#30: "Nightswimming" by R.E.M. (Album: Automatic for the People, 1992)
The penultimate track from my favorite CD of all time, R.E.M.'s masterpiece Automatic for the People, this song is just Michael Stipe singing over a simple piano melody. Later, strings are added. The result is one of the most beautiful songs ever recorded, and it's the perfect lead-in to the closing song, which remains to be revealed on this list.
#29: "Galileo" by Indigo Girls (Album: Rites of Passage, 1992)
One of the qualities of music that most appeals to me is beautiful vocal harmonies, and this pop-folk duo delivers some of the best harmonies of any group. This song in particular appeals to me because of the lyrics, which with their focus on the idea of reincarnation generated an idea years ago for a novel that I'd like to write someday after I jettison my day-job responsibilities.
#28: "One" by U2 (Album: Achtung Baby, 1991)
It's hard to quantify what my "favorite" U2 song would be; I've argued for years that U2 must be in the conversation for greatest rock band of all time, considering their length of continuous quality output with all the original band members. They are also innovators, changing genres and redefining themselves artistically long after other bands have burned out or faded away. "One" stands out above the rest because I love the slow burn of the song's pace, starting quiet and introspective and building dramatically to the powerful conclusion. It's a grand achievement for a band whose final chapter is nowhere near on the horizon.
#27: "Enjoy the Silence" by Depeche Mode (Album: Violator, 1990)
The soundtrack of my first year in graduate school at Mizzou, Depeche Mode's Violator album doesn't have one misstep in any of its tracks, and despite standouts like "Policy of Truth," "Halo," and the ubiquitous "Personal Jesus," "Enjoy the Silence" stands tall above the rest, the indicative archetype of all the qualities—synth-phonic richness, innovative rhythms, vocal virtuosity—that make Depeche Mode the legends of electronic music.
#26: "Dancing Queen" by ABBA (Album: Arrival, 1976)
I've never been more than a casual fan of the seventies supergroup, but even when my exposure to ABBA was only based on radio play, this was always my favorite song of theirs. But a night out dancing with my wife at Walt Disney World featured this song, and since that time, we danced together with our grandchildren at our remarriage wedding reception. There's no other song of theirs that even comes close for me.
#25: "Shout" by Tears for Fears (Album: Songs from the Big Chair, 1985)
The opening song to my favorite album in my collection, "Shout" comes straight from the band's experience with Primal Scream Therapy, in which participants literally scream out their trauma. For my friends and me, this was the soundtrack of my junior and senior years in high school, the song that got played every time we got in the car. The percussion moving like a skipping heartbeat, Roland Orzabal's masterful vocals and guitar solos, and the soul-crushing lyrics (...and when you've taken down your guard/if I could change your mind/I'd really love to break your heart...) all make this song a classic for the ages.
#24: "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns N' Roses (Album: Appetite for Destruction, 1987)
Two decades of ridiculous fighting among the band members, both privately and publicly, combined with the physical ravages of middle age pudge have gone a long way toward making us all forget how absolutely kick-ass this band was when they exploded onto the music scene in the late Eighties. I still think "Welcome to the Jungle" is part of the conversation regarding greatest hard rock songs of all time. I think it's impossible to listen to this song and not feel fired up to assault your fan base and wreck your career.
#23: "Be Still My Beating Heart" by Sting (Album: ...Nothing Like the Sun, 1987)
Had I been keeping track since college, this song would have been listed at #1 or #2 for years and years. As I've written on this blog before, college was an extremely lonely time for me during my undergrad years, and this melancholy tune was like an elixir that inoculated my sadness with the one that Sting sang about so poignantly. I still love the song, but happily, that youthful loneliness is nothing more than a memory.
#22: "Take You Back" by Jeremy Camp (Album: Restored, 2004)
This is the second-highest charting Christian song on my countdown out of only three total—I usually keep Christian music separate from my secular list, but these three exceptions are exceptional. The music on this track is the kind of expert musicianship that Jeremy Camp fans have come to expect, but the lyrics—a modern take on the Prodigal Son parable, my favorite of Jesus's stories—are what place this song so high on my list of favorites.
#21: "Woman in Chains" by Tears for Fears ft. Oleta Adams (Album: The Seeds of Love, 1989)
I saw Tears for Fears live at the Fox Theater in St. Louis back in 1989 on their Seeds of Love tour. They had Oleta Adams, featured throughout the album, on tour with them, playing grand piano and singing. To date, it's still the best concert I've ever seen. This song was the pinnacle of that show, and it's the magnum opus of this album. Songs like this are the reason why I love music.
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