What makes a great song is very much a personal opinion. What I'm including in this post are songs that, for some reason or other, I think are great.
But it's only my opinion.
I'm a Man (Winwood/Miller)
Performed by The Spencer Davis Group
YouTube Channel: YouTube@jarichards99utube
Link to Lyrics: Genius - I'm a Man
Written by Steve Winwood and Jimmy Miller, this was released in 1967. Steve Winwood was about 18 at the time. I'm a Man was released about 3 months after Gimme Some Loving. I was 13. Maybe it's the energy and the voice that makes it a great song. What a voice. Maybe it's more about the production than the song itself. There isn't a lot of tune and the lyrics aren't exactly sophisticated - the last line of Verse 3 is 'And I've never had no problems and my toilet's trimmed with chrome'. But none of that matters.
After Gimme Some Loving and I'm a Man I was a Steve Winwood devotee and saw him many times in his Traffic days.
Hi Ren (Ren)
Performed by Ren
Link to Lyrics: Genius - Hi Ren
Some time ago my mate Gary told me about a group he had seen performing on a street in Brighton. The band was 'The Big Push'. He had been impressed. 'The Big Push' includes Ren. When he came to our house a week or so ago he showed me a few YouTube videos of the band and then he showed me this video. It's not an easy listen, but it is a remarkable piece of work.
I Hate To See You Cry (Alan Hull)
Just a picture - sorry
Performed by Alan Hull
Link to Lyrics (Genius): I Hate To See You Cry
For a long time I had great difficulty in listening to this without crying. I'm not sure why.
To some extent it could be argued that the song is under developed, but for me it is just right. As is the performance. At times Alan Hull strains to hit the notes, the piano is 'nicely out of tune' and wrong notes are played.
The overall effect is perfect.
Hey Bulldog (Lennon/McCartney
Performed by The Beatles
