The Beatles’ Strawberry Fields and Jeff Buckley’s cover of the Leonard Cohen classic Hallelujah feature in a poll to find the 10 greatest tracks.
Fifty songwriters, including Coldplay’s Chris Martin and John Legend, took part in the vote for Q Magazine.
“Hallelujah is as near perfect as you can get. It transcends your mood. I can listen to it anywhere,” said Legend.
The songwriters were asked to name their top three and from there the list was whittled down to the final top 10.
TOP 10 GREATEST TRACKS
Bitter Sweet Symphony – The Verve
Blowin’ In The Wind – Bob Dylan
Born To Run – Bruce Springsteen
God Only Knows – The Beach Boys
Hallelujah – Jeff Buckley
Life On Mars – David Bowie
Perfect Day – Lou Reed
Strange Fruit – Billie Holiday
Strawberry Fields Forever – Beatles
Sympathy For The Devil – Rolling Stones
Source: Q Magazine
“You can play Strawberry Fields Forever on an acoustic guitar and it sounds beautiful,” said Serge Pizzorno, of Kasabian.
“But the Beatles took the song to its furthest point, and the results are mind-bending.”
Other classic tracks on the list include David Bowie’s Life on Mars, The Rolling Stones’ Sympathy For The Devil and Bruce Springsteen’s Born To Run.
“It makes me feel like I’m being dragged away by this euphoric moment that could any moment tip into being corny, but doesn’t,” said Manic Street Preachers’ star James Dean Bradfield of the Springsteen hit.
Coldplay singer Martin picked The Verve’s Bitter Sweet Symphony.
“Bitter Sweet Symphony is as perfect a song as there is. And I say that as somebody who believes perfection is the enemy of imperfection,” said Martin.
Bob Dylan’s Blowin’ In The Wind, Billie Holiday’s Strange Fruit, God Only Knows by The Beach Boys and Lou Reed classic Perfect Day complete the list.
Jermaine Dupri hosted a monstrous private party in Atlanta on Wednesday night, but it wasn’t his usual patented JD throwdown. Sure, some of his closest friends and collaborators came out ? Nelly, Usher, Lil Jon, Monica, Jagged Edge, T-Boz, Chris Webber and of course Janet Jackson ? but this one was a little more special for JD. The party was the grand opening of his club, Studio 72.
For a music mogul whose party-throwing is almost as legendary as his nearly two decades of hit records, it seems like JD would have been in the nightclub business years ago. But believe it or not, he never really thought about opening his own party spot until about seven months ago, when the proverbial opportunity came knocking at his door.
“I don’t know,” JD said on Tuesday when asked why he’d never opened a club before. “I had to find the right spot ? a place where I could do it and feel comfortable. I found a spot, it needed help, so I felt it was the perfect time for me to come in. I never had an inspiration to own no club, but I seen the opportunity and I was like, ‘Let’s go get it.’ ”
Thus, the ATL has a new place JD guarantees will be jamming on the daily ? Studio 72, the inspiration for which should be obvious.
“I wish I could have went to Studio 54,” Dupri said of the notorious disco-era New York nightclub that acted as muse for his new place. “Just from the picture, it looks like the spot I would have been in every week. It looks like it was so poppin’ in there, I would have moved to New York. When you see a club that has Michael Jackson standing on the line outside, you know that sh– was incredible. It ain’t about money for me. I’m trying to have fun. I want people to come from out of town and have to be here, like, ‘I heard Studio 72 is the sh–.’ ”
JD doesn’t do it till rap’s favorite closing time ? 6 a.m. ? but he comes real close. Studio 72 closes at 5 a.m. and is the only club in Atlanta that serves spirits until 4 a.m. Plus, it’s full of special features.
“We got fish tanks, five bars, a lot of VIP [areas],” he said. “Most of the clubs I go to, the dance floors ain’t really a big spot. It’s mostly a room where everybody could sit down and people could mix and mingle. We got so many different areas: the Chocolate Room, the Jacuzzi Room, with girls in the jacuzzi.