500 Greatest Songs of All Time (2004)
Rolling Stone's definitive list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.
Click here for
the new, updated 500 Greatest Songs list from 2021
By Jay-Z
A great song doesn’t attempt to be anything ? it just is.
When you hear a great song, you can think of where you were when you first heard it, the sounds, the smells. It takes the emotions of a moment and holds it for years to come. It transcends time. A great song has all the key elements ? melody; emotion; a strong statement that becomes part of the lexicon; and great production. Think of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” by Queen. That song had everything ? different melodies, opera, R&B, rock ? and it explored all of those different genres in an authentic way, where it felt natural.
When I’m writing a song that I know is going to work, it’s a feeling of euphoria. It’s how a basketball player must feel when he starts hitting every shot, when you’re in that zone. As soon as you start, you get that magic feeling, an extra feeling. Songs like that come out in five minutes; if I work on them more than, say, 20 minutes, they’re probably not going to work.
Read Jay-Z’s full essay here.
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Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, ‘Shop Around’
-
Weezer, ‘Buddy Holly’
Writer:
Rivers Cuomo
Producer:
Ric Ocasek
Released:
Aug. '94, DGC
21 weeks; No. 18
In the early 1990s, Cuomo had an awkward girlfriend who was routinely picked on. His efforts to stick up for her inspired
Weezer
's breakthrough, a track whose bubble-grunge hooks and lines such as "I look just like Buddy Holly/And you're Mary Tyler Moore" helped the band reach a nation of pop-minded suburban punks. It also earned Weezer autographed photos from the real Mary Tyler Moore.
Appears on:
Weezer
(Geffen)
-
The Rolling Stones, ‘Miss You’
Writers:
Mick Jagger, Keith Richards
Producers:
The Glimmer Twins
Released:
May '78, Rolling Stones
20 weeks; No. 1
The Stones
were in Toronto, rehearsing for their classic gigs at the El Mocambo Club, when
Jagger
, jamming with R&B legend Billy Preston, came up with "Miss You." With a disco groove and a touch of the blues via a harmonica player they found in a Paris subway, it became the band's first Number One hit in five years. "It's not really about a girl," Jagger said. "The feeling of longing is what the song is."
Appears on:
Some Girls
(Virgin)
RELATED:
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•
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•
500 Greatest Albums of All Time: Number 269, The Rolling Stones'
Some Girls
-
Bruce Springsteen, ‘The Rising’
Writer:
Springsteen
Producer:
Brendan O'Brien
Released:
July '02, Columbia
11 weeks; No. 52
Springsteen
wrote the track about 9/11, taking the viewpoint of a firefighter entering one of the Twin Towers ("Can't see nothin' in front of me …") before unleashing the gospel-tinged chorus. It was the title track from an album intended to help his fans cope with the tragedy. "The fundamental thing I hear from fans is, 'Man, you got me through' — whatever it is," he told
Rolling Stone
in 2002.
Appears on:
The Rising
(Columbia)
RELATED:
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•
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-
Jackson Browne, ‘Running on Empty’
Writer:
Browne
Producer:
Browne
Released:
Jan. '77, Asylum
17 weeks; No. 11
The
Running on Empty
album was
Browne
's grand experiment: a set of all-new songs recorded onstage, in hotel rooms and on the tour bus. The title track was actually written while Browne was driving to the studio each day to make
The Pretender
. "I was always driving around with no gas in the car," he said. "I just never bothered to fill up the tank because — how far was it anyway? Just a few blocks."
Appears on:
Running on Empty
(Elektra)
-
The Rolling Stones, ‘Brown Sugar’
-
R. Kelly, ‘Ignition (Remix)’
Writer:
Kelly
Producer:
Kelly
Released:
Oct. '02, Jive
42 weeks; No. 2
R. Kelly
's automotive metaphors for booty-knockin' in "Ignition" are subtler than they might've been; the lyrics were toned down at the request of a Chicago radio station. On
Chocolate Factory
, the original version of the song segued immediately into the hit remix.
Appears on:
Chocolate Factory
(Jive)
-
MGMT, ‘Time to Pretend’
Writers:
Ben Goldwasser, Andrew VanWyngarden
Producer:
Dave Fridmann
Released:
Jan '08, Columbia
Did Not Chart
The rhythm was inspired by the wriggling of a praying mantis that VanWyngarden and Goldwasser kept in college. VanWyngarden wrote about rock-star fantasies ("I'll move to Paris, shoot some heroin"), though it's unclear how facetious the words are. "Some think we're druggies. Others see the tongue-in-cheek element," he said. "That's what I hope for as a lyricist: confusion!"
Appears on:
Oracular Spectacular
(Columbia)
-
Gloria Gaynor, ‘I Will Survive’
Writers:
Dino Fekaris, Freddie Perren
Producers:
Fekaris, Perren
Released:
Dec. '78, Polydor
27 weeks; No. 1
In 1979, Gaynor's career was falling apart. Donna Summer had replaced her as the leading disco diva, and the 32-year-old Gaynor had recently suffered the death of her mother and had undergone spinal surgery. So when she belted out "I Will Survive," she brought extra attitude. The track was originally a B side, but after enterprising DJs started to play it at discos, it turned into a smash.
Appears on:
I Will Survive: The Anthology
(Polygram)
-
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, ‘I Love Rock ‘N Roll’
Writers:
Jake Hooker, Alan Merrill
Producers:
Ritchie Cordell, Kenny Laguna
Released:
Jan. '82, Boardwalk
20 weeks; No. 1
Attempting to jump-start a solo career after her stint in the Runaways,
Jett
had her demo tape to "I Love Rock 'N Roll" rejected by 23 record labels. Tiny Boardwalk Records finally bit, but the label sold her the radio rights to the track for $2,500. Today, the song is worth nearly $20 million.
Appears on:
I Love Rock 'N Roll
(Blackheart)
RELATED:
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-
Coldplay, ‘Clocks’
Writers:
Coldplay
Producers:
Ken Nelson, Mark Phythian
Released:
Aug. '02, Capitol
22 weeks; No. 29
Coldplay
were scrambling to finish their second album and wanted to save "Clocks," with a churning piano riff inspired by the band
Muse
, for a later album. Luckily, a friend intervened. "He said, 'You're going on [in the lyrics] about urgency, and you're talking about keeping this song back,' " said Chris Martin. " 'That doesn't make sense.' "
Appears on:
A Rush of Blood to the Head
(Capitol)
RELATED:
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A Rush of Blood to the Head
-
The Drifters, ‘Under the Boardwalk’
Writers:
Arthur Resnick, Kenny Young
Producer:
Bert Berns
Released:
June '64, Atlantic
33 weeks; No. 4
A staple of beach-town jukeboxes every summer since its release, "Under the Boardwalk" evokes the carefree sounds of the shore. But its recording was no day at the beach. Johnny Moore was drafted to sing lead because the track's original singer, Rudy Lewis, died of a heroin overdose in his hotel room the night before the session.
Appears on:
The Very Best of the Drifters
(Rhino)
RELATED:
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-
The Cure, ‘Just Like Heaven’
Writers:
Robert Smith, Simon Gallup, Porl Thompson, Lol Tolhurst, Boris Williams
Producers:
David Allen, Smith
Released:
May '87, Elektra
19 weeks; No. 40
"I've never been a big fan of irony," Smith said, which might be why this reverie of love, cut at a vineyard in the South of France, is his favorite
Cure
song. The band's girlfriends influenced the music. "The girls would sit on the sofa in the back of the control room and give the songs marks out of 10," he said. "So there was a really big female input."
Appears on:
Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me
(Elektra)
-
Alice Cooper, ‘I’m Eighteen’
Writers:
Michael Bruce, Glen Buxton, Cooper, Dennis Dunway, Neal Smith
Producers:
Bob Erzin, Jack Richardson
Released:
Feb. '71, Warner Bros.
13 weeks; No. 21
Before "I'm Eighteen,"
Cooper
was just another hairy rock oddball. But this proto-punk smash defined the age when, in Cooper's words, you're "old enough to be drafted but not old enough to vote." A few years later, Johnny Rotten sang this at his audition for the
Sex Pistols
; by then, Cooper was a guest on
The Muppet Show
.
Appears on:
Love It to Death
(Warner Bros.)
RELATED:
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Love It to Death
-
David Bowie, ‘Young Americans’
-
LaBelle, ‘Lady Marmalade’
Writers:
Bob Crewe, Kenny Nolan
Producer:
Allen Toussaint
Released:
Jan. '75, Epic
18 weeks; No. 1
This hit about a Big Easy streetwalker remains in rotation 35 years after it hit Number One. The group was from Philadelphia, but the nasty groove was classic New Orleans, with producer Toussaint and his house band, legendary R&B stalwarts the Meters, funking up the beat. Thanks to the ladies of LaBelle, every disco fan now knows at least one line of French: "
Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?
"
Appears on:
Nightbirds
(Epic)
RELATED:
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Nightbirds
-
Justin Timberlake, ‘Cry Me a River’
Writers:
Timbaland, Scott Storch, Timberlake
Producer:
Timbaland
Released:
Nov. '02, Jive
20 weeks; No. 3
This breakup aria marked the formation of the
Timberlake
–
Timbaland
team, a match made in pop heaven. The stunning video — in which Justin stalks an actress dressed to look like his ex
Britney Spears
— made clear the inspiration for "River." "It's a good-ass video," Timberlake told
Rolling Stone
. "I didn't want anyone to come off smelling like roses."
Appears on:
Justified
(Jive)
-
Jefferson Airplane, ‘White Rabbit’
Writer:
Grace Slick
Producer:
Rick Jarrard
Released:
Sept. '67, RCA
10 weeks; No. 8
"White Rabbit" was a trippy rock & roll bolero written by
Airplane
vocalist Slick. "Our parents read us stories like
Peter Pan
,
Alice in Wonderland
and
The Wizard of Oz
," Slick said. "They all have a place where children get drugs, and are able to fly or see an Emerald City or experience extraordinary animals and people… And our parents are suddenly saying, 'Why are you taking drugs?' Well,
hello!
"
Appears on:
Surrealistic Pillow
(RCA)
RELATED:
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-
Kelly Clarkson, ‘Since U Been Gone’
Writers:
Dr. Luke, Max Martin
Producers:
Dr. Luke, Martin
Released:
Nov. '04, RCA
46 weeks; No. 2
Pop gurus Max Martin and Lukasz "Dr. Luke" Gottwald wrote this indignant track with
Pink
in mind, but
Clarkson
's A&R rep snatched it up for the first-ever American Idol. The result was a career-making hit that gave teen pop a feisty new template. "I went to see
Foo Fighters
when I was off in Texas," Clarkson said, "and the first thing Dave Grohl said to me was, 'I love that song!' "
Appears on:
Breakaway
(RCA)
-
Rick James, ‘Super Freak’
Writers:
James, Alonzo Miller
Producer:
James
Released:
Aug. '81, Gordy
24 weeks; No. 16
James wasn't exactly modest about his ambitions. As he declared in 1981, "I wanna make
Paul McCartney
white-boy money!" He got it with the self-described "punk funk" of "Super Freak," from his breakthrough album,
Street Songs
. James enlisted the
Temptations
for background vocals. The song got a second life when MC Hammer jacked it for the 1990 megasmash "U Can't Touch This."
Appears on:
Street Songs
(Motown)
-
Beastie Boys, ‘Sabotage’
Writers:
Beastie Boys
Producers:
Beastie Boys, Mario Caldato Jr.
Released:
May '94, Grand Royal
Did Not Chart
Adam "MCA" Yauch came up with the killer fuzz-bass riff at Manhattan's Tin Pan Alley studio, but it wasn't until a year later that the song was finished in L.A. With two weeks to go before
Ill Communication
was completed, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz got all hot and bothered about paparazzi on the mike and came out of the song's breakdown with a scream for the ages.
Appears on:
Ill Communication
(Capitol)
RELATED:
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-
Foreigner, ‘I Want to Know What Love Is’
Writer:
Mick Jones
Producers:
Jones, Alex Sadkin
Released:
Nov. '84, Atlantic
21 weeks; No. 1
This gospel-rock hymn featured
Dreamgirls
star Jennifer Holliday, one of the Thompson Twins and, most notably, the New Jersey Mass Choir. Said Jones, "I'll always remember them getting in a circle before we did it and everyone saying the Lord's Prayer." That probably didn't happen for "Hot Blooded" — but this soaring ballad became Foreigner's biggest hit.
Appears on:
Agent Provocateur
(Atlantic)
-
The Strokes, ‘Last Nite’
Writer:
Julian Casablancas
Producer:
Gordon Raphael
Released:
Aug. '01, RCA
Did Not Chart
Youthful angst on the Lower East Side:
Lou Reed
vocals and cool confusion, driven by the surging, garage-band sound that would go on to define early-2000s rock.
The Strokes
supposedly nicked the opening riff from
Tom Petty
's "American Girl." "I saw an interview with them where they admitted it," Petty told
Rolling Stone
. "I was like, 'OK, good for you.' It doesn't bother me."
Appears on:
Is This It
(RCA)
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-
The Smiths, ‘How Soon Is Now?’
-
Aretha Franklin, ‘Do Right Woman ? Do Right Man’
-
The Supremes, ‘Where Did Our Love Go’
Writers:
Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, Eddie Holland
Producers:
Brian Holland, Dozier
Released:
June '64, Motown
14 weeks; No. 1
After eight flop singles, the trio were known as the "No-Hit
Supremes
." The Marvelettes — Motown's top girl group at that point — passed on this song, and the Supremes didn't like their own recording. Until it hit Number One, that is. That foot-stomping beat is actually two boards banged together.
Appears on:
The Ultimate Collection
(Motown)
RELATED:
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-
Van Morrison, ‘Into the Mystic’
-
Guns N’ Roses, ‘Welcome to the Jungle’
-
Del Shannon, ‘Runaway’
Writers:
Shannon, Max Crook
Producers:
Harry Balk, Irving Micahnik
Released:
March '61, Big Top
17 weeks; No. 1
As a kid, Shannon got his first guitar for $5. His truck-driver dad wasn't too happy about it. "'You get that goddamn guitar outta here' — that's the exact words my father used," Shannon recalled. "However, my ma said, 'It's OK, son. You can sing for me.'" He sang this hit with raw emotion; co-writer Crook played the solo on an early electronic keyboard called the Musitron.
Appears on:
Greatest Hits
(Rhino)
-
Cheap Trick, ‘Surrender’
Writer:
Rick Nielsen
Producer:
Tom Werman
Released:
May '78, Epic
8 weeks; No. 62
Cheap Trick
provided the ultimate Seventies teen anthem in "Surrender," with a verse about a kid who catches his parents making out and gets stoned to his
Kiss
records. Guitarist- songwriter Nielsen's secret? "I [had] to go back and put myself in the head of a 14-year-old."
Appears on:
Heaven Tonight
(Epic)
-
The Four Tops, ‘Standing in the Shadows of Love’
Writers:
Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, Eddie Holland
Producers:
Brian Holland, Dozier
Released:
Dec. '66, Motown
10 weeks; No. 6
Like so many other Motown hits, "Standing" features the popping bass of James Jamerson. He was such a monster player, his fellow musicians called him "Igor";
Marvin Gaye
called him a genius.
Appears on:
The Ultimate Collection
(Motown)
RELATED:
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100 Greatest Artists of All Time: The Four Tops
-
The Beatles, ‘Rain’
Writers:
John Lennon, Paul McCartney
Producer:
George Martin
Released:
June ’66, Capitol
7 weeks; No. 23
The B side of “Paperback Writer” was
Lennon
‘s response to people moaning about the wet British weather. It featured one of the earliest uses of backward tape, which Lennon said was the result of being stoned and spooling up the tape wrong. It also included virtuoso drumming from
Ringo Starr
. “I feel as though that was someone else playing,” Starr said. “I was possessed!”
Appears on:
Past Masters
(Capitol/Apple)
RELATED:
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-
The Staple Singers, ‘Respect Yourself’
Writers:
Luther Ingram, Mack Rice
Producer:
Al Bell
Released:
Oct. '71, Stax
14 weeks; No. 12
Stax singer Ingram, frustrated with the state of the world, told house songwriter Rice that "black folk need to learn to respect themselves." Rice liked the comment so much that he built a funk groove around it, then gave the song to the Staples. "This is the song I've been waiting [for]," said producer Bell, who laid it down with the famous Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section.
Appears on:
Bealtitude: Respect Yourself
(Stax)
RELATED:
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100 Greatest Singers of All Time: Mavis Staples
-
Jay-Z Featuring UGK, ‘Big Pimpin”
Writers:
Jay-Z, Bun B, Pimp C, Timbaland, Kyambo Joshua
Producer:
Timbaland
Released:
Dec. '99, Roc-A-Fella
20 weeks; No. 18
For this thumping ode to conspicuous consumption, the king of New York rap hooked up with Houston rap dons UGK over a beat that sounds like it was cut in Cairo.
Timbaland
allegedly based the melody on a 1957 song by Egyptian Abdel Halim Hafez.
Appears on:
Vol. 3: Life and Times of S. Carter
(Roc-A-Fella)
-
Missy Elliott, ‘Get Ur Freak On’
Writers:
Elliott, Timbaland
Producer:
Timbaland
Released:
March '01, Gold Mind/Elektra
25 weeks; No. 7
Elliott was convinced that
Miss E
needed one more track. So
Timbaland
cooked up a stuttering, tabla-laden beat based on
bhangra
, an Indian dance genre he heard while traveling, and plucked out the signature six-note riff on a
tumbi
, a one-stringed Punjabi guitar.
Appears on:
Miss E … So Addictive
(Atlantic/ATG)
-
Muddy Waters, ‘Rollin’ Stone’
Writer:
McKinley Morganfield
Producers:
Leonard and Phil Chess
Released:
1948, Chess
predates chart
For Chess Records' first single,
Waters
turned Mississippi bluesman Robert Petway's "Catfish Blues" into a spare track he named "Rollin' Stone." "We wouldn't do it exactly like those older fellows," Waters said. "We put the beat with it, put a little drive to it."
The Rolling Stones
took their name from it, as did, in part, this magazine.
Appears on:
The Anthology: 1947-1972
(Chess/MCA)
RELATED:
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•
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-
Prince and the Revolution, ‘Kiss’
Writers:
Prince and the Revolution
Producers:
Prince and the Revolution
Released:
Feb. '86, Paisley Park
18 weeks; No. 1
The Paisley Park band Mazarati asked
Prince
for a song, so he dashed off a bluesy acoustic demo for them. Mazarati added a funk groove, and Prince was smart enough to take the song back.
Appears on:
Parade
(Warner Bros.)
RELATED:
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-
Sam and Dave, ‘Soul Man’
Writers:
Isaac Hayes, David Porter
Producers:
Hayes, Porter
Released:
Sept. '67, Stax
15 weeks; No. 2
For the follow-up to "Hold On, I'm Comin'," writer-producers Hayes and Porter decided to tinker with their formula: Porter asked singer Sam Moore to give him "the Bobby Bland squall," guitarist Steve Cropper came up with the licks that set up the familiar blast of the Memphis Horns, and —
voilà!
— another soul classic was born. "We had no idea how good we were," Hayes said of the partnership.
Appears on:
Soul Men
(Rhino)
-
Nirvana, ‘All Apologies’
-
Ramones, ‘Sheena Is a Punk Rocker’
-
George Harrison, ‘My Sweet Lord’
-
Guns N’ Roses, ‘Paradise City’
-
Sam Cooke, ‘Cupid’
Writer:
Cooke
Producers:
Cooke, Hugo and Luigi
Released:
July '61, RCA
17 weeks; No. 12
Cooke
's producers had asked him to write a song for a girl they had seen on a Perry Como TV show — but once they heard her sing, they kept "Cupid" for Cooke to do himself. It was Cooke's idea to drop in the sound of an arrow being fired "straight to my lover's heart."
Appears on:
Greatest Hits
(RCA)
RELATED:
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-
Chubby Checker, ‘The Twist’
Writer:
Hank Ballard
Producer:
Karl Mann
Released:
Aug. '60, Parkway
39 weeks; No. 1
"The Twist" began as a B side for Ballard and the Midnighters in 1958. But in 1960, former chicken plucker Checker covered it at Dick Clark's suggestion. "Going crazy is what I was looking for — where the music is so good you lose control," Checker said. " 'The Twist' did that."
Appears on:
Greatest Hits
(Prime Cuts)
-
The Beatles, ‘Penny Lane’
Writers:
John Lennon, Paul McCartney
Producer:
George Martin
Released:
Feb. '67, Capitol
10 weeks; No. 1
After
Lennon
composed "Strawberry Fields Forever,"
McCartney
wrote his own snappy memoir. Penny Lane was a Liverpool bus stop where Lennon and McCartney often met. "John came over and helped me with the third verse, as was often the case," McCartney said. "We were writing recently faded memories from eight or 10 years before."
Appears on:
Magical Mystery Tour
(Capitol/Apple)
RELATED:
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100 Greatest Artists of All Time: The Beatles
-
The Velvet Underground, ‘Heroin’
-
The Shangri-Las, ‘Leader of the Pack’
Writers:
George "Shadow" Morton, Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich
Producers:
Morton, Barry, Greenwich
Released:
Oct. '64, Red Bird
12 weeks; No. 1
Morton found the inspiration for this song at a diner in Hicksville, New York. "Bikers, hot rodders, gum-smacking ladies," he said, "not careful at all about their language." He brought a bike into the studio for the motorcycle sounds.
Appears on:
Myrmidons of Melodrama: Definitive Collection
(RPM)
-
Toots and the Maytals, ‘Pressure Drop’
Writer:
Toots Hibbert
Producer:
Leslie Kong
Released:
Feb. '73, Mango
Did Not Chart
Toots and the Maytals
were already reggae stars — they coined the word on 1968's "Do the Reggay" — before "Pressure Drop." They were rumored to be Chris Blackwell's choice over
Bob Marley
and the Wailers when he wanted a group for his Island label.
Appears on:
The Harder They Come
(Hip-O)
RELATED:
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Nirvana, ‘Come As You Are’
-
Sonny and Cher, ‘I Got You Babe’
Writer:
Sonny Bono
Producer:
Bono
Released:
July '65, Atco
14 weeks; No. 1
Late one night, while Sonny and
Cher
were living in their manager's house, Bono woke up Cher and asked her to listen to "I Got You Babe" and to sing the lyrics, which he had written on a piece of shirt cardboard. She thought it was OK but really wanted a song that modulated. So he changed the key at the bridge and woke Cher up again hours later to hear it; she was delighted.
Appears on:
The Beat Goes On: The Best of Sonny and Cher
(Atlantic)