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Songs For The Life

This list is made up a bunch of songs about looking back over life and taking stock, or songs about philosophies of life, or other big thoughts. I thought I was just making a list of a bunch of my favorite songs, but I guess songs that touch on those kind of themes are most likely to be my favorites.

- Ben Crum

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1. Doug Sahm & The Sir Douglas Quintet - Spearfish By Night

I've always kinda suspected this song was at least partially improvised in the studio. Don't know for sure, but I love it when he sings the mantra, "I don't care how many dues you've paid, or how many girls you've made. What have you given to the world?"

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2. Jerry Jeff Walker - Song For The Life

With it's gentle acoustic guitar and soulful, twangy lead guitar, this song pays tribute to the singer's friends and loved ones, and begins in classic JJW style with the lyric, "Well, I don't drink as much as I ought to."

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3. John Prine - Sour Grapes

John Prine supposedly wrote this when he was 14. It might be my favorite Prine song, though it's hard to pick just one. I love the lyric, "I don't care if the sun don't shine, but it better or people will wonder. And I don't care if it ever quits raining, except the kids are afraid of the thunder."

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4. Terry Melcher - Just a Season

Melcher takes this reflective Roger McGuinn/Jacques Levy composition to new heights with his idiosyncratic vocal and a beautiful string arrangement.

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5. Johnny Darrell - Johnnie Lose It All

Johnny Darrell was criminally overlooked. With his baritone voice, and the soul and the ache in it, he was truly a great singer. This song is about the emptiness of fame, and about all the things he traded when he went after his dreams of being a singer.

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6. Scott Walker - That's How I Got To Memphis

Walker's version of the Tom T. Hall classic is amazing. It's about searching for someone, or maybe about searching for someone who represents something. I love it.

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7. Waylon Jennings - Ride Me Down Easy

Like most of the rest of Honky Tonk Heroes, this is a song written by Billy Joe Shaver. But it's classic Waylon. What always strikes me about his great 70's records are the sparseness that lets his great voice do all the work. Nobody but Waylon can deliver as well a lyric like, "Left a lot of good friends, some sheets in the wind, and some satisfied women behind."

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8. Bobby Charles - I Must Be In A Good Place Now

Bobby Charles' debut album is really good. He's pretty much just backed up by The Band (Danko's bass playing especially gives the record its feel), along with Dr. John and a host of other luminaries. This record should have made him famous. There is no justice, I swear.

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9. Larry Norman - Why Don't You Look Into Jesus

"Jesus Music." Man, I don't know. But this is some funky, soulful tuneage from a true believer.

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10. Kris Kristofferson - Same Old Thing

From the great Spooky Lady's Sideshow, this song is a look back on his life and loves. He paints quite a picture when he sings, "I've left some of my soul on every sweaty sheet that I could sleep on."

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11. Johnny Cash - Where Did We Go Right

A song about the peace of mind that comes with true love.

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Songs For The Life

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