A departure from my last few subjects
A list of some of my favorite songs and why:
A list of some of my favorite songs and why:
1. Baba O'Riley The Who off of Who's Next is probably the best song that has ever opened up an album. Sure U2's Where The Streets Have No Name is second but a very distant second. Probably the first synthesizer ever heard is sequenced throughout the song. What's better Roger Daltrey's anthemic voice or Pete Townshend's soft yet compelling cry of "It's only a teenaged wasteland!" Who's Next is one of the best albums ever but that is for another list.
2. Walk On U2 off of All That You Can't Leave Behind. I was thinking this was my favorite song ever because it was the only one I could put above the others. They have a ton of great songs like Running to Stand Still, One, Pride, Bad, or New Year's Day but I think Walk On rises above the rest. I don't think the band has ever been in more synch than this recording. Everything from the guitars to the drums to the bass to vocals just works. Hard to put that cd away when you know a song like that is on there.
3. Don't Think Twice It's Alright Bob Dylan off of The Freewheelin Bob Dylan album. I never heard a story that sounded like it was being told first person as it happened but it already had happened until I heard this song. The flip flop of what's happening throughout the song really paints the picture. I like in the second verse how Bob says, "It ain't know use in turning on your light, a light I have never known...." And how then it was no use, because "I am on the dark side of the road" Then how he asks later "I wish there was something you can do or say that'll make me wanna change my mind and stay..." And then how there "was know use in calling out my name" after wishing she'd talk to him. An eerie song about lost love and young girl that is still a great song 42 years later!!!
4. Prison Bound Social Distortion off of (you guessed it) Prison Bound. When does an artist transcend what he was, to what he really is. I think this was one of the first songs Mike Ness ever wrote that transformed him from traditional wannabe punk into a folk country song writer? Masked in distortion, self doubt and a whole lot of angst is a very deep songwriter. The song comes from the mind of a guy that understood what going to prison, living in prison and dying in prison was about. I guess burglarizing, hard drugs and hospitalizations from overdoses may make you wake up and "strum that guitar and sing an outlaw love song". I think this was where he became great and has written his best material since.
5. South Central Rain REM off of Reckoning Also known as the song that goes "I'm Sorry" in the chorus. Guitarist Peter Buck claims the song changes key three times... I think maybe, that G Minor Chord always clashes with the E minor one before it but everytime you play the song, it sounds correct. Doesn't follow traditional song writing rules but hey, REM has written some pretty good songs. So. Central Rain is a song about floods, and rain from a freak storm that struck Athens, GA. I have heard many versions of it but the slow acoustic one that was on a B-Side of a single that I cannot recall was the best one. It's the one where they bleed three songs together, REM's Time After Time, Red Rain from Peter Gabriel and then So. Central Rain. Good stuff. The band has not been the same since Bill "Unibrow" Berry left the drum set behind after New Adventures in Hi Fi. Like U2, all 4 members are/were dedicated to the songwriting process.
I will write more later. What are your thoughts?
2. Walk On U2 off of All That You Can't Leave Behind. I was thinking this was my favorite song ever because it was the only one I could put above the others. They have a ton of great songs like Running to Stand Still, One, Pride, Bad, or New Year's Day but I think Walk On rises above the rest. I don't think the band has ever been in more synch than this recording. Everything from the guitars to the drums to the bass to vocals just works. Hard to put that cd away when you know a song like that is on there.
3. Don't Think Twice It's Alright Bob Dylan off of The Freewheelin Bob Dylan album. I never heard a story that sounded like it was being told first person as it happened but it already had happened until I heard this song. The flip flop of what's happening throughout the song really paints the picture. I like in the second verse how Bob says, "It ain't know use in turning on your light, a light I have never known...." And how then it was no use, because "I am on the dark side of the road" Then how he asks later "I wish there was something you can do or say that'll make me wanna change my mind and stay..." And then how there "was know use in calling out my name" after wishing she'd talk to him. An eerie song about lost love and young girl that is still a great song 42 years later!!!
4. Prison Bound Social Distortion off of (you guessed it) Prison Bound. When does an artist transcend what he was, to what he really is. I think this was one of the first songs Mike Ness ever wrote that transformed him from traditional wannabe punk into a folk country song writer? Masked in distortion, self doubt and a whole lot of angst is a very deep songwriter. The song comes from the mind of a guy that understood what going to prison, living in prison and dying in prison was about. I guess burglarizing, hard drugs and hospitalizations from overdoses may make you wake up and "strum that guitar and sing an outlaw love song". I think this was where he became great and has written his best material since.
5. South Central Rain REM off of Reckoning Also known as the song that goes "I'm Sorry" in the chorus. Guitarist Peter Buck claims the song changes key three times... I think maybe, that G Minor Chord always clashes with the E minor one before it but everytime you play the song, it sounds correct. Doesn't follow traditional song writing rules but hey, REM has written some pretty good songs. So. Central Rain is a song about floods, and rain from a freak storm that struck Athens, GA. I have heard many versions of it but the slow acoustic one that was on a B-Side of a single that I cannot recall was the best one. It's the one where they bleed three songs together, REM's Time After Time, Red Rain from Peter Gabriel and then So. Central Rain. Good stuff. The band has not been the same since Bill "Unibrow" Berry left the drum set behind after New Adventures in Hi Fi. Like U2, all 4 members are/were dedicated to the songwriting process.
I will write more later. What are your thoughts?
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