Dave Elder's Favorite Songs Playlist
What's my favorite song? That's a tough question, and this playlist is my answer. I don't know that I could ever pick just one song. These are the cuts that I listen to, and that mean something to me. I have lots of memories and stories tied up with them, and I share a portion of those tales on this list. Surely you will recognize some of the tracks here, but probably you'll find some that you don't, and hopefully I can help you discover some good music. You might notice that some numbers are missing, including number 1, and that's because the linked videos are no longer available, so those songs have been removed from the list.
This page only includes a few recent bits. If you'd like to read some older ones, the previous link below will take you to the post before the last one, on my Blogspot runway, which has links to earlier writings. The Master List page has links to all of the playlist Blogspot articles. However, my earliest playlist rambles, before Song 185, only live on this website, since I didn't start posting on Blogspot until February of 2014.
-Dave
Recent Songs
(Sunday, 4/12/26) Song 817: I Can't Go For That (No Can Do) by Hall & Oates, written by Daryl Hall, John Oates and Sara Allen, You can find a YouTube video of it here. About three years after I had found a comfortable and affordable spot to reside in Oakland, CA, in September of 1988, the home's owner had decided to sell the place, and luckily for me, one of the occupants at a six-bedroom residence in Berkeley filled with my musical friends moved out, and I soon moved into that available room. A few months after I made that move, a duo with names that sounded like a corridor and grains had their harmonies inform us about their inability to accept an expectation. At that point, I actually paid a lot more attention to my fellow songwriters and performers in that Berkeley circle, but I did still sometimes give a listen to the radio as well. Back then, I had a strong attraction to a female member of the Berkeley circle, and I felt ready and willing to do almost anything that she might want me to, but fairly soon, I realized I had to accept the fact that she did not go for that.
(Sunday, 4/12/26) Song 816: Traces by The Classics IV, written by Buddy Buie, J. R. Cobb and Emory Gordy Jr. You can find a YouTube video of it here. Early in the year of 1968, this musical five who identified as a quality quartet started telling us about a Spooky (Song 743) romantic partner, and then in January of the following year, as I looked forward to probably having my HS diploma in hand during the hot season, those five began outlining marks and indications that might give a clue about a passionate exchange that sadly didn't work out right. I really cherished their sketchy ballad and I soon learned the chorus, so I could sing along with that part when the transistor radio shared the ride, as it often did for a few months. Even back then, I had some memories in bits and pieces, and living with a fundamentalist family, every night, when I went to bed, I would close my eyes and say a prayer, but since my folks did not approve of the devil's music, I had trouble singing along with that line.
(Sunday, 4/5/26) Song 815: Week of Rain by Jeff Larson, who also wrote the song. You can find a YouTube video of it here. Seven weeks after my previous personal friend song post, this week's saturating forecast comes from one of my closest CA musical buddies. We first saw each other perform solo sets on a stage in San Francisco back in 1979, and since we both liked what we saw and heard at that event, we soon developed a close melodic friendship. We actually even became a performing duo for a while, calling ourselves Dusty River, and we did some performances together, as well as plenty of rehearsals. At some point, we decided to end the duo, but we still remained in close touch, and continued to do so after I headed back eastward in September of 1988. When I get copies of a new recording in hand, I'll send him a CD of that project, and he does the same, so last year I started getting to hear his Adobe Home album quite a bit, which includes this moist observance. Now that the April showers might arrive, those of us in the U.S. Northeast may start staring at a week of rain, though maybe we could call it by another name, and perhaps hope for the sun, though the light might not be easily found.
(Sunday, 3/29/26) Song 814: I'm a Woman by Maria Muldaur, written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. You can find a YouTube video of it here. When Ms. MM started grabbing my attention at the end of the summer of 1973 by describing a dark visit to a sanctuary (Song 560) I pictured a very attractive female young adult, and quite soon, I got to see images and video footage confirming that beauty, which strongly aroused young adult males like myself. Then, around the beginning of the next January, she began bragging about her natural feminine abilities to launder clothing and to prepare nutrition. She also explained that with her cleansing talent, she could rub and scrub to have a house shine just like a dime. If you came to her sick, she could make you well, and if you got all hexxed up, she could break the spell. In fact, she bragged that she had a twenty-dollar gold piece which said there was nothin' she couldn't do back then, and it did impress me how she gave us a clearer understanding of what it means to be a W-O-M-A-N!
(Sunday, 3/22/26) Song 813: Everybody Loves Somebody by Dean Martin, written by Irving Taylor and Ken Lane. You can find a YouTube video of it here. I had paid some attention to the sounds coming from nearby transistor radios in the early 1960s, but when February of 1964 arrived and the Fab Four rocked my world, they became the center of my musical circle. At first I mainly focused on the British Invaders, but as August unfolded, I started singing along with Mr. Martin's claims about complete universal affection as well. At the time, I felt obsessed by a young female my age that I shared school classes with, but I didn't speak with her because I felt too shy to do so. My attraction to her made it well worth waiting for the moment when we would touch, but although my dream was overdue, that never happened, in part because her family decided to move to California when the following year's summer arrived.
(Sunday, 3/15/26) Song 812: Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana, written by Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic. You can find an entertaining YouTube video of it here. Around the time the end of the summer of 1991 arrived, so did a musical description of the odor associated with young energy. Early in the year, a hot war with Iraq had occurred, and I felt relieved that it had ended fairly soon and that not many U.S. veterans had to sacrifice their lives for the conflict, so even if they had to load up on guns and bring their friends, only a small percentage of those troops had to get buried. Maybe when a hot war becomes a possibility, then With the lights out, it's less dangerous, and whenever you ask a country's leader about the real reason for starting a war, the response you'll usually get is a denial, a denial, a denial, and a denial.
(Sunday, 3/8/26) Song 811: Lawyers in Love by Jackson Browne, who also wrote the song. You can find a YouTube video of it here. I first saw Mr. Brown's name as the songwriter for a pair of tunes I really liked on a Tom Rush album I had gotten in 1971 and the next year I got a copy of Jackson's first 33 soon after he had it released. I bought at least one or two other JB 33s in the following years, but in early 1978 I unloaded my album and single collections as I planned to head westward from the Windy City area. Not long after I got a lift to the East Bay, I found a nice place to reside in Oakland and discovered a pizza joint in Berkeley where a bunch of fellow singer-songwriter types shared their tuneful rambles. In 1981 the house I lived in got sold and fortunately a room became available at a Berkeley home where a group of my musical friends lived and I moved into that available space. About two-and-a-half years later, the J.B. fellow put out an album where he informed us about some affectionate legal experts and I felt the title track deserved some thoughtful attention. Back then, I couldn't always keep up with what was going on, but at the time, we did not face the risks of World War III that we had faced a couple of decades earlier and that would return soon after the New American Century arrived.
(Sunday, 3/1/26) Song 810: White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane, written by Grace Slick. You can find a cool YouTube video of it here. Whenever I hear this song, I always automatically picture the outside area just behind my parents' house, so I probably heard it out there on a transistor radio in a prominent moment of some kind while it rode the charts. Grace and her flying friends had given me a lift in the spring of 1967 with their previous chart-topper about having a romantic partner (Song 267) and a few months later they expanded the rock fan attraction to them by handing us a moving description of a bright vegetarian mammal. During those teenage years, I felt that I was too small, so I would have liked taking a pill that makes you larger but would not have wanted one that makes you small. Back then, I shared a lot of time with friends on the chessboard, but I don't remember ever having some kind of mushroom.
(Sunday, 2/22/26) Song 809: Poetry Man by Phoebe Snow, who also wrote the song. You can find a YouTube video of it here. In February of 1974 my wife and I moved from the frigid Windy City area down to a much warmer spot in Atlanta, GA, but when summer came along, we headed back north and ended up returning to Evanston, IL. This time, though, we split up and found separate places to reside, mainly because I mistakenly thought at the time that our relationship lacked a key element that my previous romance had had. At the end of that year a really cool female started celebrating a creative male writer and we got to hear her inform him that his eyes would light the night as she also told him that she knew he was hiding something sweet and she requested him to give it to her, because, if he did, that would make things all right.
(Sunday, 2/15/26) Song 808: Pregnant and in Jail by Carol Denney, who also wrote the song. You can find a YouTube video of it here. Seven weeks after my previous personal friend song post, this week's capturing anthem comes from one of my Berkeley song mates and former housemates. I first heard her do a set at a pizza joint there in late 1978, a few months after I had gotten a lift to the West Coast, and I really liked what I heard. I soon had the pleasure of developing a friendship with her, and I let her know how much I enjoyed hearing her musical excursions. Later we would become housemates for a few years before I had to return to the East Coast in September of 1988. We have kept in touch, and I've had the pleasure of hearing her more recent compositions. In fact, not long ago, a copy of her latest CD arrived in my mail box, and among the interesting rides on it, my current housemate and I chuckled a bunch of times when we got to hear the record's title track. Of course we both understand that a woman scorned is one thing since she can get pretty mad but maybe these male supremacist types don't know that if you all get in her way she's going to kick your butt!
(Sunday, 2/8/26) Song 807: From Me to You by The Beatles, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. You can find a cool YouTube video of it here. On the second week of February in 1964, I started hearing my junior high classmates using a word that I thought referred to insects and I didn't know why they would discuss something like that in the middle of winter, though I also considered the possibility that a top VW form had reached a landmark moment that I hadn't yet found out about. When I asked my neighbor playmate buddy about the word I'd been hearing, he found it amusing that his supposedly-smart A+ pal didn't have a clue about that moment's biggest news. My family and I often watched the Ed Sullivan Show, but I found out that we had all missed one of its most historic sequences. We then decided to stay home for the upcoming one, rather than going to church, and while my religious parents and grandparents had no interest in the sounds that the tube conveyed that night, my younger brother and I quickly became fans of the Fab Four as they performed this classic lift and a few other memorable rides. Before we witnessed that sequence, I probably would not have known if the group had anything that I might want, but after seeing and hearing them, I soon felt that their music could help to keep me satisfied.
(Sunday, 2/1/26) Song 806: Anticipation by Carly Simon, who also wrote the song. You can find a cool YouTube video of it here. I spent the warm season after my sophomore year at Northwestern University working as a summer missionary in Atlanta, GA, for the Southern Baptist Church, and in September of 1971 I returned to my apartment in Evanston, IL, even though I had decided to end my college education. A friend introduced me to an attractive young woman that he thought I would like, and I soon began a passionate connection with her. I could have mentioned to her how easy it felt to be with her, as the radio would sometimes remind us in the background during our moments together, since I could tell how right her arms did feel around me. At the time, I thought I did know about the days to come, when, in the near future, my musical talent would bring me fame and fortune. However, I was not a prophet, and despite my anticipation, that magical reality didn't arrive, but even so, I do not look back on that era as being the good old days.
(Sunday, 1/25/26) Song 805: Crystal Blue Persuasion by Tommy James and the Shondells, written by Eddie Gray, Tommy James and Mike Vale. You can find a YouTube video of it here. About a month after my senior classmates and I celebrated our graduation in June of 1969, Mr. TJ and his Ss started capturing our ears with their colorful method of convincing listeners. It didn't take long to sing along with a tune that told us a new day was comin' and people were changin', and I think we graduates agreed with those lines. As this classic rode the charts, near the final week of July, I got on a plane with a group of high school choir mates for a ride to Switzerland, and we felt sure that when the plane landed, we were gonna see the light. After that new vibration, we had an enjoyable performance tour, heading back home around the third week of August. On the bus ride up to our hometown from NYC, in the Bethel area we saw a lot of hitchhikers and the bus driver told us that a major music festival had just happened in that area. Later I would learn that the Woodstock Festival had focused on peace and good brotherhood.
(Sunday, 1/18/26) Song 804: Shadow Dancing by Andy Gibb, written by him and his brothers (Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb). You can find a cool YouTube video of it here. While I basically did not have much attraction to disco music when it came along in the 1970s, a few exceptions to that disinterest did spark some attention. This message started climbing the charts shortly before I began pointing my thumb in the westward direction in the Chicago area in July of 1978. Although I might not have heard the mover before the lifts I got that took me to the East Bay, after I arrived in the Golden State, I soon began to hear some rhythmic advice about how to do it right in attempting certain steps and I really did enjoy that sweet sensation that came from a radio speaker.
