This is the Earwyrms Chrono-Canon. The Historical Hundred. The 100 Best Songs Ever, in order of their debut, in an attempt to map a sort of historical sense to the form as it has existed in the past century or so.

This is the final issue of the Earwyrms Canon. There’s no true theme to bind these ten together, except that they were always going to make the list. These were the songs I thought of first, the allies that I trusted best.

Music is melodrama. Pageantry, spectacle, vulgar vulnerability—the arrogant may sneer, but pain is universal, and songs are unique in their ability to immerse. The form allows us to wear the feelings of one another.

Song ensures Bad is never The Worst. We sing to bring joy to shipless oceans. This batch of Canon songs carry that knowledge—flames of understanding for those thinnest wicks of heart.

I’m tackling the impossible: the 100 best songs ever recorded. Not ranked from #100 to #1, but instead given their own meaningful sequence, a personal structure to reveal itself over the next few weeks. It will be a compass for navigating my sonic perspective. An Official Earwyrms Canon.

I’m tackling the impossible: the 100 best songs ever recorded. Not ranked from #100 to #1, but instead given their own meaningful sequence, a personal structure to reveal itself over the next few weeks. It will be a compass for navigating my sonic perspective. An Official Earwyrms Canon.

These are songs that represent the wrangling of time, the freedom of the future. Through tempo, these songs can change our heartbeat, grant us the energy to hit the road. It’s the inherent power of keeping time—it’s fuel for the engine of hope.

Last week, I talked about music as a manipulator, an art form adept at drawing forth emotion. But there’s another side to this manipulation: tension and the suppression of release. Coming inches from what you want, only to find you’re not going to get it—that is power in its purest form.

Life’s purest delights—singing, dancing, telling someone you love them—all come from indulgence in unsolicited feelings. The path to euphoria is narrow—it demands we ignore our exposure to pain. This section of the Canon is filled with those songs that speak directly to our emotional fears, the music that conquers pain with melody.

This issue of the Canon is about Voice—the first ten were an introduction to the list, but these ten are grouped by one of humanity’s great gifts, an instrument whose versatility often feels unnoticed.

I’m ending the year by tackling the impossible: the 100 best songs ever recorded. It will be a compass for navigating my sonic perspective. An Official Earwyrms Canon.