50 Songs for 50 Years

I created this play list for a friend of mine who, like me, was turning 50 this year. Seeing as that's the case for a lot of friends of mine, I thought I'd share this. Besides, everyone loves a list.

This was harder than you might think. I tried to have a mix of the Billboard Hits and the obscure. There are mostly original songs, but there are a few covers. I was trying, for the most part, to choose songs that my friend might not have, and also songs he probably would like. (This list would be a bit different if I were making it, say, for myself,) Some years just sucked, and some years I would have wanted to have chosen ten or more. That's the way it goes.

1959 Poisoning Pigeons in the Park -- Tom Lehrer
1960 Stay -- Maurice Williams & The Zodiacs
1961 One Mint Julep--The Clovers
1962 Bobby's Girl (Demo - Stereo) -- Marcie Blane
1963 So Much In Love -- The Tymes
1964 Tell Me Why -- The Beatles
1965 Just One Look -- Doris Troy
1966 I'm A Believer -- The Monkees
1967 Try a Little Tenderness -- Otis Redding
1968 Punky's Dilemma -- Simon & Garfunkel
1969 Sugar Sugar -- The Archies
1970 I Think I Love You -- The Partridge Family
1971 Groove Me -- King Floyd
1972 I Saw the Light -- Todd Rundgren
1973 Angie -- The Rolling Stones
1974 You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet -- Bachman-Turner Overdrive
1975 Young Americans -- David Bowie
1976 Still the One -- Orleans
1977 American Girl -- Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
1978 Surrender -- Cheap Trick
1979 Brass In Pocket -- The Pretenders
1980 (Just Like) Starting Over -- John Lennon & Yoko Ono
1981 See Jungle! (Jungle Boy) -- Bow Wow Wow
1982 The Lunatics (Have Taken Over the Asylum) -- Fun Boy Three
1983 Blister in the Sun -- Violent Femmes
1984 It's My Life -- Talk Talk
1985 In Between Days -- The Cure
1986 The Perfect Kiss -- New Order
1987 Sweet Child O' Mine -- Guns N' Roses
1988 A Little Respect (LP Version) -- Erasure
1989 Roam -- The B-52's
1990 Keep On Walking -- Spanic Boys
1991 Losing My Religion -- R.E.M.
1992 If I Had $1,000,000 -- Barenaked Ladies
1993 Mr. Jones -- Counting Crows
1994 Only Wanna Be With You -- Hootie & The Blowfish
1995 Surf the Wild Gowanus -- Simon and the Bar Sinisters
1996 Thirty-Three -- Smashing Pumpkins
1997 Tubthumping -- Chumbawamba
1998 The Boy with the Arab Strap -- Belle and Sebastian
1999 I Need to Know -- Marc Anthony
2000 Mama Told Me Not to Come -- Tom Jones & Stereophonics
2001 Family Affair -- Mary J. Blige
2002 Waitin' On A Sunny Day -- Bruce Springsteen
2003 Belleville Rendez-Vous (Demo) -- Ben Charest
2004 Trouble -- Bonnie McKee
2005 How to Save a Life -- The Fray
2006 See the World -- Gomez
2007 You Can't Always Get What You Want -- Band From TV
2008 Manhattan -- Kings of Leon