John was all over the map in his musical tastes, transitioning seamlessly from Rossini’s operas, to Scott Joplin’s “Rags”, to almost any waltzes and most of John Philip Sousa’s marches, to almost anything composed before the 1700’s, etc., but for the purposes of this list, we have listed only the songs with lyrics he particularly appreciated in addition to the whole raft of great songs John loved that were written or performed by: Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, and Simon & Garfunkel.
(1) Si Kahn’s “What Will I Leave”, as with many of John’s favorite books, asking about issues of death and dying, and living a meaningful life. John met Si some years before he was diagnosed with his cancer.
Lyrics | On iTunes | On Amazon
(2) Simon and Garfunkel’s “Bleecker Street”....where John did live when he was in New York, where $30 did pay the rent, and where indeed it was “a long way from Canaan to Bleecker Street”.
On YouTube | On iTunes | On Amazon
(3) “The People United Will Never Be Defeated” by various artists, generally in Spanish in opposition to Central and South America’s Right-wing Dictatorships; many of the artists who recorded the song “disappeared” under those regimes.
On YouTube | On iTunes | On Amazon
(4) “This Old Town” as performed by Nancy Griffith.
On YouTube |
On iTunes |
On Amazon
(5) “The Internationale” by various artists, including, on YouTube, a thrilling video of the Soviet victory celebration upon the defeat of Germany in World War Two. John loved the hope that radiates from the song, and anguished at how those hopes all went so horribly, horribly wrong.
Free MP3s in 40+ languages | On YouTube (As mentioned above) | On YouTube (Russian/Higher Quality)
(6) On YouTube, The Seekers performing “I am Austrialian” which is not the Australian or anyone else’s national anthem, but could be/should be everyone’s! Just a totally enchanting weaving of history into hope.
On YouTube (As mentioned above)
(7) The World War Two classic, “I’ll be Home for Christmas”, by any of the dozens of people and groups who ever recorded it. It captured for John more than any other song the anguish of troops being sent off to war.
On YouTube (Frank Sinatra)
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