jawnbc | The originals

Sometimes it's something unlike anything previous. Sometimes it's a fusion of things ostensibly incompatible. Sometimes it's taking the known, giving it a tweak, and producing something unique. But these are some recordings that, from the very first listen, caught my ear. They're not earworms, they're classics.

Wuthering Heights Kate Bush: An anthemic pop song based on 19th century Brit lit, sung as the wail of the Banshee? Oh yeah!

American Pie Don McLean: Cryptic, hypnotic, profound and singable in a pub, encapsulating a culture

First Time Ever I Saw Your Face Roberta Flack: Known as a singer-songwriter-producer, FTEISYF was written by firebrand Marxist folk singer Ewan MacColl (Kirsty's Da)--in tribute to the woman who inspired him to leave his wife. But it's Flack's vocal and arrangement that make this sublime.

Father and Son Cat Stevens: I don't know many men for whom this song doesn't resonate. The meaning I find in the lyrics has changed with age, but it remains powerfully moving--particularly the counterpoint at the end (stay...stay...stay...)

Rivers of Babylon Boney M: Fusing pop, calypso and reggae and adapting verses of Scripture, to make the sound of joy. They were produced by Frank Farian, whose next "act" was Milli Vanilli

Le Monde est Stone Fabienne Thibeault/Céline Dion/Cyndi Lauper: Sometimes the package is better than its parts. Here's a sublime melody, with ostensibly pedestrian lyrics, yet it totally works. It's sung by a small town girl, new to the big city, working as a nighttime restaurant where, quite literally, everyone is stoned. But you really don't need to understand a word for it to move you to tears. [Lauper's version is The World is Stone]

Good Vibrations the Beach Boys: Nothing like it, before or after. Arguably the first American recording to use the human voice as an instrument.