MY GREATEST POP SONGS OF THE 21st CENTURY

This is an impossible task, of course, as there are so many great songs, but, when we are out to dinner, there are certain songs that I ask to be played so they must be my pick for the last half of the 20th century.  This piece will be updated from time to time so you might want to visit it again.

This is "our" song so I better include it, and yes I frequently request it to be played: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9r2pEdc1_lI
Only You (can make the world seem right) especially as sung by The Platters, originally in 1955
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Only_You_(And_You_Alone)

After Only You, I am likely to ask for this theme written by Maurice Jarre in 1965 .  This music seems very good no matter who plays it.  I like the Henry Mancini version (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Hq0V98f02Q), but the song with lyrics by Connie Francis is good too.
Laura's Theme from the movie Dr. Zivago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lara's_Theme

No surprise here as MTV voted it the best pop song of all time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ms65JQTBCcQ
Yesterday by Paul McCartney in 1965
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yesterday

Though this Russian song has been around since about 1925, it took Mary Hopkin's in 1968 recording  this song with English lyrics by Gene Ruskin to make it popular:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyaTIXdN5fI
Those Were The Days (my friend, we thought they would never end.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Those_Were_the_Days_(song)

This song has sometimes been called the saxophone player's national anthem (Perhaps it is the strippers national anthem as well.).  I used to request it every time there was a band with a good sax player.: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxqQxJt_LQI
Night Train has a complicated history, but was first made famous by Jimmy Forest in 1950:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Train_(composition)

Wow, I see my five most favorites are all before 1970.  I guess that says something.

I used to watch a TV program that was introduced by this song.  I finally tracked it down and it has been a favorite of mine ever since:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iaR3WO71j4
Secret Agent Man played by Johnny Rivers in 1966.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_Agent_Man_(song)

When I used to ask for this song in honky tonk places, I would have to follow it up with "No, the other one!":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFypAB7nYGA
Joy To The World (Jeremiah was a bullfrog) by Axton Holt  No one played it better than the Three Dog Night in 1970
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joy_to_the_World_(Hoyt_Axton_song)

This is an oldy from my youth.  First published as a piano composition in 1933 by Peter De Rose, Paul Whitman added words in 1938.  It is good no matter who plays or sings it and Dinah Shore did a good job on it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW0DGB7QEoM
Deep Purple (When the deep purple falls, over sleepy garden walls,...)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Purple_(song)

Another oldie but goodie from my youth.  I like it by Billie Holiday in 1933, but there are many very good renditions:
Stormy Weather by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stormy_Weather_(song)

This song is number 69 at the best 100 songs of the Thirties (http://www.digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/best_songs-1930s.html).  I like the Billy Holiday version of this one also:
Red Sails In The Sunset by Hugh Williams and Jimmy Kennedy
hthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Sails_in_the_Sunset_(song)

I love this 1933 song, particularly song by the Platters in probably the famous rendition in 1958 that bacme a #1 on the billboard Hot 100: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57tK6aQS_H0
Smoke Gets In Your Eyes by Jerome Kern with lyrics by Otto Harbach
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoke_Gets_in_Your_Eyes

I have to have something sung by Eartha Kit so I'll pick the following song that I also love written in 1929 and, of course, Fats Waller did a good job on it too:
Ain't Misbehavin' by Fats Waller along with Harry Brooks and Andy Razaf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ain't_Misbehavin'_(song)

Les Paul and Mary Ford introduced a new sound in the 1950s that was very exciting, and I select the following famous performance made January 4, 1951 that spent 25 weeks on the billboard chart and 9 weeks as #1:
How High The Moon  with music by Morgan Lewis and lyrics by Nancy Hamilton
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_High_the_Moon

I love this dreamy 1937 piece from the play Babes In Arms, especially as played by Jackie Gleason:
 (http://www.last.fm/listen/artist/Jackie%2BGleason/similarartists)
My Funny Valentine by Rogers and Hart
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Funny_Valentine

I love this 1932 piece.  It usually is played as an instrumental piece, but Bob Russell wrote English lyrics for it.  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_N_dqVUsoY&feature=related)
Maria Elena by Lorenzo Barcelata
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Elena

How can I not love this song.  The arrangement of of 1944 Johnny Mercer song by the Pied Pipers with the Ernie Felice Quartet is very good:
Dream (When You Are Feeling Blue)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLLEc-Xh068

I think these are called novelty songs, but I used to play them quite a bit on the juke box (Not Listed In Labels):

Though the Kngston Trio's most famous song is probably "Tom Dooley," my favorite is a 1949 song
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VMSGrY-IlU) :
M.T.A. by Jacqueline Steiner and Bess Lomax Hawes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M.T.A.

This was a good song with a moral that came out in 1947:
Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! That Cigarette by Merl Travis and Tex Williams
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoke!_Smoke!_Smoke!_(That_Cigarette)

Well, this sad song really appealed to me composed in 1953 but I put money in the juke boxes in 1955 sung by Webb Pierce:
There Stands The Glass by Russ Hull, Mary Jean Shurtz, and Audrey Greisham
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_Stands_the_Glass

I still get a kick out of this early 1970s song that hit number one on billboard and all its sexual innuendos, in spite of the writer saying she did not think about that.
Brand New Key (I've got a brand new pair of roller skates, you've got a brand new key.) by Melanie
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brand_New_Key