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Song of the Day #4,570: ‘Vienna (Live)’ – Billy Joel

Continuing the chronological presentation of my 25 favorite songs…

‘Vienna’ – Billy Joel (1977)

Billy Joel’s The Stranger came out the same year as Rumours, a fact that doesn’t quite compute in my head. I think of Joel’s album as coming much later for some reason. That’s two all-time great albums in a single year. I look forward to seeing what else 1977 had to offer when I get there in my Decade series.

Four years contributed two songs to my list of 25 favorites, one each in the 70s, 80s, 90s and 00s.

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Song of the Day #4,569: ‘Dreams’ – Fleetwood Mac

Continuing the chronological presentation of my 25 favorite songs…

‘Tangled Up in Blue (Demo)‘ – Bob Dylan (1974)

This song is one of two selections on my list of 25 that refers to a specific version different from the official release. To be fair, Bob Dylan’s ‘Tangled Up in Blue’ would certainly make this list in its initial full-band Blood on the Tracks incarnation as well.

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Song of the Day #4,568: ‘Life on Mars? (Live)’ – David Bowie

Continuing the chronological presentation of my 25 favorite songs…

‘Life on Mars?‘ – David Bowie (1971)

This is the first of six songs from the 70s to make my list (tying that decade with the 80s for most represented). I guess that makes sense, given that those two decades made up my first 18 years, and isn’t that when music makes its biggest impact?

That’s one theory, but a deeper dive reveals that half of those 12 songs — including both of today’s featured tracks — didn’t find me until much later. So maybe they were just good musical decades.

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Song of the Day #4,567: ‘April Come She Will (Demo)’ – Paul Simon

In recent months, I’ve found myself declaring a couple of times that one song or another was officially among my all-time favorites.

That got me interested, during these pandemic times, in creating a definitive playlist of my favorite songs. This is an exercise fraught with peril and subject to repeated second-guessing, but that’s also what makes it fun.

Narrowing such a list to ten songs proved impossible, so I kept at it until I had close to 30, then pared back to 25, which feels like a good number.

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Song of the Day #4,566: ‘Hate to See You Like This’ – Fountains of Wayne

Fountains of Wayne’s fifth and final album, 2011’s Sky Full of Holes, is the one I know least. It’s nice, then, to see it pop up on a Random Weekend and treat me to a “new” song.

‘Hate to See You Like This’ is a sweet plea to a loved one who is suffering from depression. I like that the music is more power pop upbeat than you would expect from the lyrics.

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