1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die - 1965

Now finally there is a Beatles track in there, yet none that I'd vote for. I consider "Help!", "Yesterday", "Nowhere Man", "Michelle", "Girl" and, most of all, "In My Life" to be much better songs.

In spite of this, and the lack of Beach Boys as well (at least "California Girls" should have been in there), there are still lots of great songs here
I am voting for "California Dreamin'", but "Mr. Tambourine Man", "Like a Rolling Stone", "Stop! In The Name Of Love", "The Sounds Of Silence" and "The Tracks Of My Tears" are all pretty much perfect classics as well.

just watched chunking express & voting for california dreamin

"ticket to ride", "the tracks of my tears", "satisfaction", and "papa's got a brand new bag" are up there and it still ain't close for me: "like a rolling stone".

Voting for only one is silly

Otis.

Really tough call, went with Nina.

The Who in a walk. But then, that pretty much goes for any poll the Who are in.

Once you get to '65, the circuits start to overload--there's just so much brilliance all over the radio, making a list of 20 or 25 songs that much more arbitrary. (I swear I've never even heard of the Preachers.) From the list, "Ticket to Ride" just barely over "Like a Rolling Stone." My (newly self-imposed limit of) three favourites not on the list: Bert Jansch's "Running from Home," Jackson C. Frank's "Blues Run the Game," Angela Strange & Jennifer Lewis's "You Know." Making me feel kind of silly, as those are equally arbitrary non-hits.

the best year ever for singles? You could certainly make a strong case.

I won't even bother reading the entire list.

Like A Rolling Stone

Fuck you if you didn't vote for "Sinnerman".

I feel that strongly about this.

Bob

like a rolling stone, with satisfaction a very distant second. actually listened to both again before I voted, but two seconds into rolling stone I felt silly for having even doubted it.

oh shit, The Miracles vs Otis. really want to vote for both but lately i've been feeling Otis more so that gets my vote.

the clincher is the coda on "I've Been Loving You", that brassy loop needs to go on to infinity really.

Very tough. Hold many of these in very high regard but went with Nina

a million worthy choices, but voted subterranean homesick blues just cuz

Nina Simone: Sinnerman
James Brown: Papa's Got a Brand New Bag
The Mamas & The Papas: California Dreamin'
The Rolling Stones: (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
The Miracles: The Tracks Of My Tears
The Preachers: Who Do You Love?
The Sonics: Psycho
The Supremes: Stop! In The Name Of Love
Bob Dylan: Subterranean Homesick Blues
Simon & Garfunkel: The Sounds of Silence
The Righteous Brothers: Unchained Melody

look at this. it's fucking ridiculous.

SINNERMAN!

Bah, it's only going to get harder.

The Beatles' "Ticket to Ride" a bit neglected by Geir....

Anyway, went for My Generation.

Ticket To Ride - just ahead of My Genearation.

The Tracks Of My Tears - just ahead of Ticket To Ride

Agreeing this is kind of impossible. 1965-67 are sort of the formative years in rock history in many ways, and also known as great singles years. As I said, the batches in 1966-67 will be possibly even more impossible to choose from. Then maybe it calms down a bit (or maybe not?), but I suspect the early 80s ones will be just as difficult to choose from for many of us here.

I don't know why I have never been a fan of "Ticket To Ride", but I feel in a way that the song stands a bit too much in the same area all the time, without enough contrast, development nor climax. The middle-eight is just a rather unimaginative IV-V-variation, instead of changing to another key and taking us an entirely different place like The Beatles' best middle-eights usually did. It's not a bad song, but it has never amazed me the same way so many other Beatles songs do.

The Tracks Of My Tears - just ahead of Ticket To Ride

this

My love for "Ticket to Ride" is inseparable from how it's used in Help!:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY_6b4-N9Uo&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active

I feel like it's not even fair to compare it to "Like a Rolling Stone" until I get to see Dylan singing his song while frolicking around in the snow.

Ticket to Ride is awesome, the one instance where midperiod Beatles turned lethargy into something positive. There's a langorous quality, an immersive sensousness that pervades the slow paisley proto-psych of this song, typified by the song's main hook. "She's gotta ticket to ride" is one of the least obvious ways to say "get fucked" ever invented (so much so that ppl still speculate that it might actually refer to prostitution), but within the context of the song, it's all about how the syllables "tikk-a tur-iiide" fall off the tongue. A music box melody that spits venom, the internal tensions of this song makes it one more shining example of how Lennon used megastardom to reinvent both himself and rock music...

And yet, as much as I love it, this poll is down to Supremes vs. Simon & Garfunkel; go figure.

I mean, how can you mess with "Stop! In the Name of Love" Hearing that for the first time was like getting electrocuted...

In order:

The Rolling Stones: (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
The Supremes: Stop! In The Name Of Love
The Miracles: The Tracks Of My Tears
Otis Redding: I've Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now)

tracks of my tears is such a well-written pop song and smokey is an incomparable performer, so that's my vote

There are a ridiculous amount of absolute classics on this list. "Like a Rolling Stone" and "Satisfaction" often show up on top 25 or 50 or whatever songs of all time and they actually deserve it! Not to mention stuff like "Sinnerman" and "Tracks of my Tears". Ah well, suppose I'll go with "Like a Rolling Stone", which still holds up after crazy hype and many listens.

"Ticket to Ride" is fine, though I should note that Help and Rubber Soul are actually my two favorite Beatles albums so there's lots of good Beatles ones missing.

stop! in the name of love
sounds of silence
sinnerman
ticket to ride
psycho
tracks of my tears
subterranean homesick blues
i've been loving you too long (to stop now)
mr. tambourine man
(i can't get no) satisfaction
like a rolling stone
my generation

geir & fanoe otm: this is a hell of a list of songs...!

"Satisfaction" BARELY over "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag."

Fuck you if you didn't vote for "Sinnerman".

― skot gigz - moombah pimpin' (The Reverend), Tuesday, May 24, 2011 11:44 PM (Yesterday)

Rev otm

never knew California dreamin' is from 1965? (even more surprised to learn it was written in 63')

for an early Byrds song, "Mr. Tambourine Man" sounds too slick and not propulsive enough to rank with their very best, in my challopsy opinion. maybe it's the heavy use of session musicians on that track; that keyboard doesn't really need to be there, and while Roger's guitar playing is perfect, it doesn't really fit into the rest of the arrangement texturally. for a 1965 Byrds song, I would've gone with "Turn, Turn, Turn" or "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better".

Mr. Tambourine Man is the breakthrough hit for the Byrds and established folk rock: Dylan song covered so that it sounds like the Beatles, McGuinn's sparkling 12-string guitar garnishing the edges; I mean, I like Turn! Turn! Turn! more too, but Tambourine is the archetype...

I'm not contesting its importance, just its (totally subjective) musical merit. "Turn, Turn, Turn" is almost as iconic anyways, even though it's just a continuation on "Mr. Tambourine Man"s sound. I guess it amounts to whether you want to hear the most important songs or the nicest-sounding songs before you die, or a little of both.

I'd credit Jackie DeShannon's "When You Walk in the Room" (1964) with practically inventing the Byrds' signature folk-rock sound, but it was never a huge hit & even the Searchers' version didn't make it very far in the American charts. it's always problematic to say that x genre began with x artist, so it's typical that the ur folk-rock record should be the one with the greatest initial success and the most persistent imitators.

o yeah totally, doesn't surprise me one bit that Byrds had precursors that paved the way for them

I feel "Mr. Tambourine Man" is an early stroke of genius. Just the way they were giving a Dylan folk song a Beatles-influenced harmony-thinged pop/rock backing was genius in itself. In addition there are the borrowing from Bach and Wilson that are both absolutely perfect and add to the already existing hooks.

Still, it's "California Dreamin'" for me here.

I'd credit Jackie DeShannon's "When You Walk in the Room" (1964) with practically inventing the Byrds' signature folk-rock sound, but it was never a huge hit & even the Searchers' version didn't make it very far in the American charts.

Arguably, The Searchers invented the style already on "Needles and Pins" (and that one did become a huge hit, although only in the UK). Pre-Byrds there was also "Laugh Laugh" by Beau Brummels. You also had the Seekers doing their stuff at the same time, although they were probably somewhat more folk and less rock/pop.

this would be hard if it werent for the otis redding track which is perfect

This is freakishly difficult.

Get rid of:

Caterina Valente: La Paloma
Nina Simone: Sinnerman
The Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem: The Irish Rover
Bert Jansch: Needle Of Death
Charles Aznavour: La Boheme
and maybe The Seekers;

and I'm at a loss

that Nina Simone song is something of a masterpiece (iPhone commercials notwithstanding)

(I'm kind of wondering about "Needle of Death" & B. Jansch in general--is that good stuff...?)

Yes, Needle of Death is amazing and Jansch's first few albums are excellent.

Fuck you if you didn't vote for "Sinnerman".

― skot gigz - moombah pimpin' (The Reverend), Wednesday, May 25, 2011 4:44 AM (18 hours ago)

this would be hard if it werent for the otis redding track which is perfect

― Midworst (jjjusten)

this man knows of what he speaks.

I wonder how John Phillips envisioned "California Dreamin'" sounding when it was written in '63. Would become a really iconic record for a whole different period, but it might have come about in a happenstance way (older song plus folk-rock production).

"Like a Rolling Stone" (second place is a toss-up between "Tracks of My Tears" and "Ticket to Ride").

sinnerman

tho i have trouble not voting for songs after the linda ronstadt version automatically pops into my head

I voted Simon & Garfunkel last night, but only because I skimmed right over Sinnerman up at the top of the list. DANGIT!

Drugs A. Money, loved your riff on Ticket to Ride!

yeah, OTM

Wow thanx! :D

I thought it was George's riff.

I think it's actually Paul's...

Paul played lead guitar on "Ticket To Ride", yes.

I voted for "Like a Rolling Stone" (the boring, but honest choice)

xxxp well my irl name is George, so...

oh nevermind. damn.

Psycho. Very hard. It's obviously not the best record there, but the one I'm happiest to hear most often.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

OK. Drugs A. Money, I loved your "excursus" on TtoR!

Have to go with The Sound of Silence -- the single of which is INTERESTINGLY RELATED to another song on this list, according to wikipedia:

On June 15, 1965, immediately after the recording session of Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone," Wilson took the original acoustically instrumented track of Simon & Garfunkel's 1964 version, and overdubbed the recording with electric guitar (played by Al Gorgoni), electric bass (Bob Bushnell), and drums (Bobby Gregg), and released it as a single without consulting Simon or Garfunkel.

^^ "Wilson" being Tom Wilson, of course.

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

Didn't vote -- couldn't decide between 7 or 8 top choices.

"Like a Rolling Stone"? Well, duh. Of course I love it too, but listening to this song on headphones is kind of a hilarious experience. It literally sounds like the band is about to fall apart completely at any moment. Actually, I think they DO fall apart completely once or twice. Dylan's timing is all over the place, and the band keeps struggling to adjust whenever he enters on the wrong beat. Maybe that's why it works so well (aside from the fact that it's a staggeringly brilliant song) - that edge-of-death thing, you know?

Well, yeah

I've been putting together a birthday CD-box for a co-worker's 50th. Here's the Top 100 for April 17, 1965:

http://i1059.photobucket.com/albums/t427/sayhey1/darlene_zpsmc5r69co.jpg

The thing that jumps out at me is how many MOR artists, many dating back to the '50s, are still hanging around. It wasn't quite the Beatles-Motown-Byrds-soul-garage nirvana of legend. All of the following are on that chart: Jack Jones, Vic Dana, Wayne Newton, Bobby Vinton, Bert Kaempfert, Bobbi Martin, Andy Williams, Dean Martin, Al Martino, Perry Como, Lawrence Welk, Billy Vaughn, Roger Williams, Vic Damone. Throw in Sinatra, and that's 15% of the Top 100.

And with that, I realize I've spent about six hours this weekend downloading and tagging songs for the wrong Top 100--it's supposed to be February 17, not April. Jesus.

I think "Do the Clam" is generally considered the anthem of the march from Selma to Montgomery