Best song ever, what is yours?

[Brendon]

Ben Folds Five: Fair

I usually like songs because of, like, one bar in the middle, or a little guitar twiddle, or two lines of lyrics. But Fair gets everything right - great lyrics, lots of changes, weird bass sounds, silly harmonies, a blues outro ...

PS. Sandman: Another Girl Another Planet is _excellent_. It's a shame most of their other stuff is kinda uninspiring ...

[sandman]

PS. Sandman: Another Girl Another Planet is _excellent_. It's a shame most of their other stuff is kinda uninspiring ...

I always wondered why the Only Ones were such one-hit wonders.

[alidarbac]

(Whitney Houston's) "The Greatest Love of All" is one of the best, most powerful songs ever written . . . about self-preservation, dignity. Its universal message crosses all boundaries and instills one with the hope that it's not too late to better ourselves. Since it's impossible, in this world we live in, to empathize with others. We can always empathize with ourselves. It's an important message. Crucial, really . . . as beautifully stated on the album.

[Brendon]

And how do you feel about Phil Collins?

[Tigerman]

As sandman said... impossible to name just one... I love lots and lots of music and different bands and different songs, originals and covers. Anything by the Dead inspires me... I always liked this one by the Dead:

Black-Throated Wind

Bringing me down,
I'm running aground
Blind in the light of the interstate cars.
Passing me by,
The busses and semis,
Plunging like stones from a slingshot on Mars.

But I'm here by the road,
Bound to the load
That I picked up in ten thousand cafes and bars.
Alone with the rush of the drivers who won't pick me up,
The highway, the moon, the clouds, and the stars.

The black-throated wind keeps on pouring in
With its words of a life where nothing is new.
Ah, Mother American Night, I'm lost from the light.
Ohhh, I'm drowning in you.

I left St. Louis, the City of Blues,
In the midst of a storm I'd rather forget.
I tried to pretend it came to an end
Cause you weren't the woman I thought I once met.

But I can't deny that times have gone by
When I never had doubts or thoughts of regret
And I was a man when all this began
Who wouldn't think twice about being there yet.

The black-throated wind keeps on pouring in.
And it speaks of a life that passes like dew.
It's forced me to see that you've done better by me,
Better by me than I've done by you.

What's to be found, racing around,
You carry your pain wherever you go.
Full of the blues and trying to lose
You ain't gonna learn what you don't want to know.

So I give you my eyes, and all of their lies
Please help them to learn as well as to see
Capture a glance and make it a dance
Of looking at you looking at me.

The black-throated wind keeps on pouring in
With its words of a lie that could almost be true.
Ah, Mother American Night, here comes the light.
I'm turning around, that's what I'm gonna do

Goin back home that's what I'm gonna do
Turnin' around,
That's what I'm gonna do

'Cause you've done better by me
Than I've done by you. . .

[Dangermouse]

And how do you feel about Phil Collins?

From the head down. Mind the facial hair.

[guangtou]

In rough order of priority:

Pictures of You, Cure (a slow meditation for a heartsick soul).

God Save the Queen, Sex Pistols (still fresh after nearly 3 decades).

The Ship Song, Nick Cave (quasi-spiritual in that unique Nick Cave kind of way).

Rise, PiL (John Lydon cleaning out the cobwebs).

Blue Monday, New Order (techno buzz way before its time).

Beds are Burning, Midnight Oil (a beat with a conscience).

Betty's Worry or The Slab, Hunters and Collectors (reminds me of my truck driving days).

It's a Long Way to the Top, AC/DC (ditto).

Dancing Queen, ABBA (my Mum liked it and my cross-dressing alter-ego still does).

[ceevee369]

In rough order of priority:

Pictures of You, Cure (a slow meditation for a heartsick soul).

God Save the Queen, Sex Pistols (still fresh after nearly 3 decades).

The Ship Song, Nick Cave (quasi-spiritual in that unique Nick Cave kind of way).

Rise, PiL (John Lydon cleaning out the cobwebs).

Blue Monday, New Order (techno buzz way before its time).

Beds are Burning, Midnight Oil (a beat with a conscience).

Betty's Worry or The Slab, Hunters and Collectors (reminds me of my truck driving days).

It's a Long Way to the Top, AC/DC (ditto).

Dancing Queen, ABBA (my Mum liked it and my cross-dressing alter-ego still does).

That's the taste I like to see ! (except the AbbA THING) Guess most of us spent our "exploring youth" somewhere in the 80's no?
My collection honestly bought CD's are somewhat new wave - punk rock oriented.

[mod lang]

(Whitney Houston's) "The Greatest Love of All" is one of the best, most powerful songs ever written . . . about self-preservation, dignity. Its universal message crosses all boundaries and instills one with the hope that it's not too late to better ourselves. Since it's impossible, in this world we live in, to empathize with others. We can always empathize with ourselves. It's an important message. Crucial, really . . . as beautifully stated on the album.

Do you like Huey Lewis and the News? Their early work was a little too new wave for my tastes, but when Sports came out in '83,I think they really came into their own, commercial and artistically. The whole album has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consimante professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost. He's been compared to Elvis Costello, but I think Huey has a far much more bitter, cynical sense of humour.

In '87, Huey released this, Fore, their most accomplished album. I think their undisputed masterpiece is "Hip to be Square", a song so catchy, most people probably don't listen to the lyrics. But they should, because it's not just about the pleasures of conformity, and the importance of trends, it's also a personal statement about the band itself.

[Comrade Stalin]

A Whiter Shade Of Pale by Procol Harum. They don't get any better.