best song ever

[WEBCYAN]

What, in your opinion, is the best song ever.
I dont mean the best "produced" song ever, but simply the best song ever.

And, don't feel the need to pick a song that was made before 1990 so that you come across as credible and mature... That get's old.

[EndlessCoda]

"Ten Years Gone", Led Zeppelin.

[Henri Devill]

I can't help it....its old..Marvin Gaye "Whats Goin' On"...Its got everything I love in a song...Great performance,Melody,its timeless,Attitude fits the message...And the message is universal..
Its what I strive for in my writeing...And its a very high and elusive place to get to...I may never get there.LOL


Don

[db51]

Changes depending on my mood, but an all-time favorite has to be "Where is My Mind", by the Pixies.

I loved the song long before I saw Fight Club, but I gotta admit that last scene is beautiful. Wow.

[Eurythmic]

I've never been able to pick a favorite song. "Ten Years Gone" and "What's Goin' On" would be really tough to argue with, though. I would also add "Achilles Last Stand", by Led Zeppelin.

"Behind Blue Eyes", "Eminence Front", and "Who Are You" by the Who are some all-time favorites of mine, along with a whole bunch of Pete Townshend's solo stuff.

I also think that "Superstition" by Stevie Wonder is awfully hard to beat.

And "Take On Me" by A-Ha never fails to put me into an amazing mood.

"Round Here", by Counting Crows.

"God Give Me Strength", Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach.

Oh, "Nineteen Hundred Eighty-Five", by Paul McCartney...


See? I can't choose!

[dragonworks]

Lover of the Bayou.

[joro]

Steely Dan....
Don'y know exactly why....just my favorite.
I still feel the same way every time I hear it...ya know?

[laj35]

I know how much webcyan loves Radiohead fans like myself, but yeah my favorite is "Street Spirit" also love Massive Attack's "Unfinished Symphony."



Laj

[LameOldFart]

"Any World that I'm Welcome To (Is Better Than the One, I come From)"

by Steely Dan
on "Katy Lied"

Dr. Wu on same CD is another fave, sometimes I use Dr. Wu as my on-line alias...


El Lamo
Somewhere in LameLand

[mikeh]

When it comes to well written songs, I have to look back at a lot songs written in the 40's, a lot of the "Tin Pan Alley" stuff a lot of the 60's songs by Carol King and that whole period of contract writers.

But if I had to name one in particular "As Time Goes By"

[mikeh]

By the way, choice of material (pre 90's post 90's or whatever) has nothing to do with being credible, mature, old, hip or anything.

Good songs are good songs and good writing is good writing.

[Eric J]

with so many facets to it.

Songs can be the 'best' for communicating a feeling, for universal appeal, for summing an era, for giving voice to a certain concept, for explaining a point of view or idea, an arresting melody or just having a undeniable and unbelivable groove.

I myself gravitate to the big 'commercial' writers, from Tin Pan Alley-era, but also to the songwriter/producer craftsmen of today, like Lyle Lovett or Vic Chestnutt.

Can't name ONE best song.

Anyway, for universal appeal, for a killer melody, and peerless production, I have to go with the Drifters' version of Carole King's 'Up On The Roof'. Anyone can relate to that, the song has been on the radio for 40 years, and it's been covered zillions of times.

For an all-time classic song, 'Ain't Misbehavin' by Fats Waller just kills. You can play it simple or as complex as you like, it's hummable, and the bridge - the way it builds on the other parts of the song, but it just lifts it to a whole other level.

For pop music, I too have to go with Steely Dan, but 'Peg'. Pop music made by a bunch of condescending jazz wannabe's, with LA session guys. The subtle funk bass, the not quite anarchic guitar solo, and bizarre multi-layered harmonies. Pure bliss.

'Good Vibrations' by the Beach Boys, as a piece of studio craft - the song is essentially drivel, but multi-layered ear candy in falsetto harmony, the ripping cello break still excites me, and they actually got a musically useful sound out of a Theremin!


And for a good folky campfire song, you can't go wrong with Sam Stone by John Prine. What other song can has a sing-along chorus like:

"There's a hole in daddy's arm,
where all the money goes -
Jesus Christ died for nothing,
I suppose
Little Pitchers have big ears,
don't stop to count the years,
and old sweet songs,
they don't play long
on broken radios"

Overall song that's I've actually used the 'repeat' button on the CD player - Be My Baby - the Ronnettes. Sheer teen-angst sound. Put it up against 'Smells like Teen Spirit' anyday. Try them back to back at the same volume!

And about picking music from the last 10 years or so... I feel intimidated by this huge backlog of music that I have to sort through from the last 15 years or so. There's so much coming out all the time, and it seems that music is much more fragmented and everything in it's own niche. All I know is that I'm sure that top40 radio was never this bad before, and so many types of music aren't on the radio at all, or on specialist tiny stations, or internet stations. These damned modern times!

[Sydney]

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

or...

Amazing Grace

or...

William Tell Overture


One of those has got to be THE best song ever, but I can't decide which one.

[cjmusicman]

As someone who considers myself 1st and foremost a songwriter, I'll give the list of songs that I wish I had written or those that move me the most:

Whole Lotta Love - Led Zepplin II (Best lead guitar ever)
Yesterday - McCartney
If - David Gates (Bread)
You Shook Me All Night Long - AC/DC
Antonio Vivaldi - Mandolin stuff
Hoochie Coochie Man -W. Dixon (World's most covered blues tn)

Gotta stop

cj

[langleyt]

I have to say "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" even though sydney beat me to it. I have loved that song ever since the first time I saw 'The Wizard of Oz'.

Also..."Wind of Change" - Scorpions

t

p.s. And nobody can sing it like Judy Garland did, but I like the version Faith Hill did too.

[chazba]

Wow...nearly impossible to decide. There have been so many gifted writers over the last 1000 years....

Best "ART SONG".....La Damoiselle Ellue' C Debussy I think

Best "POP SONG".....Under the Boardwalk

Best "SCHNAPPS SONG"...Thats What I Like About You

Best "ROCK SONG"...........Any ZEP you can think of

etc...etc...etc

chazba

[tonegod]

i'm surprised the beatles haven't popped up yet in this thread, but I have to give the nod to Strawberry Fields Forever - killer chorus, cool Mecca-approved Indian influences, orchestral treatment, great lyrics and vocal delivery....I saw an interview where george martin said this was the single best beatles tune of them all...ditto

[Jahmbo]

Wasn't "In My Life" voted the best song of all time by the songwriters guild or something like that?

I've been searching for the article where I read that but can't find it.

But my personal favorite of all time is "Shine on you crazy diamond" by pink floyd, to me it just doesn't get any better.

[hokypokynose]

I don't really have a true favorite. It depends on how I'm feeling. I do, however, LOVE these songs:

Shine On-Floyd
In My Life-Beatles w/George Martin
Strawberry Fields-''
Well, lets just say every Beatles song
Street Spirit-Radiohead
Paranoid Android-Radiohead

Some more Radiohead tunes:
-Climbing Up The Walls(so wierd)
-Exit Music(For a Film)
-National Anthem
-Ideoteque
-Optimistic
-All of Amnesiac
-True Love Waits

Alot of Phish(but their names I cant remember)

There are probably too many songs that I like probably too much.

[badgas]

The Best Song Ever is a tough one to call.
So many styles, male/female, and on and on.

Hotel California,
Nassau/Baby, I love your way.
Those were the first two to pop in my cranial void.
I could go on and on, but I only have one life and the sand it getting low in the glass.

[ilovebeingabeta]

Well, the first song that popped into my head was "Stand Inside Your Love" by The Smashing Pumpkins... that song blows my mind every single time I hear it... and that e-bow solo makes my spine shiver.

NIN's "The Fragile" is a ~great~ song... deceptively simple.

"Revolution 9" is amazing....

Chris

[Wide Awake]

Enrique Granados (1867-1916) "Danza Espanola No. 5"

I don't believe Carson Daley ever introduced that song on TRL.

[philboyd studge]

For commercial music my favortive is a 1938 recording of Cliff Bruener and the Texas Wanderers with Bob Dunn doing 'When You're Smileing'.

From a songwriting standpoint I feel the best song is the one YOU wrote that is in your head when you fall asleep, and wakes you up in the middle of the night, and is playing on your brain's radio when you wake up asking for a few changes here and there.

[dr.colossus]

paranoid android - radiohead

goodbye sober day - mr. bungle

sabotage - beastie boys

4'33" - john cage

georgia lee - tom waites (i can't listen to that song without crying and boy does shit get hung on me for that)

these are the best songs in my universe

[matt's bedroom]

Having loved Smashing Pumpkins for several years I would have to go with one of their songs, 'Rhinoceros', with it's psychedelic feel and soothing melody, followed by the 'she knows' hook - sounds fantastic and Butch Vig did an excellent job with the production.