A Day in the Life
1967 · From Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Two unfinished songs bolted together, an orchestra climbing to nothing, and the last piano chord in pop.
★ 9.9
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.
Strawberry Fields Forever
1966 · From Magical Mystery Tour
Two takes in different keys and tempos spliced into one, a Mellotron haze over Lennon's Liverpool childhood.
★ 9.7
All Along the Watchtower
1968
Hendrix took Dylan's parable and lit it, and Dylan has played it Hendrix's way ever since.
★ 9.2
Purple Haze
1967
The intro is a tritone, medieval music's forbidden interval, and Roger Mayer's new Octavia pedal makes the solo scream.
★ 8.9
Paint It, BlackThe Rolling Stones
Paint It, Black
1966 · From Aftermath
Jones's sitar made it the first number one to feature the instrument, and Decca added the comma by mistake.
★ 8.2
Light My FireThe Doors
Light My Fire
1967 · From The Doors
Krieger wrote most of it, Manzarek built a Bach-shaped organ intro, and Morrison sang the banned lyric on Sullivan anyway.
★ 8.1
Voodoo Child (Slight Return)Jimi Hendrix
Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
1968
Cut May 3, 1968 with an ABC film crew rolling, and it became Hendrix's only British number one, posthumously.
★ 7.8
A Whiter Shade of Pale
1967
Fisher's Hammond nods at Bach for a bar before veering off, and Reid took the title from a party remark.
★ 7.7
I Am The Walrus
1967 · From Magical Mystery Tour
Lennon stitched three unfinished songs together, then let a live BBC King Lear broadcast wander into the mix.
★ 7.7
Eight Miles High
1966 · From Fifth Dimension
Columbia rejected the RCA session on a technicality, so McGuinn recut his Coltrane-inspired twelve-string and radio banned it anyway.
★ 7.6
Piece of My Heart
1968 · From Cheap Thrills
Erma Franklin had it first in 1967, then Joplin tore the same Ragovoy and Berns song wide open.
★ 7.6
White Rabbit
1967 · From Surrealistic Pillow
Slick borrowed the one long crescendo from Bolero and Lewis Carroll's cast, then rode both to number eight.
★ 7.6
Sunshine of Your LoveCream
Sunshine of Your Love
1967 · From Disraeli Gears
Bruce came home from a Hendrix show carrying the riff, and Baker answered it by drumming on one and three.
★ 7.6
Born to Be Wild
1968
Mars Bonfire's used Ford Falcon inspired it, Steppenwolf sped it up, and Easy Rider made it biker culture's signature.
★ 7.5
The EndThe Doors
The End
1967 · From The Doors
Krieger's raga-style tuning, Morrison at his most unnerving, and nearly twelve minutes Coppola later gave to Apocalypse Now.
★ 7.4
(Don't Fear) the Reaper
1976
An irregular heartbeat diagnosis sent Dharma writing about mortality and lasting love, and the cowbell did the rest.
★ 7.3
Time of the Season
1968 · From Odessey and Oracle
Argent and Blunstone rowed over the vocal at Abbey Road, and the band had broken up before America noticed.
★ 7.3
White RoomCream
White Room
1968 · From Wheels of Fire
A 5/4 intro that worried the label, Pappalardi's violas, Baker's timpani, and Clapton's wah-wah doing the talking.
★ 7.0
Foxey Lady
1967
One note shaken into a wide vibrato, then feedback, then the sharp-ninth chord that carries his name.
★ 6.9
I Can See for MilesThe Who
I Can See for Miles
1967 · From The Who Sell Out
Townshend called it his ace in the hole and never forgave Britain for stopping it at number ten.
★ 6.6
Rain
1966
Emerick taped the backing fast and slowed it on playback; Ringo called it the best record he ever made.
★ 6.5
You're Gonna Miss Me
1966
Erickson wrote this kiss-off at fifteen, and Tommy Hall's electric jug gave Texas garage rock its strangest sound.
★ 6.4
Break on Through (To the Other Side)The Doors
Break on Through (To the Other Side)
1967 · From The Doors
Densmore's bossa nova drum feel, Krieger's riff borrowed from a Butterfield blues cover, and a refrain their producer censored.
★ 6.3
Crimson and Clover
1968
Five hours on brand-new sixteen-track, with a vocal fed through an Ampeg amp's tremolo for that shimmering close.
★ 6.3
Don't Come Around Here No More
1985 · From Southern Accents
Stewart's electric sitar, a title Stevie Nicks said out loud one night, and Petty at his strangest.
★ 6.2
Magic Carpet Ride
1968
Moreve's riff, Monarch's feedback spliced onto the front by the engineer, and words Kay wrote about his new stereo.
★ 6.1
Season of the Witch
1966
Two chords built for jamming, Mickie Most in the producer's chair, and folk-pop suddenly acquired a shiver of paranoia.
★ 6.1
Fly Like an Eagle (Steve Miller Band)
1976
Miller ran a Stratocaster through an Echoplex for that staggered triplet echo, and the synthesizer drifts like weather.
★ 5.9
The Wind Cries MaryJimi Hendrix
The Wind Cries Mary
1967
Twenty minutes at the tail end of the Fire session, and Hendrix trading fire for something quiet and blue.
★ 5.9
Spirit in the Sky
1969
A Jewish songwriter watching Porter Wagoner sing gospel on television, a Telecaster with the fuzz built in, and heaven.
★ 5.9
Scarlet Begonias
1974 · From From the Mars Hotel
Hunter set his lyric in Grosvenor Square, and from 1977 the Dead ran it straight into Fire on the Mountain.
★ 5.9
West Coast
2014
Verses at 123 beats a minute collapsing to 65 in the chorus, cut live with Auerbach's band in Nashville.
★ 5.9
Get Together
1967
Stalled at sixty-two in 1967, then a brotherhood radio spot pushed the reissue to number five two years later.
★ 5.6
What Is and What Should Never Be
1969 · From Led Zeppelin II
Among Plant's first songwriting credits, a CBS contract having blocked him on the debut, over guitars panning across both channels.
★ 5.6
Strange BrewCream
Strange Brew
1967 · From Disraeli Gears
Pappalardi and Gail Collins wrote new words over a shelved "Lawdy Mama" take, and Clapton borrows Albert King wholesale.
★ 5.5