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If you're following along), I have over the last month or so, gone through and ranked every song (over 3000) I have burned to my lifedrive. After listening to each one, I narrowed the field down to 64 songs that I would be a poorer man today for not owning. Songs I could listen to every day for the rest of my life. THESE are my favorite songs.
Then, I mounted each of the songs into one of 4 16-song brackets. Over the next few weeks I am going to have each song go head to head against 1-2 other songs in a single-elimination match. At the end of this, I'll be down to my top 16 favorite songs of all time.
Today, I'm introducing the first bracket: Singers/Songwriters.
This is the most lopsided bracket in my playlist. More than half of the 16 songs that I marked as favorites here are from either John Denver or the Indigo Girls. Both write compelling, meaningful lyrics with solid accoustical guitar hooks and chords. John Denver's music ranges from poetically sublime to downright cheesy and bad... It's a testament to how many songs he's written that he got this many into the top 16.
The Indigo Girls have wonderful melodies that are very singable for a guy, thanks to their alto. Also, their songs are often sung in a round (or whatever the word is that means "multiple melodies being sung at once), and I love those.
It saddens me that Brandi Carlile's "The Story" is not included here, but I don't own it. If I did, it would not only in this top 16, it would most likely be THE best song in the list.
I seeded John Denver and the Indigo Girls highest, due to their dominance of the bracket. After that, we have a few surprising dark horses. Each matchup in round one is listed below. Next week I will report the results of this first round's matchup.
Here's the bracket:
Singers/Songwriters
| Seed |
Title |
Artist |
| 1 |
Rocky Mountain High |
John Denver |
| 16 |
Over at the Frankenstein Place |
Rocky Horror Picture Show Soundtrack |
| 8 |
Closer to Fine |
Indigo Girls |
| 9 |
Looking for Space |
John Denver |
| 5 |
The Eagle and the Hawk |
John Denver |
| 12 |
Some Gave All |
Billy Ray Cyrus |
| 4 |
Southland in the Springtime |
Indigo Girls |
| 13 |
Dirty Blvd. |
Lou Reed |
| 6 |
Watershed |
Indigo Girls |
| 11 |
Mithrander (This Fading Age) |
Glass Hammer |
| 3 |
Back Home Again |
John Denver |
| 14 |
The King's Beer |
Glass Hammer |
| 7 |
This Old Guitar |
John Denver |
| 10 |
Hammer and Nail |
Indigo Girls |
| 2 |
Blood and Fire |
Indigo Girls |
| 15 |
Super Heroes |
Rocky Horror Picture Show Soundtrack |