# The Post-1955 Great American Songbook. What songs qualify? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 25, 2020, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-post-1955-great-american-songbook-what-songs-qualify/854438 "2020-05-25T13:03:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2020, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-post-1955-great-american-songbook-what-songs-qualify/854438/21 "2020-05-25T20:12:29Z")
_City of New Orleans_, written by Steve Goodman, recorded most famously by Arlo Guthrie but many other versions exist and are varied and excellent. _Me and Bobby McGee_, written by Kris Kristofferson and recorded originally by Roger Miller, Janis Joplin’s version was released posthumously and hit #1. It’s been recorded dozens of times since. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2020, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-post-1955-great-american-songbook-what-songs-qualify/854438/22 "2020-05-25T20:41:31Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > For starters, for our globalized world, a rule: If the _song_ was written by a American or an American emigre (during their ‘American period’), the song counts. Songs written by non-Americans do not count. Leonard Cohen - Hallelujah Yes, he’s Canadian, and Canada is in America (North America), so there. ---
**Author:** ![carlb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carlb/32/5930_2.png) [@carlb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlb)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2020, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-post-1955-great-american-songbook-what-songs-qualify/854438/23 "2020-05-25T20:58:27Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > _City of New Orleans_, written by Steve Goodman, recorded most famously by Arlo Guthrie but many other versions exist and are varied and excellent. > > _Me and Bobby McGee_, written by Kris Kristofferson and recorded originally by Roger Miller, Janis Joplin’s version was released posthumously and hit #1. It’s been recorded dozens of times since. Good call on both. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2020, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-post-1955-great-american-songbook-what-songs-qualify/854438/24 "2020-05-25T21:06:54Z")
The original tune (Aura Lee) goes back to the US Civil War but the updated lyrics came in the mid 1950s. Elvis released it in 1956. > **[Love Me Tender (song)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Me_Tender_(song))** > > "Love Me Tender" is a 1956 ballad song recorded by Elvis Presley and published by "Elvis Presley Music" from the 20th Century Fox film of the same name. Lyrics are credited to "Vera Matson" (though the actual lyricist was her husband, Ken Darby) and Elvis Presley himself. The melody is identical to the sentimental Civil War ballad "Aura Lea" and therefore credited to Aura Lea's composer, the Englishman George R. Poulton. The RCA Victor recording by Elvis Presley was No. 1 on both the Billboard an... ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2020, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-post-1955-great-american-songbook-what-songs-qualify/854438/25 "2020-05-25T21:40:36Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Maybe “Just the Way You Are,” by Billy Joel? I think for Billy Joel you need “ **Piano Man** ”. I’ll nominate “ **Hotel California** ” by the Eagles. This may fall under “too modern”, but it seems to me that **“Smells Like Teen Spirit”** will almost certainly end up on this list eventually, right? I think when early-to-mid-90’s grunge is canonicalized in 20 years this will probably be the song that stands for that period. Or maybe I’m missing the point and that song is too tied to Nirvana to ever be an “American Standard”? And yes, clearly we are missing an entire genre of “Great American Music” here, but I’m not an expert enough to know what to nominate. If we need to go back to the “classic era” for the multiple generations part, maybe something by Sugarhill Gang or an early Dre/Snoop song like **"Nuthin but a G Thing**"? Or I think most Americans would at least recognize **“The Message”**. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2020, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-post-1955-great-american-songbook-what-songs-qualify/854438/26 "2020-05-25T21:41:08Z")
**You Can’t Hurry Love** and **You Keep Me Hangin’ On** - by Holland–Dozier–Holland **Hard to Handle** - by Allen Jones, Al Bell, and Otis Redding **Hold On, I’m Comin’** - by Isaac Hayes and David Porter ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2020, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-post-1955-great-american-songbook-what-songs-qualify/854438/27 "2020-05-25T21:46:35Z")
Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2020, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-post-1955-great-american-songbook-what-songs-qualify/854438/28 "2020-05-25T23:27:44Z")
God Bless the Broken Road, written by Bobby Boyd, Jeff Hanna, and Marcus Hummun ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2020, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-post-1955-great-american-songbook-what-songs-qualify/854438/29 "2020-05-25T23:47:10Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > **Girl Talk** (Bobby Troup, Neal Hefti) > > That last one is kind of a dark horse, and culturally fits in better with pre-1955. But IMO a beautiful melody and chord progression. Great call on “Girl Talk.” Gorgeous tune, recorded many times with brilliant jazz arrangements but, as you say, quite a BIT misogynistic, not to say vouyeristic. See Bobby Troup video. Also seconding Laura Nyro’s stunning “Wedding Bell Blues.” Fucking genius song, more amazing when you learn she wrote it at age 16. Tempting to pick another Nyro for No. 3, maybe “Sweet Blindness” or “Stoney End,” but I’ll go with Frank Zappa’s “Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance.” Just because. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-post-1955-great-american-songbook-what-songs-qualify/854438/30 "2020-05-26T00:00:08Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Good ones, Shakespeare. I myself think the Willie song most likely to place in the GAS is **Always On My Mind** , an immediately iconic song that started getting covered almost the second it was released. Hell, it’s the only song to reach the top-5 in the Billboard charts twice in the 1980s, both times by different artists (Willie and the Pet Shop Boys). I remember when willie was in England once and sang it … and said "id like to thank your English lads for keeping the song alive because it helped pay his taxes way back when he was having IRS trouble, ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-post-1955-great-american-songbook-what-songs-qualify/854438/31 "2020-05-26T00:07:23Z")
“Hello Dolly” (1964) - most commonly heard by Louis Armstrong. Words and music by Jerry Herman. “I Walk the Line” (1956) - Johnny cash (writer and singer). Borderline: “Unchained Melody” - originally from the 1955 movie “Unchained”, but the most-heard version of it is the 1965 Righteous Brothers one. “Mack the Knife” will be rejected, since the original words and music (in German) were written by Kurt Wielle - before he became a US citizen in 1943. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-post-1955-great-american-songbook-what-songs-qualify/854438/32 "2020-05-26T01:15:22Z")
I’m posting after only having read the OP, and of course the three entries restriction is ridiculous, but off the top of my head: Hank Williams - I’ll Never Get Out Of This World Alive Sam Cooke - A Change Is Gonna Come Bob Dylan - Like A Rolling Stone Of course there are hundreds of others of that caliber, but I’ll respect that limitation (until now, maybe I’ll post later after I’ve read the other responses). ETA: Oops, I thought the cut was 1950, not 1955. So strike Hank and put in Aretha Franklin’s version of Otis Redding’s Respect. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-post-1955-great-american-songbook-what-songs-qualify/854438/33 "2020-05-26T02:51:30Z")
Number 1 on my post-1955 list is _Crazy_. I like Patsy Cline’s version best, but it’s such a comfortable tune that even Willie sounds good when he sings it. _I Will Always Love You_. Dolly Parton’s songwriting skills are too often overlooked. As for the complaint that the Songbook is too monochromatic, I’ll nominate at least a half-dozen songs by Stevie Wonder, another half-dozen from Otis Redding, more than a dozen by Holland-Dozier-Holland, and a similar number for Smokey Robinson. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-post-1955-great-american-songbook-what-songs-qualify/854438/34 "2020-05-26T02:53:23Z")
**You Are the Sunshine of My Life** by Stevie Wonder \*\*Rock and Roll Music \*\*by Chuck Berry \*\*New York, New York \*\*by Fred Ebb and John Kander ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-post-1955-great-american-songbook-what-songs-qualify/854438/35 "2020-05-26T10:28:46Z")
**Where Have All the Flowers Gone** by Pete Seeger **This Land is Your Land** Woody Guthrie. I didn’t see it listed (just watch as it is) and it deserves to be in there. **Leaving on a Jet Plane** by John Denver. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-post-1955-great-american-songbook-what-songs-qualify/854438/36 "2020-05-26T11:40:01Z")
[Walk On By](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrNpzSqtE4E) so I can use this link, but half of Burt Bacharach’s stuff. [Georgia On My Mind](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIp9TwSEgFg) - Ray Charles [Walk On The Wild Side](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKOQapYcyhE) - Lou Reed ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-post-1955-great-american-songbook-what-songs-qualify/854438/37 "2020-05-26T11:55:06Z")
I’m not sure “American Songbook” means what a lot of the respondents here think it means. It doesn’t mean “best of show.” “American Songbook” means it would function well in a micro-specific milieu, like at a piano bar or a jazz nightclub, and a lot of the songs suggested here just wouldn’t. I like Dylan and Chuck Berry a lot more than I like the Carpenters, but the Carpenters are unquestionably more of a piece with Tin Pan Alley than most of their musical betters are. I like ZZ Top a lot more than David Frishberg, but Frishberg is credibly American Songbook and ZZ Top is not. My three picks: “Peel Me a Grape” “Do You Miss New York?” “Superstar” ---
**Author:** ![Cabbage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-post-1955-great-american-songbook-what-songs-qualify/854438/38 "2020-05-26T12:08:34Z")
I’m surprised some of these haven’t been mentioned yet: **Good Vibrations** - The Beach Boys **Billie Jean** , **Thriller** - Michael Jackson **What the World Needs Now Is Love** - Jackie DeShannon/Burt Bacharach/Hal David **Lean on Me** - Bill Withers ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-post-1955-great-american-songbook-what-songs-qualify/854438/39 "2020-05-26T13:47:37Z")
The mention of Bacharach (and the Carpenters) reminds me of two more: **Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head** **Close to You** ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2020, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-post-1955-great-american-songbook-what-songs-qualify/854438/40 "2020-05-26T13:59:00Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > I’m not sure “American Songbook” means what a lot of the respondents here think it means. It doesn’t mean “best of show.” “American Songbook” means it would function well in a micro-specific milieu, like at a piano bar or a jazz nightclub, and a lot of the songs suggested here just wouldn’t. I like Dylan and Chuck Berry a lot more than I like the Carpenters, but the Carpenters are unquestionably more of a piece with Tin Pan Alley than most of their musical betters are. I like ZZ Top a lot more than David Frishberg, but Frishberg is credibly American Songbook and ZZ Top is not. > My three picks: > > “Peel Me a Grape” > “Do You Miss New York?” > “Superstar” I’ll pick that nit. I think The Great American Songbook feels like “being jazzy” should be definitional, but it’s simply a side-effect of the fact that the artists who performed those songs came from or were directly influenced by jazz. Or, to put it another way, TGASB is, by in large, jazz/pop because that was the popular American idiom at the time. It makes complete sense for a more contemporary “Song Book” to reflect the idioms of its time. Limiting it to “jazzy” songs turns it into an exercise in mimicry and nostalgia mining, instead of trying to identify the music of the people, which, I think, is what TGASB is all about. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-post-1955-great-american-songbook-what-songs-qualify/854438.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-post-1955-great-american-songbook-what-songs-qualify/854438.md?page=3)