Belle and Sebastian has a pretty solid catalog of great songs. Maybe not 100 deep but I'd be more then comfortable naming the top 50-75 great songs from them.

Captain Beefheart
Miles Davis

both have always provided me with blessed relief from
dross like the beatles

Dear Gawd, how did I forget Mark E. Smith. He's close to Cy Young territory.

quote:

Originally posted by Shadrach:
I think we should just start making some 100 song long lists.

Well I'm not about to weed this list to a top 100, but I feel fairly confident that I could delete 62 songs from this list and be real happy with the results. This is a list of Beatles songs released during their original incarnation that are credited to Lennon/McCartney or McCartney/Lennon or one or the other is the principle songwriter:

Lennon/McCartney:

001. Love Me Do
002. P.S. I Love You
003. Please Please Me
004. Ask Me Why
005. There’s a Place
006. I Saw Her Standing there
007. Do You Want to Know a Secret
008. Misery
009. Hole Me Tight
010. It Won’t Be Long
011. All My Loving
012. I Wanna Be Your Man
013. Little Child
014. All I’ve Got to Do
015. Not a Second Time
016. I Call Your Name
017. Can’t Buy Me Love
018. You Can’t Do That
019. And I Love Her
020. I Should Have Known Better
021. Tell Me Why
022. If I Fell
023. I’m Happy Just to Dance With You
024. A Hard Day’s Night
025. I’ll Cry Instead
026. I’ll Be Back
027. Any Time at All
028. Things We Said Today
029. When I Get Home
030. Baby’s in Black
031. I’m a Loser
032. Every Little Thing
033. I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party
034. What You’re Doing
035. No Reply
036. Eight Days a Week
037. I’ll Follow the Sun
038. Ticket to Tide
039. Another Girl
040. The Night Before
041. You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away
042. Tell Me What You See
043. You’re Going to Lose That Girl
044. Help!
045. I’ve Just Seen a Face
046. Yesterday
047. It’s Only Love
048. Wait
049. Run For Your Life
050. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
051. Drive My Car
052. In My Life
053. Nowhere Man
054. I’m Looking Through You
055. Michelle
056. What Goes On
057. The Word
058. You Won’t See Me
059. Girl
060. Tomorrow Never Knows
061. Got to Get You Into My Life
062. Doctor Robert
063. And Your Bird Can Sing
064. I’m Only Sleeping
065. Eleanor Rigby
066. For No One
067. Yellow Submarine
068. Here, There and Everywhere
069. She Said She Said
070. When I’m Sixty-Four
071. A Day in the Life
072. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Bannd
073. Good Morning Good Morning
074. Fixing a Hole
075. Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite
076. Lovely Rita
077. Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
078. Getting Better
079. She’s Leaving Home
080. With a Little Help From My Friends
081. Sgt. Pepper’s . . . (Reprise)
082. Magical Mystery Tour
083. Your Mother Should Know
084. Flying
085. The Fool on the Hill
086. I Am the Walrus
087. Revolution
088. Revolution #9
089. Blackbird
090. Everybody’s Got Something to Hide
091. Good Night
092. Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da
093. Cry Baby Cry
094. Helter Skelter
095. Sexy Sadie
096. <snip>
097. Mother Nature’s Son
098. Yer Blues
099. Rocky Racoon
100. Wild Honey Pie
101. Back in the USSR
102. Dear Prudence
103. Glass Onion
104. I Will
105. Birthday
106. Happiness is a Warm Gun
107. Honey Pie
108. Martha My Dear
109. I’m So Tired
110. The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill
111. Why Don’t We Do It In the Road?
112. Julia
113. All Together Now
114. All You Need is Love
115. Hey Bulldog
116. I Want You (She’s So Heavy)
117. Oh! Darling
118. You Never Give Me Your Money
119. Her Majesty
120. Golden Slumbers
121. Carry That Weight
122. Maxwell’s Silver Hammer
123. Come Together
124. The End
125. Sun King
126. Mean Mr. Mustard
127. Polythene Pam
128. She Came in Through the Bathroom Window
129. Because
130. Across the Universe
131. Dig a Pony
132. I’ve Got a Feeling
133. Get Back
134. Two Of Us
135. Dig It
136. Let It Be
137. The Long and Winding Road
138. One After 909
139. From Me To You
140. Thank You Girl
141. She Loves You
142. I’ll Get You
143. I Want to Hold Your Hand
144. This Boy
145. She’s a Woman
146. I Feel Fine
147. Yes It Is
148. I’m Down
149. Day Tripper
150. We Can Work it Out
151. Paperback Writer
152. Rain
153. Strawbery Fields Forever
154. Penny Lane
155. Baby, You’re a Rich Man
156. Hello, Goodbye
157. Lady Madonna
158. Hey Jude
159. Don’t Let Me Down
160. The Ballad of John and Yoko
161. <snip>
162. You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)

I may have made some errors, you can double check my work by comparing it to the list here:
Who Is the Main Composer of the Beatles' songs?

EDIT: Deleted #s 96 and 161. So that Leaves 160 Lennon/McCartney songs (Thanks for double checking Crazed!)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Maximum Jack,

What about Prince? I know he kind of "fell off" in the early '90s, but he does have some good mid-'90s stuff, and his recent albums have been great guilty pleasures.

The first one to come to mind for me was Randy Newman. He hasn't been super-prolific, but he rarely releases a bad song. Looking at his entry on allmusic it looks like he is just over the 100 mark without counting any of his soundtrack work.

Two more recent ones that aren't quite there yet, but I have no doubt will be eventually are Howe Gelb from Giant Sand and Kurt Wagner from Lambchop. Those guys are both amazingly prolific and consistent in their songwriting abilities. I'd have to look a little more closely, but my guess is that Willie Nelson is another likely candidate for this category.

Oh, and Stephen Sondheim is easily over the 100 great song mark for me.

quote:

Originally posted by Maximum Jack:

009. Hole Me Tight

Isn't that a Missy Elliot song?

Anyway. Thanks for the list. I have to admit, half of those songs don't register with me. I should listen to a lot more Beatles and just 1...

I'd delete those in bold.



001. Love Me Do
002. P.S. I Love You
003. Please Please Me
004. Ask Me Why
005. There’s a Place
006. I Saw Her Standing there
007. Do You Want to Know a Secret
008. Misery
009. Hold Me Tight
010. It Won’t Be Long
011. All My Loving
012. I Wanna Be Your Man
013. Little Child
014. All I’ve Got to Do
015. Not a Second Time
016. I Call Your Name
017. Can’t Buy Me Love
018. You Can’t Do That
019. And I Love Her
020. I Should Have Known Better
021. Tell Me Why
022. If I Fell
023. I’m Happy Just to Dance With You
024. A Hard Day’s Night
025. I’ll Cry Instead
026. I’ll Be Back
027. Any Time at All
028. Things We Said Today
029. When I Get Home
030. Baby’s in Black
031. I’m a Loser
032. Every Little Thing
033. I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party
034. What You’re Doing
035. No Reply
036. Eight Days a Week
037. I’ll Follow the Sun
038. Ticket to Tide
039. Another Girl
040. The Night Before
041. You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away
042. Tell Me What You See
043. You’re Going to Lose That Girl
044. Help!
045. I’ve Just Seen a Face
046. Yesterday
047. It’s Only Love
048. Wait
049. Run For Your Life
050. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
051. Drive My Car
052. In My Life
053. Nowhere Man
054. I’m Looking Through You
055. Michelle
056. What Goes On
057. The Word
058. You Won’t See Me
059. Girl
060. Tomorrow Never Knows
061. Got to Get You Into My Life
062. Doctor Robert
063. And Your Bird Can Sing
064. I’m Only Sleeping
065. Eleanor Rigby
066. For No One
067. Yellow Submarine
068. Here, There and Everywhere
069. She Said She Said
070. When I’m Sixty-Four
071. A Day in the Life
072. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Bannd
073. Good Morning Good Morning
074. Fixing a Hole
075. Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite
076. Lovely Rita
077. Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
078. Getting Better
079. She’s Leaving Home
080. With a Little Help From My Friends
081. Sgt. Pepper’s . . . (Reprise)
082. Magical Mystery Tour
083. Your Mother Should Know
084. Flying
085. The Fool on the Hill
086. I Am the Walrus
087. Revolution
088. Revolution #9
089. Blackbird
090. Everybody’s Got Something to Hide
091. Good Night
092. Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da
093. Cry Baby Cry
094. Helter Skelter
095. Sexy Sadie
096. While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Only because it's George )
097. Mother Nature’s Son
098. Yer Blues
099. Rocky Racoon
100. Wild Honey Pie
101. Back in the USSR
102. Dear Prudence
103. Glass Onion
104. I Will
105. Birthday
106. Happiness is a Warm Gun
107. Honey Pie
108. Martha My Dear
109. I’m So Tired
110. The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill
111. Why Don’t We Do It In the Road?
112. Julia
113. All Together Now
114. All You Need is Love
115. Hey Bulldog
116. I Want You (She’s So Heavy)
117. Oh! Darling
118. You Never Give Me Your Money
119. Her Majesty
120. Golden Slumbers
121. Carry That Weight
122. Maxwell’s Silver Hammer
123. Come Together
124. The End
125. Sun King
126. Mean Mr. Mustard
127. Polythene Pam
128. She Came in Through the Bathroom Window
129. Because
130. Across the Universe
131. Dig a Pony
132. I’ve Got a Feeling
133. Get Back
134. Two Of Us
135. Dig It
136. Let It Be
137. The Long and Winding Road
138. One After 909
139. From Me To You
140. Thank You Girl
141. She Loves You
142. I’ll Get You
143. I Want to Hold Your Hand
144. This Boy
145. She’s a Woman
146. I Feel Fine
147. Yes It Is
148. I’m Down
149. Day Tripper
150. We Can Work it Out
151. Paperback Writer
152. Rain
153. Strawbery Fields Forever
154. Penny Lane
155. Baby, You’re a Rich Man
156. Hello, Goodbye
157. Lady Madonna
158. Hey Jude
159. Don’t Let Me Down
160. The Ballad of John and Yoko
161. Old Brown Shoe
162. You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)

That's only 35, so Lennon/McCartney do it easing up. Good.

You would delete "Rocky Raccoon"? No way, that's one of my favorite Beatles songs of all time.

Bhob, the fact that you're axing "Rocky Raccoon" and keeping "Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da" means that I can no longer take you seriously.

096. While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Only because it's George Cool)

quote:

161. Old Brown Shoe

This is also a George Harrison song.

quote:

Originally posted by EricG75:
"Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da" means that I can no longer take you seriously.

You mean that at some point you actually took him seriously? Did you see his ranking of OK Computer, that was less than OK.

On the subject of "Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da." I really, really love that song. I know I am in the minority here but I have never had a problem with it.

Also, going through your exclusions Bhob, you'd take off "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill"? No way.

quote:

Originally posted by FragileKidA:
You mean that at some point you actually took him seriously? Did you see his ranking of OK Computer, that was less than OK.

I thought he was trying to do some binary code joke with the ones and zeros. Surely no one in their right mind would actually give "Paranoid Android" a zero. Would they, Bhob?

quote:

Originally posted by FragileKidA:
Did you see his ranking of OK Computer, that was less than OK.

Did you get the joke, Frag.? I thought it was quite clever, if I do say so myself.

quote:

On the subject of "Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da." I really, really love that song. I know I am in the minority here but I have never had a problem with it.

Also, going through your exclusions Bhob, you'd take off "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill"? No way.

TBHWY, I'm in Mark's camp re The Beatles. He said something along the lines of, "I love all those terrible songs", but I was trying to winnow the list down to the requisite 100 "great" songs. I could jump either way on "Rocky" or "Bungalow". But if I had to select songs that were great or "merely" very good, I'll stand by my deletions.

Oh yeah, I got the joke all right. And it was heee--la--rious!

On a serious note, I love your diction.

Okay, I've edited the original Beatles post to show that there are now 160 songs to choose from for Messrs. Lennon and McCartney

quote:

Originally posted by Maximum Jack:
Okay, I've edited the original Beatles post to show that there are now 160 songs to choose from for Messrs. Lennon and McCartney

Does this mean I've gotta re-post?

quote:

Originally posted by Bhob:
Does this mean I've gotta re-post?

Yep.

Lennon could do it alone with the songs he wrote for the Beatles and his solo career. If I get bored enough I might attempt Neil Young or Bob Dylan. I wonder how far you could go

I know Lenoard Cohen has been mentioned but nah...
he would make a list of 50 great songs,
but the guy only has 11 albums not counting live albums and the spoken word album with Philip Glass, so you have say that almost every song he wrote is a classic... sadly as much I love Cohen's music not every song is a gem.

I am not a Dylan fan so can't include him,
Neil Young, Tom Waits and Nick Cave.


Nick Cave list..

1. From Her to Eternity
2. Well of Misery
3. Cabin Fever
4. Saint Huck
5. Tupelo
6. Say Goodbye to the Little Girl Tree
7. Long Train Suffering
8.Your Funeral, My Trial
9. Sad Waters
10. The Carny
11.Long Time Man
12.Mercy Seat
13. Deanna
14. Watching Alice
15. Mercy
16. City of Refuge
17. Foi Na Cruz
18.The Good Son
19. Ship Song
20. Lament
21.Lucy
22. Weeping Song
23. Papa WOuldn't leave you Henry
24. Straight to you
25. Brother my cup is empty
26. Loom of the Land
27. Jack the Ripper
28. I Let love in
29. Lover man
30. Red right hand
31. Nobodys Baby
32. Ain't gonna rain anymore
33. Lay me love
34. DO you love me?
35. Do you love me? part 2
36. Song of Joy
37. Where the Wild Roses Grow
38. O'Malley's Bar
39. Curse of Millhaven
40. Kindness of Strangers
41.Into my arms
42. Lime Tree Arbour
43. People Ain't No Good
44.Brompton Oratory
45. Are you the one?
46. Where do we go from here.
47. West Contry Girl
48. Idiot Prayer
49.Far from Me
50. As I sat sadly by her side
51. Hallelujah
52. Love letter
53. 15 ft of pure white snow
54. God is in the house
55. Oh my Lord
56. Sorrowful wife
57. Darker with the day
58. Its a wonderful life.
59. Bring It On
60. Still in Love
61. There is a twon
62. Babe I'm on fire
63. Get ready for love
64. Cannibal's Hymn
65. Hding all the way
66. There she goes my beautiful girl
67 Abattior Blues
68. Let the bells ring
69. Lyre of Orpheus
70. Breathless
71. Supernaturally.
72. Spell
73. Carry Me
74. O Children
75. Dig Lazeurus Dig
----- B sides
76. Girl at the bottom of my glass
77. Blue Bird
78. Till the end of the word
79. Sail Away
80. The Ballad of Robert Moore and Betty Coltrane
81. Little Empty Boat
82. Come into my sleep
83. grief came riding
84. Bless his ever loving heart

Grinder man---

85. No Pussy Blues
86. Go tell the women
87. Man in the moon
88.Honey bee
89. Ste me free

Birthday Party--

90. Wild world
91. King ink
92. Sonnys Burning
93. Fear of Gun
94. Pleasure Avalanche
95. Jennifers Veil
96. Hamlet
97. Big Jesus Trash Can
98. Release the Bats
99. Cry
100. Zoo music Girl

This does not include the pre brithday party Boys next door songs or song track work. I could probably remove the grinder man songs and include more bad seeds songs