(Spoiler: These are my five most listened to songs of all time taken from of a poll of asking just me.)
I was thinking what are the songs that I have listened to the most over my lifetime, the songs that never seem to get old to me. It is funny how our musical tastes are dictated by our age, or experiences and our surroundings more than anything else. If you made your list of five, how many would be because a parent or older sibling listened to it. Or, because of where you were when you first heard it. How many did you hear in high school. I bet very few of you have any songs on your top five list you first heard after you were twenty.
Anyway, here goes mine, in no particular order:
1. A Pirate Looks At 40- Jimmy Buffett. I was in my late twenties when I first saw Buffett in concert. I think it was probably for me what Dead Heads see in the Grateful Dead. There we teenagers and septuagenarians all singing together.
2. Into Thy Mystic- Van Morrison. When you talk about songs you want to hear over and over, this is up there. Interesting, because if I hear Brown Eyed Girl, I can’t change the station fast enough.
3. Lake Marie- John Prine. I was lucky enough to hear this song for the first time live by Mr. Prine at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN. To this day it is my favorite song I have heard live by any singer.
4. Honeysuckle Blue- Drivin n Cryin. Here is proof our musical tastes are often dictated to us by life experience or what we heard when we were young. Growing up in Georgia in the late 80’s, everyone listened to DNC. While REM, the Black Crowes, the Indigo Girls and the B-52s were getting big, DNC is was the band for the locals.
5. River Lady- Roger Whittaker. Finally, like I said, my parents like Roger Whittaker, and I grew up listening to him.
Now if you wanted me to list the greatest songs of all time, it is a different list. These are the ones I actually listen to the most. If you don’t recognize some of these songs, check them out.