3 Classic Rock Songs You Can Recite by Just Hearing the Title

There used to be a popular game show on television where players were given hints about certain songs and then played a few notes from that song. If they could name that tune, they were awarded prizes and glory. But for some of us, we don’t need a game show to help us remember certain songs. Those songs are emblazoned on our minds.

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We wanted to take a look at three prominent examples of that. More specifically, three classic rock songs that are in our bones. Tracks that leap to our minds when we’re merely told the title or hummed a few bars, or reminded of the first few words of the chorus. Indeed, these are three classic rock songs you can recite by just hearing the title.

“Stairway To Heaven” by Led Zeppelin from ‘Led Zeppelin IV’ (1971)

If you want your song to be remembered by fans over the decades, then all you have to do is write the most iconic classic rock number of all time. Seems doable. That’s exactly what Led Zeppelin did on their 1971 LP. The song tells a story about a woman trying to use commerce to get to the promised land. It’s sung by the sky-scraping vocalist Robert Plant, and it’s just the kind of thing that sticks in your mind. Say this song title to anyone and they’ll begin to twist their bodies like Plant with his microphone as if they too are singing to a crowd of 100,000.

“Let It Be” by The Beatles from ‘Let It Be’ (1970)

The song that in many ways marked the end of the Liverpool, England-born band The Beatles, this track was released on their final album in 1970. Have reservations about endings? Just let it be. Have misgivings with friends you thought you’d be around forever? Let it be. Those are the words and that is the advice that Paul McCartney gave both his fans and himself when writing and recording this beautiful piano-driven number. It’s so well done that it lives in our eardrums and we can recall it at any time of day or night.

“You Can’t Always Get What You Want” by The Rolling Stones from ‘Let It Bleed’ (1969)

This is a song most of us can recite as soon as we hear the title. It’s also a song we simply reference over and over in everyday life. How many times have you said or heard someone say, “You can’t always get what you want.” And then immediately after, they start singing this track from The Rolling Stones. It’s like Mick Jagger and company gave us a melody to accompany a hard truth, the sugar for the bitter pill. It’s a gift and it’s one we can open—and recite—over and over again in our daily lives.

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