Favourite all time song

[fese]

Beach Boys - Surf's Up: the harmonic changes, the song structure with three (four?) different parts, tempo and key changes, the ascending melodies, the arrangement. The vocals. Insane.

Jeff Buckley - Lover you should've come over: Also great harmonies. Excellent dynamic band performance. Jeff sings his heart out. Intense.

A-ha - Hunting high and low: One of the best examples of great eighties pop ballad writing. Rarely are such finely crafted compositions heard in pop music nowadays. Love the chord changes, the melodic progression, how it ends on the major tonic. Don't fancy the eighties production too much, though. Underrated.

Is there a pattern here? I seem to like songs with interesting or unusual harmonies and chord changes, melodies that span more than one octave, lush arrangement and production. Not so keen on the indie guitar rock "geschrammel"...

[budweiser]

There is no one what will take care of you (palace brothers) : this could be pink floyd at their best, but pink floyd on a 4 track cassette deck.

You're the one that i want (Grease ost) : well... the groove is just... irresistible ?

Winter kills (yazoo)

I could add a lot as my favourite songs often changes, but i never get tired of these three ones and know them for decades, so i suppose they're among my favourite all time songs .

[ariston]

Matilda - Harry Belafonte. Instant good mood. The definitive lyric, as well: it tells you all you need to know in life.

Debaser - Pixies. Because it's the kick in the butt you need sometimes, because it's so inscrutable, so wicked, so danceable, so timeless.

Abendlied (Der Mond ist aufgegangen) - Schubert/Claudius. Why? Sing it to your child while holding him/her in your arms and looking at the moon together. Magic.

[fese]

Abendlied (Der Mond ist aufgegangen) - Schubert/Claudius. Why? Sing it to your child while holding him/her in your arms and looking at the moon together. Magic.

I just looked it up and I didn't knew it had seven verses. I think my mom skipped some of those, especially that one with dying and going to heaven when she sang it to me.

[fmr]

In no particular order:
Simon & Garfunkel: Bidge Over Troubled Water
George Harrison: My Sweet Lord
Genesis: Firth of Fifth
Yes: Close to the Edge, And You And I, Roundabout
Styx: Pieces of Eight
Stephen Schwartz: When You Believe (the movie version, with Michelle Pfeiffer and Sally Dworsky, not the pop one with Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston - that one sucks)
Stephen Schwartz: Deliver Us
Andrew Lloyd Webber: That's All I Ask of You (among others)
Vangelis/Jon Anderson: So Long Ago, So Clear
Queen: Bohemian Rhapsody, Innuendo, Somebody to Love
...
And many, many others

(does opera arias count to?).

[bluedad]

impossible question to answer,
and susceptible to change depending on time of day
and amount of drugs/alcohol consumed.

[BERFAB]

The Fintstones theme.
Just love that....

This was my wedding song. On our first date, I took my wife to a popular jazz club near Boston: Ryles. The house band at the time was the Herman Johnson Quartet, and during an extended jam, he broke out into the Flintstones theme song. While he was playing this, we kissed for the first time.

I don't know if anyone here is familiar with Herman, but he had a signature line that I always loved. He would ask the crowd if they were having a good time. And then he would add: "Here at Ryles, we say that if you're not having a good time...that's YOUR fault."

[Blue-eyed Blonde Ape]

John Cage 4′33″
No doubt about that, so f*** all f****** who are like "I couldn't live without music", silence and natural nature sounds are the best music ever.

[MFXxx]

So many to list for so many reasons....a few from my old grey mental archive

Love the build of this track
This whole album is one track for me
1st vinyl ever bought
Ok I was young and easily influenced - it slipped in miss!
Best commercial track ever
Great driving track always on in the car
Anarchy, freedom and god makes me want to pop one
Toke, sit back and relax

Song says it all

summer music

Love the samples, love the orb!

Time to sleep little ones!!!

Psychedelic pleasures



Turn up yer sub and drive....



Hows this for blues

Its was our wedding dance so had to creep it in.

Cause it's my mums fav

1st 7" I ever played - thanks dad

Stick the headphones on at the top of a mountain, chill, inhale, exhale and ski down the slopes like it's the last time you will eve ski again....

Im stopping now - way to many to go on with...nostalgia is fab

[Tricky-Loops]

A-ha - Hunting high and low: One of the best examples of great eighties pop ballad writing. Rarely are such finely crafted compositions heard in pop music nowadays. Love the chord changes, the melodic progression, how it ends on the major tonic. Don't fancy the eighties production too much, though. Underrated.

And this one from A-ha...

[Tricky-Loops]

Going back even further, this is my favorite evergreen...errr...everdesert...

[Turello]

I've listened\played\like a lot of Music from Death Metal to Trip Hop to 70' Prog Rock but this 3 songs are here for sentimental reasons...

The Beatles - Yesterday
Louis Armstrong - What a wonderful world
John Lennon - Love

@Tricky: you always amaze me but ..!

[arkmabat]

Yes: Close to the Edge, And You And I, Roundabout
...
Vangelis/Jon Anderson: So Long Ago, So Clear

Love the first three, never listened to the last. Thanks for sharing.

[wesleyt]

There are some truly great choices above; thank you all for sharing.

I'm much more of an album guy than a song guy, but I'll give this a go. The standard disclaimer applies; mood, circumstances, and environment affect my preferences. I will likely kick myself for not including a particular song later. That said, here goes for the moment.

King's X: Cigarettes. A perfect blues track by my favorite band of all time.

Extreme: Seven Sundays. Or maybe the third side. Or maybe the whole album: Three Sides to Every Story. Possibly my second favorite album of all time.

My third choice must come from Muse, but it is so difficult to decide. My first choice was Exogenesis: Symphony from The Resistance. I also wanted to choose something from Absolution, the first album I heard by them. Or maybe something from Origin of Symmetry, a favorite album of mine. Madness maybe? Such a gorgeous tune, on a wonderful album.

Origin of Symmetry it is. The whole album. Just about perfect.

[Tricky-Loops]

How could I forget...

SOUNDGARDEN - "Black Hole Sun" (as well as most Audioslave songs)



MIDNIGHT JUGGERNAUTS - "Shadows" (and most of their other songs)



SNEAKY SOUNDSYSTEM - "UFO" (and many of their other songs)