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
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.
Yesterday
1965 · From Help!
McCartney dreamt the melody, called it "Scrambled Eggs" for weeks, then let a string quartet make it immortal.
★ 9.5
In My Life
1965 · From Rubber Soul
Lennon's first draft listed bus stops in Liverpool; Martin's piano solo, taped at half speed, sounds baroque.
★ 9.0
No Woman, No Cry
1974 · From Natty Dread
Marley credited it to Tata Ford, whose Trenchtown soup kitchen the royalties kept running; the title means woman, don't cry.
★ 8.9
September
1978
Willis wanted real words instead of ba-dee-ya; White refused, and the groove outlived any lyric she could have written.
★ 8.3
Stardust (1927)
1927
Carmichael whistled the tune to his band at Gennett and cut it fast; Parish added the lyric two years later.
★ 8.3
They Reminisce Over YouPete Rock
They Reminisce Over You
1992
Pete Rock looped a Tom Scott saxophone line, and CL Smooth's eulogy for a lost friend still aches.
★ 8.3
Tangled Up in Blue
1975 · From Blood on the Tracks
Dylan recut it in Minneapolis with his brother producing, then spent decades rewriting a story already told out of order.
★ 8.2
Just Like Heaven
1987 · From Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me
Smith traced it to a day at Beachy Head with Mary Poole; Williams sped the tempo, adding the opening fill.
★ 7.7
In the Still of the Night
1956
February 1956, a New Haven church basement, and a song Parris had written on Army guard duty.
★ 7.5
Don't You (Forget About Me)
1985
Bryan Ferry and Billy Idol passed; Simple Minds cut it reluctantly, then kept the placeholder chant that closes it.
★ 7.0
Pictures of You
1989 · From Disintegration
A house fire left Smith with photographs of Mary salvaged from his wallet, and one became the single's sleeve.
★ 6.9
Back on the Chain Gang
1982 · From Learning to Crawl
Hynde cut it weeks after Honeyman-Scott's death, with Rockpile's Bremner on guitar and a Sam Cooke chant behind her.
★ 6.9
Holocene
2011 · From Bon Iver, Bon Iver
Horns and clarinets swell over guitar in a converted Wisconsin veterinary clinic; Grammy voters nominated it for record and song.
★ 6.7
The Way You Look Tonight
1964 · From Sinatra Sings Days of Wine and Roses, Moon River, and Other Academy Award Winners
Kern's melody took the 1936 Academy Award; Nelson Riddle's 1964 arrangement made Sinatra's the most imitated reading.
★ 6.3
Gentle on My Mind
1967
Doug Dillard's banjo rolls under a lyric with no chorus, written soon after Hartford watched Doctor Zhivago.
★ 6.2
Remember (Walkin' in the Sand)
1964 · From Leader of the Pack
Shadow Morton had never written a hit when he cut this demo, seagull effects and all, to prove he could.
★ 6.0
She's Got YouPatsy Cline
She's Got You
1962 · From Sentimentally Yours
Owen Bradley produced the December 1961 session; Cline works through an inventory of keepsakes while Floyd Cramer's piano answers.
★ 5.9
Heartbeats (Jose Gonzalez)Jose Gonzalez
Heartbeats (Jose Gonzalez)
2003
One classical guitar, no drums, and the Knife's synth-pop single reduced to a whisper that reached UK number nine.
★ 5.8
It's the Same Old SongThe Four Tops
It's the Same Old Song
1965
Gordy ordered a rush job after Columbia reissued an old single, so Holland-Dozier-Holland reversed their own chart topper.
★ 5.7