Timeless Songs

So I've been thinking of late about what makes a timeless song. I'm not talking about a classic, but about a song that 50 years from now, folks will sing and it will still be a great song. Gordie and I have been talking about this a lot.

Look at the body of work from the Beatles. There are an awful lot of songs in their catalogue that anyone, and I mean anyone, can sing. And they still sound fresh. Think 'Yesterday'. It's a great song no matter how you sing it.

So we decided to see if we could name a few timeless songs written in the last 20 years. And we were hard pressed to come up with a handful. What makes it timeless?

I know as writers we often like to think or hope that what we write will live on after we're gone. We write for a lot of reasons, therapy, because we have to, because we have a great idea, maybe even because we think someone else will sing it. But do we really ever write that song that will live on?

Wouldn't you like to leave that kind of legacy behind? Did the Beatles think about that when they were writing? Maybe, maybe not..maybe they just thought about the song in the moment. So when we write in the moment and from a place of truth, does that make it timeless?

Someone once told me that singer/songwriters of late write about personal issues and emotions and don't really care about the longevity of their work. Do we? Do they? Does it make the songs any less important?

Do we know?

I would challenge you to name 20 songs written in the last 20 years that no matter who or how they're played will sound fresh and relevant. Can you? We couldn't.

Interesting topic for a snowy afternoon....