Great Songs

by **Handsome B. Wonderful** » Mon May 28, 2012 1:00 pm

What do you think are some of the greatest songs in history? Greatest, favourite, for whatever reason. I think I'll just list them for now. If you would like an explanation just ask!

Cheer Down - George Harrison; I've Been Waiting - Matthew Sweet; Hey Jude - The Beatles; Time Capsule - Matthew Sweet; Carmelina - Matthew Good Band; No Myth - Michael Penn; Columbia - Oasis; Silent Army in the Trees - Matthew Good; Coward - Holly McNarland; No Place at All - Sarah Slean; Angry Chair - Alice in Chains; Hallowed be thy Name - Iron Maiden; Scarlet Rose - Edguy.

This is just off the top of my head.

by **Nordic** » Tue May 29, 2012 3:23 am

"Gretchen am Spinnrade" by Franz Schubert is up there, especially the piece for solo piano transcribed by Franz Liszt. "Der Erlkönig" is pretty nice, too.

by **Joe Hillshoist** » Tue May 29, 2012 9:12 am

Right now "There she goes my beautiful world" by Nick Cave (specifically live at Brixton Academy in '04) is right up there.

Crazy by gnarls barkley, Trains to Brazil by Guillemots, the transition between Polythene Pam and She Came in Through the Bathroom Window in fact that whole medley on Abbey Road. Used to be Alright by I mother Earth is just made for the road between Tamworth and Dubbo. There's a few killing joke songs, especially from the Pandemonium record that I just love especially if I'm tripping on shrooms.

There's millions more.

by **Burnt Hill** » Tue May 29, 2012 11:01 am

Joe Hillshoist wrote:There's millions more.

Was just thinking of Running to Stand Still by (I know, I know) U2.
If that song doesnt bring a tear to your eye.....then how about "Sadly Beautiful" by The Replacements.
Blue Ridge Mountains by Fleet Foxes -amazing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4nkAUT-7mQ&feature=related

by **IanEye** » Tue May 29, 2012 4:27 pm

by **IanEye** » Tue May 29, 2012 4:41 pm

by **IanEye** » Tue May 29, 2012 4:45 pm

by **Handsome B. Wonderful** » Tue May 29, 2012 6:01 pm

IanEye wrote:
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Love this.

by **IanEye** » Tue May 29, 2012 6:55 pm

Morricone is amazing.

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The above video is somewhat graphic, so you may want to open the video in another window, and minimize the window to just listen to the music.

by **barracuda** » Tue May 29, 2012 7:01 pm

I don't even know how to approach the OP, but without entering into the "rock" area, here are some I can't seem to get past:

Cab Calloway, "Kickin' the Gong Around", and the whole Minnie the Moocher/Smokey Joe cycle.

Hoagy Carmichael w/collaborators, "Stardust", "Heart and Soul", among others.

Kurt Weill, "Youkali", definitely, probably "I'm A Stranger Here Myself", and without question the entirety of The Threepenny Opera

Jacques Brel, either "Ne me quite pas" or "Le Moribond", among others.

Cole Porter, maybe "I Concentrate on You", or "Night and Day", among others.

Irving Berlin, "Change Partners" and "Stepping Out With My Baby", among others.

Johnny Mercer w/ collaborators, "Fools Rush In", "One For My Baby", many, many more.

"I'm a Fool to Want You" was created in 1951 by Frank Sinatra, Joel Herron and Jack Wolf. It was created during the temultuous affair that involved both Ava Gardner and Frank Sinatra. The affair was at first squashed by studio heads at MGM and Sinatra's managers but became big headlines when Sinatra left his first wife for Ava. Ava Gardner, at that time, was one of the most perfectly beautiful women in Hollywood at that time. The Sinatra-Gardner affair was doomed almost at the start with MGM studio heads sending Gardner to locations shoots in Africa and Europe in order to break-up the twosome. This resulted in passionately angry scenes between Gardner and Sinatra which resulted in a near suicide attempt by Sinatra in 1951 when he co-wrote "I'm a Fool to Want You." The first recording session for this song came in 1951 and was done in one take with Axel Stordahl (Sinatra's accompanist at that time) arranging and conducting the orchestra. So intense were the emotions that night that after the recording was done, Sinatra was so overcome with the grief in his own life, he left the studio and never returned, disappearing into the night. This recording from May 1, 1957 with Gordon Jenkins is just as devastating as the first with Jenkins' Tchaikovsky-like strings tearing at the melodic line gently but inevitably. Surely this is a masterpiece of the first order.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z26panRGOI

I would say that the most emotional moment was her listening to the playback of "I'm a Fool to Want You". There were tears in her eyes...After we finished the album I went into the control room and listened to all the takes. I must admit I was unhappy with her performance, but I was just listening musically instead of emotionally. It wasn't until I heard the final mix a few weeks later that I realized how great her performance really was.[4]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs9P-pfqF6Y

Corny, I know, but that's what I like.

by **Joe Hillshoist** » Wed May 30, 2012 5:47 am

Burnt Hill wrote:
Joe Hillshoist wrote:There's millions more.

Was just thinking of Running to Stand Still by (I know, I know) U2.

U2 have a few great songs, thats one of them.

by **ninakat** » Wed May 30, 2012 1:54 pm

The following is my favorite movement of "Sorrowful Songs." I couldn't find a better video -- warning: disturbing images from Africa (and elsewhere) that don't match the subject matter.... but, Dawn Upshaw (the soprano) is worth watching and hearing.

by **Allegro** » Wed May 30, 2012 3:40 pm

^^^
ninakat, thank you for those pieces.

I’ve posted these two pieces elsewhere at RI, and have
listened to them off and on since I first heard them.
Both are favored.

The Seduction of Claude Debussy

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Art of Noise

Il Pleure

he cries