Strange Fruit
1939
A Bronx schoolteacher's poem about lynching, sung in a single spotlight, still the bravest three minutes on record.
★ 9.6
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.
Georgia on My Mind
1960 · From The Genius Hits the Road
Hoagy Carmichael's 1930 tune, remade as Charles's first Billboard number one and adopted as Georgia's state song in 1979.
★ 8.2
Sweet Home Alabama
1974 · From Second Helping
An answer record to Neil Young's "Southern Man," riding Ed King's riff and a name-check for the Muscle Shoals Swampers.
★ 7.8
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
1969 · From The Band
Eight months on one lyric, Helm doing the library research, and a drummer from Arkansas singing the defeat.
★ 7.6
Ode to Billie Joe
1967
Gentry's demo vocal was kept, Jimmie Haskell added four violins and two cellos, and the intended B-side became the A-side hit.
★ 7.3
Born on the Bayou
1969 · From Bayou Country
Fogerty wrote it in a California apartment, never having set foot in Louisiana, and still summoned the swamp.
★ 6.8
Rainy Night in Georgia
1970
Toots Thielemans on harmonica, Cornell Dupree on guitar, Arif Mardin producing, and Benton sounding like the rain itself.
★ 5.8
Black Velvet
1989
Ward got the idea riding a bus of Elvis fans to the tenth Graceland vigil, and Myles won a Grammy.
★ 3.1