I Walk the Line
1956 · From Johnny Cash with His Hot and Blue Guitar
Cash slipped paper under his guitar strings for that snare tick, and hums to find each new key.
★ 8.8
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.
(We're Gonna) Rock Around the Clock
1954
Cut in leftover studio minutes with Sammy Davis Jr. waiting outside, it flopped until Blackboard Jungle put it under the credits.
★ 8.8
That's Alright MamaElvis Presley
That's Alright Mama
1954 · From The Sun Sessions
Presley started clowning through an Arthur Crudup blues on a break; Sam Phillips heard it and rolled tape.
★ 8.6
Don't Be Cruel
1956
Blackwell gave Presley half the writing credit; the Jordanaires hum behind a vocal so relaxed it barely seems to try.
★ 8.2
Folsom Prison Blues
1955 · From Johnny Cash with His Hot and Blue Guitar
A prison film in Germany gave Cash the song; he borrowed the melody from Gordon Jenkins and later paid up.
★ 8.1
Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On
1957
One microphone, Roland Janes muted behind the boogie piano, and a July 1957 television debut that turned it national.
★ 7.7
Blue Suede Shoes (Carl Perkins)
1956
Cash suggested the phrase, Phillips talked him into changing one word, and Sun got its first million seller.
★ 7.7
Great Balls of Fire
1957
Lewis argued theology with Sam Phillips between takes at Sun, decided the devil could wait, and cut it anyway.
★ 7.7
Only the Lonely
1960
Orbison meant it for Elvis; the Everly Brothers told him to keep it, and Nashville's A-Team built the ache.
★ 7.5
Summertime BluesEddie Cochran
Summertime Blues
1958
Cochran overdubbed his own bass voice for the boss and the senator, Earl Palmer drumming behind the great teenage complaint.
★ 7.4
Wake Up Little SusieThe Everly Brothers
Wake Up Little Susie
1957
Felice and Boudleaux Bryant's plot is an alibi, Boston banned it as suggestive, and it still topped the pop chart.
★ 7.4
In Dreams
1963
Seven sections in under three minutes, no chorus repeated, and a melody Orbison said arrived while half asleep.
★ 7.1
Be-Bop-A-Lula
1956
Cut in Nashville as a B-side, flipped by radio, and Cliff Gallup's guitar breaks took it to number seven.
★ 7.1
Bye Bye Love
1957
Some thirty acts turned the Bryants' song down; Don Everly's intro, written for something else, took it to number two.
★ 7.1
Blue Suede Shoes (Elvis Presley)
1956 · From Elvis Presley
Scotty Moore and Bill Black behind him in New York, and Presley made RCA hold the single for Perkins.
★ 6.9
Crazy Little Thing Called Love
1980 · From Greatest Hits
Ten minutes after a Munich bath, a borrowed Fender not the Red Special, and Queen's first American number one.
★ 6.5
C'mon Everybody
1958
Earl Palmer on drums, Guybo Smith on bass, a B-side flipped into a number six hit in Britain.
★ 6.0
Honey Don'tCarl Perkins
Honey Don't
1956
Flipside of Blue Suede Shoes, cut at Sun with both Perkins brothers, and later Ringo's turn on Beatles for Sale.
★ 4.7