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Song of the Day #5,904: ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction (Live)’ – The Rolling Stones

Top Ten Songs of the Summer
#4 – The Rolling Stones – ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’ (1965)

Songs of the Summer tend not to be all-time classics. Remember, The Beatles never managed to earn the title. But my #4 is one of the rare iconic songs by a legendary artist to make the cut.

Buoyed by one of the greatest guitar riffs of all-time, The Rolling Stones’ ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’ gave the band their first U.S. #1, reaching the top spot in July of 1965 and spending a month there that summer.

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Song of the Day #5,903: ‘When Doves Cry (Live)’ – Prince

Top Ten Songs of the Summer
#5 – Prince – ‘When Doves Cry’ (1984)

The 80s is my favorite musical decade, so it follows that it’s also the decade that produced the best Songs of the Summer. Three of my top five SotS came from that great period.

1984 was a particularly good year. I’ll get to Prince in a second, but the runners-up that year included Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Dancing in the Dark,’ Billy Idol’s ‘Eyes Without a Face,’ Lionel Richie’s ‘Stuck On You,’ and Duran Duran’s ‘The Reflex.’ Also in the running were the two songs I blogged about yesterday, Tina Turner’s ‘What’s Love Got to Do With It’ and John Waite’s ‘Missing You.’

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Song of the Day #5,902: ‘Missing You’ – John Waite

Tina Turner had the #1 song the week of September 1, 1984, with ‘What’s Love Got to Do With It?‘ It was her first and only solo #1, and spent three weeks atop the Hot 100.

That week, the second spot was held by English singer-songwriter John Waite with his soft rock balled ‘Missing You.’ Waite would eventually replace Turner at #1, topping the chart for a single week. ‘Missing You’ was the only song in that great music year to spend only one week at #1.

Turner would cover this song 12 years later for her album Wildest Dreams.

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Song of the Day #5,901: ‘(You’re) Having My Baby’ – Paul Anka with Odia Coates

Throwing back to the week of August 31, 1974, we find Paul Anka atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘(You’re) Having My Baby,’ a song that spent three weeks at #1. It was Anka’s second and last chart-topper.

The treacly duet with singer Odia Coates has been widely derided in the years since its release, including being voted the worst song of all time in a 2006 CNN poll.

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Song of the Day #5,900: ‘Crazy in Love’ – Beyoncé

Top Ten Songs of the Summer
#6 – Beyoncé – ‘Crazy in Love’ (2003)

This is one of only three songs on my list from the current millennium — two from the 00s and one from the 20s.

The 2010s didn’t manage to land one song on the list, a dubious distinction that decade shares with the 90s. Technically, the 50s are unrepresented as well, but with only two qualifying songs that’s not much of a surprise.

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