Lastweek, Jonah Weiner wrote about thereturn of the sax solo to pop music , name-checking some of the most notablesax cameos in pop history. We asked whichsongs you’d add to his list , and hundreds of you heeded our call. You can find hours upon hours of saxy sax recommendations in the original comment thread, but these 12tracks got the most love from Brow Beat readers. (Well, with a bit of fudging — lestSteely Dan and Pink Floyd take over the entire list, we went with the mostpopular nomination for each band.)
In rankedorder, here’s your crowdsourced, 70s-heavy, summer sax playlist:
Bruce Springsteen, “Jungleland,”1975 — solo by Clarence Clemons
This 10-minute epic was far and away the biggest vote getter on Brow Beat, but it’sa potentially divisive choice: Last year, the A.V. Club placed it at No. 5 onits list of ” 10Great Songs Nearly Ruined by Saxophone .” Writes Josh Modell: “The firsthalf of the incredibly lengthy solo in ‘Jungleland’ adds depth to a prettyincredible song, but then everything just devolves into a strutting cheesefactory.” Judge for yourself on this live version from 1984, featuring Clemons:
Billy Joel, “Just the Way YouAre,” 1977 — solo by Phil Woods
Duran Duran, “Rio,” 1982 — solo byAndy Hamilton
Rolling Stones, “Brown Sugar,”1971 — solo by Bobby Keys
Pink Floyd, “Money,” 1973 — solo byDick Parry
Foreigner, “Urgent,” 1981 — solo byJunior Walker
Bob Seger, “Turn the Page,” 1973 — soloby Alto Reed
DavidBowie, “Young Americans,” 1975 — solo by David Sanborn
No. 1 with a bullet on theA.V. Club’s list (“imagine the greatness [the song] could’ve achievedwithout the constant nagging and yipping”), but a personal favorite of thisparticular blogger.
SteelyDan, “Aja,” 1977 — solo by Wayne Shorter
GatoBarbieri, “Europa,” 1976 — sax instrumental cover of a Santana cover
Earth,Wind & Fire, “Reasons” (live version from Gratitude ) 1975 — solo by Don Myrick
Jr.Walker and the All Stars, “What Does it Take (To Win Your Love),” 1969 — solo byWalker
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