Hey JudeThe Beatles
Hey Jude
1968
Seven minutes, four of them just na-na-na, and somehow nobody has ever wanted it to end sooner.
★ 9.5
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1968
Showing 40 songs from 1968
I Heard it Through the Grapevine
1968 · From In the Groove
Motown shelved Gaye's version for over a year; it came out sounding like paranoia set to a Funk Brothers groove.
★ 9.3
All Along the Watchtower
1968
Hendrix took Dylan's parable and lit it, and Dylan has played it Hendrix's way ever since.
★ 9.2
Sympathy for the DevilThe Rolling Stones
Sympathy for the Devil
1968 · From Beggars Banquet
Faithfull handed Jagger Bulgakov, Richards turned the folk sketch into samba and played both bass and the solo.
★ 8.9
(Sittin' on) the Dock of the Bay
1968 · From The Dock of the Bay
Redding cut the vocal three days before the plane crash, and Cropper finished it into the first posthumous American number one.
★ 8.8
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
Jumpin' Jack FlashThe Rolling Stones
Jumpin' Jack Flash
1968
Named for the gardener who woke them up, and cut with an acoustic guitar recorded into a Philips cassette recorder.
★ 8.1
While My Guitar Gently WeepsThe Beatles
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
1968 · From The White Album
Harrison opened a book at random, saw "gently weeps", and Clapton came in uncredited to play the solo.
★ 8.0
Mrs. Robinson
1968
Simon had it as Mrs. Roosevelt with nonsense syllables for a verse, and it won Record of the Year.
★ 7.9
Wichita Lineman
1968
Webb sent it over unfinished, one verse short, and Campbell cut the loneliest three minutes in country music.
★ 7.9
Voodoo Child (Slight Return)Jimi Hendrix
Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
1968
Cut May 3, 1968 with an ABC film crew rolling, and it became Hendrix's only British number one, posthumously.
★ 7.8
Everyday People
1968 · From Stand!
A band mixed in race and gender, four weeks at number one, and "different strokes for different folks" ever since.
★ 7.7
Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud
1968 · From Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud
Brown cut it in Los Angeles with thirty-odd young people from Watts and Compton shouting the answer back.
★ 7.7
Piece of My Heart
1968 · From Cheap Thrills
Erma Franklin had it first in 1967, then Joplin tore the same Ragovoy and Berns song wide open.
★ 7.6
Son of a Preacher Man
1968 · From Dusty in Memphis
Written with Aretha in mind, handed to Springfield by Jerry Wexler; Memphis cut the track, New York got her vocal.
★ 7.6
Born to Be Wild
1968
Mars Bonfire's used Ford Falcon inspired it, Steppenwolf sped it up, and Easy Rider made it biker culture's signature.
★ 7.5
Both Sides Now
1968 · From Clouds
Mitchell was reading Henderson the Rain King on a plane, looked out at the clouds, and started writing immediately.
★ 7.5
Mama Tried
1968 · From Mama Tried
Three years in San Quentin behind him, Haggard gave his narrator a life sentence he never served himself.
★ 7.5
Street Fighting ManThe Rolling Stones
Street Fighting Man
1968 · From Beggars Banquet
Richards cut the acoustic into a Philips cassette recorder until it distorted, Watts drumming on a 1930s toy kit.
★ 7.4
Dance to the Music
1968 · From Dance to the Music
Clive Davis wanted a hit, so Sly wrote a roll call: each player steps forward, Cynthia Robinson shouting the title.
★ 7.4
Stand By Your Man
1968 · From Stand By Your Man
Written in about twenty minutes at the end of a session, and Wynette immediately dreaded that high note forever.
★ 7.4
America
1968
No rhyme scheme anywhere, just Simon reworking a 1964 road trip with Kathy Chitty until the emptiness lands mid-verse.
★ 7.3
Time of the Season
1968 · From Odessey and Oracle
Argent and Blunstone rowed over the vocal at Abbey Road, and the band had broken up before America noticed.
★ 7.3
ThinkAretha Franklin
Think
1968 · From Aretha Now
Co-written with Ted White, out weeks after King's assassination, and a bridge that turns on one word, freedom.
★ 7.1
With a Little Help From My Friends (Joe Cocker)
1968
Cocker slowed a Beatles album track to gospel tempo, with Jimmy Page on guitar and Tommy Eyre's organ intro.
★ 7.1
White RoomCream
White Room
1968 · From Wheels of Fire
A 5/4 intro that worried the label, Pappalardi's violas, Baker's timpani, and Clapton's wah-wah doing the talking.
★ 7.0
Everybody's Talkin'Harry Nilsson
Everybody's Talkin'
1968
A Fred Neil song that flopped in 1968, until Schlesinger put it under Midnight Cowboy and Nilsson won a Grammy.
★ 6.9
Alone Again OrLove
Alone Again Or
1968 · From Forever Changes
MacLean wrote it about waiting for a girlfriend, David Angel scored the horns, and Lee added himself in the mix.
★ 6.6
Sweet Thing
1968 · From Astral Weeks
Jazz players Richard Davis and Connie Kay taped it at the last Astral Weeks session, and Morrison floats free.
★ 6.6
Crimson and Clover
1968
Five hours on brand-new sixteen-track, with a vocal fed through an Ampeg amp's tremolo for that shimmering close.
★ 6.3
Magic Carpet Ride
1968
Moreve's riff, Monarch's feedback spliced onto the front by the engineer, and words Kay wrote about his new stereo.
★ 6.1
One (Harry Nilsson)Harry Nilsson
One (Harry Nilsson)
1968
A busy signal Nilsson sat listening to became the song's opening notes; Three Dog Night took it to number five.
★ 6.1
This Will Be Our Year
1968 · From Odessey and Oracle
Take four, June 1967 at EMI, with a trumpet added later onto the mono mix and nowhere else.
★ 6.0
Build Me Up ButtercupThe Foundations
Build Me Up Buttercup
1968
Mike d'Abo co-wrote it and played piano, and new lead singer Colin Young sang it into the American top three.
★ 5.6
Blue Christmas
1968 · From Elvis' Christmas Album
Millie Kirkham's soprano wailing over the Jordanaires at Radio Recorders, 1957, with Scotty Moore answering every line.
★ 5.6
Tighten Up
1968
Houston's T.S.U. Toronadoes laid down the groove, and Bell was serving in Vietnam when it topped both charts.
★ 5.4
Carolina In My Mind
1968 · From James Taylor
McCartney played bass and Harrison sang uncredited backing on the Apple debut, while Taylor sat in London missing North Carolina.
★ 5.3
The Pusher
1968
Hoyt Axton's mother held the publishing back over its language; Easy Rider then made Steppenwolf's version unavoidable.
★ 4.8
Something in the Way She Moves
1968 · From James Taylor
Taylor played this at his Apple audition to land the deal, and Harrison lifted its title for "Something".
★ 3.9
Nothing But a Heartache
1968
Two Pearce sisters and Viola Billups on a British label, a Northern soul classic that outlived its modest chart run.
★ 3.4