‘Gimme Shelter’ — The Rolling Stones

Keith Richards wrote Gimme Shelter in just 20 minutes, which might make it even more impressive that this song left such a lasting impression on listeners. Appearing on the album Let It Bleed in 1969, Gimme Shelter was the first track on the album and has since been featured on several Rolling Stones compilation albums due to its popularity.

In 2012 on The Rolling Stones’ 50th anniversary tour, the band performed Gimme Shelter with several other famous artists including Mary J. Blige, Florence Welch, and Lady Gaga.

‘One’ — U2

This Irish rock band released One as the third track on their 1991 album Achtung Baby. In a bout of improvisation, guitarist The Edge was playing a chord progression that Bono enjoyed so much that he wrote new lyrics to go with it, and thus the song was born. This is the U2 song most used for protests and social justice movements, and even has its name in Bono’s own organisation: the ONE Campaign. The band were, however, bewildered when they discovered that people also used this song for their wedding dances, since the lyrics aren’t quite fitting for the occasion.

‘No Woman, No Cry’ — Bob Marley

No Woman, No Cry was released on the 1974 Bob Marley & the Wailers album Natty Dread, but the live version from the 1975 album Live! is best-known. It was recorded on the Natty Dread tour and reportedly changed not only Marley’s life, but also that of his childhood friend and co-writer of the song Vincent “Tata” Ford. Marley credited Ford for his help with the song on this tour which gave him the recognition and success that allowed him to keep his soup kitchen.

No Woman, No Cry was also rated as number 37 of Rolling Stone’s top 500 songs of all time.

‘You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling’ — The Righteous Brothers

When The Righteous Brothers first released You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling in 1964, it was a critical success, skyrocketing to the top of the charts in both the USA and the United Kingdom. Many artists have since covered the song, and it has been dubbed one of the best songs ever written by several musicians. It was ranked as the most played song on American radio and television ever written for 22 years from 1997 until 2019. That’s no small feat!

‘Sympathy for the Devil’ — The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones are one of the most beloved iconic rock bands of all time, but being a rock band tends to come with a little bit of controversy. Sympathy for the Devil, released on 1968 album Beggars Banquet, was just one of the songs they’ve come out with that riled people up. Religious groups took this song to mean that the band were devil-worshippers. This was not the case, as Mick Jagger stated he got the phrase from similar French sayings. Sympathy for the Devil remains a highly acclaimed record to this day, including being ranked 22nd on Acclaimed Music’s best songs of all time list.

‘I Walk the Line’ — Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash was stationed in Germany with the United States Air Force when he was first inspired to write I Walk the Line, completing its writing backstage in Texas one night in 1956. The song was first recorded and released that same year. There were three attempts in total, since the song only did moderately well for the first while. When I Walk the Line hit number one in the Billboard charts, it remained near the top of the charts for more than 43 weeks, and has since been used in compilation albums, in media. The song’s title later went on to title Cash’s 2005 biopic.

‘River Deep, Mountain High’ — Ike and Tina Turner

When Ike and Tina Turner released River Deep – Mountain High in 1966, it did not originally perform well the the USA, but it was an immediate hit in Europe with everyone there bopping along to this danceable tune. The song was co-written and produced by Phil Spector who considers the piece to be the best produced work of his career. Spector had a reputation for poor treatment of workers, and made Tina Turner sing the song over and over for hours to get it just how he wanted it. If you ask anyone who has seen Tina Turner live, they’ll tell you she sings it incredibly in person, so whether this abuse was necessary is questionable.

‘Help!’ — The Beatles

Help! was the title song of album of the same name which was released in 1965. It was originally commissioned for the musical comedy-adventure film about The Beatles, also called Help!, but on further reflection John Lennon stated that he was also internally calling out for help. This cry for help was due to how fast The Beatles became not only famous but also a commercial brand with little support for the four members as individuals. Lennon’s stress following the band’s commercialisation is expressed in the song, and he even confessed he felt Help! was one of the two most honest songs he’d written for the band.

‘People Get Ready’ — The Impressions

People Get Ready is what truly led The Impressions to their level of fame, and was a great success when it was released first as a single and then as the title song to the People Get Ready album. Influenced by gospel music, writer Curtis Mayfield was increasing the social and political significance in his song-writing at the time, and People Get Ready is a perfect example of that. Martin Luther King Jr. named this song the unofficial anthem of the civil rights movement, such was the cultural significance of the song at the time it was written. Often used in protests, People Get Ready was used to get people marching in unison, or to calm and comfort.

‘In My Life’ — The Beatles

This was John Lennon’s first time writing lyrics that were more explicitly about his own life. Though he originally referenced places in Liverpool he passed on his old bus route, he took this out and wrote about these locations later in Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever.

The tune includes a piano bridge which is sped up in the final song to sound somewhat like a harpsichord. This addition ended up inspiring many other artists to use an actual harpsichord in their songs in the year that followed.

‘Layla’ — Derek And The Dominos

First a 7th century love-story, then a 12th century book by Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi called The Story of Layla and Manjun, Eric Clapton took inspiration from both of these when writing Layla. Clapton also drew upon his own experiences with unrequited love between him and his friend’s wife Pattie Boyd whom he was later married to for nearly a decade.

Often considered one of the world’s greatest rock songs ever, Layla topped the charts both in its original 1972 release, and in its acoustic recorded performance in 2004.

‘(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay’ — Otis Redding

As is fitting to the song’s title, Otis Redding was sitting on the dock of the bay on a rented houseboat when he began writing the lyrics to this song. The real recorded sounds of crashing waves actually feature in the final track, which gives it a beautiful atmosphere as well as some novelty. The song was written and then recorded twice in the same year in 1967. The second of those two recordings was just three days before Redding died in a plane crash on December 10th of that year. (Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay became the first posthumous single to reach to top of the charts when it was released in 1968. Being one of Redding’s most popular songs, that is quite a legacy to leave.

‘Let It Be’ — The Beatles

When Paul McCartney had a dream about his deceased mother during particularly stressful rehearsal periods leading up to the release of the 1968 White Album, the concept for this beloved song was born. McCartney has said that in this dream, his mother told him that things will be alright, and to simply let it be. Who knew a dream could turn into one of the most acclaimed songs ever written? Let It Be ended up being the last single released before The Beatles announced their breakup in 1970. It is such a beloved song that it won the number 2 spot on CILQ-FM’s 2000 list of Top 500 Rock Songs of the Century.

‘Baba O’Riley’ — The Who

Baba O’Riley was the opening track on the 1971 album Who’s Next. While it was originally written as part of Townshend’s Lifehouse project, a follow-up piece to the 1969 album Tommy, an opera of its own kind, this rock-opera style piece was one of eight originally written for Lifehouse that ended up on Who’s Next. Unfortunately the Lifehouse project was scrapped and never came to fruition, but luckily we got this incredible song out of it.

In 2018 Roger Daltrey described the song as a warning against children using social media too much.

‘Be My Baby’ — The Ronettes

Be My Baby is consistently ranked in the top songs of the 1960s, and when it came out in 1963 it made a real splash, ranking at number 2 in the US charts and number 4 in the UK. Ronnie Bennett was the only member of the Ronettes to sing on the track, and producer Phil Spector had become rather captivated by her. He had 42 takes of the song taken before the perfectionist was satisfied, and with a full orchestra and Cher in the backing vocals, it emerged as a masterfully crafted piece which is considered by some to be the greatest pop record of all time.

‘Born to Run’ — Bruce Springsteen

The title song of Springsteen’s third album was his greatest feat, in an attempt to write the greatest rock song ever. The composition of Born to Run is what earned Springsteen his reputation as a perfectionist, laying down many guitar tracks over one another to achieve the perfect sound. It was the musician’s first worldwide single release and though it did not initially receive great acclaim internationally, it is now considered one of the songs that shaped the state of Rock and Roll music as it is today.

‘Behind Blue Eyes’ — The Who

When band member Townshend resisted a female groupie while touring, he went back to his room and began to write a prayer which then inspired Behind Blue Eyes. The song was initially meant to be a part of the Lifehouse project that the band ended up scrapping and was thus released on The Who’s fifth album Who’s Next. This has been a favourite cover song for bands, most notable being the very popular rendition by Limp Bizkit.

‘La Bamba’ — Ritchie Valens

La Bamba was initially a folk song from Veracruz, Mexico which was catapulted to fame by Los Lobos’ rendition which was featured in the Ritchie Valens biopic La Bamba. Valens released a rock and roll version of La Bamba in 1958 to great scepticism of those initially working with him. Valens’ La Bamba made it onto several to songs of all time lists and is one of the main tunes that got him inducted into the Rock and Roll hall of fame posthumously in 2001.

‘Hound Dog’ — Elvis Presley

Big Mama Thornton was first to release this song in 1952, and it made itself a hit there already before The King of Rock and Roll Elvis Presley covered it in 1956. With Presley’s cover of Hound Dog came international success, leading to the song being ranked at number 19 on Rolling Stone’s top 500 songs of all time list. Not only is Hound Dog Elvis Presley’s best-selling single, what with all his many famous songs released, but it is also one of the best-selling singles in all of history.

‘Rock Around the Clock’ — Bill Haley And The Comets

Bill Haley and the Comets’ rock and roll rendition of Rock Around the Clock is a classic which held the top spot on the charts for two months straight the year after it was released in 1954. It was not the initial release of the song, though, the first being in 1952 by Max C. Freedman and Jimmy De Knight.

The universal success of the Bill Haley version was in part due to the song’s use in the opening credits of 1955 film The Blackboard Jungle. Considered the world’s first rock anthem by The Guardian, Rock Around the Clock went on to influence many artists, and even helped form the foundation of modern pop music.

‘Break On Through (To the Other Side)’ — The Doors

Break On Through (To the Other Side) was the first song on The Doors’ debut album. While the song performed badly when it was first released in 1967, it remains a fan favourite and concert staple. In 1991, 24 years after the song’s initial release, it made its way up the UK charts for the first time, showing its lasting popularity. The critical reception of Break On Through (To the Other Side) was fantastic, with critics saying it had a higher level of musical literacy than almost any other rock song.

‘Here Comes the Sun’ — The Beatles

Here Comes the Sun first appeared on the 1969 Abbey Road album, and is likely The Beatles member George Harrison’s most famous composition. Harrison wrote this song the same year it was released while avoiding attending a meeting. The time signature changes throughout the song are in part due to Harrison drawing inspiration from Indian classical music. Here Comes the Sun is a fan favourite Beatles tune, and became the most-streamed Beatles song in the United Kingdom by 2020.

‘Rebel Rebel’ — David Bowie

Glam rock pioneer and icon David Bowie released proto-punk anthem Rebel Rebel in 1974 as a goodbye to the movement. The song was a huge hit with fans, and received great critical acclaim besides. It describes a boy who defies his parents as he delves into androgyny, rebelling through female clothing and makeup. It is considered Bowie’s most covered track, with artists such as The Smashing Pumpkins and Bryan Adams covering the tune.

‘You Really Got Me’ — The Kinks

Ray Davies wrote this song for this English rock band, and its power chords and unique sound went on to inspire many musicians, particularly in the genres of heavy metal and punk rock. It was The Kinks’ third single, and reached number one in the charts. Guitarist Dave Davies used a razor on his amp’s speaker cone to create the unique and powerful riff, and described the song’s purpose as a “love song to street kids.”

‘Purple Haze’ — The Jimi Hendrix Experience

Jimi Hendrix is often considered the greatest guitarist of all time, so the unique sounds and techniques that his song Purple Haze employs come as no surprise. While Hendrix himself views Purple Haze as a love song, many listeners feel it is more of a psychedelic experience due to how ambiguous the lyrics have been left. It is the second single from the 1967 Jimi Hendrix Experience, and is one of Hendrix’s most popular songs. Rolling Stone’s list of the greatest songs ranked Purple Haze at number 17.

‘London Calling’ — The Clash

London Calling is The Clash’s most famous song, and is the title of their 1979 double album. It was written while the band were going through difficult times and concerned with both personal and political issues. The band had no management at the time, and the band’s vocalist Joe Strummer said that they “felt that [they] were struggling… and there was no one there to help [them].” These issues, combined with the band’s fear of drowning are what led to the song being written. It reached number 11 on the charts the year after it was released, and has featured in countless films, including Billy Elliot and The Conjuring 2.

‘What a Wonderful World’ — Louis Armstrong

Though it was written by David Weiss and Bob Thiele, this song was first recorded by Louis Armstrong and upon its release in 1967 hit the top of the charts in the United Kingdom. It initially performed much worse in the United States because the president of ABC records, Larry Newton, refused to promote it due to his personal dislike for the song. In 1999 the song became part of the Grammy Hall of Fame, and is Louis Armstrong’s most famous song amongst his countless other successes. What a Wonderful World’s popularity remains high and has been covered by many artists over the years, but Louis Armstrong’s rendition remains by far the most popular.

‘A Change is Gonna Come’ — Sam Cooke

A Change is Gonna Come first appeared on the Ain’t That Good News album in February, 1964. The most famous version, though, was slightly edited before its re-release as the B-side to Cooke’s single Shake. This was released just shortly after Sam Cooke’s death in December 1964 when he was killed by a woman in a motel. Cooke wrote the song about a time he and his group were refused service at a whites-only motel, and his desire for Black freedom and liberation. It is considered his most influential song and was ranked at number 3 of Rolling Stone’s greatest songs of all time.

‘The Sound of Silence’ — Simon & Garfunkel

The Sound of Silence is one of Simon & Garfunkel’s best-known songs which was part of their debut album in 1964. This was the song the duo used for their studio audition and is what got them the record deal and album in the first place. You’d be crazy to turn that way, considering there is scarcely a person around today who hasn’t heard it! The Sound of Silence hit the top spot in the Billboard Hot 100 in 1966, and was in the top 10 in several countries around the world including Australia, Germany, and Japan.

‘A Day in the Life’ — The Beatles

This is one of the last songs that John Lennon and Paul McCartney truly wrote as a collaboration. It was the final track on the 1967 album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. It is a song loved by both fans and critics, which is part of why it appears on several lists of the best songs of all time. Lennon and McCartney inspired one another, and were also inspired by the band’s experience taking LSD together the year before the album release. Rolling Stone even said that A Day in the Life was the greatest song to come out of The Beatles.

‘My Generation’ — The Who

My Generation is considered by Rolling Stone to be the 11th greatest song of all time, and it is also one of their best known. When it was first released in 1965 it went straight the number 2 on the charts in the United Kingdom. Pete Townshend who wrote the song said it was inspired by the Queen Mother who he claimed had his car, a hearse, towed off the road when she was on a drive-through of his neighbourhood in 1935. He took this occurrence and turned it into a song about trying to fit into society.

‘Light My Fire’ — The Doors

First recorded in 1966, The Doors’ song Light My Fire was released in their debut album in 1967. It stayed in the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks when it was released, and returned to the charts a few times since. Whenever the band played Light My Fire live, they would extend it with improvisational sections to highlight the band’s skill and passion, which helped in making this a solid favourite amongst fans.

‘What’d I Say’ — Ray Charles

What’d I Say was a unique composition of Ray Charles’. During a show one night in 1958, Charles and his entourage had completed the setlist, but found the audience still wanting more. The piece was improvised right there onstage, and when the audience loved it, he went on to record it to immortalize the new accidental hit. Not only was What’d I Say Charles’ first top 10 hit, but it was also the song that sparked the genre of soul music into being. This cultural impact is why it was added to the National Recording Registry in 2002.

‘Paint It Black’ — The Rolling Stones

Keith Richards and Mick Jagger collaborated in their song-writing to give us this Rolling Stones masterpiece. The dissonant sound is inspired by Indian, Middle Eastern, and Eastern European music which it uses to convey the lyrics which centre around grief. It quickly became a number 1 hit single in both the United States and the United Kingdom, and is considered one of the iconic band’s best songs. While critics at the time thought Paint It Black might have been an attempt by The Rolling Stones to copy The Beatles, it is now looked upon much more favourably as a wonderfully crafted piece of music.

‘Respect’ — Aretha Franklin

Otis Redding wrote and recorded Respect in 1965, but Aretha Franklin is the one who made the song famous, and is the vocalist you hear in the popularized version of this tune. She released her version in 1967, and won two Grammys for it in 1968. Franklin’s version of Respect was frequently re-interpreted and used for the second-wave feminist movement of the 1970s. In both the 2004 and 2021 Rolling Stone lists of best songs of all time, Aretha Franklin’s Respect ranked within the top 5, and it’s not hard to see why.

‘All Along the Watchtower’ — The Jimi Hendrix Experience

Bob Dylan wrote and released this song in 1967, but Jimi Hendrix covered it in 1968 which is a version that is considered one of the greatest songs of all time. Even Bob Dylan’s own performances of All Along the Watchtower have been influenced by Hendrix’s version, showing just how influential it was that the original artist’s performances are sometimes considered covers of a cover. By using studio techniques and layering guitar tracks, Hendrix managed to convey an increased sense of dread and overwhelm at key points throughout his rendition of the piece.

‘What’s Going On’ — Marvin Gaye

What’s Going On was released in 1971, and was inspired by cases of police brutality that were occurring around the time it was written. This song was Marvin Gaye’s informal farewell to Motown music, since he moved on to mostly write and perform more personal pieces. Though it did not initially perform well, it later ended up at the number 2 spot on the Billboard Hot 100, and is considered to be in the top 10 best songs ever written.

‘Stairway to Heaven’ — Led Zeppelin

Stairway to Heaven is formed of three distinct sections, each rising in its intensity from the soft, slow introduction to the piece to the hard rock tumult in the final section. It ends much like it starts, slowing all the way back down, this time repeating the main chorus line a cappella. While Stairway to Heaven was never released as a single in the United Kingdom, it was voted to be the country’s favourite rock anthem, and was the most requested song on the radio throughout the 1970s.

‘Like a Rolling Stone’ — Bob Dylan

When he was done with an exhausting tour in the United Kingdom, Bob Dylan wrote some lyrics that turned into Like a Rolling Stone the following month in 1965. This track is longer than most of its genre at six minutes and thirteen seconds, which led to many radio stations being uncertain about playing the song, not wanting to lose listeners. However, the runtime did not stop Like a Rolling Stone from becoming a global hit, with artists such as Green Day and Jimi Hendrix covering the song. In 2014 Bob Dylan’s handwritten lyrics to this song were sold at an auction, with the final price being 2 million dollars.

‘God Only Knows’ — The Beach Boys

God Only Knows is considered to be The Beach Boys’ greatest record by most critics and fans alike, with Rolling Stone magazine readers voting it as their number one favourite song. In spite of this, it was never top of the charts, and was released as the B-side track to Wouldn’t it be Nice, which was one of The Beach Boys’ most famous tunes. With a great amount of love for God Only Knows persisting over the years, the song entered the Rock an Roll Hall of Fame, and was listed in Pitchfork Media’s list of the best songs from the 1960s.

‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ — Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan’s Blowin’ in the Wind first graced the world in 1963 after being written the year before. Its lyrics pose a series of questions that are in many ways ambiguous, either being blatantly obvious or unanswerable in their rhetoric. Blowin’ in the Wind has been used as a protest song, and was particularly popular during the civil rights movement to champion equality and the obvious nature of black people’s right to the same place in society as white folks. Rolling Stone ranked it at number 14 of the best songs of all time, and it has been a global success since it first emerged onto the music scene. It went on to inspire many other artists both musically and ideologically.

‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ — The Beatles

This 1963 release was The Beatles’ first number 1 song in the United States, and when it was first released was second only to another Beatles song, She Loves You, in the United Kingdom. Paul McCartney and John Lennon worked on the song together, mostly while in the same space. They were aiming to write a piece that appealed more to the market in the United States, as per recommendation of their manager who was concerned that they had not succeeded in capturing the hearts of Americans enough up until this point. This song release succeeded at its aim whilst also gaining many fans globally with its catchy tune.