Holy Grail
2013 · From Magna Carta Holy Grail
Timbaland and The-Dream produced it, Timberlake sings the hook, and Courtney Love cleared the Nirvana interpolation underneath.
★ 3.8
The Songs canon
Sourced and sung.
Every song chosen by hand, with the recording to play it.
Browse all 2,393 songs or filter by genre, subject, artist, and year.
Browse all 2,393 songs or filter by genre, subject, artist, and year.
The World I Know
1995
Two hours walking New York on a day off, and Roland returned with four weeks atop album rock.
★ 3.9
Wide Awake
2012
Written for her own concert film with Max Martin and Dr. Luke, it climbed to number two in America.
★ 4.2
The High Road
2010
Mercer and Burton met at Roskilde in 2004, then recorded in secret; the result shuffles beautifully toward resignation.
★ 4.4
Who Will Save Your Soul
1995
Written at sixteen on a road trip, produced by Ben Keith, from a debut that took two years to break.
★ 4.5
Plateau
1994 · From MTV Unplugged in New York
Curt Kirkwood wrote it for Meat Puppets II, then stood onstage playing it while Cobain sang his obscure song to millions.
★ 4.6
Love Hurts
1975
A 1960 Boudleaux Bryant song the Everly Brothers cut first, remade by McCafferty's rasp into the version everyone knows.
★ 4.6
One Headlight
1997
Jakob Dylan wrote it at a Los Angeles kitchen table, then watched it top all three Billboard rock airplay charts.
★ 4.8
No More "I Love You's"
1995
Roland Barthes' A Lover's Discourse fed the 1986 original; Lennox and Lipson rebuilt it into a Grammy winner.
★ 4.9
Honesty
1979 · From 52nd Street
Number twenty-four on the Hot 100, and still a Song of the Year nominee; Ramone cut it at A&R.
★ 5.0
Centerfold
1980
Justman, the band's keyboardist, wrote it, and his synth hook took a Worcester blues band to six weeks at number one.
★ 5.0
Rose Parade
1997 · From Either/Or
Smith recorded Either/Or in Portland friends' houses and mixed this one himself, a parade watched through sour eyes.
★ 5.2
The New Year
2003 · From Transatlanticism
A field recording of distant Seattle freeway noise opens the album, then the guitars come crashing in behind Gibbard.
★ 5.3
Lost Cause
2002 · From Sea Change
One week of writing after a nine-year relationship ended, and Godrich kept the arrangement to acoustic guitar and brushes.
★ 5.4
Planet Telex
1995 · From The Bends
Originally called Planet Xerox until the trademark intervened, drums spliced from other sessions, piano soaked in delay.
★ 5.5
If It Makes You Happy
1996
Jeff Trott's hook arrived first, the country arrangement went out, and Crow won a Grammy singing her own backlash.
★ 5.5
Paradise
2011 · From Mylo Xyloto
Eno took a co-writing credit and played synthesizers; it became Coldplay's second UK number one and a stadium fixture.
★ 5.6
Young Folks
2006
Yttling whistled a placeholder melody, ran it through tape delay, and kept it; Bergsman answers line for line.
★ 5.8
Pink Houses
1983 · From Uh-Huh
Mellencamp waved at a man sitting outside a pink shotgun house near the highway, and wrote America's most misread chorus.
★ 5.9
Stakes is HighDe La Soul
Stakes is High
1996 · From Stakes Is High
Dilla looped Ahmad Jamal's "Swahililand" into a warning shot at where hip hop was heading in 1996.
★ 5.9
Somebody to Love (Jefferson Airplane)
1967 · From Surrealistic Pillow
Darby Slick wrote it after his girlfriend left; Grace Slick brought it from the Great Society to number five.
★ 6.5
Who'll Stop the Rain
1970 · From Chronicle: The 20 Greatest Hits
A B-side to "Travelin' Band" that outgrew it, Fogerty's unhurried strum and a question about Vietnam still hanging.
★ 6.6
When You Were Young
2006 · From Sam's Town
Twenty minutes for melody and title, by Flowers' account, and Flood and Moulder gave it Born to Run scale.
★ 6.7
White Man in Hammersmith Palais
1978
Strummer expected roots rebellion at an all-night Palais reggae bill, got showbiz, and slipped reggae bass into punk.
★ 7.2
America
1968
No rhyme scheme anywhere, just Simon reworking a 1964 road trip with Kathy Chitty until the emptiness lands mid-verse.
★ 7.3
Have You Ever Seen the Rain?
1970 · From Chronicle: The 20 Greatest Hits
Fogerty said the rain falling on a sunny day was Creedence breaking up around him; the record aches accordingly.
★ 7.3
I Used to Love H.E.R.
1994 · From Resurrection
No I.D. looped George Benson, Common told hip hop's story as one woman, and Ice Cube took it personally.
★ 7.4
Piano ManBilly Joel
Piano Man
1973 · From Piano Man
A lounge gig, a fake name, Bill Martin, and every regular at the Executive Room written into a verse.
★ 7.5
Both Sides Now
1968 · From Clouds
Mitchell was reading Henderson the Rain King on a plane, looked out at the clouds, and started writing immediately.
★ 7.5
What's Love Got To Do With It
1984 · From Private Dancer
Cliff Richard turned it down, Bucks Fizz shelved it, and Turner at forty-four took it to number one.
★ 7.7
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
1973 · From Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Sessions collapsed in Kingston, so the band regrouped at a French chateau and Taupin traded Oz for a Lincolnshire farm.
★ 7.7
Fairytale of New York
1987
Two years in the making, with MacColl finally singing the woman's part, and it still stalled at number two.
★ 7.7
Black Hole Sun
1994 · From Superunknown
A Leslie speaker gives the guitars their swirl, and Cornell built the title from a misheard news broadcast.
★ 7.7
Fast CarTracy Chapman
Fast Car
1988 · From Tracy Chapman
Stevie Wonder's gear failed at the Mandela tribute, Chapman went on with a guitar, and the record went top ten.
★ 7.8
Bitter Sweet Symphony
1997
Built on an Andrew Oldham Orchestra recording of a Stones song; Jagger and Richards returned the credit in 2019.
★ 7.8
Heart of Glass
1978
A demo kicked around since the mid-seventies, rebuilt on a Roland drum machine that appalled their punk friends.
★ 7.9
Mrs. Robinson
1968
Simon had it as Mrs. Roosevelt with nonsense syllables for a verse, and it won Record of the Year.
★ 7.9
Won't Get Fooled Again
1971 · From Who's Next
Eight and a half minutes, a Lowrey organ run through a VCS3, and Daltrey's scream tearing into the final verse.
★ 8.0
While My Guitar Gently WeepsThe Beatles
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
1968 · From The White Album
Harrison opened a book at random, saw "gently weeps", and Clapton came in uncredited to play the solo.
★ 8.0
You Can't Always Get What You Want
1969 · From Let It Bleed
A choral intro from the London Bach Choir, Al Kooper on French horn, and producer Jimmy Miller on drums.
★ 8.1