MetaChat - What are your favorite songs?

One thing I realize as I think about this is that all of the songs are songs that came out at various stages of my "growing up" and I can not think of a single song that I have discoverd in the last few years OR from before I was born that I can truly listen to over and over without growing tired of it. None of these songs I have ever been burned out on and I doubt if I ever would be.

Stay (Faraway So Close) - U2
With or Without You - U2
Precious Things - Tori Amos
Bridge - Queensryche
Bury My Lovely - October Project
#41 - Dave Matthews Band
Til Tuesday - Voices Carry
Prince - I Would Die For U
Prince - Little Red Corvette
Def Leppard - Animal
Def Leppard - Hysteria
Simple Minds - Don't You Forget About Me

posted by weretable and the undead chairs 16 October | 17:45

Bridge? Interesting choice.

posted by Wolfdog 16 October | 17:48

I should have included these:

Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
Michael Jackson - Remember The Time (coolest video evah)

posted by weretable and the undead chairs 16 October | 17:59

Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Mephis Blues Again - Bob Dylan
One of These Days - Camper van Beethoven
Red Dress Mary - Robi del Mar
A Beer, A Song - Granfaloon Bus
The Old Revolution - Leonard Cohen
Open Ended - Sebadoh
Spanish Castle Magic - The Jimi Hendrix Experience

And many more.

posted by interrobang 16 October | 18:01

Anarchy in the UK: Sex Pistols
Spped of sound of loneliness: Alabama 3
White Man in Hammersmith Palais: The Clash
Free Nelson Mandela: Special AKA
This is POP!: XTC
Anything by Aretha Franklin
Personal Jesus: Johnny Cash
And your bird can sing: The B*atles

posted by dashie 16 October | 18:02

Man, I don't have, like, favorite songs of all time or anything. I'm a Don Juan with most music; I love it then leave it.
But what the hell.
Songs that I've loved for a long time and will probably continue to love (though don't hold me to that because at one point I thought that I would love KMFDM and Stabbing Westward forever and now I have the disinterest of an ex-lover):
El Barrio- Joe Henderson
Now that you Know Me- Grant Hart
Alex Chilton- The Replacements
The KKK Took my Baby Away- The Ramones
Godzilla- Blue Oyster Cult
Bonny and Clyde- Serge Gainsbourg
Africa Brass- John Coltrane
Desert Cry- McCoy Tyner
And at least a few more...

Songs that I love right now and might hate later?
What a Fool Believes- Doobie Brothers
Gimme Gimme Gimme- Abba
2 Minutes to Midnight- Judas Priest
Shake Off- The Fall
A Prayer to God- Shellac
How To Kill- Art of Noise
Homosapiens- Pete Shelley
Erase You- ESG
(And whatever's on that YSI mix...)

posted by klangklangston 16 October | 18:07

Songs that I love now but might hate later... hmm. I'll have to come up with a list of those too.

posted by weretable and the undead chairs 16 October | 18:10

Off the top of my head (these are mostly songs that have had an effect of me in one way or another):

Kiss: Prince
Evaporated: Ben Folds
Pictures of You: The Cure
Here Comes Your Man: The Pixies
Gravel: Ani diFranco
Break Your Heart: Barenaked Ladies
Wake Up: Arcade Fire
She's An Angel: They Might Be Giants

Those are the relavent ones. At this moment in time. Which in change. In about five minutes.

posted by amandaudoff 16 October | 18:10

I simply cannot do this. Too many. And none of them are coming to me.

posted by mudpuppie 16 October | 18:13

O, and:

Boys don't cry: The Cure
Positively 4th Street: Bob Dylan
Jeepster: T-Rex
Sound And Vision: Bowie
Are 'Friends' Electric: Tubeway Army (extra points for the brackets)

I'll get me coat...

posted by dashie 16 October | 18:15

Way way too many but Johnny Cash's cover of Hurt surely ranks among them. And Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb.

*small voice* I like Enya too. And Clannad.

posted by bunnyfire 16 October | 18:19

My list is still pretty much the same as the last time. These are the songs that I never tire of and just adore the hell out of:

Beatles - Things We Said Today
XTC - Love On A Farmboy's Wages (and Senses as well)
House of Love - I Don't Know Why I Love You
Cheap Trick - Surrender
the Jam - That's Entertainment
the Replacements - Bastards of the Young
Fountains of Wayne - Radiation Vibe
the Sonics - Strychnine
the Kinks - Til the End of the Day
the Ramones - I Just Wanna Have Something to Do
Buzzcocks - I Believe
the Records - Starry Eyes
Madness - Our House
the Who - I Can See For Miles
the Zombies - Time of the Season
20/20 - Yellow Pills
Naked Raygun - Wonder Beer
Jules Shear - Whispering Your Name

posted by Slack-a-gogo 16 October | 18:22

Songs that I like a lot now, but will possibly hate later:

Only - NIN
Ghosts - Beady Belle
Somebody Hurt You - A Girl Called Eddy
One More Song the Radio Won't Like - Kathleen Edwards
Bullets - The Editors
Home - Simple Minds
Absinthe Party at the Fly Honey Warehouse - Minus the Bear
Widespread Panic - Tortured Artist
Caroline Lavelle - No More Words
Thin White Rope - Valley of the Bones

posted by weretable and the undead chairs 16 October | 18:27

I switched order there on the last three. I confuse myself sometimes.

posted by weretable and the undead chairs 16 October | 18:29

Jeez, mine would probably go on to about 10,000 songs, but here's some perennial favorites:

Drift Away - Dobie Gray
Thirteen - Big Star
Surrender - Cheap Trick
Speedo - The Cadillacs
Suspicious Minds - Elvis Presley
Bastards Of Young - The Replacements
Achin' To Be - The Replacements
All The Young Dudes - Mott The Hoople
Go All The Way - Raspberries
Shoorah Shoorah - Betty Wright
I Gotta Dance To keep From Crying - Miracles
Joe's Garage - Frank Zappa
Baba O'Reilly - The Who
Can You get To That - Funkadelic
I Stand Tall - Dictators
Pussy & Money - Dictators
Gonna Fly Now - Bill Conti
Rockaway Beach - The Ramones
Master Of Puppets - Metallica
Freebird - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Louie Louie - The Kingsmen

posted by jonmc 16 October | 18:37

oh yeah:

Live Forever - Billy Joe Shaver

posted by jonmc 16 October | 18:39

I did this a long time ago but limited it to songs I could fit on one CD.

Plush [Acoustic] - Stone Temple Pilots
Down to the Waterline - Dire Straits
Tin Pan Alley [AKA The Roughest Place in Town] - Stevie Ray Vaughan
Dangerous Mood - Joe Cocker and B.B. King
Ziggy Stardust - David Bowie
Nothing Else Matters [Acoustic] - Metallica
To Sheila - Smashing Pumpkins
I Burn - Toadies
The Soft Collision - Machines of Loving Grace
Specialist - Interpol
Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen
Since I've Been Loving You [from How the West Was Won] - Led Zeppelin
Resolution - Subliminal Self
Hey Julie - Fountains of Wayne

posted by sciurus 16 October | 18:41

It also helps that I can sing along to each and every of those songs.

posted by sciurus 16 October | 18:43

What you really mean, Jon, is that Norman Greenbaum's Spirit in the Sky is your #1 favorite forEVER!

(I forgot Surrender. Maybe the best non-rhyming song ever)

posted by klangklangston 16 October | 18:43

*looks askance at klangklangston*

posted by jonmc 16 October | 18:47

My favourite songs are all ones that remind me of specific places or times in my life. Many of them I don't really like, otherwise. Let's see...

Pearl Jam - rearviewmirror
Slowdive - Alison
Oasis - Supersonic (and how I cringe to be admitting that)
Phil Collins - In the air tonight (ditto)
The cure - Fascination Street (for the awesome bassline)

posted by gaspode 16 October | 18:48

I'll add the couple of songs that I always instinctively reach for when making a mix, only to exclude later because they are already on another mix...

Good Vibrations - Beach Boys (IMHO the greatest pop song of all time, ever - I study this song like some people study the bible)
Sloan - Coax Me
Bonnie "Prince" Billy - A Minor Place
New Order - Ceremony
The Smiths - There is a Light That Never Goes Out
Guided By Voices - Smothered In Hugs
Billy Bragg and Wilco - California Stars
U2 - One
Television - See No Evil
Velvet Underground - Oh Sweet Nothing
Promise Ring - Suffer Never
Dinosaur Jr. - Little Furry Things
Dan Bern - Jeruselem

And the list goes on...

posted by Quartermass 16 October | 18:48

Killer list jonmc. Especially that Funkadelic cut (which I first knew as a cover by Balancing Act). The only two songs I can't stand by on your list are the Betty Wright (doesn't ring a bell) and the Zappa (I'm a "Let's Make the Water Turn Black" man, myself). OK, and maybe the Conti pick.

And I'll poach a few bands/songs from other's lists that I forgot about:

GARY NUMAN - Are Friends Electric
ART OF NOISE - Moments In Love
GRANT HART - 2541
SEX PISTOLS - Pretty Vacant

and I forgot about:
the CREATION - Biff Bang Pow
SLIM HARPO - Get Out Of My Life Woman
CCR - Someday Never Comes
ELO - Four Little Diamonds (or maybe Don't Bring Me Down)
BOOMTOWN RATS - Diamond Smiles (how did I forgot this?!? It's my second favorite band after XTC - and has been for 20+ years)
NEW ORDER - Love Vigilantes
the EQUALS - Baby Come Back

OK, I'll stop. I'm sure tomorrow I'll want to add twenty more songs.

posted by Slack-a-gogo 16 October | 18:50

The only two songs I can't stand by on your list are the Betty Wright (doesn't ring a bell) and the Zappa (I'm a "Let's Make the Water Turn Black" man, myself). OK, and maybe the Conti pick.

The Wright track (grab it, bro) is one of the funkiest most danceable songs ever. as for the Zappa and Conti tracks, hey, it's favorites, not best, right?

posted by jonmc 16 October | 18:55

As someone upthread said: Songs that I've loved for a long time and will probably continue to love [no order]

Bob Dylan - Chimes of Freedom
Talking Heads - Slippery People
David Bowie - Five Years
The Beatles - All My Loving (a perfect pop song)
Neil Young - Down By the River
Jimi Hendrix - Voodoo Chile (the slow, bluesy version)
Emmylou Harris - Smoke Along the Tracks
Iggy & the Stooges - I Wanna Be Your Dog
Elvis Costello - Accidents Will Happen

After making the list, I guess I could call it "My Favorite Songs by My Favorite Artists."

posted by Marxchivist 16 October | 18:59

Oh hell, how could I forget The Who: A Quick One While He's Away and The Sex Pistols - Holiday in the Sun.

I could go on....

posted by Marxchivist 16 October | 19:03

also:

In My Room - Beach Boys
Don't Worry , Baby - Beach Boys
Be my baby - Ronnettes
He's Sure The Boy I Love - Crystals
Coat Of Many Colors - Dolly Parton
I've Had Enough - The Who

posted by jonmc 16 October | 19:04

Do You Wanna Dance - Bobby Freeman, Ramones, Dance Hall Crashers (pretty much any version, it's too good of a song to ruin entirely)

posted by jonmc 16 October | 19:08

Ramones--Blitzkreig Bop
Elvis Costello--What's so Funny About Peace Love and Understanding?
TMBG--Deep Dark Despair
Jazz Butcher--Drink

posted by LarryC 16 October | 19:13

songs in heavy rotation at the moment:

Gone To Earth - American Analog Set
Red - Mission of Burma
Love Goes On! - The GoBetweens
Something To Do With My Hands - Her Space Holiday
I'm a Little Dinosaur - Jonathan Richman

posted by freshwater_pr0n 16 October | 19:19

Elvis Costello--What's so Funny About Peace Love and Understanding?

Good choice, LarryC. This is for you, my man.

posted by jonmc 16 October | 19:20

Oooh, Coax Me is good.

As to one of Jon's picks:
When my grandmother died a few years ago, my uncle and our family friend Mickey came up to go to the funeral in Mickey's brand new Lincoln Towncar. It's all beige and leather inside, with everything overstuffed— a total old man car.
We're leaving to go to the funeral home, and Mickey puts on Who's Next, and just CRANKS it. After a little bit of intro... those chords come in and we're all drumming on the dashboards and seats, me in my early twenties and these two guys in their early 50s. It was beautiful and made everything right in the world.
And that's why Baba O'Reilly is one of the best songs ever.

posted by klangklangston 16 October | 19:26

You Don't Know You're Born - Mark Knopfler
Eminence Front - The Who
Good Luck Charm - Elvis
Ticket to Ride - Beatles
Naked Eye - Luscious Jackson
Fall on Me - r.e.m.
Bewildered - Notting Hillbillies
Widow's Walk - Suzanne Vega
Thin Line - Pretenders' cover
Bears - Lyle Lovett
Righteously - Lucinda Williams
Walking in Your Footsteps - Police
In These Shoes - Kristy Macoll
Higher Ground - Stevie Wonder
Life By the Drop - SRV
Doolin Dalton - Eagles
That's What Living is to Me - Jimmy Buffett

and about a brazillion more.....

oh and jonmc, In My Room is one of mine as well.

posted by chewatadistance 16 October | 19:27

I do feel to young too be here (read young as musically immature), but im gonna let that slide for a sec. Pretty much none of the records mentioned hold any firm memories or value for me, certainly none that i would say are my 5 favourite tunes. God, call me fickle, but there's so many good musics available anywhere now, even just to listen to to drag my appreciation elsewhere that there's no way i can tie myself down to just 5 or 10 of any type or genre. Hip hop, techno, drill and bass, slow violin madness quartets, arvo part, ad absurdium..

Mudpuppie radio on now is a good example. Who knew that i would rate Iggy Pop right up there with the slavic jazz i was previously playing.

i cant hang on to music from whenever because there's so much being played now and enjoyed right now that ive either not heard or been unwilling previously to enjoy.

And, as i speak, MP's playing Big Brother and the Holding Company - Do you what you love, so im going to get back to that and stop talking about lists of things.

Tho, as a postscript, i do love lists because it shows me how much im missing...

posted by urbanwhaleshark 16 October | 19:28

Now? Forever? Other great songs.

Rollercoaster- Spacemen 3
False Alarm- Yo La Tengo
Liar- LL Cool J
Flash Flood- Aesop Rock
White Light/White Heat- VU...

posted by klangklangston 16 October | 19:28

I can't possibly do this. It changes too much... so here's a list that I'll disagree with before I finish it:

Love You Madly - Cake
The Good Life - Weezer
Baby's Got Sauce - G. Love & Special Sauce
Push Upstairs - Underworld (the one on Everything, Everything)
Salvia Divinidorum - 1200 Mics
Divine Moments of Truth - Shpongle
Nice Weather For Ducks - Lemon Jelly
Dreaming in Colour - The Art of Noise
Come Fly With Me - Frank Sinatra
Vocalise - Rachminoff/Sylvia McNair
Where It's At - Beck
The Long Black Veil - Dave Matthews Band (one particular version from a live concert recording)
Killer Cars - Radiohead
Climbing Up The Walls - Radiohead - Zero 7 mix
Lebanese Blonde - Thievery Corporation
Regrets - Ben Folds Five
All Along The Watchtower - Jimi Hendrix (live recording)
Fireworks - Tragically Hip
Bug Powder Dust - Bomb The Bass/Kruder & Dorfmeister
Your Revolution - Sarah Jones and DJ Vadim

posted by mosch 16 October | 19:29

I'm with mudpuppie... too many. Brain overloads, melts, runs out ears.

Everybody who has posted so far has great taste, though!

and on preview: klingklangston, that story is just awesome. This is why I am a music freak, I think, because it is how we remember things like that.

posted by BoringPostcards 16 October | 19:30

I cannot do this - there are too many and my favourites change with my moods.

I have been digging Pink Floyd's Two Suns in the Sunset a lot lately, though. Also, the new passed-down laptop I got issued at work turned out to have about 50 cds ripped onto it, so I have been busy copying and revisiting some old friends and some new stuff I had never heard, so my favourites have been re-set.

posted by dg 16 October | 19:30

Now i feel like a killjoy, but im not.
Ok current top artists
Gillian welch
Luke vibert
The guy who did the "baby got back" remix
Maxine brown
Amy Rigby

posted by urbanwhaleshark 16 October | 19:30

And that's why Baba O'Reilly is one of the best songs ever.

Damn straight, brotha klang. One of the great strentghts of good old fashioned rock and roll is that it reminds you (in the words of another great song), that it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive.

(I had a buddy in high school die at 19 in a car wreck/suicide [long story]. He was a great guitar player, I used to carry his amp just so I could be a part of his thing. He was a Who fanatic, that's how we became friends. RIP, Dave)

posted by jonmc 16 October | 19:31

oh, yoga: Ticket To Ride (along with I'm Looking Through You) is my fave Beatles song, too. Good choice, bro.

Also: Everyday People - Sly & the Family Stone (this song may be the perfect statement of what I try and sometimes fail to be about)

posted by jonmc 16 October | 19:33

Neil Young - Sugar Mountain
The Refreshments - Down Together
Bob Dylan - Tangled Up in Blue
Ramones - I Wanna Be Sedated
Smiths - Still Ill
Grateful Dead - Box of Rain or Franklin's Tower
Lucinda Williams - Concrete and Barbed Wire
John Hiatt - Drive South
Clash - Lost at the Supermarket
Warren Zevon - Lawyers, Guns and Money
Billy Bragg - A New England
The Band - Ophelia
Counting Crows - Time and Time Again

and these are just the ones that came immediately to mind. There are so many more!

posted by mygothlaundry 16 October | 19:40

Also: Father Of Mine by Everclear (great acoustic version linked). This song deals with a topic that's affected a lot of people close to me in so many words, and even more in less direct terms. This is a great example of plainspoken direct rock and roll hitting with an incredible emotional wallop.

posted by jonmc 16 October | 19:43

The entire list is unacceptably long to post here. Some of the finer moments:

Tom Waits -- Cold, Cold Ground
Tom Waits -- Strange Weather
Bruce -- Mister State Trooper
Bruce -- My Hometown
Bruce -- actually everything on Nebraska, Born to Run, Born in the USA, Ghost of Tom Joad, The River, Darkness on the Edge of Town, and probably Devils & Dust fairly soon
(it's fairly easy to see how I spent my college years)
Wu Tang Clan -- Shame on a Nigga
REM -- Don't Go Back to Rockville
Three Dog Night -- Never Been to Spain
Bill Withers -- I Can't Write Left Handed
The Clash -- Straight to Hell
The Commodores -- Nightshift
Elvis Costello & The Attractions -- (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace Love and Understanding?
Elvis Presley -- Kentucky Rain
Jay-Z -- 99 Problems
Johnny Cash -- Cocaine Blues
Johnny Cash -- The Green, Green Grass of Home
Johnny Cash -- basically everything off Live@Folsom and Live@San Quentin and basically also everything else, ever.
Joseph Spence -- Sloop John B.
Modest Mouse -- The Good Times are Killing Me
Outkast -- Bombs Over Baghdad
Paul Simon -- The Obvious Child
Paul Simon -- Boy in the Bubble
Pixies -- UMass
Richard Thompson & David Byrne -- I Feel So Good
Rolling Stones -- Turd on the Run
The Roots -- The Seed V.2.0
The Spencer Davis Group -- Gimme Some Lovin'
Talking Heads -- Life During Wartime
Talking Heads -- What a Day that Was (ONLY the remastered Stop Making Sense live version)
Tom Waits -- Going Out West (live from Warsaw)

I mostly like listening to Blues and Hip Hop as entire albums, so this isn't completely representative of favorite music...

posted by sam 16 October | 19:44

ooooooo sam Never Been to Spain is awesome!

Um, jon - I had to check my bra size after you said bro. *blushes and heads to the ladies room* :D

posted by chewatadistance 16 October | 19:51

sorry, sista. You never specified.

posted by jonmc 16 October | 19:52

oh, a couple more:

knockin on heavens door - dylan
I'm on fire - springsteen
shame on you - indigo girls
going to california - led zep
satellite - smashmouth

posted by chewatadistance 16 October | 19:54

no worries dollink, it's all good!

posted by chewatadistance 16 October | 19:54

Also here's (yes, I can't help myself, my compulsion is your music collection's gain) is the original version of "Doo Wah Diddy," by the R&B outift The Exciters (although the better known version by Manfred Mann is great, too). This version just makes me picture a thumpin' party full of greasers and chicks in Marisa jarett Winokur in Hairspray ratted bouffants dancing up a storm in some New York apartment.

posted by jonmc 16 October | 19:58

Well, I'm not enough of a music Hoover to have too many faves. Cribbed partly from my Last.fm profile:

Nine Inch Nails - Something I Can Never Have (acoustic, off CRC or Still)
Liz Phair - Divorce Song
Liz Phair - Shatter
Broken Social Scene - Lovers' Spit (Bee Hives version, sung by Feist)
Dylan - When the Night Comes Falling From the Sky
Talk Talk - It's My Life (seriously, ever since the video)
Eurythmics - Would I Lie to You?
Eurythmics - Here Comes the Rain Again
Tanita Tikaram - Twist in My Sobriety
White Stripes - We're Gonna Be Friends
White Stripes - Well It's True that We Love One Another
Eels - Hey Man (Now You're Really Living)
Rilo Kiley - Portions for Foxes
Animal Logic - Someday We'll Understand

You can sort of see there's a big gap between the 1980s and the 2000s, I guess.

bunnyfire: I like Clannad ("Harry's Game") and Cash's "Hurt" too.

posted by stilicho 16 October | 20:06

Eurythmics - Would I Lie to You?

Gooood choice, man. That song has Annie Lennox proving she's a blue-eyed soul singer at heart.

posted by jonmc 16 October | 20:08

Also, because I'm drunk and feeling generous, here's the best campy/cheesy/fun hair-metal cover of all time.

posted by jonmc 16 October | 20:13

Baba O'Reilly is the first song my daughter ever fell in love with. She would blast it and jump up and down on her bed when she was 2. That's when I knew the kid was alright.

posted by jrossi4r 16 October | 20:33

That's a beautiful story, jrossi4r. Inhonor,here's the most embarrassing song that I absolutely love to the core of my being. It's good, screw you ;>.

posted by jonmc 16 October | 20:39

Holy shit, jonmc, thanks for posting that version of "Doo Wah Diddy." That is thing is great. That song could make even me dance.

posted by Marxchivist 16 October | 20:42

Some of my all time faves:
Elvis Costello-I Want You
REM-Good Advices
Kool and the Gang(?)-Jungle Boogie
Aretha Franklin-Baby I Love You(I find it amazingly sexy.)
Tom Waits-San Diego Serenade
Donovan-Trudy
Beastie Boys-Sabotage
10.00 Maniacs-Verdi Cries
Del McCoury Band-Nashville Cats
Elton John-Levon (And no, I'm not ashamed.)

And I second all the votes for Bastards of Young and What's So Funny.

posted by jrossi4r 16 October | 20:46

That song could make even me dance.

Funny that you say that, Marxchivist. Songs like that make me think of my mom, who under general circumstances reminds most people of Kitty from That 70's Show. One night, I must've been about 18 or so, since my now college age sister was still in her high chair, we were hanging out in the kitchen alone, my other sister was away at school and my dad was woring nights at that point. We had the clock radio tuned to the oldies station. "These Boots Are made For Walkin'" came on, and my mom said, "Oh, me and my girlfriends used to love dancing to this song."

"What kind of dances did you do?" little Sis asked.

"lemme show you," mom said, and in sweats and sneakers, shook her hips in the kitchen, blowing pretend smoke off her finger pistols. A treasured memory, that. And all those 60's dance songs make me think of that.

posted by jonmc 16 October | 20:49

Jonmc, is that song written by the guy who wrote all Meatloaf's songs? Because it sounds like it could be.

posted by jrossi4r 16 October | 20:50

Good ear, jrossi4r. It is indeed writted by Jim Steinman, the master of glorious kitchen-sink excess.

posted by jonmc 16 October | 20:52

Wow! I am apparently far too familiar with the Loaf. (Blame my mom. Her taste in music isn't as good as your mom's.)

posted by jrossi4r 16 October | 20:56

Heh. My mom loves Ricky Nelson and Neil Sedaka (caveat: I like Ricky and respect Neil). She's far from hipster mom. And the Loaf is legitimately fun as hell.

posted by jonmc 16 October | 20:58

Nick Drake: Which Will
Carole King: I Feel the Earth Move
Grateful Dead: Ripple
Joni Mitchell: Blue
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan: Allah Hu
Leonard Cohen: Bird on a Wire
Rakoto Frah (Madagascar): Rakoto Frah Two Step
Emmy Lou Harris: Water from a Deeper Well
Bruce Cockburn: Pacing the Cage
Stevie Nicks: Landslide
Latcho Drom Soundtrack: Gili
Sweet Honey in the Rock: I remember, I believe
Indigo Girls: Secure Yourself
Hedwig and the Angry Inch: Origin of Love
Donovan: Wear Your Love Like Heaven
Pogues: If I Should Fall from Grace of God
Bob Marley: Three Little Birds
Jethro Tull: Skating Away
Ry Cooder and Vishwa Bhatt: Meeting by the River
Klezmatics: Man With a Hat
Heather Small: Proud (Queer as Folk)
Leo Kottle: Broken Bicycle
Art Ensemble of Chicago: Theme de Yoyo (thanks Mecha!)
Glenn Danzig: Less Then Zero
Residents: Leaping Lizard
Neil Young: After the Gold Rush, Sail AWay
Edith Piaf: Non, Je Ne Regrete Rien
Cat Stevens: Oh Very Young
Carly Simon: Let the Rivers Run
Divine Comedy: Tonight We Fly
Louis Armstrong: What a Wonderful World
Iron and Wine: Bird Stealing Bread
Beatles: Fool on a Hill
and
Pink Floyd: Fearless

posted by moonbird 16 October | 21:09

Whoops, forgot these...
Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr: Me and My Shadow
Dean Martin: Straighten Up and Fly Right

posted by moonbird 16 October | 21:11

Violent Femmes -- "Good Feeling" and "Prove My Love"
Talking Heads -- "Swamp"
Steely Dan -- "Deacon Blues"
Bjork -- "Army of Me"
Liz Phair -- "Stratford-On-Guy"
REM -- "Driver Eight"
Twilight Singers -- "Martin Eden"
Pavement -- "Stop Breathin'"
Frank Sinatra -- "Luck Be a Lady"
Ani DiFranco -- "Both Hands"
Andrew Bird -- "Capital I"
Toad the Wet Sprocket -- "Something to Say"
Mighty Mighty Bosstones -- "Simmer Down"
Dizzie Gillespie -- "Night in Tunisia"
The Cure -- "Same Deep Water as You"
The Clash -- "Lost in the Supermarket"
Prince -- "When Doves Cry"
DJ Shadow -- "Stem/Long Stem"
Tom Waits -- "The Piano Has Been Drinking" and "Nighthawks at the Diner"
Johnny Cash -- "Ring of Fire"
Nirvana -- "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Lithium"
Jane's Addiction -- "Three Days"
Dire Straits -- "Romeo & Juliet"
Indigo Girls -- "You and I of the 10,000 Wars"
Faith No More -- "Take This Bottle"

Hardly a complete list, but it's a start.

posted by me3dia 16 October | 21:15

Oooh, on a roll...
Tom Waits: Innocent when you Dream
Harry Nilsson: Think About Your Troubles (from "The Point")

That's all, I really have to stop now. On preview: Awesome list, me3dia!

posted by moonbird 16 October | 21:20

There is so much goodness in this thread, I want to hug it and squeeeeeeeze it...

You people rock. Literally.

posted by cali 16 October | 21:23

My all-time favorite songs definitely tend to vary depending on mood, but here's a solid top-ten list that I wouldn't be afraid to defend:

1) Beatles - In My Life
2) Johnny Cash - I Walk The Line
3) Dusty Springfield - Son Of A Preacher Man
4) Sinead O'Connor - Nothing Compares 2 U
5) Mazzy Star - Fade Into You
6) Metallica - One
7) Roy Clark - Yesterday When I Was Young
8) Glen Campbell - Wichita Lineman
9) Merle Haggard - Caroline
10) Kris Kristofferson - Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down

posted by mr_crash_davis 16 October | 21:36

Without much reflection, here's ten, with the credit going to the songwriters:
The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll - Bob Dylan
Someday We'll Be Together - Bristol/Beavers/Fuqua
Long Black Veil - Wilkens/Dill
River Deep, Mountain High - Phil Spector
Naima - John Coltrane
Epistrophy - Thelonious Monk
Bags' Groove - Milt Jackson
Stagger Lee - let's say 'traditional'
Mack the Knife - Brecht/Weill

posted by box 16 October | 21:51

I love these lists! However, the thought of having to choose which songs are my favorite threatens to put me in a separation anxiety induced fetal position.

posted by Frisbee Girl 16 October | 22:08

Five more:
We People Who Are Darker Than Blue - Curtis Mayfield
Sparrow - Marvin Gaye
Dream a Little Dream - in my mind, Ella Fitzgerald's is the definitive version.
The Man I Love - written by George Gershwin; among many versions, I'm especially fond of the Joni Mitchell one from Herbie Hancock's Gershwin's World.
On the Sunny Side of the Street - written by Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh--you can hardly go wrong, but I love the version on Dizzy Gillespie's The Champ.

posted by box 16 October | 22:23

We People Who Are Darker Than Blue - Curtis Mayfield

Good call picking Curtis. I remember one morning waiting for the train, and a guy who looked likehe could've been the ghost of Curtis Mayfield was leaning against a pillar. As a train roared by, I saw his lips move. "Did you say something?" I asked. "Naw. Just singing," he said with a smile. "Oh. Cool," I answered.

Although "If there's A hell below, we're all gonna go," would be my choice, along with (ironically) "People Get Ready."

posted by jonmc 16 October | 22:36

no but for serious why am i not getting an a men for "don't go back to rockville"?

something v. wrong with all of you.

posted by sam 16 October | 22:36

Because Exhuming McCarthy is the proper REM answer.

posted by klangklangston 16 October | 22:50

Good Lord, this is daunting indeed. But a couple that occur from my (ever-changing) internal favorites list.

Country Girl -- Brinsley Schwartz
Wharf Rat -- The Dead
October Queen -- Rat Dog
White-Wheeled Limo -- Bruce Hornsby
Tangled up in Blue -- Bob Dylan
Safe European Home -- The Clash
Boogie 'Til You Puke -- Root Boy Slim
Echo Beach -- Marth and the Muffins

posted by mmahaffie 16 October | 22:52

Oops: Martha and the Muffins

posted by mmahaffie 16 October | 23:04

Oh, dang, 'People Get Ready.' How did I forget it? See, that's the thing about lists like this, for me anyway.

posted by box 16 October | 23:12

No order:

1. Dang Me - Roger Miller
2. I Got My Mojo Workin' - Paul Butterfield Blues Band
3. Let Me See the Colts - Smog (or any number of his songs, really) - my fave song of the last few years
4. Blue Chicago Moon - Songs: Ohia
5. At Last - Etta James
6. This Year's Kisses - Nina Simone
7. Anchor States Part II - Stars of the Lid
8. Passenger Pigeons - Handsome Family
9. Gladiator - Jesus Lizard
10. Shortwave Radio - Shotmaker

posted by dobbs 16 October | 23:22

Klang, I am stunned because I thought that such high levels of wrongness had only previously been achieved under highly controlled laboratory conditions. Thank you for proving my preconceptions to be so COMPLETELY unfounded hayzoos exhuming mccarthy egads such unbelivable wrongness.

posted by sam 16 October | 23:22

I love these lists! However, the thought of having to choose which songs are my favorite threatens to put me in a separation anxiety induced fetal position.

I concur. I haven't the foggiest clue what my favorites actually are... it'd take me a week just to come up with something that MIGHT be 50% accurate.

posted by mosch 16 October | 23:29

Sam: The reasons why Exhuming McCarthy is the superior REM song are manifold. If you were not blinded by your experiences in the wrongness lab, which seems to have left some wrongtrinos on you even now, you'd recogize:
-That walking on coals does improve your business acumen.
-That typewriters are a sampled noise that lends richness and period to the song.
-That going back to (ie. exhorting as a superior song) Rockville will only waste another year (on that song which is not as good as others from the REM catalog).
-That Rockville rhymes with Cockville and therefore loses all battles with songs that cannot be easily mocked by schoolchildren.
-That Document was, like, the best sellout album ever.

It is possible to argue that Oddfellows 151 is in fact the best REM song (just as it is possible to argue that Daysleeper or Pop Song 89 or Drive is superior), but those assertations are just as wrong to the scientific mind, despite all being better than Rockville.
The final proof? Place a cassingle of Rockville on a scale and write down the weight. Then dub McCarthy onto a cassingle and weigh it similarly. Exhuming McCarthy will weigh more, thus proving that the sentiments are "heavier, man." As any lab technician or post-doc researcher can tell you, the cassingle heaviness metric is the most reliable in pop music, as it has proved once and for all that P.Y.T. was better than Thriller, despite Thriller being much, much longer.

posted by klangklangston 16 October | 23:38

*takes deep breath, uncurls from foetal position* Here goes:

Everything about you - Ugly Kid Joe
Time - Pink Floyd
Two Suns in the Sunset - Pink Floyd
Dolphins Cry - Live
Telegraph Road - Dire Straits
Love Over Gold - Dire Straits
Boys Don't Cry - The Cure
London Calling - The Clash
Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite - The Beatles
Dawn is Breaking - The Angels
Lawyers, Guns and Money - Warren Zevon
Whole Lotta Love (23 m version from How the West Was Won) - Led Zeppelin

This has more to do with what is on my iPod at the moment, though, than what my "all-time favourites" would be. I don't think I coud do that.

posted by dg 16 October | 23:57

Dang Me - Roger Miller

Pure gold.

posted by moonbird 17 October | 00:14

Klang, I think you cleaned your wooden pipe a little too well. And Sam, no song with the word 'rock' in the title, recorded by a rock group, is the best one that group ever recorded. I'd show you the test results, but they're on my Intel Mac, which I seem to have misplaced in the wrongness lab. The best REM song is 'Cuyahoga.'

Admittedly, I spent much of my childhood in or around said river, which might color my impressions.

posted by box 17 October | 00:33

OK, these are just some of my favorites:

-Allison - Elvis Costello
-Iko iko - Dixie Cups
-No Woman No Cry - Bob Marley
-Hot burrito #1 - Gram Parsons
-Tipitina - Professor Longhair
-Romeo's Tune - Steve Forbert
-Life During Wartime - Talking Heads
-Ball & Chain - Big Mamma Thornton
-Ecology Song - Marvin Gaye
-Watching the Wheels - John Lennon
-Sweet Black Angel - Robert Nighthawk
-Crazy Love - Van Morrison
-I Am a Pilgrim - The Byrds
-Crazy - Patsy Cline
-Crazy Arms - Ian & Sylvia, Great Speckled Bird
-The Sky Is Crying - Elmore James
-Night They Drove Old Dixie Down - The Band
-When a Man Loves a Woman - Percy Sledge
-Every Day I've Got the Blues - Count Basie
-She Just Wants to Dance - Keb Mo
-Let's Go Crazy - Prince
-Somebody to Love - Queen

posted by madamjujujive 17 October | 01:12

Box- What about Rock and Roll pt. 2? It's the cassingle test, man. The cassingle test.

posted by klangklangston 17 October | 01:16

I thought this thread was specifically about favorites, not bests. Fie! Fie!

That said I have to add a few more. I really don't care if this are "bests" or boost my indie cred, these are songs that had an effect on me or have yet some personal meaning.

Young Marble Giants - Wurlitzer Jukebox (klangklang had a YMG song in his YSI mix)
Tori Amos - Smells Like Teen Spirit
Tori Amos - I'm On Fire (for yoga!)
The Forecast - These Lights
Tool - Sober
Bruce Springsteen - Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
Aimee Mann - Humpty Dumpty ("I'm not the girl you once put your faith in, just someone who looks like me")
John Wesley Harding - People's Drug
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Can't Stop
-- some movie themes
Anton Karas - "Third Man" Theme
Thomas Newman - Dead Already (American Beauty)
Carter Burwell - Miller's Crossing
-- and some high-profile indie:
Neutral Milk Hotel - Holland 1945
Arcade Fire - Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels), Crown of Love, Wake Up
Sufjan Stevens - Chicago
-- some more 80s
Blondie - Union City Blues (I once lived in Jersey City, btw)
Nick Lowe - Cruel to be Kind
Melissa Etheridge - Bring Me Some Water
Katrina and the Waves - Walking on Sunshine ** I would kill for an Iron & Wine style cover
Bangles - Going Down to Liverpool (KatW song)
Timbuk 3 - Future's So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Don't Come Around Here No More

Just because I'm feeling egotistical. What, am I up to my top 50 yet?

Oh, and some from a friend which I've come to admire (sneaking a few more in):
Iggy Pop - I'm Bored
Iggy Pop - Nazi Girlfriend
Radiohead - Creep

posted by stilicho 17 October | 02:06

Stilicho: Yeah, I was clarifying Sam's favorite song for him. He had forgotten that he liked that one more until I told him so.
But he went off to listen to Radio Song so he could learn the KRS-One part and sing along.

posted by klangklangston 17 October | 02:33

:D Stilicho! Nice list. And likewise, MJJJ, esp. The Band, dixiecups and Queen.

This thread is great timing - I'm putting together the party mix for next saturday...some memory joggers there.

posted by chewatadistance 17 October | 07:46

Klang: Cassingles? Cassingles? REM is all about the CD longboxes. Motor voter. That was our levitating-the-Pentagon.

And 'Rock and Roll, Part 2'? Bear with me here, sun, it's about to get mathematical (no five-percenter). 'Best songs that Gary Glitter ever recorded' and 'favorite Gary Glitter songs'? Those are null sets, my friend. Null sets. Gary Glitter is one pervert who doesn't make good music.

posted by box 17 October | 09:23

Box--Cuyahoga is also the best song because the band always did those little hand motions (pretending to take a picture, etc.) that went along with it.

See also: I am Superman.

posted by jrossi4r 17 October | 10:04

"Downtown," Petula Clark.

"Zombie Jamboree," Rockapella.

posted by alumshubby 17 October | 10:12

Na na-na na HEY na-na na-na, I can't hear the pedophilia!

Man, I used to have the longbox for Dinosaur Jr.'s Go My Way on the door to my room. It had that creepy armed hitchhiker. I was so alternative.

posted by klangklangston 17 October | 12:16

Oh, wow, Dinosaur Jr. During my teen years, I may or may not have referred to J. Mascis as a 'genius.'

That reminds me--I've got to head over to AskMe, so that I can mention 'Rock and Roll, Pt. 2' in that worst-charting-songs question.

posted by box 17 October | 12:24

Iggy Pop - Nazi Girlfriend

I know the woman about whom Iggy wrote this song, exactly as bugged out as you would imagine.

posted by Divine_Wino 17 October | 12:33

Happy Birthday. I love singing that song.

And I like the one that goes, "arrrum-papa pum pum dom, dra da-da-da-da da, doody doo hmm, hmm mm-m-m-m-m-mmmaa, oh, doot, doo," or something like that.

posted by Hugh Janus 17 October | 12:50

hope - the descendents
fistful of love - antony and the johnsons
paddle out - sublime
demon sweat - ween
for no one - the beatles
landslide - fleetwood mac
black clouds are raining blood on me - warhammer 48k
brimful of asha - cornershop
les yper-sound - stereolab
rhapsody in blue - george gershwin
the eleven - grateful dead

posted by Schyler523 17 October | 13:32

Oh yeah, definitely inflated Mascis' stock myself... Some of it's not so bad now...

posted by klangklangston 17 October | 15:20

"
Box- What about Rock and Roll pt. 2? It's the cassingle test, man. The cassingle test.
posted by klangklangston 17 October | 01:16
"
HOLY CATS can we all agree that someone around here is breathtakingly old. I mean is the rock music too loud for you old man et cetera et cetera et et et. And so on. Are we crazy kids annoying you with our godawful rap music and our weird pants AND GET OFF YOUR LAWN!!! Okay okay, old man. OLD MAN. OR WOMAN.
Cassingle bushwa. When I was a wee small lad Papa bought me my first record for ye olde christmas: a Cyndi Lauper singlel, 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,' + 'Time After Time' (I think). After that, there was Paul Simon's Negotiations and Lovesongs and then the Band-Aid single AND THAT WAS IT OLD MAN. From that point out: cd's and mp3's and deez nuts. It;s like the old guy planned out my entire life to have just the right amount of street cred, so I could say, sure, yeah, I remember when. And yet: I would not be an old and wretched wreck of a fool with some hangup for what used to be and how things were better and blah blah blah OLD.
OLD OLD OLD. With your cassingles.
Get that ish out of here. I'm going to drive home... IN MY HOVERCAR. FUTURE!

posted by sam 17 October | 19:08

16 October 2005