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A lengthy post I fear requiring a pre-amble – to make it even longer!
The passion I feel for music is derived from my father. Frank seemingly always had music playing in the background in our house when I was growing up. He loved his Big Band faves, musicals, crooners, and festive music. His passion carried through to all 9 of his children. Being the youngest I was fortunate to be introduced to many types of music in my formative years by not only my father, but from my older siblings who provided an expansive base that gave me the opportunity to appreciate varying types of songs and genres of music. I truly feel blessed to have received the gift of my love for the artistry of music in my upbringing.
As I grew into my own identity in my teenage and college years, I was drawn to explore a wide range of musical genres that were not present in my house. Through my friends, their parents and their older siblings, fellow dorm citizens, roommates, and access to FM terrestrial radio stations (and in those college years – MTV and a subscription to The Rolling Stone magazine) I was always thrilled with the discovery of new music (either newly published or just new to me). To this day I love ‘discovering’ a new song or artist that catches my ear. And I like to think that my palette is rather wide ranging, although I fear I cannot claim an affinity to all types of music (examples where I fall short in my appreciation skills are classical music, opera, thrash metal, and EDM – and I’m sure there are others). This is not to suggest those genres are bad in any way – the way I see it I am just not aligned with that style music for whatever reason; and I’ve given all of them some solid effort to appreciate the art within.
So… ok – I LOVE music!!
For decades I’m sure I’d mentioned many times that it would be inconceivable to me to declare my all-time favorite song. However….
This past year I took it upon myself – and challenged others along the way – to determine not only my all-time fave tune, but to rank order my all-time fave top 10 songs.
The process was exhilarating and exhausting at the same time. I went through my library of over 15,000 songs (did I mention I love music?) and identified 130’ish tunes that might make the cut, I then cut that down to the top 60; and then to the top 25; and ultimately to a top 10. OMG – the songs I had to eliminate – heartbreaking!
A fascinating result for me surfaced. So – ok – I’ve got my top 10. But…. why are they here and others aren’t? This exercise was just begging for me to dig deep into the chosen 10 to identify the characteristics that propelled them onto this list. And I truly found the resulting thought process to be amazingly insightful. What surfaced was a catalogue of learnings that provided a ‘Jude music appreciation DNA.’ As in – ‘Dude – here’s what you truly enjoy!’ And thus, I now possess a fingerprint of the music characteristics I hold dear. And like all fingerprints, there is no straight line – the preferred characteristics don’t seemingly produce a linear map but kind of a wavy, almost random pattern.
And thus – I offer my top 10 all time fave songs as of early 2025. This list could change over time. Perhaps a new song comes forward, or a pre-existing tune I’d never heard. Maybe I ‘get into’ a familiar song to me in the future that brings it forward. Who knows? But – as of this post – here are my top 10 – hope you enjoy!
# 10 Lucky Star – Madonna
This one is a bit of a surprise – maybe even shock – to me that it’s being submitted. But as I perused my prelim top 25 to winnow it down to a top 10 and revisited it multiple times; I kept adding it back; then taking it off and so on. Finally, I concluded it needed to be in the top 10
Was a big hit back in our college years and was on the artist’s debut album which was tremendously popular and was the first step to putting this artist into a rare world wide star plateau along the lines of MJ and Springsteen at the time.
For some reason, back in those days, songs that were club tunes – i.e. – disco tunes – had become derided as not good music which confused me as disco seemed to me to be a natural evolution of R&B (rhythm and blues) music which was largely identified with black artists. The world wide acceptance of this white artist and her debut album seemed to reignite an acceptance of disco oriented music although not all of her tunes were of that genre.
This is a staple on my ‘fall’ playlists and I’ve always enjoyed hearing it when it played. It creates a special ambiance with the syncopated ‘twinkling’ synthesizer sound interacting with a really clever guitar riff at the beginning and builds from there.
It’s that guitar riff – I hear it on the right speaker when I’m listening – that I started focusing on just a few years ago that brings this song forward to be included. The resulting sound truly feels to me like it brings ‘starlight; star bright’ stars forward on a crisp and clear fall evening.
# 9 Feel Like A Fool – Kali Uchis
I know basically nothing about this artist. Latino woman – that’s about it. Not sure any of you besides Will does either (?) Ran across her debut studio album while I performed my annual review of the Rolling Stone magazine’s top albums of the year – upon research seems that would have been the list from 2018 – so I found this in early 2019
Find that I enjoy tunes that create an ‘atmosphere’ – not sure how I can define that outside of just a feeling that arrives while listening to the song – in many cases the opening notes of the song. Many of the tunes on my list will align with the development of an ‘atmosphere’
The opening of this one finds a twinkling piano followed by ethereal sounding background vocals; the piano transitions into a lower note piano riff that we hear going forward. We then hear the groove kick into an almost Motown feeling tune. Notice the thumping bass line and reserved horn section in the chorus.
Just such a cool groove to this one The vocals are reserved as well – until – as Will has taught me – in the outro – she rolls into an almost scat like session that – while still a reserved mix for the vocals -it shows the artist’s vocal range.
So – a long way of saying – this song just has such a cool groove that I hardly ever pass it by when it plays. Just a great; smart; and efficient piece of art.
#8 Coal Tattoo – Warren Haynes
Bluegrass music has always been something that has caught my ear from very early years. Probably from placement within sitcoms in our day. Mom/Gary- and some of you – may recall The Darling Brothers from the Andy Griffith show; and the Beverly Hillbillies featured a famous at the time Bluegrass duo Flatt and Scruggs.
The sound was something that was unique to me and fun to hear – the intermingling of a banjo; mandolin; ‘fiddle’; upright bass; and usually some very different sounding vocals that emphasized harmonies. Interesting on a personal note to self that percussion was not emphasized. 🧐
But the lyrics were usually something else. Sung across fun sounding arrangements was usually stories of people having a hard time. The origin of the genre was from Appalachia where – over the years – many were faced with a hard scrabble life.
So… ok…. with that pre-amble behind us…
One of my fave bands is the Allman Brothers Band. More on them soon 😉 The one time I was able to see them live was due to Mom getting us tics to a show at the Polaris Amphitheater. I loved the show but Mom hated it 🤣
One of their lead guitarists at the time was a guitar virtuoso – Warren Haynes. So – pre- amble #2 complete
This submission reflects – at least to me – a fusion of blue grass and traditional rock music via a wee bit of sonic magic from Mr. Haynes. The original song by Jim Croce is very stiff and stale in comparison – but note this is a cover song.
You’ll hear all the traditional bluegrass instruments and attributes – And a story of a man in Appalachian country in despair
But… the lead guitar – is somehow fashioned to sound like he’s jamming on a ‘fiddle’. It’s a sound I’ve never heard anywhere else. And the structure is placed over a rock rhythm section.
The result is a song that always captures my attention – I truly love this one and never push forward to another tune when it surfaces.
# 7 Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five – The Message
‘Ye be forewarned – my ramblings may get longer as we proceed… today’s submission is an example 😬😬
One could argue that art provides a window into different cultures that allows an individual to try to comprehend those not-so-familiar environments. Paintings; sculptures; literature, movies; tv shows can all provide an avenue to understanding different cultures if we choose to go there.
And… of course…. the art of music can do the same thing.
Plz Indulge me for a moment for a bit of a sidestep…
Based upon some research and some statistical averaging via ChatJJS 🤣… there were 3 other babies born at the same second as me in Oct 1963.
A wonderful philosophical (perhaps religious as well) brain twister is present in this Q – how does the soul of an individual get placed into their newborn environment?
So – park that aside for a moment plz.
This work of art opened my eyes up to a different culture than the one I know and oftentimes gets derided by others who haven’t lived in the plight this song – very vividly – reflects. It travels along a trajectory that includes other wonderful works of art – Stevie Wonder’s ‘Living for the City’ and Marvin Gaye’s ‘Inner City Blues’
Starts off with drum machine beats and synthesized keyboards – almost always not a positive sound to me.
But as it proceeds the lyrics just absolutely jump out and punch you in the face with an environment that is nightmarish… and real for these artists at the time.
‘Broken glass everywhere; people pissing on the stairs; ya know they just don’t care. Can’t take the smell; can’t take the noise; got no money to move out; guess I got no choice’ And that’s just the beginning…
The chorus .. ‘Don’t push me ’cause I’m close the edge’ – accentuated by a drawn-out cadence – extraordinarily powerful to me…
And when Mele Mel… lead rapper here does his ‘huh huh ha’ thing… it appears to me that a rap is a vocal means of percussion in some fashion. And I love me some percussion (previous comments re: bluegrass notwithstanding 🤣)
‘A child is born, with no state of mind, blind to the ways of mankind’… I can’t think of a more meaningful line in a song – just an awesome piece of art.
By some unknown reason I wasn’t placed in this environment – but perhaps I could’ve been – perhaps one of those other 3 babies were born into this space.
Thankful for this one to open my eyes to some level of comprehension to a culture that I’ll never fully understand. Seems at times – maybe – it’s educational when you are made to feel uncomfortable.
# 6 Stormy Monday – The Allman Brothers Band
The Blues. ‘Tis a foundational structure over which pretty much most of our beloved songs are based upon. Originated from the black population in the Deep South post Civil War
In this case the submission is a standard 12 bar blues structure which is a ubiquitous structure you’ve all heard countless times. Attend a blues bar for an evening and you’ll hear this structure repeatedly. (And there’s not much better than hearing live blues.)
It’s a structure that provides a basis upon which artists can perform on their instruments – including vocals – with inspiration and emotion they feel in the moment – a.k.a improvisation. (And yes – jazz is the king of improv)
Blues based bands many times hang their hat on performing covers of blues standards that were initialized by long ago artists. This one – as you’ll hear in the intro – is believed to be an original of a long ago blues artist T Bone Walker.
This band can be aligned with being the first Southern Rock band. However a somewhat unique aspect of this early southern rock band is that it was racially integrated – rare in the late ’60s early 70’s in the Deep South.
Can also argue it set the foundation for what we know today as ‘jam bands’ – bands whose concerts feature extended versions of songs lasting many minutes to allow their artists time to expand their improvisation in the moment – think the Grateful Dead and The Dave Matthews Band; Phish among many.
As I’ve rightly or wrongly gotten into the habit – I segment certain songs – or genres – by season. The blues to me are mostly summer songs. And this one – from the time the guitar merges with the organ, and percussion at the beginning – just creates the atmosphere of summer for me. Warm evening … fireflies.. meat on the grill … a cold beer …. just so chilled and relaxed.
Everything as performed in this live version is top notch. The guitar exchanges between the two lead guitarists (guitar legend Duane Allman and the recently passed Dickie Betts) are the feature. However the less heralded and younger Allman Brother – Gregg – makes this one so amazing. He’s playing the organ which has tremendous riffs; but his voice …. soo soulful and just perfect..
When it’s summer – give it a spin and chill… 😉
#5 Sonny Got Caught In The Moonlight – Robbie Robertson
So idk what year it was – guessing around 1996 or so when I was finally in a spot where I could afford to purchase a decent home theatre sound system. Did some research via audio-file type magazines and had some feel on what I might want within my price range. One tidbit I learned was the recommendation to take at least 3 CD’s of varying types of music and sounds that I was very familiar with to the store and play them on the equipment to better assess the quality of the sound output. Went to the high-end stereo store that was then in Columbus to see what – or if – they had anything in my not so high price range. So I took Born to Run by Springsteen; Charlie Brown Christmas by Vince Gauraldi; Kind of Blue by Miles Davis… and the CD with this song on it.
… I’ve mentioned the concept of artists creating a sonic ‘atmosphere’ in some of my past ramblings, with no real explanation. Not an explanation here but an example – the opening notes to Phil Collins ‘In the Air Tonight’ is perhaps the best to I have to offer on what an ‘atmosphere’ sounds like to me.
Or… may I suggest this one is the supreme example….
The opening notes are from an organ/keyboard/synth (?) that is mixed to sound remote but smoothly glides into a combo of a keyboard riff we’ll hear going forward with some crazy kinda background-almost -ghostly ‘noise’ that creates just an ominous sound
…Atmosphere established…
Then we quickly jump into a bridge to include a guitar riff overpowered by pounding drums that are mixed very much towards the front – and launch into the first verse..
The ominous atmosphere is enhanced with knowledge that the protagonist is a ‘wanted man with a haunted heart’
And we then travel through a myriad of sounds and verses that retains that ominous feel and never fails to be of interest to me. A thumping bass; the afore mentioned percussion; syncopated guitar riffs at times; (the guitar tracks go so many places in this one ❤️); a sultry sax in the background of chorus; and perhaps most importantly a lovely but haunting vocal harmony in that chorus. And the icing on the cake is the amazing coda of the organ.. can envision a mad man on a huge organ in a scary castle or something when I hear that final note.
It’s the fave song of mine in the playlists of my fave time of the year. Such a wonderfully arranged and performed tune. It is this song back in that store in Columbus that convinced me to purchase the speakers and subwoofer that – still – to this day – anchor my sound system.
BTW – this artist has actually been my top played artist in my year-end ITunes review for the last 3 years running…. that honestly blew me away… love to listen to his Native American music (he as bloodlines into a North American tribe}. Sadly, he passed this year.
#4 Surprise Valley – Widespread Panic
It was maybe my Freshman or Sophomore year in high school when I asked for a decent stereo for Christmas. The Sears catalogue (was a thing back then when the Sears and JC Penny’s Christmas catalogue would arrive!) had one that looked decent which I asked for. Turns out my parents consulted with Uncle Dennis and Aunt Anne who convinced them that a better gift would be a state of the art stereo receiver. So I was floored on Christmas morning to receive a Pioneer SX-980 receiver. Top notch equipment (although I didn’t have good speakers to push the sound through. Gary and I attempted to make our own speakers at one point – total fail but that’s a diff story) It had 2 needled monitors (a thin needle that would move with the music) that reflected the quality of the sound mix it was producing. I could adjust the bass, treble and midrange sounds (like you can in your car); if you pushed one of them too far the needles would jump into a ‘red zone’ meaning you were distorting the sound in some fashion and not receiving optimal audio output. So I learned that diff tunes have different studio produced mixes that would need adjusted on the SX-980 to optimize audio output. And I learned over time that having all three of the settings maxed out would produce a distorted version of the audio.
I learned that generally most studio mixes produce a layered effect – traditionally the drums, bass, and rhythm guitar mixed in the background with the vocals and lead guitar mixed in the foreground.
This song… besides having an intro that to me is the best studio recorded intro I’ve ever heard… has freaking every instrument mixed to the front – to the max!!! Might have broken the damn needles on the SX-980!
But there’s no distortion – an equally distributed sound across multiple instruments. You don’t have to strain to hear any of the instruments at all – just every sound via multiple instruments placed right out there.
And the artistry with those instruments is top notch. The band is known as a jam band along the lines of The Dead or Dave Mathews… This tune (honestly the only one of their songs I know) allows each artist a moment or two to shine. The percussion is just crazy fun – awesome steering wheel thumping tune – and there’s a point where the organ player ‘swoops’ into his session at the end of the percussion solo session that I find fascinating. The energy that exudes from these artists – with this crazy up front mix – just fascinates me to no end.
And this is with a tune that begins with the sound of a concert orchestra warming up (?) and ends with a sublime acoustic guitar (or is it a mandolin?) solo of sorts
Never – ever – bored listening to this one.
#3 Nuthin’ But a “G” Thang – Dr. Dre (introducing Snoop Dog)
If I would have gone through this exercise 5 years ago this song – without Q – would have been my top pick. The groove that is immediately presented creates such a chilled atmosphere (atmosphere – there’s that word again!) and just soo…. idk… chill – can’t really express it another way.
If we would have gone through this exercise 2 years ago it would have been nowhere near my top 10 as I’d discovered that the framework of that groove was actually heavily sampled from a song from 1975. So all the credit I was originally giving to the producer was not valid. It made me sad 😉
But going through this exercise… this one kept making the cut … and kept making the cut… and making the cut… That groove – oh that groove – no doubt sonically enhanced from the 1975 progenitor proves irresistible to me.
There are so many sonic cookies hidden within this funky groove… a peeps deep breathing; some crazy quick clicking noise appearing whenever… all around a solid and deep bass line enhanced by a very reserved guitar riff and a high note keyboard riff we will hear repeatedly…
It was this intro and sound that pulls me in… and turns out was mostly created by another artist in 1975… boo!
BUT….
As I think I mentioned in an earlier submission – solid rap performances to me can be interpreted as a vocal form of percussion. Arguable for sure – just how I hear it in my fave hip hop tunes.
So the rapping here is just mesmerizing to me on top of this groove. So many orchestrated contrasts.
We hear an almost tenor level rapper (in his intro to the world- we love Snoop!) offset by the producer-of-the-tune- turned-rapper with a bass voice (we love Dre too!)
The chorus goes very cleverly into a seamlessly harmonized switch from ‘like THIS and like THAT and like THIS ‘ to a bit of an opposite ‘like THAT and like THIS and like THAT’ – which – idk why – I just hear as a fantastic gem.
And the cookies just keep coming. The varying cadences from each rapper – stepping on the accelerator for serious quick bursts to almost immediately slowing to a slow walk pace within the same verse – solid artistry to me.
And there’s an abundance of call and response moments between the two artists. (Dre’s ‘Oh hell yeah’ moments as an example) Call and response seems to be something I enjoy (hint going foreword)
Amazes me. There is sooo much to hear and experience. And I prob don’t know half the lyrics; and have really not idea what the song is about. It’s all about that groove and the sonic surprises for me on this one
#2 Prove It All Night – Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band (Live In New York)
Interesting factoid or two to lead into today’s selection
Factoid #1
# of Indy 500’s attended for me = 42
# of Springsteen concerts attended for me = 36
Factoid # 2
Average time to run and Indy 500 race – let’s say 3 hours
Average time of a Springsteen show – 3 1/2 hours.
Relevance? There’s a common thread as both experiences provide AMAZING positive energy for me. And therefore drained of energy afterwards!
So Mom and I took a long weekend road trip to NYC in June of 2000 with Mark and Renee to attend one of 10 of his shows to close out a 2 year tour in Madison Square Garden. We left the kindern in the company of Ruth and Denny. Kels prob remembers; nor sure if Tay would; Will wasn’t even a year old…
Springsteen in historic MSG – just across the river from his Jersey home. His homebase. Downtown Manhattan; it’s literally a block or two away from the Empire State Building. The energy walking into the venue was so palpable ..off the charts – very much like walking into the coolest place on the planet on race day for me.
Just an awesome show – perhaps the best one (besides maybe one here in KC a few years down the road)
This performance of a song I’ve always loved – captured on a solid video – to me captures that crazy energy that exudes in his shows. This was recorded during that 10 show stand but not at the one we attended. But this performance was in our show and blew me away hearing it live. (I’ve seen it again maybe one more time live like this with Will last show we attended – we were both going apeshit crazy in the convalescent area of the crowd!)
The tune begins with the requisite Boss count to kick off a high energy tune ‘ 1 2 3 4!’ then kicks in.
Rolls forward – solid performance by the E Street Band; Clarence rocks his solo; the Boss rifles through a couple of solid guitar solos…
…but the energy I’m referring to is best illustrated by a call and response session between the Boss and Little Steven that… well… is just AWESOME! You can see and feel the intensity of their commitment to their craft in this exchange in this video. And as I’ve listened to this countless times the ‘moaning’ vocals by Little Steven that start out in the background but come forward with increasing force are fashioned in rock history. Can hear influences in his approach from many; I can hear Motown in him bringing his affinity for older music forward. Darlene Love as well.
So for the extreme positive energy this one exemplifies … and for that magical call and response that captures a few of my fave recorded moments (another version of this one from ’78 was a candidate – best live recorded intro by far I’ve ever heard – but the song itself is meh..) this is damn near at the top!
#1 Backstreets – Bruce Springsteen
The exercise of listening to an album from beginning to end has evaporated. And I am as guilty as any for that loss. Playlists seem to rule the roost – and I have more of those than I can count. In attempt to rectify for my sins Will and I make it a point, on our annual drive in May to the race, to spend half the trip listening to selected albums ‘front to back’ to experience music in that manner.
Back in the day – presumably beginning with the Beatles’ ‘Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band ‘album in 1967 the idea of a concept album became all the rage. Listening to concept albums you were expected to play the album from ‘front to back’ – meaning you had to flip the vinyl album over to hear the back side – and listen to the songs in the order presented to experience what the artist was expressing.
One of my fave concept albums is Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On’ which in that case didn’t tell a connected story but was consistent in message and musical tone – dealt with inner city poverty, the Vietnam war and ecological concerns in an interwoven manner and – the groove was so consistently smooth.
An argument can be made – especially from a Springsteen fan – that one of the supreme concept albums was his 1975 ‘Born to Run’ album. This is his seminal album in that it put him out there as a renowned artist going forward. To this point he was featured on the cover of the magazines Time and Newsweek the same week – a first for a musician (the date on the mags was Oct 27, 1975 🎃!) I have a copy of one of them – I think!
This is an album that reflects not so simple a night out in the rough streets of the city. It opens with ‘Thunder Road’ when he picks up his date with the opening lines ‘The screen door slams, Mary’s dress waves’ for a grand night on the town (you’ll recognize this as the traditional wedding reception group tune with me and my brotherly fellas – and now you younglings too!) and it ends with a rock-opera-ish ‘Jungleland’ where street life tragedy finally catches up to the protagonist.
The journey from such joyful anticipation in ‘Thunder Road’ to that dark space of an ending is documented song by song. As the album progresses you hear that spirit of joy turn into sheer acts of desperation.
The final song on side one of the album (remember – you had to flip it over to hear the other songs 🤣) was the fulcrum where we switch from joy and anticipation into something much more serious.
Begins with a wonderful piano session backed by a muddled base and light guitar accents.. and then builds a bit … then absolutely crashes into a ‘wall of sound’ – a studio mix style that was made famous in the ’60’s by a producer named Phil Specter (freaky dude later in life – was found guilty of murder and died in prison)
The Wall of Sound production method stacks seemingly endless layers upon layers of tracks from different instruments as well as multiple tracks from the same instruments (think 4 guitar tracks – maybe – in this one) together to create a combined sonic sound.
(Some might refer to the intro as producing quite the ‘atmosphere’ for what’s about to happen ☺️)
But – you can clearly hear a subdued and slow paced guitar riff that sounds/ seems ominous. As we travel forward – oh my – we begin to understand lyrically and sonically that we’re approaching a much different night than what was anticipated when Mary was picked up on Thunder Road.
A key-shift mid song lifts the intensity to a whole new level and you (or maybe only I) can feel that intensity just thrust forward in this lovely shift. Shit just got real.
‘Blame it on the lies that killed us, blame it on the truth that ran us down. You can blame it all on me, Terry, it don’t matter to me now. When the breakdown hit at midnight, there was nothing left to say. But I hated him and I hated you when you went away’
And we then tear into a short but viscous guitar solo… and we’ve stepped across the line from a good night into one not so good …
The album takes a turn here from a night that takes normal routes to one that goes down those darker backstreets .. and in those shadows the rest of the album turns into tragedy.
In the album construct – you don’t get to the hit ‘Born to Run’ (the next song on the album) without traveling down those backstreets first. The standout lyrics from that one ‘baby this town rips the bones from your back It’s a death trap, it’s a suicide rap. We gotta get out while we’re young. ‘Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run’ would not make sense to Mary of Thunder Road had she and her host not traveled those Backstreets.
A quick anecdote here – Krebs and I roomed at Purdue with a punk rock dude – solid guy – introduced us to U2 before they were a thing – and he hated the Boss. And he also loved writing his own poetry. Really was a fascinating fellow. So – one day – in my nuclear engineering class (yep – I was an engaged student!) I wrote down the lyrics to this one and presented them to our roommate as if I’d written my own poem. He was floored!! And – of course – I soon played the song – bingo – new Springsteen fan 🤣🤣
