Essential Lenny Kravitz Songs

After creating several "top ten" lists over the last few months, I've had a few complaints from the peanut gallery that I'm not listing the "best" selection for a true "top ten." So I've decided to keep the column the same, only tweaking it slightly by calling them "essential songs'. No one can truly create an ultimate "best of" list unless you were to rank them by order of chart success. But who wants to do that? It doesn't sound fun to me.

10. "I'm A Believer" (Strut)
From Lenny's latest album, it's a real upbeat rock number, following most of the albums tracks that have a disco/funk vibe to them. I like that this one is just straight up rock with no frills. "HEY!"

9. "I'll Be Waiting" (It's Time For A Love Revolution)
It's a super solid ballad from Lenny. I really NEED a CD version of this Unplugged show.

8. "Are You Gonna Go My Way" (Are You Gonna Go My Way)
For most of my life this is the only song I'd heard from Lenny's catalog that I knew was actually his, and judging from that info, I probably would've assumed he was a one hit wonder. Thanks a lot rock radio.

7. "I Belong To You" (5)
I think this is a song I'd want to dance to at my wedding... if I were to ever get married. And if my future lady would even agree to it.

6. "Fly Away" (5)

5. "The Chamber" (Strut)
I can't get enough of this one from Lenny's latest. The bass is awesome and the lead guitar is very sparse, reminding me of the score to a spaghetti western.

4. "Again" (Greatest Hits)
It sounds to me like a song Aerosmith would've recorded in 1993 but it suits Lenny much better.

3. "Deuce" (K*SS My Ass)
The original version of Kiss isn't really that "great" of a song in my opinion, I just like it for the cheese factor of the lyrics, such as "get up, and get your grandma outta here." With Lenny's cover, he turned it into a stomper of a rock song- it's oozing with funk. He totally transformed the song into one that makes me want to get up and dance. The best part is probably the guest appearance by Stevie Wonder on harmonica.

2. "It Ain't Over Til It's Over" (Mama Said)
I feel like an artist's best song shouldn't be a cover song, so I've kind of thrown these two together above "Deuce." They're really strong on their own, it was just a close race between all three, so easiest the way to break the tie was to bump the cover. This song caught me by surprise too, since I'd heard it many times on the radio but always assumed it was a 70's song from someone like Smokey Robinson.

1. "Always On The Run" (Mama Said)
This song has one of my favorite rock n roll song moments, where the singer commands the guitar solo. In this case, it's Lenny instructing a guest guitar solo from Slash. The song's lyrics are premium cheese as well, with Lenny saying his mom told him it's both good to be "factual" and "natural." I wonder if she taught him how to rhyme, too.