Rolling Stone Selects 500 All-Time Greatest Songs

Calling it “the ultimate jukebox,” Rolling Stone recently unveiled its list of the 500 all-time greatest songs. Comprising the work of just about everyone who is anyone over the last 50-plus years from Hank Williams to OutKast, the list was compiled from nominations submitted by 172 singers, songwriters, producers, and others from all corners of the music industry.

Who are some of the big winners?

No surprises here. Topping the list with the most songs included in the 500 were The Beatles with 23, The Rolling Stones (14), Bob Dylan (12), and Elvis Presley (11). These results, the magazine notes, are a measure of these acts’ “unbroken reign as rock’s most influential, beloved artists.”

Which songs headed the list?

Few surprises here. Number one was Bob Dylan’s 1965 classic Like a Rolling Stone. (We’re sure the magazine got a chuckle out of this selection.) Singing the song’s praise, the editors singled out such forces as “the impressionist voltage of Dylan’s language, the intensely personal accusation in his voice, the apocalyptic charge of (Al) Kooper’s garage-gospel organ and Mike Bloomfield’s stiletto-sharp spirals of Telecaster guitar, (and) the defiant six-minute length of the…master take.” Rolling Stone concluded: “No other pop song has so thoroughly challenged and transformed the commercial laws and artistic conventions of its time, for all time.”

Rolling Stone’s top 49

1. Satisfaction (as in “I can’t get no”) - The Rolling Stones
2. Imagine - John Lennon
3. What’s Going On - Marvin Gaye
4. Respect (as in “All I want is a little”) - Aretha Franklin
5. Good Vibrations - The Beach Boys
6. Johnny B. Goode - Chuck Berry
7. Hey Jude - The Beatles
8. Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
9. What’d I Say - Ray Charles
10. My Generation - The Who
11. A Change is Gonna Come - Sam Cooke
12. Yesterday - The Beatles
13. Blowin’ in the Wind - Bob Dylan
14. London Calling - The Clash
15. I Want to Hold Your Hand - The Beatles
16. Purple Haze - The Jimi Hendrix Experience
17. Maybellene - Chuck Berry
18. Hound Dog - Elvis Presley
19. Let It Be - The Beatles
20. Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen
21. Be My Baby - The Ronettes
22. In My Life - The Beatles
23. People Get Ready - The Impressions
24. God Only Knows - The Beach Boys
25. A Day in the Life - The Beatles
26. Layla - Derek and the Dominos
27. The Dock of the Bay - Otis Redding
28. Help! - The Beatles
29. I Walk the Line - Johnny Cash
30. Stairway to Heaven - Led Zepplin
31. Symphony for the Devil - The Rolling Stones
32. River Deep - Mountain High, Ike and Tina Turner
33. You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ - The Righteous Brothers
34. Light My Fire - The Doors
35. One - U2
36. No Woman, No Cry - Bob Marley and the Wailers
37. Gimme Shelter - The Rolling Stones
38. That’ll Be the Day - Buddy Holly and the Crickets
39. Dancing in the Street - Martha and the Vandellas
40. The Weight - The Band
41. Waterloo Sunset - The Kinks
42. Tutti-Frutti - Little Richard
43. Georgia on My Mind - Ray Charles
44. Heartbreak Hotel - Elvis Presley
45. Heroes - David Bowie
46. Bridge over Troubled Water - Simon and Garfunkel
47. All Along the Watchtower - The Jimi Hendrix Experience
48. Hotel California - The Eagles
49. The Tracks of My Tears - Smokey Robinson and the Miracles

www.rollingstone.com