The rapport between the prisoners and Johnny - certainly no saint himself - is almost tangible in the sound. Not to be doing time in prison, but to be there in that moment with the Man in Black, as he sings a little vignette of regret and shame. Recorded in Folsom Prison, you can hear the unabashed gratitude in the captive audience. The most amazing part of this song is the crowd. When her voice breaks at 3:03, you can hear the muffled cheer of someone behind the glass in the studio control room. If you listen to nothing else on this page, listen to that. Off 1969вЂ™s Let it Bleed, Gimme Shelter is a shining example of that visceral rock beat, and it happens to contain what I think is one of the coolest moments in rock: Merry ClaytonвЂ™s incendiary vocal solo at 2:44. Gimme Shelter вЂ“ The Rolling StonesДЄ dark testament to the desperate human need for security. These are peopleвЂ™s heartfelt stories.ДЄnd secondly, turn up the volume. If you donвЂ™t have time right now, bookmark this post and listen later. IвЂ™ve compiled a short list of songs that, to me, embody the universal theme of what it means to be a living, breathing, loving and hurting human being.ДЇirst, I politely ask that you donвЂ™t вЂscanвЂ™ the songs, listening for a few seconds and then skipping to the next one. Right at this moment, in every town in every country, there are people tapping their feet, sharing smiles, sobbing into their pillows, and falling in love to the sound of music. We all know what they feel like, and what they sound like.

Music unites us by telling stories with which we can all identify. Whether you believe weвЂ™re products of evolution or divine creation, there is no question that there exists within us a deeply-rooted need to let our emotions resonate with rhythm. I am not much of a dancer, but when I hear music I feel a very visceral, physical urge to move my body to it. There seems to be an immutable need in our very DNA for us to find some way of expressing ourselves in rhythm. I find it fascinating, but also completely unsurprising, that music has developed in every single human culture. As a communication medium it is unmatched at conveying emotion. Music has been touted as the universal language, not only because all cultures create and celebrate it, but because music expresses themes that are truly universal: beauty, love, pain, and everything else it means to be human. Linguistic and cultural barriers keep us from recognizing these two universal similarities in others, but there is a human invention that can circumvent all that. There is nobody on this earth with whom you donвЂ™t have at least those two things in common. These two motivations, and the behavior they inspire, comprise the human condition. We all want the same two things: to fulfill our desires and to avoid suffering.

Despite our surface differences, weвЂ™re all in the same boat.

They are the same patterns of anguish that have recurred continually throughout all cultures, across all generations: lost love, fear, alienation, self-loathing and jealousy. Rather, they are the result of our most pervasive similarity: that we all suffer, and none of us want to. But contrary to popular notions, I think war, exploitation and violence are not the results of our differences. People do bad things sometimes itвЂ™s not really news, I know. Terror, death, murder, destruction, Bush. I just took a look at CNNвЂ™s site and it was, as usual, boasting its favorite palette of troublesome nouns and verbs. Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without.

I forget that im worth it song