Signature songs are songs that as soon as they are mentioned, a certain singer comes to mind. And when the singer is mentioned, that song comes to mind. Some oldies include:
Judy Garland: “Over the Rainbow”
Tony Bennett: “I Left My Heart in San Francisco”
Barbra Streisand: “People”
What are some others, oldies or newbies?
Ringo- “Yellow Submarine”
Dean Martin: Everybody Loves Somebody
Etta James: At Last
Peggy Lee: Fever
Julie London: Cry Me a River
Harry Belafonte: The Banana Boat Song
Andy Williams: Moon River
Mel Torme: Chestnuts Roasting…?
Bing Crosby: White Christmas
Laura Nyro – Eli’s Coming (I refuse to associate this with Three Dog Night, listen to the originalif you haven’t heard it.)
Blood, Sweat & Tears – And When I die(written by Laura Nyro)
Carole King – It’s Too Late
James Taylor – You’ve Got a Friend (Carole King)
Little Eva – The Loco-Motion(Carole King and Gerry Goffin)
Shirelles – Will You Love Me Tomorrow (Carole King)
Otis Redding – The Dock of the Bay(Otis Redding & Steve Cropper)
Aretha Franklin – Respect (Otis Redding)
Neil Diamond – Sweet Caroline
Monkees – I’m a Believer (Neil Diamond)
UB40 – Red Red Wine (Neil Diamond)
Ray Charles – Georgia on My Mind
Frank Sinatra – My Way
Duke Ellington – Take the A Train
John Lennon – “Imagine” (unfortunately, as I think it’s not nearly his best)
Al Jolson – “Mammy”
Thinking of the artist, not the song first*
Tiffany-I Think We’re Alone Now
Downtown-Petula Clark
Robin Sparkles-Sandcastles In The Sand
*specifically written like that because I like the original Tommy James version of I Think We Alone Now better.
Bridge Over Troubled Water- Art Garfunkel
Crazy- Patsy Cline
Folsom Prison Blues- Johnny Cash
Bobbie Gentry–Ode to Billie Joe
Gordon Lightfoot–The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald
The Thrill Is Gone - B.B. King
Layla - Eric Clapton
Alice’s Restaurant - Arlo Guthrie
Ride My Seesaw - Moody Blues
I’m One - Pete Townshend
Fire - Arthur Brown
God Bless America-Kate Smith
Pete Townsend: Let My Love Open the Door
Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run
Billy Joel - Piano Man
Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Kurt Cobain - “Smells Like Teen Spirit”
Janis Ian - “At Seventeen”
Ricky Martin - “Livin’ La Vida Loca”
Billie Holliday - “Strange Fruit”
Jon Bon Jovi - “Living On A Prayer”
Phil Collins - “In The Air Tonight”
Janis Joplin–Me and Bobby McGee
I’d have to dispute these. I’m not sure a song qualifies as an artist’s “signature song” unless the great majority of people, asked to name one song they associate with that artist, would name that song.* For BS&T, I would think as many people would say “Spinning Wheel” as “And When I Die”. And as for the Monkees – wouldn’t “Theme from The Monkees” be the obvious choice?
On a separate note, it seems to me that one-hit wonders should probably be excluded from this thread, because you could simply list every one-hit wonder in history along with their one hit.
*This may invalidate my own nomination of “Imagine” for John Lennon, as he had so many great songs that there probably isn’t any one that the great majority of people would nominate. Still, I think “Imagine” has somehow attained the status of “the John Lennon signature song”… you know it’s the one song you’re going to hear any time there’s a Lennon tribute.
Well, to add to the list… I figure for Led Zep it’s gotta be “Stairway to Heaven”, although “Whole Lotta Love” is a strong contender.
And for Glen Campbell – “Gentle on My Mind”, the theme song for his TV show.
Annie Haslam (Renaissance): “Ashes Are Burning”
David Lee Roth (Van Halen): “Oh, Pretty Woman”
Jeff Lynne (ELO): “Shine A Little Love” (or “Can’t Get It Out of My Head”, if you hate disco.)
Ozzy Osbourne: “Paranoid” (with Black Sabbath), “Crazy Train” (after Black Sabbath)
Peter Gabriel: “Solsbury Hill”
Ronnie James Dio: “Holy Diver”
Roy Orbison: “Oh, Pretty Woman”
Tom Petty: “American Girl”
Her posthumous signature? Though I guess I might have asked the same regarding Redding/Dock of the Bay.
In the old days, your “signature song” was the one played at the beginning or end of your radio show (if you had one). By that definition, Kate Smith’s was “When the Moon Comes over the Mountain”. Glenn Miller’s was “Moonlight Serenade”, though I’d guess “In the Mood” might be more familiar, since it features in every WWII movie depicting a soldiers’ dance.
For Glen Campbell, I would’ve said “Rhinestone Cowboy.”