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
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
I could pick 100 essential 'songs' but not 5.. let me just narrow down to one specific category, 5 essential 1970's Jazz Fusion cuts:

1. Stanley Clarke - School Days title cut
2. Weather Report - A Remark You Made
3. Billy Cobham - Stratus
4. Return to Forever - The Sorcerer
5. Jeff Beck - Freeway Jam
Hendrix: Lil Wing
Coltrane: My Favorite Things
Cream: Crossroads
Bob Wills: Milk Cow Blues
Beethoven: Ode To Joy
Queen , Great King Rat (1st lp)..... James Cotton , Down at your Buryin .. ZZ Top, Jesus just left Chicago .. BB King , The Thrill is Gone ..... Black Sabbath , Solitude. Tough to pick Five out of hundreds but this is what I listened to tonight! Cheers