My top 10 favorite songs rn

 **for the record, this list is constantly changing, and will likely be posted about again sometime in the future as what I'm listening to changes. Also, I don't wanna spend forever writing this so I can only promise in-depth explanations for the top 3. Also also, I am not a music critic, but I'm trying my best, so all of this might sound dumb as shit but bear with me Nevertheless, here is the current list:

Honorable mentions: Pink Floyd - "Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Pts. 6-9)," Jay-Z & Kanye West - "Gotta Have It," Gorillaz - "Empire Ants" 

10. Jbrisko - "Slo Mo"

Very catchy song, shoutout to Max Lagunoff for playing this one like 30 times in the 3-week span I was back home last summer.

9. Sam Cooke - "A Change Is Gonna Come" 

A beautiful song, really hits the soul in the right spot at the best and worst of times. 

8. Led Zeppelin - "When the Levee Breaks"

Such a tough song, the opening line just hits so damn hard, and the rest is just such a banger. Awesome closing track. 

7. Chief Keef - “Tony Montana Flow”

I just want the blue cheese and the thousand island.

6. Frank Ocean - “Nights”

This song + max volume + bass cranked = HOLY FUCK. 

5. Steely Dan - “Do It Again”

This song feels like it’s got some real lyrical meaning/story behind it, but I have no idea what that is. Simply put, the song has too many funky elements and catchy grooves for it to not bang.

4. Shonen Knife - “Top Of The World”

I’ve listened to the original version of this song, and I can say with some certainty that this cover is wildly better in almost every way. This song can put a smile on my face no matter what mood I’m in, which is something I find to be quite a treat. It’s catchy, uplifting, and just heavy enough for this song to go extremely hard.

3. Roy Ayers Ubiquity - “Everybody Loves The Sunshine”

I don’t think I’ve ever heard the word “sunshine” spoken in a more pristine way in my entire life. Legitimately, that is the only word that was needed to be spoken and he knew it. “Just bees and things and flowers,” he sings, indicating that you really don’t have to fully flesh out your lyrics as long as your shit sounds like bliss incarnate. I feel like the simplicity of this song is what makes it so amazing. While I am generally a fan of massive-sounding production, any grander of a sound on this song would have drawn away from the beauty of the melody. It doesn't try to do more than it has to, and it executes perfectly on all levels. Not necessarily an epic song, but perhaps an appreciation for the simpler things is what it's all about—just bees and things and flowers.  

2. Lupe Fiasco - “Mural”

The first piece of praise I have for this song is a talking point that I've certainly used multiple times over when describe this epic, epic piece. The song is 8 minutes and 49 seconds long, and every time I show it to someone I tell them this as a warning. "I get it if it's too long, we can just skip it halfway," I'll say. Not once have I ever been asked to skip the song. Not a single time. I'm not sure exactly what makes this song so captivating, but I'd have to reckon that it's gotta be the sample. Taken from Cortex's "Chanson d'un jour d'hiver," the harrowing vocal melody paired with the hard-hitting piano simply hits so hard. Put that over the massive bass used in this song and the beat alone is ridiculous. On top of that, however, you have the craziest rap verses I've ever heard in my life, with Lupe Fiasco going essentially without stop for 7 minutes straight. Bro talks about everything he can even imagine, and throws in so many nutty allusions and metaphors that it doesn't even feel real to listen to. As of right now, this is my third most listened-to song of all time on Spotify, and I still pick up on new bars every time I hear it. I'm not sure if this is redundant (or even makes sense), but my favorite aspect of this song is its consistency. While a beautiful intro opens the song, aside for a singular moment called out in the lyrics, once the beat kicks in, it stays, unrelenting, with full force through to the end of the song. Similarly, as previously mentioned, Fiasco raps for nearly the entire song. Thus, the song is able to preserve a seemingly uniform sound for a prolonged period of time, making it one of my personal favorite zone in/out songs. The huge, unchanging sound is legitimately perfect for the way I experience not only music, but frankly noise in general. 

1. Pink Floyd - “Echoes”

I'm sure someone has written an essay about this song. I'd go as far as to guess multiple people have. I probably could, and will do my best to make sure this doesn't turn into one. I know this word has been thrown out a few times in this post already, but I don't think any song on this list even comes close to being "epic" as this one. To be honest, that's the reason why I don't go around showing this song off to anyone. It's over 23 minutes long. Of course, I can recommend that people listen to it, but I can reasonably expect that people won't take the time to listen. For the record, I totally understand, but I do think that everyone should go out and take the time to listen to this song. Of course, I have my reasonings. The song begins with a single ding of the keyboard. This note is repeated until it slowly evolves into a cascading melody, which was powerful enough to find itself being sampled in Benny the Butcher’s “Blue Money.” This eventually builds up into the first stretch of lyrics. Some of the imagery in these first verses are what I consider to be some of my favorite in music. Specifically, I’m referring to the second verse, which reads:

Strangers passing in the street

By chance, two separate glances meet

And I am you and what I see is me  

And do I take you by the hand

And lead you through the land

And help me understand the best I can?

This third line might be my favorite in any song ever. Genuinely, like this shit is so fucking cool from a conceptual perspective. I know this might be kind of a dumb tangent, but I think this verse encapsulates the message of the song so fucking well: the essence of every living being exists within every other living being. Something in the fabric of the universe connects all of us and makes us all, from the most zoomed out perspective, one and the same. I don’t know, but I think something in this messaging is very powerful, especially the last line, in combination with the third line. We are all each other, and it is our responsibility to learn from one another and help each other to better ourselves and our communities as a whole. I may be reading too far into it, but after extensive research (Genius annotations), I feel like that's not too far off from the intended message. Either way, the way I interpret the song is a very beautiful and hopeful message, as the idea of oneness is one that I find very inspiring. Moving on in the song, we arrive at a brilliant David Gilmour guitar solo, which is excellently complemented by Roger Waters' bass and Richard Wright's keys. Waters takes over in the next section, providing a grimy bassline that carries the song into its most sonically interesting (yet admittedly most boring) point. The bassline fades into silence, and the instrumental sounds are replaced with what are essentially whale noises for around five or so minutes. While this part of the song is by no means an extremely fun listen, it is a very interesting exploration into noise, and potentially dives deeper into the message of the song—the albatross (which is mentioned in the first line of the song), an animal that lives in the air above the ground, is equal to the whale, that lives in the depths of the oceans. The whale noises eventually give way to a repeat of the original ding. This is the start of my personal favorite part of the song: the five or so minute long buildup into the third verse. I find that what makes this buildup so great is its length, which enables it to provide so many wonderful elements, including my favorite section of the whole song, between 18:14–18:44. These 30 seconds include one of the most beautiful guitar riffs I have ever heard, which is again complemented so well by the bass and keys. Additionally, its placement adds to the epic nature of the buildup, which, as I said, lasts so long that the payoff feels ridiculously awesome when the vocals finally reemerge. Despite the musical aspect of the of the buildup only lasting about five minutes, because of the whale noise section coming before it, it feels like you've been waiting an eternity for the beat to finally drop. The third verse delivers with more existential lines, and then the the song plays out until it eventually, after 23+ long minutes, fades to silence. Again I'm not expecting anyone to go and listen to this whole thing, but I'd hope that after reading this you'd at least consider it, as it is (in my opinion) one of the greatest musical compositions ever.