what are your five essential songs


there is a local radio show where the host has invited everyone to go to enter their 5 essential songs and she plays 3 or 4 of them per show--so let me know what yours are.

my list in no particular order:
equinox-john coltrane
romeo is bleeding- tom waits
no getting over you - bonnie riatt
mandela- hugh masekela
jupiter- from holst the planets
bianchi27
Professor Longhair - Tipitina
John Coltrane - Naima
Grahm Central Station - Hair
World Saxophone Quartet - Ming
The Meters - Fiyo on the Bayou
Lay Lady Lay - Bob Dylan
Georgia - Ray Charles
Season of The Witch - Bloomfield, Kooper, Stills version
River Man - Nick Drake
America - Simon & Garfunkel
US Blues Grateful Dead
Michelle The Beatles
Surfer Girl Beach Boys
The Wasp The Doors
Deacon Blues Steely Dan

I must say that everyone's choices seem as eclectic as mine
Not my only essentials but a good start:
Hendrix- Gypsy Eyes
Santana- Singing Winds Crying Beasts/Black Magic Woman
Willie Nelson- Stardust
Rolling Stones- Let It Bleed
Steely Dan- Don't Take Me Alive
5 essential pop/rock songs (jazz is another list):

"Crybaby" - Utopia
The ultimate power pop song with a vocal harmony at the chorus so perfect that it threatens to split the universe.

"Mother, We Just Can't Get Enough" - New Radicals
The last-word (among many attempts) in re-working the perfect funk/rock ideal - "Sympathy For The Devil". For me, this easily surpasses the original Stones' song, which says a ton.

"No More Casual Sex" - Kid Creole
A finely sculpted dance song with an irresistable trumpet fanfare that resonates every time I hear it - and a truly hilarious lyric.

"I Know I'm Not Wrong" - Fleetwood Mac/Lindsey Buckingham
My favorite song from "Tusk", LB's "F*ck You" to his legion of pop fans. I love both the music and the lyric, but prefer his solo re-work to the original.

"The Christians and The Pagans" - Dar Williams
A tremendous lyric combining a very cleverly constructed and moving message of tolerance with keen observations of family at the holidays. Gets me every time.

Although, if you ask me tomorrow, 5 others might make the cut.

Marty