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:
Quotehttps://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 :lol:
This is not the greatest thread in the world; this is just a tribute. :P
FREE BIRD
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.
Quote from: Syt on April 08, 2022, 08:25:57 AMThis is not the greatest thread in the world; this is just a tribute. :P
:lol:
I don't think I can pick a single song. Too many different types of music, too many reasons for listening.
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.
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. :P
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 :wub:
Ba-ha Men- Who let the dogs out?
:P
But, seriously... Anything off the Phil Collins album, "But, Seriously..."
:P x2
Ok, ok. Beethoven's 5th, final answer.
Moonlight Sonata
Just because you know how to play it doesn't make it the greatest.
Bobby Hatfield of the righteous Brothers singing Unchained Melody, first time live in the 1960s. Amazing singer, amazing voice.
The Boy in the Bubble (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hk7MCvCHNQA)
For pop music, anyway.
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 :lol:
ALL BANGERS, ALL THE TIME
Quote from: FunkMonk on April 08, 2022, 08:11:17 AMWhat 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:
Quotehttps://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 :lol:
Certainly the greatest voice of all time.
Quote from: Barrister on April 08, 2022, 09:49:50 AMMoonlight Sonata
Does it qualify as song? Doesn't seem to have any lyrics. :hmm:
Greatest of all time, of any genre?
Hmmm.... if symphonies count I'd say either Beethoven's Ninth or The Planets by Holst.
Quote from: Caliga on April 08, 2022, 11:03:19 AMGreatest of all time, of any genre?
Hmmm.... if symphonies count I'd say either Beethoven's Ninth or The Planets by Holst.
Those are not songs.
I suppose classical music with sung lyrics would qualify? But I guess Monk meant pop stuff.
Greatest Orchestral Piece - Danse Macabre (Saint-Saëns)
Greatest Rock Song - Pibroch/Cap in Hand (Jethro Tull)
Greatest Punk Song - Pay to Cum (Bad Brains)
Greatest Post-Punk Song - Clampdown (The Clash)
Greatest Grunge Song - Mmmama Hey Djichamama Waaa [It says Yellow Ledbetter on the Liner] (Pear Jam)
Ask me again tomorrow, they will all change.
O Fortuna ~ Carmina Burana (Carl Orff)
Actually having thought about it I think my favourite song and favourite vocal performance is probably Heard It On The Grapevine which I love - I think everything about it is really good.
Impossible question.
I have a list of 5-star songs that, in one way or the other, I consider absolute masterpieces, but to choose a single one is impossible.
*Right now* my go-to song is Portishead's Roads, but in a matter of three hours it could become All Along the Watchtower (the Hendrix version), or Viet Cong's Continental Shelf.
Impossible.
L.
Quote from: Syt on April 08, 2022, 10:45:02 AMQuote from: Barrister on April 08, 2022, 09:49:50 AMMoonlight Sonata
Does it qualify as song? Doesn't seem to have any lyrics. :hmm:
I pulled up some dictionary definitions ready to go :contract: but turns out you're right - a "song" is intended to be sung.
:hmm:
I'm just hit by the "of all time" part of the question though. It seems unlikely that the best song of all time was written in the last 50 years in north america / europe.
I dunno...
Greensleeves? You've heard it so many times it's trite, but it's a hell of a song when well done.
Or for much of history songs were deeply connected with church and faith, and some absolute bangers are actually hymns. Amazing Grace is incredibly moving and popular, but I'm always touched by How Great Thou Art.
Yeah screw it. How Great Thou Art is the greatest song of all time. Come fight me.
I'm not saying it's the greatest song of all time, but driving home the other day Smells Like Teen Spirit came on the radio. It's a song I've heard approximately eleventy-billion times. Yet even after arriving home I stayed in the car until the song finished.
I was just transported back to when I first heard the song (multiple times). It was 1991-1992. I had track practice, and then I would get a ride home together with some of the other kids in the back of coach's small honda. Coach would have the local rock station on, and they would play the "top 7 at 7" most requested songs of the day. And of course day after day, week after week, month after month, Smells Like Teen Spirit was in the top 7.
But I couldn't possibly separate out that memory/nostalgia from any objective analysis of how good that song is.
Take It To The Limit by The Eagles.
Magical falsetto, great melody, great lyrics.
You can spend all your time making money
You can spend all your love making time
If it all goes to pieces tomorrow
Would you still be mine?
Obviously an impossible question.
Quote from: celedhring on April 08, 2022, 11:13:18 AMQuote from: Caliga on April 08, 2022, 11:03:19 AMGreatest of all time, of any genre?
Hmmm.... if symphonies count I'd say either Beethoven's Ninth or The Planets by Holst.
Those are not songs.
I suppose classical music with sung lyrics would qualify? But I guess Monk meant pop stuff.
Beethoven's Ninth has lyrics: The Ode to Joy by Friedrich Schiller.
Bohemian Rhapsody.
It has it all.
Except a rap.