<p>Marvin Gaye - altho I try to leave out “Sexual Healing”</p>
<p>LOL, Chedva, of course not :-)…I mentioned Potts simply because the teenagers might be impressed that a mobile phone salesman with horrible teeth and a passion for opera managed to win the British version of American Idol, winning praise even from the usually cynical Simon Cowell. Whether it says more about the British or about the resurgent popularity of opera, I don’t know but the teens would certainly get some ‘musical education’.</p>
<p>Pavarotti is of course far more polished than Potts but if you want the <em>best</em> rendition of Nessun Dorma, you can do better than Pavarotti, I.M.O. (I prefer del Monaco, but please lets not hijack this thread too much)</p>
<p><em>emeraldkity4: ROTFLM@O! please don’t drive off the road!!</em></p>
<p>Classical
Gregorian Chant
Purcell
Bach - one of the Brandenberg Concertos
Mozart - I’d pick Piano Concerto 21 or 23, but to save time you could do something short like Eine Kleine Nachtmusic
Beethoven - 5th and 9th symphonies
Shubert - Die Shoene Mullerin
Ravel - Bolero
Debussy - Clair de Lune
Stravinsky - Rite of Spring</p>
<p>**Bluegrass **
Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs or Bill Monroe or Foggy Mountain Boys
or more recently
Seldom Scene, Alison Krauss and Ricky Skaggs</p>
<p>**Country **
Sons of the Pioneers - Cool Water
Johnny Cash - I walk the line and A Boy Named Sue
Tenesse Ernie Ford - 16 tons
Johnny Horton - The Battle of New Orleans
Lefty Frizzel - Long Black Veil
Dolly Parton - Coat of Many Colors
Patsy Cline - Faded Love or I fall to Pieces
Loretta Lynn - Coal Miner’s Daughter
Tammy Wynette - D-I-V-O-R-C-E
Willie Nelson - Mama don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys
Merle Haggard - Mama tried
Hank Williams - I’m so Lonesome I could cry</p>
<p>**Folk **
Woodie Guthrie - Do-re-mi
The Weavers - Goodnight Irene
Pete Seeger - Where have all the Flowers Gone and Little Boxes (or original version by Malvina Reynolds)
Joan Baez - The Night the drove old Dixie Down, Diamonds and Rust
Phil Ochs - I ain’t marching any more and Power and the Glory</p>
<p>Jazz
I don’t really like jazz, but do love Art Tatum and Ragtime and you should have some Dixieland Jazz</p>
<p>World Music
Not my forte either, but Reggae would include Bob Marley and the Wailers (I shot the Sherriff) I also like Youssou N’Dour from Senegal and Ali Farkar Tour</p>
<p>Great list, Mathmom.</p>
<p>I like Mathmom’s categories. I will try not to duplicate earlier suggestions:</p>
<p>**Classical<a href=“I%20really%20dislike%20Stravinsky.%20%20Most%2020th%20century%20%22classical,%22%20really.”>/b</a>
Water Music, Handel
The Barber of Seville, Rossini (at least the overture if you are short of time)</p>
<p>Bluegrass
It’s somewhere between country, folk, and bluegrass, but how about Wildflowers, performed by Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, and Linda Ronstadt?</p>
<p>Country
Chatahootchi or She’s Got The Rhythm (And I Got The Blues), Alan Jackson
I Feel Lucky, Mary Chapin Carpenter (or Down at the Twist and Shout)(or Shut Up and Kiss Me)(or Halley Came To Jackson)
Crazy, Patsy Cline</p>
<p>Blues
Chain of Fools, various, but I like the version from the Commitments soundtrack</p>
<p>Rock
Sultans of Swing, Dire Straits
China Grove or Long Train Runnin’, The Doobie Brothers
Layla, Eric Clapton
You Can Call Me Al and Kodachrome, Paul Simon
Bohemian Rhapsody, Queen
Bridge Over Troubled Water and Mrs. Robinson and The Sound of Silence, Simon and Garfunkel
Walkin’ on the Sun, Smash Mouth
La Bamba, Ritchie Valens
Johnny B. Good, Chuck Berry
Hound Dog, Elvis Presley
California Girls, The Beach Boys</p>
<p>Novelty
Bright College Days and Fight Fiercely Harvard, Tom Lehrer (notice the theme?)
The Saga Begins or It’s All About the Pentiums, by Weird Al Yankovic</p>
<p>I forgot:</p>
<p>Bad Moon Rising, or Proud Mary - Credence Clearwater Revival</p>
<p>Thanks for all the great suggestions! I have a lot of these songs and you have given me some great new ideas (about enough for 10 two-hour playlists!).</p>
<p>ABBA</p>
<p>It’s a joke.</p>
<p>I love WashDad’s list, it reads like my Ipod list. WashDad and I seem to have some sort of cultural roots together somewhere… anyway.</p>
<p>Russian composers - Russian Easter Overture is a breathtaking intro to big, romantic, splashy classical music, also Ruslan and Ludmilla, and Dvorak, New World Symphony</p>
<p>Country : </p>
<p>Willie Nelson, Blue Eyes Cryin’ in the Rain
Willie Nelson, Whiskey River
Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings, Pancho and Lefty (by Townes VanZandt)
Good Ole Boys Like Me , Don Williams (By Bob McDill)
Amarillo by Morning, George Strait
Ballad of Ira Hayes, Kinky Friedman
Up Against the Wall Redneck Mothers, Ray Wylie Hubbard with additional lyrics by David Allan Coe
Kern River, Merle Haggard
Mama Tried, Merle Haggard
Gentle on My Mind, Glenn Campbell (by John Hartford)</p>
<p>I cannot believe no one has mentioned The Supremes. I dare you to not sing along.</p>
<p>I want to get on iTunes and spend $30 on all of the songs that I don’t own yet. I may need to ask for an iTunes gift card for Christmas! </p>
<p>This is a great thread.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, I can’t believe I forgot the Supremes either. Stop in the Name of Love! And do the hand movements too! ;)</p>
<p>One more country. I just love Guy Clark - Dublin Blues.</p>
<p>Classical
Vivaldi - Four Seasons or Fireworks music
Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture
Rossini - William Tell Overature (assuming you haven’t heard it at every band concert.)</p>
<p>Rock
And Richard Thompson’s 1952 Vincent Black Lightning.</p>
<p>Did we mention The Grateful Dead? - Truckin’ and Uncle John’s Band minimally.</p>
<p>U2 I still haven’t found what I’m looking for</p>
<p>Fleetwood Mac - I’d play the entire Rumors album, but if you have to pick one maybe Go your own way or You make loving fun.</p>
<p>Rock: </p>
<p>25 or 6 to 4, Chicago
Low Spark of High Heeled Boys, Traffic
White Room, Cream
Whipping Post, Allman Brother Band
Sweet Melissa, Almann Brothers Band
Hello, It’s Me, Todd Rundgren
Downbound Train, Bruce Sprinsteen
The Weight, The Band
LA Woman, The Doors
Free Man in Paris, Joni Mitchell
I’m A Creep, Radiohead</p>
<p>Back to Country </p>
<p>Angel From Montgomery , John Prine</p>
<p>OOh, OOh. Guy Clark!! Great choice!</p>
<p>Whoops, no Lynrd Syknrd - you need at least a couple.</p>
<p>cangel, mine was just stream of consciousness. Came out kind of odd, actually. No Neil Young, No JT, No Van Morrison. Huh. Well, it is what it is. ;)</p>
<p>We’ve subjected our kids to oldies since birth. They can all sing American Pie from memory, along with pretty much anything Motown, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Springstein, Stevie Wonder,The Who, Simon and Garfunkel and even Michael Jackson. (Thriller) I work in musical theatre, so they know most of my collection, but I wish that we’d have done more classical. I’m not a country fan, but I do like Allison Krause.
Some of my favorite memories are of long car rides punctuated with wild spurts of car dancing to “Stevie” and wailing along to “Brown Eyed Girl.” Good times.</p>
<p>mathmom: 1952 Vincent Black Lightning. Yes.</p>
<p>curmudgeon: I’m with you on most of that list, and I’ll grudgingly accept the Rundgren, but “Creep”? I would rather listen to the most self-indulgent wanking on Kid A than listen to that song again.</p>
<p>Let me add a few songs that I do not believe any retroactive musical education should miss:</p>
<p>Amazing Rhythm Aces, Third-Rate Romance, Low-Rent Rendezvous
Sex Pistols, Anarchy In The U.K. and God Save The Queen
Talking Heads, Psycho Killer and Don’t Worry About The Government
The Trampps, Disco Inferno
The Blessing, Highway 5
Janis Joplin, Piece Of My Heart and Mercedes Benz
The Ramones, Sheena Is A Punk Rocker
Joan Armatrading, Love And Affection and Willow
Ryan Adams, When You’re Young You Get Sad
John Lee Hooker, Burning Hell</p>
<p>Emmylou Harris-Quarter Moon in a Ten-Cent Town
Sly and the Family Stone-Family Affair
Grateful Dead-Sugar Magnolia
Uncle Tupelo-Atomic Power
Los Lobos-Saint Behind the Glass
Taj Mahal-Corinna, Fishin’ Blues
Widespread Panic-Travelin’ Light; Space Wrangler
moe.-Mexico; Ghost of Ralph’s Mom
Phish-Gotta Jibboo
Guy Clark-Old Friends
NRBQ-Want You Bad
Marshall Tucker Band-Can’t You See?
Jimmy Cliff-Harder They Come; Sitting In Limbo
Chris Smither-Desolation Row
Townes Van Zandt-Pancho and Lefty; Tecumseh Valley
Railroad Earth-Seven Story Mountain
Yonder Mountain String Band-Mother’s Only Son; No Expectations
String Cheese Incident-Smile</p>
<p>wharfrat -isn’t TVZ’s version of Pancho and lefty just gut twisting? Great choice. I’ll check out some of your others. </p>
<p>JHS, I like the whole Pablo Honey CD. But yep. I like ii. Maybe I didn’t hear it when it was current so I’m not as jaded. I think that way about some Pearl Jam and Nirvana stuff I missed the first time through.</p>