Born to RunBruce Springsteen
Born to Run
1975 · From Born to Run
Months of wall-of-sound overdubs poured into one getaway car, and every word still sounds like escape.
★ 9.4
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.
She Loves YouThe Beatles
She Loves You
1963 · From The Beatles' Second Album
Lennon and McCartney started it on a tour bus after a Newcastle show; Martin thought the sixth-chord ending corny.
★ 8.8
Waterloo SunsetThe Kinks
Waterloo Sunset
1967 · From Something Else by The Kinks
Davies started it as "Liverpool Sunset," moved it to the Thames, and Dave's tape-delay guitar did the rest.
★ 8.3
That'll Be the DayBuddy Holly and the Crickets
That'll Be the Day
1957
Holly took the title from a John Wayne line and recut it in Clovis after Decca shelved the first version.
★ 8.2
Wouldn't It Be NiceThe Beach Boys
Wouldn't It Be Nice
1966 · From Pet Sounds
Two accordions, a key change eight beats in, and 21 takes at Gold Star before Wilson sang about growing up.
★ 8.2
Peggy SueBuddy Holly and the Crickets
Peggy Sue
1957
Cut in Clovis as "Cindy Lou" until Allison's girlfriend got the title, and his paradiddles never let up.
★ 7.7
Brown Eyed Girl
1967 · From Blowin' Your Mind!
Twenty-two takes at A&R Studios, the Sweet Inspirations behind him, and a song Morrison says never paid him royalties.
★ 7.7
Wonderful WorldSam Cooke
Wonderful World
1960 · From The Wonderful World of Sam Cooke
Cooke cut it at his last Keen session and credited the writing to his wife's maiden name.
★ 7.6
Earth Angel
1954
Cut as a demo in Ted Brinson's garage, pillows on the drums, then three weeks atop the R&B chart.
★ 7.5
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
Why Do Fools Fall In Love
1956
Herman Santiago built it from a neighbor's love letters; Lymon, thirteen, took the lead and the credit fight ran decades.
★ 7.3
Tiny Dancer
1971 · From Madman Across the Water
Taupin wrote it about Maxine Feibelman, the seamstress who toured with the band, and Almost Famous made it a singalong.
★ 7.3
Love Story
2008 · From Fearless
Swift wrote it in twenty minutes on her bedroom floor, gave Romeo and Juliet a happy ending, banjo included.
★ 7.3
Buddy Holly
1994 · From Weezer (The Blue Album)
Cuomo thought it too cheesy to release; Ocasek insisted, then Spike Jonze spliced the band into Happy Days footage.
★ 7.2
Then He Kissed Me
1963
Larry Levine stumbled onto that echo by accident, and LaLa Brooks sings a whole courtship in under three minutes.
★ 7.0
Leader of the Pack
1964 · From Leader of the Pack
Shadow Morton's teenage melodrama, a motorcycle revving through the mix, and a BBC that refused to play it.
★ 7.0
Jack and Diane
1982 · From American Fool
Mick Ronson suggested the baby rattles and sang the "let it rock" hook; the handclaps were only a guide track.
★ 6.9
You Never Can TellChuck Berry
You Never Can Tell
1964 · From St. Louis to Liverpool
Written in federal prison, cut at Chess in January 1964, and the happiest wedding song rock and roll made.
★ 6.8
Night MovesBob Seger
Night Moves
1976 · From Night Moves
Seger walked out of American Graffiti with a story of his own, and took six months finding the words.
★ 6.8
Come On Eileen
1982
Fiddle, banjo and a tempo shifting gears, then one week at number one between Billie Jean and Beat It.
★ 6.5
He's a Rebel
1962
Darlene Love sang lead at Gold Star, Hal Blaine drummed, and the Crystals got the credit for a number one.
★ 6.5
Teenage Dream
2010
Bonnie McKee rewrote it repeatedly until Benny Blanco suggested studying a Teenagers single, and one word cracked the chorus open.
★ 6.3
I Got You BabeSonny & Cher
I Got You Babe
1965
That hook is an oboe, not an ocarina, and Cher disliked the song Bono wrote for them in their basement.
★ 5.9
The King of Carrot Flowers, Part 1
1998 · From In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
Schneider got the fuzz from tube preamps and compression, not pedals, and Mangum sings childhood into two minutes flat.
★ 5.9
Summer of 69
1984
A twelve-string riff swapped for six and doubled for thickness, then a chorus about a summer Adams never actually had.
★ 5.9
Sh-Boom
1954
Cut as a throwaway B-side to a Patti Page cover, and doo-wop crossed into the pop top ten.
★ 5.9
Our Song
2007 · From Taylor Swift
Swift wrote it in roughly twenty minutes for a ninth-grade talent show, then spent six weeks atop the country chart.
★ 5.4
Too Young
1951
Sidney Lippman and Sylvia Dee handed Cole a teenage lament, and Capitol got five weeks at number one.
★ 4.6
Mine
2010 · From Speak Now
A leak forced its release nearly two weeks early, and Swift's lead Speak Now single still debuted at number three.
★ 4.5
Candy Girl
1983
Maurice Starr built New Edition as an answer to the Jackson 5, and this hit number one in Britain.
★ 4.2
My Boyfriend's Back
1963
Feldman overheard a schoolgirl brushing off a boy, and the Angels' demo for the Shirelles went out as is.
★ 4.2
Slide
1998
Rzeznik hid a teenage pregnancy story inside the sunniest jangle of 1998; it topped Modern Rock and Adult Top 40.
★ 4.1
Heaven
1984
Written on tour opening for Journey, buried on a movie soundtrack first, and number one nearly two years later.
★ 4.0
Kiss Me
1998
Sparkling cigarettes became a silver moon in the final lyric, and She's All That made it a number two.
★ 3.8
With You (Chris Brown)
2007
Stargate cut it at Battery Studios with Espen Lind on acoustic guitar, and Brown took it to number two.
★ 3.6
Let's Hear It For The Boy
1984
An Oscar nominee from the Footloose soundtrack, George Duke producing, and Williams audibly grinning through every chorus.
★ 3.6
Tonight Tonight (The Mello-Kings)
1957
Five Mount Vernon high schoolers, a Billy Myles song, and Bob Scholl's lead floating over the sweetest doo-wop changes.
★ 3.4
I Got a Car
2013
Bubba Strait pitched it off a rodeo friend's CD; his father left it on the coffee table, then cut it.
★ 1.9
You Got It (The Right Stuff)
1988
Maurice Starr wrote and produced it, Jordan Knight and Donnie Wahlberg took the leads, and Britain crowned it a year later.
★ 1.3