A Love Supreme, Part 1: Acknowledgement
1965 · From A Love Supreme
Garrison's four notes, then Coltrane overdubbing the chant nineteen times, one December day at Van Gelder's.
★ 8.6
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.
Like a Prayer
1989 · From Like a Prayer
Patrick Leonard co-wrote it, Prince played the intro guitar, and Pepsi pulled its five million dollar ad but paid anyway.
★ 8.5
One LoveBob Marley and the Wailers
One Love
1977 · From Exodus
A 1965 Studio One ska tune rebuilt for Exodus, with Mayfield credited to keep the borrowing legal.
★ 8.3
Hallelujah
1994 · From Grace
Buckley learned it from John Cale's version and cut over twenty takes at Bearsville; the edit sounds like one breath.
★ 8.2
People Get ReadyThe Impressions
People Get Ready
1965
Mayfield turned the gospel train of the spirituals into a civil rights hymn, and King used it to steady marchers.
★ 8.0
Jesus Walks
2004 · From The College Dropout
A marching ARC Choir sample, Rhymefest's co-write, and a label convinced nobody would play a rap record about God.
★ 7.9
Personal Jesus
1989 · From Violator
Priscilla Presley's memoir gave Gore the idea, Flood cut it in Milan, and Cash later called it evangelical.
★ 7.6
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
1987 · From The Joshua Tree
A jam demoed under the title The Weather Girls became a gospel hymn about doubt, and U2's second American number one.
★ 7.6
Can the Circle Be Unbroken (By and By)
1935
A 1907 hymn rewritten into a mother's funeral, with A.P. Carter tightening the grief and Maybelle's guitar holding it.
★ 7.5
I'll Take You ThereThe Staple Singers
I'll Take You There
1972
Al Bell lifted the bassline from a Jamaican instrumental, and Mavis Staples turned Muscle Shoals into a pulpit.
★ 7.5
Somebody to Love (Queen)
1976 · From Greatest Hits
Mercury wrote it at the piano, then three voices were multitracked into something the size of a gospel choir.
★ 7.4
Lithium
1991 · From Nevermind
The only Nevermind track cut to a click track, and Grohl's metronome only makes the quiet-loud lurch hit harder.
★ 7.4
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
1909
Willis, a Choctaw freedman, wrote it, and the Fisk quartet's 1909 Victor disc now sits in the National Recording Registry.
★ 6.8
Casimir Pulaski Day
2005 · From Illinois
Four guitar chords never change while Stevens sings a Bible study, a friend's death, and a question for God.
★ 6.1
Down to the River to Pray
2000 · From O Brother Where Art Thou Soundtrack
Printed as "The Good Old Way" in an 1867 collection of slave songs, and Krauss makes it sound weightless.
★ 5.9
I'll Fly Away
2000 · From O Brother Where Art Thou Soundtrack
A 1932 hymn Brumley began while picking cotton, carried here by Krauss and Welch over mandolin and guitar.
★ 5.6
Boy with a Coin
2007
Sub Pop led The Shepherd's Dog with this, the record where Beam's whispered four-track folk grew a full band.
★ 4.5
Revival
2010 · From Halcyon Digest
Two minutes long, given away to fans who posted flyers, and jangling its way toward something like salvation.
★ 4.4
The River of Dreams
1993 · From River of Dreams
Joel woke with the melody, tried to wash it away in the shower, and gave in to gospel.
★ 4.2
Charlie Darwin
2009
Cut in a converted basement on Block Island, sung in falsetto with the drums stripped out; the Mayflower never sounded lonelier.
★ 3.9