What was YOUR first favorite song?

For me, "She Loves You" by The Beatles was No. 1

Recognizing that this admission will certainly DATE me, my very first favorite song was “She Loves You” by that irrepressible band from England, some of you may remember them - THE BEATLES.

What I did NOT know until a few moments ago, was “She Loves You” was actually released in England on MY BIRTHDAY! - August 23, 1963. (I was 10.)

(Stop doing the math…and think about the 1/365 chance of that actually happening!)

I actually remember the first time I heard it, too. I had a little transistor radio that I would listen to at night after I was supposed to be asleep and wonderfully, a Boston radio station - I think it might have been WBZ - made the monumental decision to celebrate the Beatles’ appearance in Boston by playing absolutely NOTHING but Beatles music for, I think three straight days (and nights!)

And when “She Loves You” came on, I would always turn it up as loud as I could. (Even risking being discovered) Such a GREAT SONG!

Now, I haven’t gone back to check it out if it actually WAS WBZ- I DON’T WANNA KNOW. That’s what I remember, drifting off to sleep in my bunk bed in my corner room of our little ranch in Brookline, listening to the extraordinary way those three- and sometimes four - voices blended together in a delightful, uplifting, surging, cool-as-hell banquet of songs that were just so sweetly fun to listen to. John and Paul later said they were TRYING to write a No. 1 hit with “She Loves You.” Well done, lads!

At 10, I didn’t know a damn thing about music, other than I liked the Elvis Presley album we had, the one with him in that purple shirt, especially the rock numbers like “Ready Teddy” and “Rip It Up.”

But The Beatles! Whole different category. You bet I saw them on Ed Sullivan along with almost everybody in America (except my friend, Mark) and yeah, yeah, yeah, BOTH my parents liked them right away.

My Dad, I remember, took us to the Milford Drive-In to see “A Hard Day’s Night” the first day it was there. We might have gone twice. How a kid from a dinky New Hampshire town found a magical connection with a bunch of youngsters from Liverpool, I’m not really sure. But one of them HAD MY NAME!

And yeah, like thousands of other kids around the country, we had concerts in our garage, me on badminton raquet, my brother on Maxwell Coffee House drums, neighbors rounding out our little band while found someone else to start the 45’s and we mimed to it, sort of a skeletal, in-the-flesh version of MTV.

From the thrilling, “Hey, something significant coming” drum roll that opens the song, their three voices combining into the urgent opening chorus - who in the hell STARTS a song with a chorus? - “She loves you, YEAH, YEAH, YEAH” That simple repetitive chorus that was (A.) fun to sing and (B.) had the added bonus of annoying the crap out of many adults, so we sang it ALL THE LOUDER. And a perfect fading finish, too. LOVE GOOD ENDINGS. (It even influenced my writing - years later.)

And the great thing about WBZ (or whatever station it was), since The Beatles only had, maybe 20-25 songs out at the time, you didn’t have to wait very long to hear “She Loves You” again!

As I was thinking about writing this yesterday, I also thought of this: What IF there was some way to reel back the tape recorder in our brain and find out WHICH songs we’ve actually listened to the most in our lives. You know, actually get a count. Wouldn’t that be interesting?

So… I hereby invite all my readers to share THEIR lists of their, oh, let’s say Top Five songs they’ve listened to the most. Love to see what you all have to say about what sounds were in your ears MOST OFTEN. I’m not asking you to rank them, necessarily, just write about what songs you LISTENED to the most. Of course, there’s no real way to know for sure, it’s just a guess. But this might be fun.

For me, I would bet on these -

• 1. Rod Stewart’s “Maggie May” (I wore out two 45’s of this perfect song,. Ask my friends…)

• 2. Bob Dylan’s “Like A Rolling Stone” (My personal National Anthem)

• 3. Derek and The Dominoes “Layla” (alternate National Anthem. I would not get OUT OF THE CAR UNTIL THE SONG WAS OVER AND THERE WAS THAT LITTLE BIRD TWEET)

• 4. Bruce Springsteen “Born To Run”/”Born In The USA” (It was ‘Born To Run” UNTIL I heard “Born In The USA” then that took over. Now it’s tied.

• 5. The Who “Won’t Get Fooled Again” (Just an ass-kicking, slam-bang, windmill guitar classic song that I found out was actually the first song recorded for the “Who’s Next” album. How in the world Pete Townshend found a way to write ANOTHER song after this one, a tune that captures everything you might love about The Who…I don’t know. But I’m glad he did.

  I could easily keep going but I’ll show some restraint (hahaha) and stop here. Wouldn’t it be fun to somehow actually find out you spent 34 hours listening to “Tangled Up In Blue” or “Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again?”

So, readers….drop me a note with your own MOST LISTENED TO Top Five, if you will. I’m really curious to see what grabbed you. If I hear from enough of you, I’d be glad to share the results. Tell me, in your comments…

WHAT WAS ON YOUR TURNTABLE???