JPF Home Page Forums General Messages Songwriter Message Forum What are some of your favorite songs and why.

Page 43 by David Crosby. Great song by a great writer.

I have... Freddie Mercury's solo version anyway. It's a terrific song, very evocative and emotional. I'm not surprised Freddie loved it and used it.

Mike, this is a tough one - there are so many. I'll try and add to the discussion what hasn't been said yet. Here's a few, in no particular order, just what spools out of my brain first:

The Boxer - Paul Simon
A visual, heartwrenching song with very real characters. You feel the pulse of the urban streets of New York in this song "...where the ragged people go, looking for the places only they would know."

These lines will always, *always* get to me:
"Or cut him till he cried out,
I am leaving, I am leaving,
But the fighter still remains..."

Oh.
How many times have we all gone through a feeling like that.
Paul Simon is, IMO, among the finest poets of the 20th century. Hands down.

A traditional hymn: "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing"
A simple but fabulous melody, easy to learn and will stick with you forever. I could loop this - just about anyone's version of it - for hours. I'd love to record it someday, but I'd have to settle down to one arrangement, which makes it hard.
My favorite lines:
"Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Take my heart, oh, take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above."

And a whole slew of songs from Queen, and no, not their greatest hits either. I'll just pick two: "Love of My Life" (Freddie) and "Teo Torriatte" (Brian May). I don't know who else knows the lyrics offhand besides me here... but both are gorgeous songs about a love lost or parted. I love the complex chords and haunting melodies.

My favorite lines from "Love of My Life" are the bridge:
"You will remember
When this is blown over
And everything's all by the way
When I grow older
I will be there at your side to remind you
How I still love you
I still love you"

It just hits me, and moves me. I can't explain it more than that.

"Teo Toriatte" is just beautiful poetry, plain and simple. The chorus is in both Japanese and English, and it uses some Japanese-flavored imagery as well ("and time is but a paper moon"). I love the chorus - in either language:
"Let us cling together
As the years go by
Oh, my love, my love
In the quiet of the night
Let our candle always burn
Let us never lose the lessons we have learned"

followed by:
"Oh be strong
Don't turn your heart
Don't turn..."

Just fabulous.

Another one that's only recently hit my radar (I'm ashamed to say...) is "House of the Rising Sun." Wow. I absolutely love the minor chords... and what a sad, amazing song. Beautful.

So what does all that say about me, Mike?


Linda

PS: Beth, I'm a Scorpio, if you want to figure that in!

Robert Johnson by Bill Morrissey
The Spring of 65 by the Holy Modal Rounders
Gaia by Phil Stoecker

How can you not love a song around Mr. J? Spring of 65 is just one helluva a lot of fun. Gaia is what it's all about, if we don't want to go back to tepees and campfires.

First, how can it be snowing in June? I am assuming you don't like in TX.

Second, regarding desperate songwriters, the ONLY REASON Elton John decided to become a performing artist is because he and Bernie couldn't find anyone willing to record their songs. Imagine that! Those guys are one of the all time great song-writing teams.

It sounds like your introduction to "House of the Rising Sun" is the Animals' version, which is great musically but fucks up the lyrics terribly. Try to find Woody Guthrie's version or the original recording by Clarence Ashley in the 30s. I suspect you'll hate both of them.

Hi Joe Straight, nice to meet you, though I prefer to be addressed with kinder language, especially when I'm just meeting someone... if you're referring to me I mean, which is my guess since I'm the only one who mentioned "Rising Sun" so far, and my post is only two posts back from yours. (If it's not me you're addressing, I apologize for making that connection.)

Since I'm guessing you mean me, I'll explain my thoughts if I can.

Actually the chords are minor no matter whose version you listen to. The lyrics in my first real introduction to the song were printed in a songbook, and I believe are the accurate ones. We ran through it at a local jam session/Meetup group a couple of months ago, and since then I've been noticing it when it comes on the radio.

So... yes, I do actually know what the lyrics are supposed to be. And I'm aware that with a male singer, it just doesn't carry the same weight. It can't. And you almost have to change them some, which will change the meaning, but what else can you do if you're a guy and you want to sing it?

I have no idea why you'd think I'd hate the earlier versions... but... I'll just scratch my head at that, and figure we just don't know each other very well yet.

Glad you're posting, and welcome to JPF.
Smile a little - you might feel better

Linda

Current favorite song : Johnny and June - Heidi Newfield

This is probably the best song I have heard all year.

Yes Linda. That email was directed to you and why it didn't come up as a reply, I don't know. I'm doing the same thing now so I guess it won't come up as a reply again. All I did was hit reply, fill in the blanks and then hit submit. If this doesn't come up as a reply, please tell me what I'm doing wrong.

In any case, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. As you can guess from the above, I'm knew to this kind of thing. I have no idea what all that crap is above this page as I'm typing. ("Posting icon:") In any case, in my infinite wisdom and arrogance, I made a whole slew of incorrect assumptions, based, however, on a tiny bit of experience. Everyone I've met in the past twenty years who knows "House of the Rising Sun" knows it from the Animals version and most of them find Woody's and Clarence's versions unlistenable (as I did when I first heard them mumbledy-mumble years ago). A couple of months ago, I played it with a guy who knew it from the Animals version and we kept having problems because some (but not all) of the chords in the Animals version aren't the same as in the version I know.

And, contrary to the Animals and to you (pace), it is a song a man can sing. Just takes some minor adjustments.

There is a house in New Orleans.
It's called the Rising Sun.
It's been the ruin of many poor girls.
My own lady, oh God, she was one.

And so on.

Once again, my apologies for being so arrogant and so snobbish and such an insufferable know-it-all. Fortunately, whenever I get there, there's always someone like you to let me know I don't know nearly as much as I think I do, and usually as gently and as friendly as you do, even if I don't deserve it.

Thanks for putting up with my peccadillos (and pirandellos and armadillos). --joe

That was a classy way to address that. You'll never be a diva if you stay that nice.

Hi Joe, don't worry, I'll put up with your armadillo any day of the week. And you, too.

I had a guess that maybe your story went something like that. And - you're dead right on the lyric rewrite. Yours is good. The Animals just chose to butcher it instead, and that's what became popular. ~sigh~

I tell ya - if someone ever butchers a little-known Queen song and *that* version gets more famous, my feathers will be ruffled in a hurry too.

So - I understand where you're coming from!

Since you're new to the boards (and some others may be too) I'll help with deciphering what you're looking at.

When you want to be SURE you're addressing a certain quote (especially in long topics, where replies fly fast and the thing you're replying to can get buried in a hurry) - you can hit that "Quick Quote" button. Then the post you're replying to will be quoted - see what "eb" did in the post above this one? Works great.

To do a quick reply (which is mostly all I ever do) just scroll down to the bottom of the page and start typing in the little box there. You don't get all the confusing buttons.

When you click the "Reply" button, it takes you to the "fancier" page where you have more bells & whistles. "Posting icon" just means you can choose a happy face thingy to go with your post - you don't need to click one, it's just for fun. You can also add links, pictures, format your text wih colors and fonts (not many of us do that - but you CAN! cool...), add HTML or UBB code to your post, and check a box for "Add to My Watched Topics" if you want to from that page.

All sorts of cool stuff.
But, yeah, when you "reply" here you reply to everyone and anyone reading the thread. It's not actually an email.

If you want to say something privately *just* to one person (or small group of people) you can use a "PM" or Private Message.

Find these up top in the blue bar under "My Stuff." (A good place to explore sometime and see what you've got.) "My Messages" will let you send messages all over the place. Or, you can click on any person's name - this takes you to their profile, and from there you have the option to "Send a PM."

Oh, and another cool option, which I myself have used MANY times, having made plenty of stupid comments in my time here (just ask anybody, LOL) is the nice nifty little "Edit" button which shows up on any post you've made. You can't always delete your post completely (if someone has replied since you did, you're stuck with that slot, but you can type "deleted" or whatever) but you can Edit any of your posts an unlimited amount of times. (We had one poster who left us, and went through and deleted everything he'd ever said... very weird... but do-able.)

So... there's a mini-tutorial for ya'. Do keep posting! You get the hang of it after a while.

And eb - thanks! That was gracious of you to say so.
I mean "diva" in the tremendously talented sense of the word, not so much the typical personality accompanying it. LOL!

Linda

Thanx, Linda. Can't think of anything else to say, so I guess I'll say it. --joe


O well, while I'm here, a few more favorite songs

The Chase by Sheb Wooley (the followup, which fell flat, to The Purple People Eater)
Weather Report Suite, by the Grateful Dead
Stella Blue, by the Grateful Dead
Million, by Kantner Slick & Freiberg

'nuff said

Thanx, Linda. Can't think of anything else to say, so I guess I'll say it. --joe


O well, while I'm here, a few more favorite songs

The Chase by Sheb Wooley (the followup, which fell flat, to The Purple People Eater)
Weather Report Suite, by the Grateful Dead
Stella Blue, by the Grateful Dead
Million, by Kantner Slick & Freiberg

'nuff said

"Just 'cause I have to grow old doesn't mean I have to grow up." --Anne B. Mulligan
Thanx, Annie. I miss you.