If You Want Me to Stay
1973 · From Fresh
Number twelve on the Hot 100, the band's last pop top twenty, and a bass line hip hop still raids.
★ 6.3
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.
Hot Fun in the SummertimeSly and the Family Stone
Hot Fun in the Summertime
1969 · From Greatest Hits
Violins in the upper register, rare for Sly, on a single released weeks before the band played Woodstock.
★ 6.4
I Want to Take You HigherSly and the Family Stone
I Want to Take You Higher
1969 · From Stand!
Freddie Stone's bluesy riff, the band trading vocal lines, and a B-side that Woodstock turned into a Top 40 A-side.
★ 6.8
Dance to the Music
1968 · From Dance to the Music
Clive Davis wanted a hit, so Sly wrote a roll call: each player steps forward, Cynthia Robinson shouting the title.
★ 7.4
Everyday People
1968 · From Stand!
A band mixed in race and gender, four weeks at number one, and "different strokes for different folks" ever since.
★ 7.7
Family Affair (Sly and the Family Stone)
1971 · From There's a Riot Goin' On
A rhythm box edited into a heartbeat, Billy Preston on Pianet, and three weeks at number one.
★ 7.8
Thank You
1969 · From Greatest Hits
Larry Graham slapping and popping the bass line credited with inventing the technique, and a verse quoting their own hits.
★ 7.8