Since 2015, Alan Tigay has been the host of the website World Listening Post, on which he has reviewed albums from 95 countries; most recently on the site, he published a list of The Global 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Earlier in his career, Alan wrote op-eds, features, travel articles, reviews and humor for a variety of newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, Newsday, Chicago Sun-Times, American Heritage, Travel Holiday and National Lampoon. He was executive editor of the New York-based Hadassah Magazine for many years, administered a literary prize, and served as a judge for the National Magazine Awards. Alan has degrees from the University of Michigan and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
In this interview we talk about Alan’s 2-1/2 years of research compiling the Global 500 list, sample several of the songs on the list, and hear the stories behind the songs.
A quote from Alan’s writing: “I think of journalism as a frame for looking at events and phenomena in relation to one another, to see what can be learned.”
