Every once in a while, when I meet someone new, they will ask me a question to which I don’t think I’ve ever given a satisfactory answer. The dreaded question is: What kind of music do you like? I usually mumble something along the lines of “The Beatles… Bossa Nova… and… I don’t know, mostly dead people”. I mean, it’s a difficult question to answer, isn’t it? Most people like a lot of different music. The set of music I like happens to contain a lot of disconnected subsets, so it’s particularly difficult to describe the whole set with a finite number of terms. So I’ve decided to dedicate some time to giving a somewhat better answer than I usually give in this post, with the hope that from today on I can just refer people here when they ask. So here’s a youtube playlist and a table. The songs are in no particular order. I did not include songs that I enjoy for something besides the music or the lyrics, e.g. comedic value, they were in a movie that I like, etc.
Edit: It appears that some of the songs don’t show up in the embedded player, probably because of licensing issues. Click here to listen to it directly from youtube.
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| Song Title | Composer | Performer |
| Libiamo Ne’ Lieti Calici | Verdi | The Three Tenors |
| Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen |
Mozart | Diana Damrau |
| Près des remparts de Séville | Bizet | Maria Ewing |
| 1812 ??? | Tchaikovsky | Gothenburg Symphony |
| Slavonic Dance No. 8 | Dvo?ák | Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra |
| I Dovregubbens hall | Grieg | Hallé Orchestra |
| Invierno porteño | Piazzola | Filarmónica de Montevideo |
| Por una cabeza | Gardel | Carlos Gardel |
| Águas de Março | Jobim | Tom Jobim & Elis Regina |
| Agua de Beber | Jobim | Quarteto em Cy |
| Izaura | Roberti/Martins | João Gilberto |
| Roda Viva | Buarque | Chico Buarque & MPB-4 |
| Sozinho | Veloso | Caetano Veloso |
| Che Trompo Arasa | Giménez | B. Rojas & J. C. Barreto |
| India | Flores | Luis Alberto del Paraná |
| Alma Guaraní | del Paraná | Luis Alberto del Paraná |
| Dos gardenias | Carrillo | Buena Vista Social Club |
| La vida es un carnaval | Cruz | Celia Cruz |
| Guantanamera | Díaz | Celia Cruz |
| Libre | Bravo | Nino Bravo |
| Te extraño | Manzanero | Andrea Bocelli |
| Les feuilles mortes | Kosma/Prévert | Yves Montand |
| Milord | Moustaki/Monnot | Edith Piaf |
| Rosa | Brel | Jacques Brel |
| As Time Goes By | Hupfeld | Dooley Wilson |
| Dream a Little Dream of Me | Andre/Schwandt/Kahn | Louis Armstrong |
| Come Fly With Me | Van Heusen/Cahn | Frank Sinatra |
| The Sheik of Araby | Smith/Wheeler/Snyder | Django Reinhardt |
| My Favorite Things | Rodgers | John Coltrane |
| I Got A Woman | Charles | Ray Charles |
| Can’t Buy Me Love | Lennon/McCartney | The Beatles |
| Eleanor Rigby | Lennon/McCartney | The Beatles |
| Come Together | Lennon/McCartney | The Beatles |
| Satisfaction | Jagger/Richards | Rolling Stones |
| I Wish | Wonder | Stevie Wonder |
| Money | Waters | Pink Floyd |
| Wish You Were Here | Gilmour/Waters | Pink Floyd |
| Tears in Heaven | Clapton/Jennings | Eric Clapton |
| Wonderful Tonight | Clapton | Eric Clapton |
| Goodbye Yellow Brick Road | John/Taupin | Elton John |
| Bennie and the Jets | John/Taupin | Elton John |
| Don’t Stop Me Now | Mercury | Queen |
| Crazy Little Thing Called Love | Mercury | Queen |
| California Dreamin’ | Phillips/Phillips | The Mamas & the Papas |
| Fortunate Son | Fogerty | Creedence Clearwater Revival |
| Sweet Child o’ Mine | Rose/Slash/Stradlin | Guns N’ Roses |
| De música Ligera | Cerati | De música ligera |
| For What It’s Worth | Stills | Buffalo Springfield |
| People Are Strange | The Doors | The Doors |
| My Generation | Townshend | The Who |
| Pata Pata | Makeba | Miriam Makeba |
| The Internationale | Bragg | Billy Bragg |