Heart of Rock and Soul Poll: the 1001 Greatest Singles Part 7: 826-850

Whoo-hoo, first!...1. "Come Go with Me, 2. "Summertime Blues," 3. "Wish Someone Would Care," 4. "For What It's Worth." I know someone who I think might vote for "Rumors"...I should go back to the book and try to understand what Marsh heard in "Take It to the Limit." Not only is it the epitome of '70s mediocrity to my ears, I always think of Marsh as a Detroit guy who philosophically hated most of what came out of that specific West Coast moment.

Eddie Cochran-Billy Ward-Manhattans-Springfield-Del Vikings-CCR

x-post Marsh said the Eagles were sort of a guilty pleasure, a decent vocal group with pretensions to art, songwriting reminiscent of Elton John's.

Slim Harpo! Swampy funky sexy swagger with a perfect backscratch guitar solo.

How the fuck could he even consider "Rumors" a good song?

"Rumors" was a great single, but like lots of great singles it doesn't necessarily hold up as a great song 20 years later (though it's certainly a "good" song). But it was still very fresh while Marsh wrote the book and I'm sure it was one of the choices I applauded most strongly at the time.

I'd go for the Passions here, but maybe because I only first heard it four months ago and think it's pretty great. On a different day it'd be Gloria Gaynor or Jack Scott, who if I'm not mistaken, is the first Canadian we've come across?

I'll surprise everyone and vote for "Apache."

come and get your love come and get your love come and get your love now

Man I fucking love that song (five-minute album version's better, though). Not even the Alltell commercial could fuck that song up.

We'll have to disagree, Scott. I only came across "Rumors" in the early nineties, struck by the chintz clogging the synth arrangement and hook.

"...I should go back to the book and try to understand what Marsh heard in "Take It to the Limit." Not only is it the epitome of '70s mediocrity"

such a wonderfully crafted song. GREAT songwriting. and a fine performance on record by the eagles. my fave version might actually be on castleberry & dupree's city down album. it's a perfect song to re-interpret as people see fit. much like any of the standards of yesteryear.

for instance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkoruryCzbk

this is wonderful too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_zNNBsHf9E

Oh man, it's got to be "I've Been Lonely Too Long" - witness the groove of Dino Danelli for starters.

1. Irma Thomas- Wish someone would care
2. Creedence Clearwater Revival- Lodi
3. Slim Harpo- Baby scratch my back
4. Eddie Cochran- Summertime blues
5. Incredible Bongo Band- Apache

I predict CCR will win.

I might have put the Wilbert Harrison up there, but I guess I prefer his "KAnsas City"

830 1975 Eagles- Take it to the limit

worst popular song ever

you need to listen to more music.

830 1975 Eagles- Take it to the limit

worst popular song ever

I dislike the Eagles as much as anyone and still think this is dreadfully wrong.

I think I have to vote for "Sixty Minute Man" just because, well, how the hell did they get away with that in 1951?! Also, I thought 1951 had to be a typo until I double checked it. Wild.

I've always kind of hated "For What It's Worth" for its smugness, great guitar parts notwithstanding.

How did the Timex Social Club never get a cease-and-desist from Timex the watch company?

Runners-up: Rascals, Redbone, Del-Vikings

honestly, "take it to the limit" IS one of the eagles' better songs if you ignore the lyrics. IIRC the dave marsh entry is kind of funny, he notes that the song was clearly their attempt to make a Big Statement about something or other, yet many of the lyrics are garbled to the point of total incoherence.

"how the hell did they get away with that in 1951"

risque R&B songs were a dime a dozen since the beginning of recorded time! although, of course that's a classic one. and it's unusual in that it charted well, i believe.

Eddie Cochran- Summertime blues

Relatively eh chunk this time. The soul tracks just don't stand out enough for me. Maybe that's because I first came to soul via Al Green and all else pales by comparison. Maybe. My book would be called "Rock and Disco" (no "heart") anyway.

Definitely Redbone: "Come and Get Your Love" here even though I ever so slightly prefer The Real McCoy's version (or at least how "Another Night" oozes right into it on the album).

Dig "Rumors" too.

Spent a couple hours hunting these online while the Braves ground up the Mets in the background, so this is the first batch I heard all of before I voted. I wonder if I'll have the energy/interest to get all 1001.

I actually did that too. But since I knew a lot of them, it didn't take that long. Jack Scott, eh? I love me some Canada but this was way too underbaked for my ears.

"Just One Look", that's all it took.

Not the strongest 25 again, but "Black Magic Woman" is great.

"Kiss and Say Goodbye" kills me every time.

"Kiss & Say Goodbye" would definitely have gotten my vote had "Apache" not been in this block--one of my mom's favorite songs and one of mine, too.

Slim Harpo? Del Vikings? Eddie Cochran? Incredible Bongo Band? Nope. Though I considered them.

Voting for "Lodi".

I always liked "Take It Easy" (which takes it to the limit) way more than "Take It To The Limit" (which takes it easy) (observation stolen from my former brother in law, Marvin.)

Eddie Cochran no contest

1. "Kiss And Say Goodbye"
2. "Come Go With Me"
3. "Lodi"
4. "Come And Get Your Love"
5. "Summertime Blues"

"Summertime Blues"

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Looks like P4K mania may have sucked the interest away from here-- c'mon guys, this list is twice as long!

"Bye Bye Johnny" is wonderful; does "Johnny B. Goode" also appear in this book? I think I prefer the former.

voted slim harpo, but kinda think I should have gone with the del vikings. I probably chose Slim based on King Bee which really isn't the best way to chose a vote in these things. So much of this list is made of carved-in-stone classix that are viking probe worthy genre representatives (eg. summertime blues, Apache, Come Go w/ me) that I don't feel bad not voting for them in an internet message board poll since their reps are pretty well est. at this point.

Johnny B Goode is #2 in the book.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.