A while ago I remembered that I’d used an important document as a bookmark in my copy of Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity (more than two years ago), so I decided to retrieve it.
Then I remembered a little compilation project I’d been meaning to do for several months already, so I harnessed the fantastic power of Youtube for this staggering playlist, topping off at nearly six hours, without a single song repeated. (These are all just specific songs, mind– I haven’t included tracks from albums he mentioned without singling out a song, which would make this even longer.)
The book itself is three years younger than I am, and I know only a scant handful of the songs on that list. I feel embarrassingly young right now. But on the other hand, I also feel blessed to live in an era in which we have a fabulous new invention called the internet, where all these great songs are waiting for you, just a few keystrokes away.
Incidentally, because I want to get this completely right: if anyone has ‘It’s a Good Feeling’ by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, please upload it to Youtube. If there’s a song I missed, please inform me what it is and roundabouts where it is in the book. If I added the wrong song (which is likely given how young and uncool and unfamiliar with all this great music I am), gimme a link to the original.
- Neil Young – Only Love Can Break Your Heart
- The Smiths – Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me
- Aretha Franklin – Call Me
- Rod Stewart – I Don’t Want to Talk About It
- Nazareth – Love Hurts
- Prefab Sprout – When Love Breaks Down
- Bee Gees – How Can You Mend A Broken Heart
- Nancy Griffith & John Prine – The Speed of the Sound of Loneliness
- Steelheart – She’s Gone
- Dusty Springfield – I Just Don’t Know What to Do With Myself
- Dana – All Kinds of Everything
- Katrina & the Waves – Walking on Sunshine
- The Righteous Brothers – Little Latin Lupe Lu
- The Beatles – Something
- The Beatles – Yellow Submarine
- Stevie Wonder – I Just Called to Say I Love You
- Stevie Wonder – Don’t Drive Drunk
- Marvin Gaye – Sexual Healing
- Peter Frampton – Baby I Love Your Way
- Marie LaSalle (Lisa Bonet) – Baby I Love Your Way
- The Sex Pistols – God Save the Queen
- Otis Redding – You Left the Water Running
- Cat Stevens – Tea for the Tillerman
- Bobby Bland – No Blow No Show
- Jean Knight – Mr Big Stuff
- The Jackson 5 – The Love You Save
- Donny Hathaway – The Ghetto
- Solomon Burke – Got to Get You Off My Mind
- Madonna – Holiday
- The Paragons – Happy Go Lucky Girl
- Elvis Costello – Alison
- Elvis Costello – Little Triggers
- Elvis Costello – Man Out of Time
- Elvis Costello – King Horse
- Elvis Costello – Everyday I Write the Book
- Charlie Rich – Behind Closed Doors
- The Clash – Janie Jones
- Bruce Springsteen – Thunder Road
- Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit
- Marvin Gaye – Let’s Get it On
- Gram Parsons – Return of the Grievous Angel
- Beethoven – 5th Symphony
- Bruce Springsteen – Bobby Jean
- Richard Thompson – I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight
- Al Green – Sha La La (Make Me Happy)
- Steely Dan – Barrytown
- The Rolling Stones – Brown Sugar
- Beck – Hi Ho Silver Lining
- Elton John – Song for Guy
- The Shangri-las – Leader of the Pack
- Jan and Dean – Deadman’s Curve
- Twinkle – Terry
- Bobby Goldsboro – Honey
- Ray Paterson – Tell Laura I Love Her
- Madness – One Step Beyond
- The Rolling Stones – You Can’t Always Get What You Want
- Marvin Gaye – Abraham, Martin & John
- Bob Marley – One Love
- Jimmy Cliff – Many Rivers to Cross
- Aretha Franklin – Angel
- Gladys Knight – You’re the Best Thing That’s Ever Happened to Me
- Art Garfunkel – Bright Eyes
- Dusty Springfield – The Look of Love
- Emmylou Harris – Boulder to Birmingham
- The Beatles – Let it Be
- Flying Burrito Brothers – Sin City
- Aretha Franklin – Respect
- America – A Horse with No Name
- Playmates – Beep Beep
- Boney M – Ma Baker
- Charlie Drake – My Boomerang Won’t Come Back
- Elvis Presley – Baby Let’s Play House
- Aretha Franklin – Think
- The Kingsmen – Louie Louie
- Prince – Little Red Corvette
- Bob Marley – Stir It Up
- James Brown – Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag
- Sly & the Family Stone – A Family Affair
- Aretha Franklin – The House that Jack Built
- Chuck Berry – Back in the USA
- The Clash – White Man in Hammersmith Palais
- Al Green – Tired of Being Alone
- The O’Jays – Backstabbers
- Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes – Satisfaction Guaranteed
- The Specials – Nelson Mandela
- The Beatles – Twist and Shout
- Nat King Cole – Route 66
- Little Richard – Long Tall Sally
- Pink Floyd – Money
- The Contours – Do You Love Me
- Wilson Pickett – In the Midnight Hour
- Ritchie Valens – La Bamba
