ThatвЂ™s the beauty of music, the magic of music. YouвЂ™re actually smelling hotdogs and French fries. Kills me! He sings it with soul and emotion. вЂњYou can almost taste the hot dogs, French fries they sell.вЂќ Excuse me? ItвЂ™s not exactly one of the best lyrics ever written, but the way he says it kills me.

This is a song where it doesnвЂ™t really matter what theyвЂ™re saying. Do you realize how old this song is? But somehow, charged in that songwriting, in the performance, and in the production of it, with the echoes, old-school as it may sound, it still evokes emotions when you hear it on the radio. The Flamingos, вЂњI Only Have Eyes for YouвЂќДЄt the time this came out, when I was just a kid, it was like another landscape of sound to me.

Sam Cooke just completely captivated me.Д«lack Sabbath on the Making of 'Vol. It was tunnel vision, and tunnel listening, on that song. I was just captivated with every single thing that I was hearing. And I remember staring at the six-by-nine oval speaker on the dashboard of her car, and I couldnвЂ™t get out of it. And then Sam comes in with his opening line, вЂњCupid вЂ¦вЂќ And I just went like, вЂњWhat?вЂќ The world got really small. And all of a sudden this song came on the radio, and that opening line with the French horn comes on. We were in the coastal town of Pismo Beach, California, where we would spend our summers occasionally. I was in a вЂ™56 Thunderbird that my mother had at the time. He contemplated вЂњFor Once in My LifeвЂќ by Tony Bennett and вЂњSally, Go Round the RosesвЂќ by the Jaynetts, but ultimately went with these five songs. вЂњThatвЂ™s because five is just not enough.вЂќ But he eventually took out his iPhone, began scrolling through songs and excitedly telling stories from his past. вЂњThis is such a tough question,вЂќ he says when we spring the task on him. A panel of 179 experts ranked the vocalists.For Steve Perry, selecting five songs that inspired him as a young singer required making some difficult choices.

This is an excerpt from Jonathan LethemвЂ™s introduction to the Greatest Singers of All Time feature in the Novemissue of Rolling Stone. Falling in love with a singer is like being a teenager every time it happens. ItвЂ™s as if theyвЂ™ve fooled us into loving them, diddled our hard-wiring, located a vulnerability we thought weвЂ™d long ago armored over. If one of the weird things about singers is the ecstasy of surrender they inspire, another weird thing is the debunking response a singer can arouse once weвЂ™ve recovered our senses. The beauty of the singerвЂ™s voice touches us in a place thatвЂ™s as personal as the place from which that voice has issued. Those two folks, a handful of others: their soul-burps are, for me, the soul-burps of the gods. Conversely, nothing in the vocal limitations of a Lou Reed guarantees a вЂњPale Blue EyesвЂќ every time out, any more than singing as crazy-clumsy as Tom Waits guarantees a вЂњDowntown Train.вЂќ Yet thereвЂ™s a certain time-tested sturdiness to the lowchops approach forged by touchstone figures like Bob Dylan and Jim Morrison and Jonathan Richman, one that helps define rock & roll singing.ДЇor me, Bob Dylan and Patti Smith, just to mention two, are superb singers by any measure I could ever care about - expressivity, surprise, soul, grain, interpretive wit, angle of vision. How helplessly candid! How appalling!Д¬ontrary to anything youвЂ™ve heard, the ability to actually carry a tune is in no regard a disability in becoming a rock & roll singer, only a mild disadvantage. Summoned through belly, hammered into form by the throat, given propulsion by bellows of lungs, teased into final form by tongue and lips, a vocal is a kind of audible kiss, a blurted confession, a soul-burp you really canвЂ™t keep from issuing as you make your way through the material world. ThereвЂ™s something a bout a voice thatвЂ™s personal, not unlike the particular odor or shape of a given human body.

Best steve perry songs