It has to be Prince, and it is really, REALLY hard to identify which song of his is my absolute favorite. As has been said about Bowie and others on the list, it could change depending on the day.
But as today happens to be today, I am inclined to choose “Let’s Go Crazy.” As much as I love so much of Prince’s catalog, I’m not sure there are any others that make me so consistently happy whenever they’re playing.
Not from Glenn Frey alone, but “What Do I Do With My Heart?” by Eagles (he always insisted the band’s name didn’t have the article) on which Frey took the lead vocal.
Tough call as I’m a big fan of Prince, Bowie, Cohen, and Haggard but I have to go with
“Randall Knife” by Guy Clark. That song gets me every time I hear it.
It’s absolutely impossible for me to pick, but I’m happy to go with this. I’m biased, because piano is my first instrument, and that piano is just wild and fantastic.
I wasn’t really such a fan of L Cohen’s “Democracy” until he fucking died right before Election Day.
It’s now kind of a dirge to me, but I still listen to it when I need some inspiration: