Best song ever written?

Talk about your subjective, culture-based questions. Googling suggests these nominees:

Rhapsody in Blue
Wichita Lineman
Ring of Fire
Pride (In the Name of Love)
Careless Whisper
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
Greensleeves
I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry
Bohemian Rhapsody

Maybe the "Moonlight" Sonata, or Peaches En Regalia...

Undertoad wrote:

The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

What a beautiful song.

Stairway to Heaven

somewhere over the rainbow.

Freeeeeeeeeeeeeeebiiiiiiiiiiird (Kidding, I hate that song)

Moon River

I was listening to "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen on my train ride home last night. Really listening to it and I had to remark to myself that those guys were seriously talented. All the parts of the music really worked together. It's a kind of silly song, lyrics wise, as most songs are, but to be fair, it did capture a feeling I used to have in my youth. I'm not going to say it's the best song ever but it's very good.

Stairway to Heaven
Another Brick in the Wall Pt II
Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring

Does this need a field of 64?

wolf wrote:

Does this need a field of 64?

My sources say yes

If 64 nominees can be made, so it shall become a field.

Put in your seconds so that a good seeding can be established.

Spexxvet wrote:

Stairway to Heaven

seconded. also Jesu.

White Christmas and Amazing Grace are up there for me. So is Allison Krauss' version of "When You Say Nothing At All". "Fire and Rain" is amazing. "Under a Glass Moon" by Dream Theater is my favorite proggy guitar noodly thing of the moment.

Ugh.

I can't do it. Music is too personal. Technical perfection matters to some, composition and originality to others, lyrics to others. Certain chord changes move me that don't move you. What one person considers genius is complete garbage to someone else.

lol. people are going to fight in this thread.

Whole Lotta Love

ber newr ber nerw nant ni ni nant ni ni nant ber newr ber newr nant. gotta whole lotta loooooove!

lumberjim wrote:

Whole Lotta Love

That's a great song, and I much prefer it to "You Need Love" by Willie Dixon, the song they got sued for ripping off.

[SIZE="1"]From Copyright and Music: A History Told in MP3's[/SIZE]

wow. thanks, flint. i never heard that. boy, they DID rip him off. a little bit. the main feel of the song is vastly different, but it is at least as bad as what the beastie boys did to them in the late 80's. turnabout.

The punchline is that music has progressed over the centuries by a series of "rip-offs" - which weren't approachable as a legal issue until recording technology allowed music to be treated as an object.

Tear the Roof Off the Sucker--Parliament

Amazing Grace
Good Vibrations (Beach Boys)

Take Me to the River many, many artists...

Help - The Beatles
I Want to Hold Your Hand -The Beatles

(it's actually quite hard when you have their entire catalog to select from)

Wow...favorite Beatles song? I'd have a different top-ten every day.

ooh ooh...

Mas Que Nada-- Brasil 66 (Sergio, baby!)

Yesterday - Beatles

The Wind Cries Mary - Hendrix

How many am I allowed to vote for?

Optimistic Thought, Blues Traveler
Me and Bobby McGee, Janis Joplin
Down Under, Men at Work
Wild World, Cat Stevens
Tangled Up in Blue, Bob Dylan
One Nation Under a Groove, Parliament Funkadelic
Kashmir, Led Zeppelin
Woke Up Laughing, Robert Palmer
Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd
Heartbeats, Jose Gonzalez
Eminence Front, The Who
Little Wing, Stevie Ray Vaughn
Strange Fire, Indigo Girls
[edit] Penny to My Name, Eva Cassidy

Pie wrote:

How many am I allowed to vote for?

Optimistic Thought, Blues Traveler
Me and Bobby McGee, Janis Joplin
Down Under, Men at Work
Wild World, Cat Stevens
Tangled Up in Blue, Bob Dylan
One Nation Under a Groove, Parliament Funkadelic
Kashmir, Led Zeppelin
Woke Up Laughing, Robert Palmer
Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd
Heartbeats, Jose Gonzalez
Eminence Front, The Who
Little Wing, [COLOR=red]Stevie Ray Vaughn[/COLOR]
Strange Fire, Indigo Girls
[edit] Penny to My Name, Eva Cassidy

booooooo!

have you heard hendrix do it?

Watchtower

Rhinestone Cowboy

lumberjim wrote:

booooooo!

have you heard hendrix do it?

Of course. And "god". SRV's is best. :p

Pie wrote:

Of course. And "god". SRV's is best. :p

[yoda]but write it, he did not[/yoda]

Dock of the Bay

Jesu 2nd

Imagine
While my Guitar Gently Weeps
Comfortably numb

No Way, Wish You Were Here > Comfortably Numb

OK,First.
Willie Dixon is so fucking roots he's like a giant bag of mushrooms. LedZepp, while totally soul sacrifice is pretty much refined to the point of pharmecutical grade psilocybin.

Willie Dixon's version has like bits of bark and berries and strange random effluvia. Zepp's is like 20 coats of paint, sanded to 320 between each coat and then given three clear coats.
Willie dixon's is earthy and raw like leaping from a tree branch onto the back of a gazelle and slitting its throat with a bonehandled flint knife, while Led zepp's version is like zeroing in on the gazelle from 600 yards with a 10x Unertl telescopic sight mounted on your M40A3.

Willie Dixon's version is like being so horny you just pull over on the jersey turnpike in rush hour and do it right there by the side of the road Led Zepp's version has intertwining candles and is such a freaky scene.

Some one stop me.
All right and B) is this is a fucked up thread. How twisted to try to make me think of a best song ever written. I'm freaking out about that one.

And 3) i'm feeling a bit tardish but I don't really grok the whole field of 64 paradigm. I mean I get teh I ching and the 64 hexagrams and all that, but I'm kind of lost with the whole tennis analogy.

Help?

The Prophet's Song - Queen.

2 kotos, 3 acoustics, 6 electrics, 1 bass, 1 drums, 3 voices, and 3 choruses. And that's just the bare bones. Beautiful but hauntingly creepy lyrics, wonderful instrumentation, and AMAZING stereo...

I could also nominate a LOT of bowie, but i'll just go with Queen Bitch, Rock and Roll Suicide, and Oh! You Pretty Things.

mmm..... for real stereo effect, listen to 'Helter-Skelter' (the white album) through a decent set of headphones.


wish you were here? yeah, right......

(PS did I ever tell you about the time I saw them live in '74? Hippodrome Theatre in Birmingham, first set was 'Dark Side', second half was 'our soon to be released album, 'wish you were here'..' - we sat right behind the mixing desk.)

This Land is Your Land - Woody Guthrie

Nobody living can ever stop me
As I go walking my freedom highway
Nobody living can make me turn back
This land is made for you and me.

Can't find my way home- Blind Faith

That is one of my top ten Griff.

Ibram wrote:

No Way, Wish You Were Here > Comfortably Numb

I could go CN, too. Second.

The Rainbow Connection, Kermit the Frog

Death on Two Legs is pure pwnage, I can't think of a single song that destroys a target so utterly.

Traveling Riverside Blues - LZ
Stella Blue - GD
Terrapin Suite - GD
Little Wing - Jimi
It's all over now, baby blue - Dylan
Subterranean Homesick Blues - Dylan
Down by the river - Neil Young
Southern Cross - csny
Three Days - JA

footfootfoot wrote:

OK,First.
Willie Dixon is so fucking roots he's like a giant bag of mushrooms. LedZepp, while totally soul sacrifice is pretty much refined to the point of pharmecutical grade psilocybin.

Willie Dixon's version has like bits of bark and berries and strange random effluvia. Zepp's is like 20 coats of paint, sanded to 320 between each coat and then given three clear coats.
Willie dixon's is earthy and raw like leaping from a tree branch onto the back of a gazelle and slitting its throat with a bonehandled flint knife, while Led zepp's version is like zeroing in on the gazelle from 600 yards with a 10x Unertl telescopic sight mounted on your M40A3.

Willie Dixon's version is like being so horny you just pull over on the jersey turnpike in rush hour and do it right there by the side of the road Led Zepp's version has intertwining candles and is such a freaky scene.

Some one stop me.
All right and B) is this is a fucked up thread. How twisted to try to make me think of a best song ever written. I'm freaking out about that one.

And 3) i'm feeling a bit tardish but I don't really grok the whole field of 64 paradigm. I mean I get teh I ching and the 64 hexagrams and all that, but I'm kind of lost with the whole tennis analogy.

Help?

This post gets extra credit for effort. i was winded by the time i got to the end. but........ Led Zeppelin's version is more like running over the gazelle in a sherman tank, IMHO.

ashke wrote:

The Rainbow Connection, Kermit the Frog

winnah

Things You Do To Me--Robert Cray
You Move Me--Aretha Franklin
Burden In My Hand--Soundgarden
Torn and Frayed--Rolling Stones

Ibram wrote:

The Prophet's Song - Queen.

2 kotos, 3 acoustics, 6 electrics, 1 bass, 1 drums, 3 voices, and 3 choruses. And that's just the bare bones. Beautiful but hauntingly creepy lyrics, wonderful instrumentation, and AMAZING stereo...

When I was setting up my PC with Audacity to convert my vinyl to mp3s, that's the song I listened to first to make sure I had true stereo and not dual channel mono. It was cool to watch the signal levels drop to zero in one channel and spike in the opposite one. The stereo in that song is amazing. Queen was able to take stereo to the extreme there, but not sound too gimmicky. They did a great job, as usual.

But no way does it belong in this thread. :)

Tom Thumb Blues

Ring of Fire
Bohemian Rhapsody
Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring
Amazing Grace
While my Guitar Gently Weeps
Traveling Riverside Blues

Hallelujah Chorus - Handel
Carolina In My Mind - James Taylor
Wishing You Were Here - Chicago
I am the Mercury - Jimmy Spheeris
One for Daddy-O - Nat Adderly
Tuxedo Junction - Glenn Miller

I could sit here all day as I recollect wonderful songs/performances. I don't think it could ever be narrowed down to 100 much less just one.

Ventura Highway--America

lumberjim wrote:

...
ber newr ber nerw nant ni ni nant ni ni nant ber newr ber newr nant. ...

Ladies and gentlemen, let's have a big round of applause for Lumberjim, playing his nasalphone. Jim, take a bowel.

And You And I - Yes
Tainted love - soft cell
Big Brother - Bowie
Even in the quietest moments - supertramp
Icarus, born on wings of steel - Kansas
Epitaph - King Crimson
Karn Evil 9, first impression, part 1 - ELP
Closer to the Heart - Rush
Free Hand - Gentle Giant
Green Shirt - Elvis Costello
Breakdown - Tom Petty
Invisible Sun - The Police
I Wanna Be Sedated - The Ramones

...and many more...

Suite Judy Blue Eyes-

dar512 wrote:

I am the Mercury - Jimmy Spheeris

We do that one in a band of mine. Jimmy was *so* awesome. Big, big 2nd from me on this one, man. Sniff...

Spexxvet wrote:

Epitaph - King Crimson

"Confusion...will be my epitath
As I cross...a cracked and broken path.
If we make it, we can all sit back and laugh
But I fear tomorrow, I'll be crying."

Hell, yes. Another big 2nd!

I really can't believe that we missed

(the glorious) Ninth Symphony - Beethoven
And, also the Fifth.

Hi ho, Silver, away! Thank you Mr Rossini. :D

Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overature was always cool, when driving a 4-speed.

Don't You (Forget About Me) - Simple Minds [from The Breakfast Club]

Total Eclipse of the Heart - Nicki French version

Unchained Melody - The Righteous Brothers

Close My Eyes Forever - Lita Ford/Ozzy Osbourne

Hazy Shade of Winter - Bangles version

jinx wrote:

This Land is Your Land - Woody Guthrie

I prefer the Native American Lyrics:

This land is your land, it once was my land,
Before I sold you Manhattan Island;
You banished my nation, to the reservation,
This land was stolen by you from me.

Best song ever written?

Dunno, but Lennon's 'In My Life' should be up there somewhere.

Speaking of Guthrie...

Alice's Restaurant!

that's where they serve the pills... you, know,where they make small or big or don't do nothing at all......


or am I thinking of 'White Rabbit' by Jefferson Airplane?

Disney Girls - Art Garfunkel

footfootfoot;283090 wrote:

OK,First.
Willie Dixon is so fucking roots he's like a giant bag of mushrooms. LedZepp, while totally soul sacrifice is pretty much refined to the point of pharmecutical grade psilocybin.

Willie Dixon's version has like bits of bark and berries and strange random effluvia. Zepp's is like 20 coats of paint, sanded to 320 between each coat and then given three clear coats.
Willie dixon's is earthy and raw like leaping from a tree branch onto the back of a gazelle and slitting its throat with a bonehandled flint knife, while Led zepp's version is like zeroing in on the gazelle from 600 yards with a 10x Unertl telescopic sight mounted on your M40A3.

Willie Dixon's version is like being so horny you just pull over on the jersey turnpike in rush hour and do it right there by the side of the road Led Zepp's version has intertwining candles and is such a freaky scene.

Some one stop me.
All right and B) is this is a fucked up thread. How twisted to try to make me think of a best song ever written. I'm freaking out about that one.

And 3) i'm feeling a bit tardish but I don't really grok the whole field of 64 paradigm. I mean I get teh I ching and the 64 hexagrams and all that, but I'm kind of lost with the whole tennis analogy.

Help?

this is your brain on drugs, mkay?

how about we do this with your new field of 64 technology, Ute?

It could be, give me another 24 hrs

lumberjim;642557 wrote:

this is your brain on drugs, mkay?

Ahh, the good old days. I can be pretty funny when I drink.

Shawnee123;282824 wrote:

What a beautiful song.

can't STAND this song!

what's a "song"? and what is "written?" Are you talking, a written down song with words? (Greensleeves would not count, because the tune is "traditional"). Instrumental symphony?

"Yesterday" by Lennon/McCartney is what cropped up for me.

By 'song' I think he means "a hearty soup, best eaten with a fork" and by 'written' I think he means "to steer a large ship that is used for transporting cargo internationally."

Or he's just being clever, and 'song' means 'song' and 'written' means 'written'. *shrugs*

Hallelujah, by Leonard Cohen.

Or, Desolation Row by Bob Dylan.

"Happy Birthday to You" is the perfect song. It's easy to learn and remember. The message is clear. No hidden meanings and it's STILL making money for the decendants of the composer/lyricist.

Faster Than Light, Neil Finn
Holy Smoke, Split Enz
Say It With Flowers, Carter USM

And although I would never class it as the best song ever written, I've been singing This Kiss by Faith Hill for a week now. I used to have it as my ringtone back when I thought I was in love. It's lost none of its appeal - my bro downloaded it to my MP3 player for my 11 hour coach trip, and I still kept rewinding to hear it!

FTR, my favourite U2 song (they have been nominated a couple of times in this thread) is Angel of Harlem. And although I love the Queen, Don't Stop Me Now can't be beat IMO. And that was even before Shaun of the Dead.

Sheldonrs;642840 wrote:

... No hidden meanings...

You've never played it backwards :devil:

wolf;283412 wrote:

I really can't believe that we missed

(the glorious) Ninth Symphony - Beethoven
And, also the Fifth.

And the Third, while we're on the topic of musical, deaf, 18th-19th century Germans. Was wondering when somebody would mention the fourth of the Ninth. It is, after all, a song.

Among many favorites, perhaps my favoritest favorite hymn would be "I Am The Bread Of Life." It sounds like the fourth movement of the symphony I want to write the other three movements of. I hear cellos and tympanis in the verses, brass in the choruses. And I want it done at my funeral.

I prefer Seven of Nine...

Crimson Ghost;643475 wrote:

I prefer Seven of Nine...

How about pieces of eight? ;-)

Thanks for the offer, butt I'll pass...

Crimson Ghost;643475 wrote:

I prefer Seven of Nine...

I thought the Hive Mind produced an atonal buzz. :confused:

Nominate most of the Queen songs.

yes, I know. Can't help it.

Urbane Guerrilla;644121 wrote:

I thought the Hive Mind produced an atonal buzz. :confused:

I prefer Sambuca.