Ah yes, we are continuing to branch out on this blog. First writing, then baby elephant videos, now…….
Music!
It’s ever the steady evolution.
Ahem. So. If you had to pick one. Just one. Just one song to listen to the rest of your life, your favorite song of all time, the one that speaks to you, the one that practically IS you, the one that you hold above all others.
Just one!!!
Which one is it?
I would have to go with……
“Little Eyes” by Yo La Tengo. No! “Star Witness” by Neko Case. No! “Non Je Regrette Rien” by Edith Piaf. No! “Oh Yoko” by John Lennon. No! “Georgia On My Mind” by Ray Charles.
As you can see the rules are a bit loose on this one. Let’s go with songS.
I'm so busted. I dictionary -ed "song" and it does mean with lyrics. Ooops. Sorry.
What a challenge! We use music for so many different purposes, relaxing, motivational, sporting company, but if I were stranded on a desert island with only a selection….
When Doves Cry – Prince
Mighty Wings – Cheap Trick (Top Gun)
In These Shoes – Kirsty MacColl
Another Suitcase in Another Hall – Barbara Dickson
How Bad do you Want it? – Tim McGraw
Walking on Sunshine – Katrina and the Waves
Beautiful Day – U2
And if all the others were washed away and it was truly only one, then it would have to be….
Beautiful Day – U2
The Sultans of Swing, of course. Dire Straits. The guitar at the end gets me every time.
"When We Were Beautiful" by Bon Jovi, but I'd much rather have more than one so I can also choose one that I can actually sing. For that I'd have to choose "Songbird" by Eva Cassidy, but as sung by All Angels.
Ah, screw it. Just give me everything on my iPod.
Jen Titus recorded a version of an old folksong called "O' Death". I would have to say that would be mine. I don't know why that song speaks to me so much, but it does.
I love a lot of different music, but that is the only one I can think of that I could/can listen to over and over. Also, I think it would make a great soundtrack to a book trailer. When I finish my book and begin to make the trailer, I plan to ask for permission to use that song. You can check it out on YouTube.
Eva Cassidy singing "Over the Rainbow." Enough said. If you haven't heard it, you have my condolences. 😉
"Kiss of Life" by Sade
Let It Be — the Beatles
We Didn't Start the Fire — Billy Joel
Amazing Grace — with or without bagpipes
Theme from Chariots of Fire
Lose My Soul — Toby Mac/Kirk Franklin/Mandisa
(list goes on for two pages)
Ack, there's so many–good songs, like good books, there's always room for another one. Did I–um–just make your point for you, Nathan? 😀
This is a tough one…
"Just Breathe" by Pearl Jam.
Or. "And So It Goes" by Billy Joel.
Or. "Brothers in Arms" by Dire Straits.
Or. "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits.
… I think I'd be deeply scarred if I could only listen to one song for the rest of my life.
I'd pick kiss me from Sixpence None the Richer…
Forever Autumn – Justin Hayward.
The Ghost at Number One by Jellyfish.
My faves:
#1 – Into the Mystic by Van Morrison.
#2 – Breakaway by Kelly Clarkson.
#3 – Do You Remember by Jack Johnson.
#4 – Amy by Pure Prairie League.
#5 – Trista Pena by Gypsy Kings
The list could go on for a long while, but I could listen to these every day, all day.
Baby Mine by Allison Krauss, My Baby Just Cares for Me by Nina Simone, the band Cake and (because I love NOLA)the music of Rockin Sidney.
"Shine" by Newsboys always lifts me up, gets me motivated, and refocuses me. Plus I like to sing it at the top of my lungs when nobody is listening.
"Shine" by Newsboys always lifts me up, gets me motivated, and refocuses me. Plus I like to sing it at the top of my lungs when nobody is listening.
The novelist in me wants to say "Paperback Writer" by the Beatles. Messages I like come from their "In My Life" and "Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Simon and Garfunkel. There is another good message in Paul Simon's "Pigs, Sheep, and Wolves." Someone closer to the top of the thread mentioned "Georgia on My Mind" by Ray Charles, which is good but has cheesy orchestration. I find Bill Medley's grittier version. I also like "A Closer Walk with Thee," done slow on the way into the cemetery and done fast with a second line on the way out.
How about a shoutout to Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska album?
The songs are so dark and ethereal. And I think it's the best of Springsteen's songwriting. (Which is sayin' something!)
The song 'State Trooper' is such a bone chilling and inventive song- with a primal howl at the end that still makes my hair stand when I listen. Never been anything like it. Also has been covered by Arcade Fire!
The one that makes all the hairs stand up on the back of my neck, remember listening to it in good times and in bad, echoes life's journey etc etc, know it's corny but that's OK too!
The Beatles:
THE LONG & WINDING ROAD
Sugar Sugar by the Archies. It always makes me smile and sing. Reminds me of simpler times when I was a kid.
172 comments – that's my local bus route number and my lucky number!!
Ahem, back on topic.
Since nobody I know is going to read this, I can spill my deepest darkest secret: "Everywhere" by Michelle Branch. I've never told anyone this. It's always been something to hold dear. And since no one knows me on this blog (even though it's widely popular), I'm safe. *grins*
I'll stop hogging up comment space now.
It has to be between Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car" and Jane's Addiction's "Jane Says" for all time favorites… but right now I can't get enough of Likin Park's "Waiting for the End"
On my good days, Suddenly by Superchick. On my bad days, Whatever She Wants by Jars of Clay.
good songs/good videos:
The Killers/Mr. Brightside
Owl City/Fireflies
All American Rejects/Dirty Little Secret
Rob Thomas/Someday
Pink/Raise Your Glass
"Let Your Love Flow" by the Bellamy Brothers.
Have to just add that I often use what is commonly known as "The Pina Colada Song" by Rupert Holmes to teach narrative structure to my freshman English students.
Grave Digger – Dark Of The Sun
best Heavy Metal song for ALL TIME!!
It's a toss up, but these two songs are about dancing.
"When We Dance" by Sting and "So She Dances" by Josh Groban.
Both I have played while writing a dance scene in two different stories. For me, I envision it as a very magical moment, a moment where two people fall in love. Space and time disappear and all that remains is magic.
One song for the rest of my life? I'd get sick of it, and I love music too much to want to get sick of anything from:
The Gypsy Kings
Michael Bublé
Great Big Sea
or
The Messiah
Machine Gun by Hendrix and Band of Gypsys. 10 minutes of honest human emotion coming out raw through a Marshall Stack. The best description I ever read came from Lenny Kravitz, "that song is just heavy." I agree completely. I feel like I change each time I finish listening to it.
Off topic: I try to make it to this blog at least once a month(or at least every 6 weeks), and I always find great info and interesting topics. Thanks Nathan for always making the blog entertaining and informative.
The Way You Look Tonight, Fred Astaire.
"Wicked Game" – Chris Isaak
I've heard this song a 1000 times in the last 20 years and I still cry every time I hear it.
How did I miss this?
Mine would be "Junglist" – by Tribe of Issachar on Congo Natty records. The DJ Zinc mix.
Good luck finding it if anyone who sees this is curious.
Wow. Somehow I didn't miss this, already commented, and had no recollection of doing so, because I said almost exactly the same thing.
It's possible I read too many blogs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHfx9LXzxpw
i love this song so much. i never tire of it cheering me up the video too. that zeitgeist of youth. i love the way noel bows at the end. i love the way the music goes at the end with the instrumental.
i recall been in a snooker hall around 93 or 94 and there was an ad for the american mtv awards and a snippet of each song and they played a snippet of this song and i immediatelty liked it. i had only liked nirvana in that last 5 years but even a little clip it sounded so good. then i thought "fuck me that's liam man, how did he actually do what he said he would?" that was a moment for me there in the snooker club.
Funny but everyone at that time all over the uk was thinking the same thing "this fucking band are so good" even my old mom was enjoying this song on the radio and she hardly likes any pop music. she kept laughing at the news the songwriter ran off to las vegas with the bands float in the usa. that was around 94. i have never listened to the radio 1 latest songs never have. why bother when the vast majority is so crap. So when new things happen i pick up on it a little later then most.
those two are so fucking weird. it was like they never say it now ever but they knew they would be huge even at 14 and 11 years old. absolutely sure of it. and they were.
i have never met two people before or since so strangely enigmatic and confident so young. liam said a good few years back he thought he was born to be a star. i reckon he was too. even at around 11 years old mega confident and he told me "i will be a huge star you wait and see rock n roll" so he was born as a star. noone before or since had that feeling of destiny so sure. no awkwardness or shyness absolutely sure. he even had two birds on the go at 11 years old. amazing two people they are.
for these reasons i have always loved this song. everyone i ever play it to likes it too. it is so upbeat and positive.