The Weight
1968 · From Music From Big Pink
Robertson saw Nazareth stamped inside his 1951 Martin, and Helm sang the burden every verse hands over.
★ 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.
Fortunate Son
1969 · From Chronicle: The 20 Greatest Hits
Twenty minutes of writing, and Fogerty had the sound of every draft board sending someone else's son.
★ 8.6
Proud Mary
1969 · From Chronicle: The 20 Greatest Hits
Fogerty came out of the National Guard and wrote it in two days, Beethoven's Fifth hiding in the intro.
★ 7.9
Wild HorsesThe Rolling Stones
Wild Horses
1971 · From Sticky Fingers
Cut at Muscle Shoals in December 1969, with Jim Dickinson on tack piano after Ian Stewart refused the minor chords.
★ 7.7
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
Bad Moon Rising
1969 · From Chronicle: The 20 Greatest Hits
Fogerty wrote it after a hurricane scene in a 1941 film, then set the apocalypse to a cheerful rockabilly stomp.
★ 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
Truckin'
1970 · From American Beauty
Hunter's lyric folds in a 1970 New Orleans bust, and the Library of Congress declared the record a national treasure.
★ 6.9
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
Up On Cripple Creek
1969 · From The Band
Hudson ran a clavinet through a wah-wah pedal, Helm sang lead, and the single reached number twenty-five.
★ 6.5
It Makes No DifferenceThe Band
It Makes No Difference
1975 · From Northern Lights - Southern Cross
Robertson wrote it expressly for Danko's voice, and at their own Shangri-La studio the Band gave loss room to breathe.
★ 6.1
Down on the Corner
1969 · From Chronicle: The 20 Greatest Hits
Washboard, kazoo and a gut bass in the lyrics, Fogerty's imaginary jug band playing for nickels.
★ 6.0
Give Me One Reason
1995 · From New Beginning
Chapman played it live for seven years before recording it, then a loose blues shuffle became her biggest hit.
★ 5.5
Acadian Driftwood
1975 · From Northern Lights - Southern Cross
Manuel, Helm and Danko trade verses on Robertson's account of the 1755 Acadian expulsion, Byron Berline's fiddle overdubbed above.
★ 5.3
You Wear It Well
1972 · From Never a Dull Moment
A letter to an ex, sung over acoustic guitar, fiddle and McLagan's Hammond, and another UK number one.
★ 4.9
Small Town
1985 · From Scarecrow
Written in the laundry room of Mellencamp's old house, it makes Indiana sound like enough for one life.
★ 4.7
Let Her Cry
1994
Rucker flipped the genders when he wrote it; by his account the addiction in the song was his own.
★ 4.3
Only Wanna Be With You
1994
Rucker quotes Blood on the Tracks in the verses; the 1995 out-of-court settlement with Dylan cost the band $350,000.
★ 3.6
Time (Hootie & the Blowfish)Hootie & the Blowfish
Time (Hootie & the Blowfish)
1994
Sonefeld's idea, written by committee on acoustic guitars, and Rucker addressing time itself like it owed him something.
★ 2.7