Since I'm learning how to listen differently to music, I was curious about what people consider great songs and why?
That's a tough nut to crack. As an older person, I consider the songs that "stick" to be "great" songs, so a list, from my perspective, would be heavily weighted towards old old songs and there are SO many. And the reasons they stick to me may not be the same reasons ... or even valid reasons for any other person. And I'm not really against new music; it's just that they haven't had time to stick to me for years or decades yet.
So, I'll try to just go through some songs that I've been at least motivated to transcribe:
I've Found a New Baby -- Mary Osborne A Girl an Her Guitar
There are so many iconic versions of this song, from Ethel Waters, to Sidney Bechet, to Charlie Christian and Benny Goodman. But the 1960 version by Mary Osborne really does it for me on guitar. The intro uses those familiar minor-to-major hammers on dominant chords almost like Chuck Berry and the main song swings at a very fast tempo through a nice AABA form with Dm. The improvisation is right on the edge of going off the rails but sound so good. It really rocks. The whole record rocks from the first beats of I Love Paris. A good mix of ballads and blues, played by humans. Top shelf guitar jazz record that is nearly unheard of.
Baby Blue - Badfinger
This is one of the first A.M. radio hits I remember as a child. It made me want to play guitar and its use of the sus chord and the augmented chord in the chorus is listenable and hooky. The guitar solo is succinct and tuneful. And the story of the band is so tragic.
Dancing Queen - ABBA
The quintessential pop song. Those voices, yet a nice progression and bridge and hooky little piano phrases. They translate well to guitar and you could probably make it a little heavier without a string arrangement and add a guitar solo and no one would think the worse of you -- as long as you tell that story and have the vocal harmonies.
Day after Day and Kid - the Pretenders
Chrissie's voice really works for me and these two early songs are packed with emotion and attitude and some nice open string arpeggios on guitar. James Scott's solo on Kid is iconic and a must learn for any rocker.
Angel - Jimi Hendrix
Those opening chords are the real stars of the show. Jimi adds his trademark fills and passing chords throughout and the result is nearly a perfect song. The dreamy evocative lyric is punctuated by a Strat genius. Nothing like it.
Regret - New Order
I don't know why this song is an earworm for me. It is fun to play, adding the open string sus notes. It has an iconic bass melody and solo and emotional vocal delivery. Tuneful well-constructed song with some good sonic textures.
Scatterbrain / Blue Wind / Cause We've Ended As Lovers - Jeff Beck
His royal Jeffness. I never tire of these songs. I always hear something new. He has kept progressing and finding new ways of expression on the guitar. His live videos are must watch guitar tv. A real treat to watch.
Honorable mentions are George Harrison songs like What is Life and Here Comes the Sun. And the rest of the Beatles catalog.
Guilty pleasures are Adele Rolling In the Deep, The Turtles Happy Together, Moody Blues Nights in White Satin. Radiohead Creep. All the Yardbirds hits.
That is just a smattering of songs covering a wide range of genres. I've omitted a lot of other obvious ones obviously. These are just what has bubbled to the surface lately.
I could go on for hours about the Ventures or the Munster's theme or Miserlou or Beach Boys... Stones, Zep, Who, Jean Luc Ponty, RTF, McLaughlin... Queen, Rush, Yes... Blackmore, Vai, Satch... Scofield, Farlow, Breau, all the Stevies, and Greg Koch and a whole bunch of new kids whose names I haven't remembered yet.
A lifetime of music....hooks, melodies, progressions. It's endless.