10 Best Songs That Feature The Word 'Stone' In The Title

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Sometimes when we start one of these word-in-the-title lists, the obvious classics come to mind first and then all the great deeper tracks start flooding back. “Stone” turned out to be one of those words, with songs stretching across rock, soul, psychedelia, glam, and progressive pop. We did not try to overthink what the word means in every song; we simply went with the records we love and the ones that felt impossible to leave out. There are huge hits here, a few personal favorites, and one tie near the top because Jimi Hendrix gave us two songs that both belonged. Here are our ten favorite picks.

# 10 – (I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone – The Monkees

“(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone” opens the list with one of the toughest records The Monkees ever released. Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart wrote the song, and The Monkees issued it in 1966 as the B-side to “I’m a Believer.” Micky Dolenz handles the lead vocal, backed by a studio crew that included Boyce, Hart, Louie Shelton, Larry Taylor, and Billy Lewis. The song climbed to number twenty on the Billboard Hot 100 even though it was not the A-side. It gave The Monkees a harder edge that still sounds great all these years later.

Read More: Top 10 Songs From The Monkees

# 9 – Stone In Love – Journey

“Stone in Love” opens with one of those Neal Schon guitar riffs that immediately tells you Journey is about to take off. The song appeared on 1981’s Escape and was written by Steve Perry, Neal Schon, and Jonathan Cain. It was never released as a commercial single, but it became a major album-rock favorite and a longtime concert staple. The lyric looks back at young love and those summer nights that stay in your memory long after everything else has changed. You remember those days, right?

Read More: 10 Most Underrated Journey Songs

# 8 – Hearts Of Stone – Southside Johnny And The Asbury Jukes

“Hearts of Stone” is the title track from Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes’ 1978 album, and it remains one of the greatest records to come out of the Jersey Shore scene. Bruce Springsteen wrote the song and gave it to Southside Johnny, while Steven Van Zandt produced the album that carried its name. Springsteen wrote several songs associated with the Jukes during those early years, but “Hearts of Stone” stands right alongside “The Fever” for me. It is a beautiful rock and roll ballad with a soaring chorus and a vocal that reminds you why Southside became a legend around New Jersey. I saw him a few years back opening for Little Feat, and he absolutely blew away the audience.

# 7 – Stone Cold – Rainbow

I have always thought Joe Lynn Turner never got enough credit for what he brought to Rainbow. When Ritchie Blackmore is standing next to you with a guitar in his hands, it is pretty easy for almost anybody to wind up in the shadows. “Stone Cold” came from 1982’s Straight Between the Eyes and was written by Blackmore, Turner, and Roger Glover. The recording features Blackmore on guitar, Turner on vocals, Glover on bass, Bobby Rondinelli on drums, and David Rosenthal on keyboards. The song reached number forty on the Billboard Hot 100, giving Rainbow its only U.S. Top 40 single and one of Turner’s finest vocal showcases.

# 6 – Turn To Stone – Electric Light Orchestra

Jeff Lynne and Electric Light Orchestra were on an incredible run in the 1970s, and I remember getting hooked when Face the Music came out. Then A New World Record arrived and somehow impressed me even more, becoming one of my favorite albums of 1976. After those two records, ELO went even bigger with the 1977 double album Out of the Blue, which opens with “Turn to Stone.” Recorded at Musicland Studios in Munich and produced by Lynne, the track features Bev Bevan on drums, Richard Tandy on keyboards, Kelly Groucutt on bass, and Lynne on guitar and lead vocals. This is ELO at the point where melody, studio ambition, and pure pop-rock craftsmanship all seemed to come together perfectly.

# 5 – Roll Away The Stone – Mott The Hoople

Anyone who follows this site knows how highly we think of Ian Hunter because the man is one of rock and roll’s great treasures. He made his name with Mott the Hoople before building a remarkable solo career, and “Roll Away the Stone” remains one of the band’s most irresistible records. Written by Hunter, the song was released as a single in late 1973 and later appeared on the 1974 album The Hoople. It reached number eight on the UK Singles Chart and gave the band another huge glam-rock anthem to stand beside its best-known work. The rhythm, chorus, and hooks make this one almost impossible not to sing along with.

Read More: Top 10 Mott The Hoople Songs

# 4 – Stone Cold Crazy – Queen

I still remember being in eighth grade in 1974, riding my bike with a friend while one of those little radios attached to the bike was playing. “Stone Cold Crazy” came on, and I turned to my friend and said, “Who is this?” A few days later we figured it out, and I ran out to buy Sheer Heart Attack, which remains one of my favorite Queen albums. The song is one of the rare Queen compositions credited to Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor, and John Deacon together, and it sounds like the whole band is trying to outrun itself. If there was ever a quintessential killer Queen song—and yes, the pun is intended—this is the one.

# 3 – Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone – The Temptations

“Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” showed just how adventurous The Temptations could be when Norman Whitfield pushed the group deep into psychedelic soul. Written by Whitfield and Barrett Strong, the Temptations version was released in 1972 and turned a dark family story into an enormous cinematic production. The single reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, but its achievement went far beyond the chart position. At the 1973 Grammys, the recording won for R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals and Best R&B Instrumental Performance, while Whitfield and Strong also won Best R&B Song. Too many people remember The Temptations only as a smooth Motown vocal group, but records like this prove how innovative and reflective of their time they could be.

# 2 – Tie – Stone Free / Third Stone From The Sun – Jimi Hendrix

“Stone Free” was the first original Jimi Hendrix composition released by The Jimi Hendrix Experience, appearing as the B-side to “Hey Joe” in December 1966. The song is pure Hendrix attitude, built around freedom, motion, and his refusal to let anybody tie him down. Its guitar attack already contains so much of what would make Hendrix sound unlike everybody else within a matter of months. The track has remained one of the essential early statements of his musical personality. With that title alone, there was no way it was missing this list.

“Third Stone from the Sun” takes the other half of the tie because Hendrix was already looking far beyond ordinary rock-song structure on Are You Experienced. The instrumental blends rock, jazz, psychedelic effects, strange spoken passages, and a science-fiction story about an alien looking down on Earth. Hendrix and producer Chas Chandler spent months shaping the track through sessions at several London studios before the final master was completed in 1967. The swirling guitar and experimental studio effects make it sound less like a normal song than a transmission from somewhere else. Put “Stone Free” and “Third Stone from the Sun” together and you get two completely different sides of what made Jimi Hendrix so extraordinary.

# 1 – Like A Rolling Stone – Bob Dylan

Closing this list with Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” feels almost unavoidable because few songs changed the possibilities of rock writing so dramatically. Released in 1965 on Highway 61 Revisited, the recording stretches past six minutes at a time when that was still an extraordinary length for a major single. Al Kooper’s organ and Mike Bloomfield’s guitar give the track its instantly recognizable musical attack while Dylan delivers every line like he is throwing it straight at somebody. The recording was captured live in the studio with very little room to clean up mistakes afterward, which is part of why it still feels so immediate. “Like a Rolling Stone” did not just put the word “stone” in a title; it became one of the records that permanently changed what a rock song could be.