People Get Ready — The Impressions (1965)

Curtis Mayfield wrote this gospel-inflected civil rights anthem after the 1963 Birmingham Church bombing and 1963 March on Washington, and its train-as-salvation metaphor became so potent that Bob Dylan called it one of the greatest songs ever written. The song reached number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 but became far more influential than its chart position suggested -- Rod Stewart and Jeff Beck's 1985 cover introduced it to a new generation, and Rolling Stone ranked it number 24 on its Greatest Songs of All Time list.