This is Part 2 of my previous post listing songs I consider timeless. I don’t claim that these songs are the best in any way; is just that I keep coming back to them every now and then, even after all these years.

These songs are in no specific order. I may be obsessed with one of them today and with some other tomorrow.

Also, like before, I actually listened to each song and then wrote about it. For any song where I did not find anything to write about, I discarded from this list.

Wake Up (1992) – Rage Against the Machine

The first time I heard this song was during the end scene of The Matrix and was immediately hooked. Shamelessly political, this song has killer guitar riffs and bass track. I listen to it at least few times a week when I run and also otherwise.

Foremost, this song now reminds me of the time when Sophie Urista peed on a fan’s face live on stage.

Human Touch (1992) – Bruce Springsteen

This is one among the many songs Jaideep Singh (JD) introduced me to, when I went to the tiny room he lived in. Although I never was a Bruce Springsteen fan (still am not), this song hit a note with me. I found the song melodious with great bass.

The FLV version of the below video was one of the few videos I kept on my Nokia E50.

This song also reminds me of my early courtship period with my (now) wife in Nagpur.

Brothers in Arms (1985) – Dire Straits

This is undisputedly one of the best songs ever written, period. The beautiful lyrics are only matched by the haunting, winding guitar work by Mark Knopfler.

The entire song is one beautiful never-ending guitar solo.

This song reminds me of my friend Vipin Panwar, whom I sent this song as an mp3 after a night shift and he (said) he got hooked. I also used to listen to this song a lot when driving around Delhi in my i10.

One of These Nights (1975) – Eagles

This song starts with a killer bass track and I love the lyrics. Although I did listen to this song long ago, the one time I remember is when I couldn’t sleep all night and saw the Farewell 1 Tour: Live from Melbourne concert while wondering if I was playing it too loud and would wake up my landlords downstairs.

Calm Like a Bomb (1999) – Rage Against the Machine

I listen to this song when I need energy and to get my ass off the couch. Killer riffs and instigating lyrics.

This song reminds me of when I was roommates with my friend Arka and we played music while getting ready for college in the mornings.

Also reminds me of The Matrix Reloaded.

A Future to This Life (1995) – Joe Walsh & Rita Ford

I heard this song when watching the RoboCop TV Series. It took quite some effort on y part to find this song on Kazaa after which I asked a fiend to write it on a CD for me.

The song is not that popular and doesn’t vein exist on Apple Music. But for some reason, I like it and keep coming back to it, especially if you listen to th lyrics from the point of view of someone whose brain has been removed from his body and fit into a robot.

Neon Lights (1978) – Kraftwerk

This is probably the first song in this list that I ever listened to and as such, is special to me.

I first listened to this song when one of my father’s friends in Durgapur gifted me my first Aiwa Walkman. The Man-Machine cassette came free with the Walkman and since I was not in a position to buy new ones, I listened to it over and over again. This whole genre was new to me and I was fascinated by all the computer generated sounds. I remember lying in bed listening to this song with my eyes closed, imagining the aforementioned neon lights.

I love listening to this song at night to wind-down. The song is slow-paced and soothing to the ears. It would be a great song to fall asleep to, if it wasn’t so beautiful.

The Rascal King (1997) – The Mighty Mighty Bosstones

When I lived in Panchkula, I had a friend Vishal Chopra who I have mentioned before. His family had returned from Canada, and as such he had lots of gadgets, including a Playstation. He had a game called Rogue Trip: Vacation 2012 which we played often (In black n white, because his system was NTSC but the disc was PAL). This song appeared on one of the levels. Of course, not being exposed to western music much at that point in time, I didn’t understand what they were singing, but I made up lyrics in my own mind.

Coming Back to Life (1994) – Pink Floyd

I think everyone already knows this song and needs no introduction. Although I won’t call this song “great”, it is iconic enough to keep listening to over the years.

This song has 3 great guitar solos (the first one of which, David toggles the pickup switch mid-way). The rest of the song is also easy-going and nice.

This song, too, reminds me of leaving Someplace Else late at night.

I also remember going crazy when Parikrama covered this song when they played at YCCE, Nagpur.

It is also one of the few Pink Floyd songs I could listen with my non-rock listening friends.

Cymbaline (1969) – Pink Floyd

This is just a nice soothing song that I love that I didn’t hear till recently because it is so obscure. I also tried watching the movie it was a soundtrack of, but couldn’t tolerate it.

Tere Bin (2007) – Rabbi Shergill

Back in college in Nagpur, when I was falling in love with my (now) wife, we chose the worst rated movie as our first movie to watch together. But purely based on the above-mentioned falling-in-love phase, this movie and this song left a deep mark on me. I even read the lyric translations to understand what the song was about.

I remember going to Delhi to meet her and playing this song on my LG KS 20 (The shittiest phone I ever had) at the airport looking forward to meeting her.

Ayyo (2012) – Avial

I was introduced to Avial by my friend Goru, while we were going to attend Sonal’s rural wedding at Saharanpur. While I found most of their stuff average, I really liked Ayyo, even though I couldn’t understand a single word of what they were singing.

This song has stayed with me over the years.

Everything You Want (1999) – Vertical Horizon

I was introduced to this song in college in the form of this below fan-made video.

The song has beautiful lyrics, and since I was learning guitar then, I was also introduced to chord hammers.

I also liked the hair-style of the protagonist in the above video and wished for the same kind of hair.

It was also the first time I heard of Final Fantasy.

High Hopes (1994) – Pink Floyd

I had listened to this song many times in college, but the first time this song really left a mark on me was when Arka came to visit us (We were still in final year and he had already passed out). He had one of those Sony Walkman series phones and he asked me to try the sound quality. The opening bass notes blew me away and I listened to this song from a whole new angle for the first time.

I really like the music video, too.

One of these days (1971) – Pink Floyd

The first time I listened to this instrumental was when I watched the Live at Pompeii video. The double bass track blew me away and I was hooked.

What I associate most with this song is going on solo motorcycle rides to Katol and other places around Nagpur. And as such, I remember this song with the background of my motorcycle engine thumping. I remember driving on the highway with my phone in my pocket and the earphones in my ears and wind whistling by.

The Night Begins to Shine (2015) – B.E.R

This song reminds me of the time when we had just moved to Bangkok, living in quarantine and my daughter was obsessed with Teen Titans Go! Anyways, I love the song and listen to it often.

The most recent song in this list.

Time for some Analytics

After this interesting experiment of making this list, I wanted to also analyse my preferences from different angles.

Decade	Number of Songs
1960s	1
1970s	13
1980s	3
1990s	11
2000s	2
2010s	2

Looks like I mainly like songs from the 70s and 90s. Wonder what happened in the 80s?

Language	Number of Songs
English	28
Instrumental	1
Punjabi	1
Malayali	1
Bengali	1

Genre	Bands	Number of Songs
Progressive Rock	Pink Floyd	9
Rock	Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, The Doors, Dire Straits, Joe Walsh, B.E.R.	9
Alternative Rock	The Cranberries, Avial, Vertical Horizon	4
Heavy Metal	Iron Maiden, Metallica	2
Folk	Arnob, Rabbi Shergill	2
Heavy Metal/Rap	Rage Against the Machine	2
Grunge	Nirvana	1
Heartland Rock	Bruce Springsteen	1
Electronic	Kraftwerk	1
Ska Punk	The Mighty Mighty Bosstones	1

Genre	Bands	Number of Songs
British	Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac, Iron Maiden, Dire Straits	13
American	Eagles, Nirvana, Metallica, The Doors, Rage Against the Machine, Bruce Springsteen, Joe Walsh, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Vertical Horizon	12
Indian	Rabbi Shergill, Avial	2
Irish	The Cranberries	2
German	Kraftwerk	1
Bangladeshi	Arnob	1
Fictional	B.E.R.	1