Top 200 Favorite Songs, Part 4

(If you're just tuning in, I'm doing a rundown of my Top 200 Favorite Songs-see the bottom of the page for previous entries and welcome!)

I fell in love with Tammy Wynette in college.  This is not something you'd expect a liberal gay Millennial to say, but I have never been what one would call traditional.  It also speaks to the universality of Tammy Wynette's music.  Tammy sang about love, hardship, and some subjects that were considered taboo at the time, and in some cases, became even more taboo years later.  Yes, her songs bordered onto the anti-feminist (though she was always sure to remind people that her quintessential anthem ended "he's just a man," a lyric she knew well considering she had five husbands in her lifetime), but she also found so much truth in what she wrote.  She's perhaps one of the only people ever to embrace, during her heyday lyrics not of a woman in love, but of a married woman in love, and occasionally, in hardship.  Think of how many songs she sang from the perspective of a parent, and also of someone who was lonely in love.  I found that concept really fascinating, and still do-Tammy Wynette's music is twangy and occasionally simple, but it's always deeply-felt and true.  I will always be glad that I found her when I did, conventions be damned.

170. "Sweet Baby James," James Taylor (1970)

Yes, that handsome, shaggy-haired man in the video is James Taylor, the guy your mom has been insisting is sexy for decades (and yes, you owe her an apology, even if the hipster sweater is being worn unironically).  While his sex appeal may not be what it was, James Taylor's heavenly, clean voice has never been in question, and his gorgeous melody for his nephew is beautifully-performed here in minimalist style.

169. "Another Lonely Song," Tammy Wynette (1973)

Not one of Tammy's best-known songs (though it did hit Number One on the Country charts...then again she did that with 21 of her songs so the effect started to get lost after a while), "Another Lonely Song" is perhaps her most raw.  The woman who sang about the hurt of a D-I-V-O-R-C-E starts out with "time won't ease my memory" and then proclaims that she's desperate for love, but all she still has is the "night that goes on and on" and "another lonely song."

168. "Earth Angel," The Penguins (1954)

I maintain that anyone, and I repeat, anyone, could make that plunge from crush to love simply by listening to "Earth Angel," by the Penguins.  Jesse Belvin's perfect vocals in the lead, just elevating and pleading is absolutely divine, and though I originally saw it cheesily in Back to the Future, it's hard not to fall hard while listening to "I'm just a fool...a fool in love with you."

167. "Take Me to the River," Al Green (1974)

A song that takes you to the church, and let's be honest, to bed.  The song was considered so sexy that Green dropped it from his repertoire when he became "The Reverend."  I love the way that it sounds like a revival and at the same time there's a weirdly perfect balance between the band, consistently repetitive but never boring, and Al Green preaching about the "sweet sixteen he will never forget."  It's the sort of song you kind of wish will never end, and Green would indulge well beyond the recorded track during performances, like the above clip.

166. "Hit the Road Jack," Ray Charles (1961)

I can never decide what my favorite part of this tune is-is it Ray Charles impeccable pleading on the piano, or whether it's the chorus of women who keep reminding him that he needs to hit the road, Jack.  Perhaps it's the growl of "don't care if you do," where the song hits its best stride-indifference never swang so good.

165. "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)," Pink Floyd (1979)

The actual song in the above video starts at around the 2:24 mark, as this piece is part of the epic Pink Floyd rock opera The Wall (which I cannot believe I've never seen-Netflix queue adding...).  You don't need to have seen the film, though, to appreciate the rousing chorus "we don't need no education," one of the cleverest lyrics I've ever seen-this song is the pudding, even if you haven't eaten your meat.

164. "Proud Mary," Ike & Tina Turner (1970)

Long before everyone proclaimed Beyonce "Queen Bey," there was the original diva with the legs that wouldn't quit.  Tina Turner is a force of nature, and that's never been so evident than in "Proud Mary."  Easy or rough, this is a song that finds the toughness of working-class life, and the song shows that Ike was only along for the ride-Tina was always the star.

163. "Stay," Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons (1964)

Jackson Browne may have added a pianist's depth to the song, but for me there is only the Frankie Valli version.  Valli's falsetto isn't for everyone, but I remember the first time I heard him sing "Stay" I couldn't believe that a man could sing that high and I persistently tried over and over to do it (sadly, it was a skill I could not acquire).  This is possibly the shortest song on this list, but it still packs an impression.

162. "Your Cheatin' Heart," Hank Williams, Sr. (1952)

Yes, his son is probably a sociopath.  Yes, he sounds 72 when in fact he was only 29.  But the reality is that no one has done more for country music than Hank Williams.  This song, talking about the loneliness and bitterness of a man scorned, is beautifully succinct.  Williams laid it bare in his music, and that is encapsulated in this ditty, his signature song.

161. "Monday, Monday," The Mamas & the Papas (1966)

Weirdly my favorite aspect of the Mamas & the Papas (Cass Elliot, of course), is relegated to background vocals on this, their best song as a group.  The song, nostalgic for a time gone by and upset about the present, is a wonderful metaphor for what many were experiencing in the 1960's, but it was weirdly mimicked by a group that embraced the change of the era.  That conundrum, along with a haunting melody, is what makes this such a treasure.

There you have it-our fourth installment of the Top 200 Greatest Songs list-did I touch on one of your personal favorites?  Are you also an atypical Tammy Wynette fan?  If so, let's hear about it!

If you missed previous installments of this series click here: Part 1, 2, 3