the following 5 songs:
Like Dan says - and see his list here: If I did this each week, I probably would come up with different songs - although there are some old stand-bys which never leave me. I'm trying to pick the songs which have been my faves through the years. Not just a momentary whim.
I shall now blurt out the first 5 songs that come to mind:
1. "Rape Me" - Nirvana - Kurt Cobain's "f-you" to MTV - It makes you want to trash your own apartment. Starts quiet, goes shriek-y loud, gets quiet again - the typical Nirvana pattern, but it works, dammit, it works. (This was a toss-up with "Lithium" - another Nirvana favorite - but what the hell. I'm going with "Rape Me")
2. "In My Life" - The Beatles - One of my favorite songs of all time. If I did this list next week, "In My Life" would be on it again.
"There are places I remember
All my life
Though some have changed
Some forever, not for better
Some have gone
And some remain..."
Through all the different phases of my life - that song has come up again and again and again - and each time I hear something different in it. A new lesson.
3. "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Lookin' For" - U2
This song makes the hair on the back of my neck rise up. Chill-time. Might be my favorite U2 song, and that's saying a lot.
4. Lonesome When You Go - Shawn Colvin's cover of the Bob Dylan song
No offense to Bob - but when Shawn does it - and I feel like either jumping off a bridge or running through a field naked with joy. I can't decide. Another song that morphs with time. I have had absolutely profound experiences, sitting listening to this song. Like soul-growth moments.
I've seen love go by my door
It's never been this close before
Never been so easy or so slow.
Been shooting in the dark too long
When somethin's not right it's wrong
Yer gonna make me lonesome when you go.Dragon clouds so high above
I've only known careless love,
It's always hit me from below.
This time around it's more correct
Right on target, so direct,
Yer gonna make me lonesome when you go.Purple clover, Queen Anne lace,
Crimson hair across your face,
You could make me cry if you don't know.
Can't remember what I was thinkin' of
You might be spoilin' me too much, love,
Yer gonna make me lonesome when you go.Flowers on the hillside, bloomin' crazy,
Crickets talkin' back and forth in rhyme,
Blue river runnin' slow and lazy,
I could stay with you forever
And never realize the time.Situations have ended sad,
Relationships have all been bad.
Mine've been like Verlaine's and Rimbaud.
But there's no way I can compare
All those scenes to this affair,
Yer gonna make me lonesome when you go.Yer gonna make me wonder what I'm doin',
Stayin' far behind without you.
Yer gonna make me wonder what I'm sayin',
Yer gonna make me give myself a good talkin' to.I'll look for you in old Honolulu,
San Francisco, Ashtabula,
Yer gonna have to leave me now, I know.
But I'll see you in the sky above,
In the tall grass, in the ones I love,
Yer gonna make me lonesome when you go.
And it's Shawn Colvin's LIVE version which clutches at my heart. Always has.
5. American Pie - Don McLean
I will never stop wondering about this song. I will never gain CERTAINTY about this song. I am never DONE with listening to this song.
In My Life!? How could I have forgot that one!? I almost prefer the Johnny Cash version though.
American Pie leaves me cold. I don't know why, it's just never appealed to me.
Posted by: Dan at March 31, 2004 3:57 PMI wanted to choke Madonna when she did that cover of "American Pie" a few years ago. How DARE she touch that!
Posted by: Emily at March 31, 2004 4:00 PMWhen I was 5 years old, I recited the entirety of American Pie for my kindergarten class on Show and Tell day.
I WISH there had been a videotape of the event.
Posted by: red at March 31, 2004 4:08 PMMadonna's cover of "American Pie" is an atrocity matched only be Sheryl Crow's rendition of "Sweet Child of Mine".
Posted by: Bill McCabe at March 31, 2004 4:21 PMThere are certain songs that should not be touched.
It would be like doing a remake of On the Waterfront or something. Or Citizen Kane.
Posted by: red at March 31, 2004 4:22 PMThey tried to make a TV show from Casablanca.
Posted by: Bill McCabe at March 31, 2004 4:34 PMI know. A travesty.
"In My Life" is one of those timeless songs, and I as much as I love the original by the Beatles, as Dan pointed out, Johnny Cash's version is very good. His version is fairly recent, so his old gravelly voice brings so much reflectiveness to the song, and really adds a lot to it.
And I must also agree to the idea of choking Madonna for messing with "American Pie".
Posted by: Laura at March 31, 2004 4:38 PMJohnny Cash could sing Itsy Bitsy Spider and make it sound like a tragic lament of pain and endurance.
Posted by: red at March 31, 2004 4:41 PMI thought it was a tragic lament of pain and endurance.
Posted by: Dan at March 31, 2004 5:00 PMBut Cash does bring a lot of emotional heft to any song he does by virtue of his voice and persona. The cover he does of 'Redemption Song' with Joe Strummer is heart breaking.
Posted by: Dan at March 31, 2004 5:02 PMDan -
You definitely have a point there, about that spider song.
"down came the rain and washed the spider out ..."
Tis an endless cycle of hope and despair.
Posted by: red at March 31, 2004 5:03 PMIt does indeed, like that poor Greek SOB whose name escapes me, endlessly pushing the boulder uphill...
Posted by: Dan at March 31, 2004 5:06 PMSisyphus (sp?)
Posted by: Bill McCabe at March 31, 2004 5:06 PMHa. Well, you do have to feel sorry for him. The Gods, they are just but cruel.
Posted by: Dan at March 31, 2004 5:12 PMItsy Bitsy Sisyphus
Posted by: red at March 31, 2004 6:08 PMok- so i obviously didn't scroll down to see the rest of the comments because I LITERALLY SCREAMED " SISYPHUS!!!!!!!" at my computer. Once again, thanks to the Crud, I know this information.
Posted by: Beth at March 31, 2004 8:14 PMYou want the best U2 song..."Bad" from Unforgettable Fire. Both live and studio versions are phenom.
Posted by: Rad World at April 1, 2004 9:07 AMHas to be the Brady Bunch's version of American Pie for me. Never did like McLean's after hearing Greg and Marcia belt it out.
Posted by: Carrie at April 1, 2004 1:19 PMMy mother once said that she wants "In My Life" played at her funeral. That kind of put a damper on it for me. It's worse than having the Bradys cover it. At least then I could still enjoy the original.
Great list though.
Posted by: Lux at April 1, 2004 2:03 PM"In My Life" is just one of those songs that grabs you each time you listen to it, and it's beauty is so pure and simple.
I am SO glad I've never heard the Brady's version of "American Pie". I'll make it my life's mission to never hear it.
Posted by: Laura at April 1, 2004 4:00 PMI am so disgusted by the line analogous to "those good old boys were driving automobiles and Chevrolets" that I write off American Pie in its entirety.