The Greatest Song of All Time

[FunkMonk]

What is the greatest song of all time?

No formal criteria of course. Any genre, any era, any reason. Just tell us your choice for the greatest song of all time and why.

I submit:

https://youtu.be/3JWTaaS7LdU
Whitney Houston - I Will Always Love You

Her absolutely stunning voice, of course, raises this song from merely good to an indisputable classic. The song starts soft and crescendos into brilliant highs, a perfectly crafted piece of pop entertainment that actually manages to tug at the heart with its simple lyrics. Her voice does all the work.

It thoroughly encapsulates late 80s/early 90s-era schmaltz and I love it. And it's always absolute scenes when someone at a party or at karaoke or something try to match Whitney's notes at the end 

[Syt]

This is not the greatest thread in the world; this is just a tribute.

[Grey Fox]

FREE BIRD

[Richard Hakluyt]

I submit Bob Dylan's Tangled up in blue. Its about a guy fucking up a romantic relationship, probably THE romantic relationship of his life, by being a bit of a twat (maybe?) or perhaps just life getting in the way. He's going to give it another go but somehow one doesn't feel optimistic about the likely outcome.

[frunk]

This is not the greatest thread in the world; this is just a tribute.

 

I don't think I can pick a single song.  Too many different types of music, too many reasons for listening.

[celedhring]

Yeah, I'm not sure what to put forward.

I will instead provide my favorite song, "Heroes" by Bowie. It has meant different things in different stages of my life, but it's always been there.

I could also get more hipsterish and go with Waterloo Sunset.

[Syt]

I don't think I could even pick a favorite song, let alone a "greatest" one. There's a lot of songs I think are awesome, and there's others that were seminal in one way or other, that it's really, really difficult to nail it down. Not to mention I hardly know what's been in the charts in the past 20 years.

[Sheilbh]

Similar - I feel like it probably would be a Bowie song but I'm not sure which. So, if not Bowie, I'd probably go for Kate Bush's Running Up That Hill (but basically all of Hounds of Love):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp43OdtAAkM

Just an absolute banger

[Eddie Teach]

Ba-ha Men- Who let the dogs out?

 

But, seriously... Anything off the Phil Collins album, "But, Seriously..."

  x2

Ok, ok. Beethoven's 5th, final answer.

[Barrister]

Moonlight Sonata

[Eddie Teach]

Just because you know how to play it doesn't make it the greatest.

[KRonn]

Bobby Hatfield of the righteous Brothers singing Unchained Melody, first time live in the 1960s. Amazing singer, amazing voice.

[grumbler]

The Boy in the Bubble 

For pop music, anyway.

[FunkMonk]

Yeah, it's tough separating "greatest" from "favorite" so I just left it open to interpretation. I also think it's interesting to see what other people think about songs I myself may not actually like.

And making a Languish playlist of the greatest songs ever is funny to me 

ALL BANGERS, ALL THE TIME

[crazy canuck]

What is the greatest song of all time?

No formal criteria of course. Any genre, any era, any reason. Just tell us your choice for the greatest song of all time and why.

I submit:

https://youtu.be/3JWTaaS7LdU
Whitney Houston - I Will Always Love You

Her absolutely stunning voice, of course, raises this song from merely good to an indisputable classic. The song starts soft and crescendos into brilliant highs, a perfectly crafted piece of pop entertainment that actually manages to tug at the heart with its simple lyrics. Her voice does all the work.

It thoroughly encapsulates late 80s/early 90s-era schmaltz and I love it. And it's always absolute scenes when someone at a party or at karaoke or something try to match Whitney's notes at the end 

Certainly the greatest voice of all time.