The Best Graduation Songs ... Ever!
#15 I’ll Be There For You ~ The Rembrandts
You know this one, the theme song for Friends. It moves you. It makes you want to shimmy. Let's be Friends! Forever!
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15:
I’ll Be There For You ~ The Rembrandts
You know this one, the theme song for Friends. It moves you. It makes you want to shimmy. Let's be Friends! Forever!
14:
Make It Happen ~ Mariah Carey
Mariah, the voice of an angel. A sight for our wicked eyes. Make It Happen, Mariah. Make It Happen. It's the perfect graduation song.
13:
What Goes Around, Comes Around ~ Justin Timberlake
Oh Justin. We think you're wonderful and this song is almost the most wonderful of all the graduation songs ever.
12:
Wind Beneath My Wing ~ Bette Midler
This is the song that makes all the parents cry, even grandparents. Especially grandparents. Admit it: It makes you cry too.
11:
Breakaway ~ Kelly Clarkson
The beautiful Kelly Clarkson creates her own anthem to the end of school and the beginning of summer and the rest of your life. Remember?
10:
Alice Cooper ~ School's Out
"School's Out" is just about the song able to take first place ... for all the right reasons. It nails the topic right on the head, relentlessly.
9:
Green Day ~ Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)
Green Day: The title for the farewell ballad reaches the heart of sweet nostalgia tempered with a disdain for sentimentality. It's a tearjerker for those who really dislike tear jerkers. And it's the perfect song for those who want to say goodbye on their own terms.
8:
The Killers ~ When You Were Young
The Killers' first single from their second album is their most ambitious songs. This Utah band is trying for a huge, romantic sound like Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It doesn't match the Boss but it captures the feeling of invincibility.
7:
Queen ~ We Are the Champions
Freddy Mercury, one of the greatest rock and rollers of all time and the subject of a new biopic. "We are the champions, we are the champions..." Indeed.
6:
The Beatles ~ In My Life
One of the beautiful songs done by the Beatles is also one of the most played at graduation balls. There's a great reason why.
5:
Fun ~ We Are Young
This might be the most recent song on this list but it's one of the most listenable of them all. Just a couple of months ago, Fun released We Are Young and it doesn't have much to do with school, but we can dance to it.
4:
Pink Floyd ~ Another Brick in the Wall Part 2
Welcome to your future. It's a dystopia and you're going to do nothing but struggle and suffer. Well, it may not be entirely as bad as that, but it is terribly grim according to this anthem by Pink Floyd.
3:
Bob Dylan ~ Forever Young
This song is older than your parents and probably much older than the house where you live. The year was 1974. Forever Young captures the wistfulness of youth knowing it won't be young much longer. You might remember a cover of it from the TV series Sons of Anarchy.
2:
Simple Minds ~ Don't You Forget About Me
Remember "The Breakfast Club?" The movie about non-cool kids who were actually the cool kids except they were all normal, awkward kids who really like each other in spite of their dramatic differences? Me neither. Anyway, you've heard this song before and it perfect captures that determined yet awkward attitude.
1:
Semisonic ~ Closing Time
Okay, so this is from the 90s, but we think you probably know it Very Well. It turned out that Semisonic was a "one hit wonder" and Closing Time was it. Try to put aside the fact the song takes place in a bar very late at night and imagine it's all about one era closing and another beginning.
