exciting and intriguing even new some half a century or more ago now.
It is an important record in the history of uk prog/rock music, definitive… and opened so many doors, launching a wave of psychedelia, a virtually new genre here

Pogues/Kirsty MacColl - Fairytale of New York

I had long loved the Pogues, and Kirsty MacColl separately but never saw either being candidates to release a Christmas record.. not  a genre I really care for…so it was a surprise to read the two had joined forces to record such a song.
“Fairytale” is in fact a mash-up of two songs Shane could not finish, so with a bit of rewriting he was able to merge the two into a magical song.
On the face of it the first part could be seen as maudlin, but it is actually about an air of optimism a typical bit of Irish bravado by a man up against it… followed by the upbeat swagger of Kirsty and the almost outrageous exchange between the two with the controversial the exquisite lines “ you scumbag you maggot you cheap lousy faggot happy Christmas you arse I thank god its our last”. This section also refers to him having a dry in his arm… but the overall feeling of the piece is joyful and triumphant… “Sinatra was Singing, the drunks were all singing”… and of the the Boys of the NYPD choir… You cant help being uplifted by this absolute masterpiece…which at the end of the day has all the optimism and joy to makes a Christmas song… and after all it is set on Christmas Eve!
A genuinely magnificent track that grabs me every time I hear, Christmas or not…
As a coda to this on Shanes death many years later the record had another surge of popularity with some ill judged edits… but I will not forget the film taken in the church at his funeral with a Irish band standing to play a superb version of the song… and members of the congregation looking at each other through tears before getting to their feet and dancing and singing along… I’m sure Shane would have loved that

Yardbirds - Shapes of Things

Finally, in alphabetic terms, the most blues wailing Yardbirds finally standing on their own feet and pricing original music… not only original in terms of it being new, but in terms of it being a totally new unique form of music…
Based around a simply majestic guitar track by Jeff Beck (for me the best of the bands guitarists) where howling feedback and effects combined to create a whole new style of guitar playing… of which Jeff was the master. There is more to this track than that though… the band felt tighter and more expressive than ever and Keith sounded much happier and stronger on vocals… a real revelation and tour de force.


To me these 10 records have stood the test of time… I loved them at the time and love them to this day… I feel each one has had a major impact on the music scene and formed a basis for the development of so much that followed…

Of course I dont expect people to agree with my selections… but these are my choices!!

As I said, different day could bring up a different list and here are a few tracks that didn't make the cut now but may well another day!!

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Proud Mary
Fleetwood Mac - Albatross
Sex Pistols - Anarchy on the UK
The Kinks - You Really Got Me
The Who - My Generation