Steve Jobs devoted a large part of his life to creating devices for enjoying music. The iPod (whose name has a funny story behind it) brought 1,000 songs to our pockets, the iTunes Music Store changed the way we bought them, and the iPhone brought everything together in a single device. Music mattered to Jobs. So today we’re going to look at some of his favorite artists.
Steve Jobs’s favorite music
The quick answer can be found in a list Jobs wrote for himself on April 16, 2003. We can see this original Steve Jobs list in the Steve Jobs Archive, inside the digital book Make Something Wonderful.
The list, under the heading “This song moves me like few others,” includes the 27 songs he most enjoyed listening to, the ones that brought back good memories or helped him enjoy something as simple as driving through California. It is also accompanied by a few notes in which he explained some of his musical memories.
Thanks to it, we know that some of the artists he liked most included Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Cat Stevens, Neil Young, Jackson Browne, The Velvet Underground, Jimi Hendrix, Van Morrison, and Talking Heads:
- Sligo River Blues, In Christ There is No East or West, John Fahey
- If I Laugh, Cat Stevens (or Trouble)
- Every Grain of Sand, Bob Dylan
- Baby Let Me Follow You Down, Bob Dylan, 66 tour, live, She Belongs to Me, Desolation Row, Just Like A Woman, It’s All Over Now Baby Blue
- Vince Guaraldi, Never Never Land
- Sweet Jane, Velvet Underground
- Here Comes the Sun, Beatles (Ticket To Ride,
Yesterday, Nowhere Man, In My Life) - Little Green, Joni Mitchell
- Camelot, Lerner & Loewe
- Suite Judy Blue Eyes, Crosby, Stills & Nash (Wooden Ships)
- Neil Young, Harvest
- Hey Joe, Jimi Hendrix
- How Long Has This Been Going On, Audrey Hepburn, Funny Face
- Good Shepherd, Jefferson Airplane
- You’re Still My Woman, B.B. King
- For A Dancer, Jackson Browne
- New Morning, Bob Dylan
- Take Me to the River, Talking Heads,
Stop Making Sense - Angel From Montgomery, Bonnie Raitt
- Father and Son, Cat Stevens
- Minor Swing, Django Reinhardt
- Where to Now St. Peter, Elton John
- Colors/Dance, George Winston
- The Dark End of the Street, James Carr
- Come On, Let’s Go, Ritchie Valens
- Tupelo Honey, Van Morrison
- Judy Garland, Over the Rainbow, Live
Bob Dylan held a special place, The Beatles, and much more
Bob Dylan was, in his own words, his “favorite of all time.” He had collected around twenty of his records and could spend hours talking about his songs, his lyrics, and the way he had evolved throughout his career.
He appears several times on the list. Jobs chose Every Grain of Sand and New Morning, as well as a live recording of Baby Let Me Follow You Down from the 1966 tour. Alongside it, he wrote down other titles such as She Belongs to Me, Desolation Row, Just Like a Woman, and It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue.
The Beatles also held an important place. The song initially chosen for the list was Here Comes the Sun, from Abbey Road, but Jobs then had to add another four possibilities in parentheses: Ticket to Ride, Yesterday, Nowhere Man, and In My Life.
Jobs apparently had enormous admiration for The Beatles and saw the group as an example of what a team made up of people with different talents could achieve. His interest in the band is said to have extended to the way they worked: he believed that its members balanced one another out and that what they created together was better than the sum of their individual abilities.
The list also includes All I Have to Do Is Dream, by The Everly Brothers. It turns out that his parents used to listen to it when he was a child, and whenever he heard it again, it brought back fond memories of that period of his life.
And we also find For A Dancer, by Jackson Browne. Jobs remembered discovering this song while driving on Highway 280, the road that connects San Francisco with Silicon Valley.
He said: “I first heard this on my car radio while driving down Highway 280, and I started crying. I had not listened to much Jackson Browne at that time, and was just blown away by the lyrics. I have since listened to many more of his songs, but this one is still my favorite.” The scene is evocative: Steve Jobs behind the wheel, the California hills on the other side of the window, and a song playing on the radio.
Steve Jobs created products that allow us to take music with us wherever we go. And clearly, that was because he fully understood its value and the power it has to evoke emotions, awaken memories, and bring us joy.
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