Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Eh, that’s media spin. biden’s health is fine and he’s doing a good job.

Bark louder, little dog.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Everybody saw this coming.

John Fetterman: Too Manly for Pennsylvania.  Paid for by the Oz for Senator campaign.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Why did Dr. Oz lose? well, according to the exit polls, it’s because Fetterman won.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

All your base are belong to Tunch.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President.

T R E 4 5 O N

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Steal your heart away

Steal your heart away

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The song I took the title for the last post from — “Poncho and Lefty” — is one of those songs that, when I google it, I find people various people calling it the greatest song ever. This also happens with “Wichita Lineman”, “Aguas de Marco”, and “My Funny Valentine” and “Got To Give It Up”.

How about a thread on songs that are described as the greatest ever? Doesn’t have to be your favorite, though it could be.

The words “stairway” and “heaven” will both trip the spam filter for the rest of the afternoon.

Reader Interactions

255Comments

  2. 2.

    craigie

    Mack the Knife
    God Save the Queen (Sex Pistols edition)
    I could do this all day…

  8. 8.

    BGinCHI

    I agree with Wichita Lineman, for sure.

    Also, in that mode, “Sunday Morning Coming Down.”

  13. 13.

    gbear

    When I hopped in the car to go get a haircut this morning, Street Fighting Man by the Stones was playing on the radio and I’d forgotten just how much really great stuff there is going on in that song – Charlie’s drumming, Brian’s sitar, Nicky Hopkins on piano, Keith’s guitar intro recorded on a cheap cassette deck – just layer upon layer of cool. I’m willing to put this up as my greatest song ever for today. I won’t bother with posting a YouTube video of the song because the sound will probably suck.

    Next greatest song ever: When I Get To The Border by Richard Thompson.

  15. 15.

    Alex S.

    The double A-side Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane
    Good Vibrations
    Bowie’s Heroes
    Pink Floyd’s Echoes

  19. 19.

    Amir Khalid

    @gbear:
    Isn’t Street Fighting Man the one with Charlie playing on a portable practice kit, and no electric guitars at all?

  20. 20.

    Sticker

    Re :Mack the Knife – it’s very strange that the English version is almost campy, but the German original (Mackie Messer) is so much darker. How’d that happen?

  22. 22.

    Oscarbob

    The City of New Orleans. Kris Kirstoferson and John Prine described it as “the best damn train song ever”.

  23. 23.

    billgerat

    Just about anything by Jimi Hendrix. Especially his blues version of Red House.

  25. 25.

    JerryN

    Stagger Lee has to be up there. From the web page:

    There is a song that has been recorded by James Brown, Nick Cave and Neil Diamond. The Clash, Pat Boone, Fats Domino and Bob Dylan. Duke Ellington, The Grateful Dead, Woody Guthrie, The Ventures, Ike & Tina Turner, Ma Rainey and Jerry Lee Lewis. Tom Jones did it. So did Beck, Mississippi John Hurt, the Black Keys and Elvis Presley.

    Over 400 different artists have recorded this song since the first recording in 1923.

    Margaret Walker and James Baldwin wrote poems from the song. It’s been refashioned as a musical, two novels, a short story, an award-winning graphic novel, Ph.D. dissertations, a p*rn*graphic feature film and a hard cider.

    I admit that I was unaware of feature film.

  26. 26.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    Freebird!!111ONE

    More seriously, …

    Jessica – Allman Brothers
    Solsbury Hill – Peter Gabriel
    Love Reign O’er Me – The Who

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  29. 29.

    Amir Khalid

    Do You Hear The People Sing? from Les Misérables
    Into The Fire by Bruce
    After The Gold Rush by Neil Young
    Di Mana Kan Ku Cari Ganti by P. Ramlee — the most powerful evocation of bereavement I have ever heard

  31. 31.

    Tiny Tim

    Can we have a post-2000 (or whenever) version of this. Surely something written since I was 8 years old (1980) might make the list.

  33. 33.

    gbear

    @Amir Khalid: I’m not sure what Charlie is pounding on, but it the biggest, whompingest tom-tom and bass drum sounds ever. The intro sounds like electric guitar, but it may just be a highly processed acoustic. Again, the song is so highly layered that there’s probably a little of everything. I’d have to go listen to it again on my stereo…

  35. 35.

    the Conster

    Wichita Lineman totally yes, and the best karaoke song ever. Poor Glenn Campbell

    America – Simon & Garfunkel. That opening harmonizing hum gets me every.single.time. I want that song played for me at my memorial service.

  36. 36.

    MP

    Ripple
    Bring it on Home to Me (off Live at the Harlem Square Club)
    Tangled up in Blue
    Wish You Were Here
    Willin’

  38. 38.

    Jacel

    Days by Ray Davies. No matter whether the Kinks or anybody else performs it, it sounds a message from the heart. It’s the song that is actually what many people expect Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah to be, until they look closely at Cohen’s lyrics.

  40. 40.

    Tom Levenson

    In this outlaw Country vein…Guy Clarke: Dublin Blues.
    Poncho and Lefty as Townes VZ does it.
    Emmy Lou Harris doing Deeper Well
    Johnny Cash doing Hurt (and so much else)
    John Prine with Hello in There; Paradise, so many more….

    Been on a Mark Knopfler kick for a while, and I’d find it hard to choose between Romeo and Juliet, Sailing to Philadelphia and all…but Brothers in Arms just works every time.

    As above…could do this all day.

    PS, if, as Trollhattan suggests, we’re going to go all Sticky Fingers on y’all, tell me there’s a better song on that album than Wild Horses…(Dead Flowers?)

  41. 41.

    BGinCHI

    @efgoldman: Good Vibrations? Really?

    I admit to being the only person in the world who thinks the Beach Boys are hugely overrated. But you know, taste varies.

    The melancholy in Wichita Lineman is outta sight.

  45. 45.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    Damn near anything off of My Aim Is True or Trust.

    “What’s So Funny About Peace, Love, and Understanding?”

    Much of Leonhard Cohen’s work comes up in these discussions.

  47. 47.

    RobertDSC-Power Mac G5 Dual

    GOAT(s):
    Orion by Metallica.
    Spanish Key by Miles Davis.
    Peace Walker main theme by Akihiro Honda for the game Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.

    My favorite of all time:
    Harvester Of Sorrow by Metallica.

  49. 49.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    @Tom Levenson:

    PS, if, as Trollhattan suggests, we’re going to go all Sticky Fingers on y’all, tell me there’s a better song on that album than Wild Horses…(Dead Flowers?)

    Yes, “Dead Flowers.”

  51. 51.

    DougJ

    That said, various live versions of Dead Flowers are much better than the one on Sticky Fingers.

  52. 52.

    BGinCHI

    @the Conster: Try the WL version by The Scud Mountain Boys.

    I also heard REM do it during sound check many years ago. Holy firjoles.

  54. 54.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    When I was 14 I was driven to my Uncle’s pub every weekend to wait tables. He had an 8 track tape player in the pub and of course the tapes played on a loop. Glen Campbell’s greatest hits was one of the tapes that would be played continuously. It was a great pub in a tiny village called Lindale at the edge of the Lake District. There was a creek that fed down from the snow covered fells that cooled the beer cellar. There was an apartment out back that me and my mum (the cook) used to sleep in with our dog. Danny died up there one weekend and he is buried with my Uncle’s fat beagle Rex.

    Anyway, what I was trying to say is that I can sing every single word of Glen Campbell’s then 8 greatest hits including Witchita Line Man which I still love to this day. My second favorite is “Everyday Housewife” simply because it describes such a simpler time in life, when a wife stayed home, and wore a “house dress”.

  55. 55.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    @SteveM: “Fourth of July” by X.

    ETA: “Conversation on a Barstool” by Marianne Faithfull, which edges out her “Ballad of Lucy Jordan.”

  56. 56.

    the Conster

    @BGinCHI:

    Exactly. So much pining! It’s a perfect song.

    That’s why I love S&Gs America so much too – melancholy.

  57. 57.

    Amir Khalid

    @gbear:
    I just checked the song’s Wikipedia entry:

    Recording on “Street Fighting Man” began at Olympic Sound Studios in March 1968 and continued into May and June later that year. With Jagger on lead vocals and both he and Richards on backing, Brian Jones performs the song’s distinctive sitar and also tamboura. Richards plays the song’s acoustic guitars as well as bass, the latter being the only electric instrument on the track.
    …
    Watts said in 2003, “‘Street Fighting Man’ was recorded on Keith’s cassette with a 1930s toy drum kit called a London Jazz Kit Set, which I bought in an antiques shop, and which I’ve still got at home. It came in a little suitcase, and there were wire brackets you put the drums in; they were like small tambourines with no jangles… “

  58. 58.

    gbear

    @Tom Levenson:

    PS, if, as Trollhattan suggests, we’re going to go all Sticky Fingers on y’all, tell me there’s a better song on that album than Wild Horses…(Dead Flowers?)

    Sister Morphine with Ry Cooder on slide guitar. Killer.

    So many great songs listed here. Even a shoutout for my beloved Kinks.

  61. 61.

    TG Chicago

    I think we need a thread about how the release of Bowe Bergdahl proves how weak Obama is.

    I imagine the wingers will be crowing about how Obama negotiated with terrorists! but anyway it’s good that Bergdahl is headed back to the States.

  65. 65.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    Okay, why is FYWP preventing me from replying to MikeJ?

    @ MikeJ: If we are doing Mercer, doesn’t “One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)” come into play?

  66. 66.

    MikeJ

    @BGinCHI:

    I also heard REM do it during sound check many years ago

    I’ve got it on a bootleg. Look around for REM Covering Them. It’s all covers from soundchecks/encores.

    Another song on that album that hasn’t been mentioned, Roadrunner.

    Since somebody asked for a song since 1980 without actually mentioning any themselves, how about Whisper by Morphine.

  67. 67.

    DougJ

    I should also mention “For the Good Times”, especially the Al Green version.

  68. 68.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    “Many Rivers to Cross.” Just as with Rob Gordon in High Fidelity, that song is to played at my funeral.

  69. 69.

    russell

    if you’re talking townes van zandt my vote is for “tecumseh valley”.
    if you’re talking john prine my vote is for “far from me” or “paradise”, maybe “christmas in prison”.

    and yeah, no electric guitars on street fighting man, my understanding is that it’s acoustic on some kind of crap cassette player, recorded in a hotel room.

    and yeah, wichita lineman is a great, great song. there’s no way it should work – seriously, a song about the existential love-angst of an electric utility lineman? – and it does.

    holy crap there are a lot of good songs. how about:

    zevon “accidentally like a martyr”, or maybe “my shit’s fucked up”
    elvis (not that one, the other one), “alison”
    graham parker “endless night” or “stupefaction”
    patti smith “dancing barefoot”
    p j harvey “victory”

  70. 70.

    JCJ

    Da da da ich lieb dich nicht du liebst mich nicht aha aha aha by Trio

    Engel by Rammstein

    Amerika by Herbert Grönemeyer

    Nie Wieder by Ulla Meinecke

  71. 71.

    ? Martin

    @Anoniminous: Yeah, 2nd place is a long way from that song in my view, probably because in my mind the song represents everything that is wonderful about New York City. It’s one of those songs that sounds like the place where it was born, it’s where I grew up and became exposed to jazz. Its a very grounding piece for me.

  76. 76.

    JerryN

    Wow, so far no Beatles or Motown. I’ll go with “A Day In The Life” and “My Girl”.

  78. 78.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    @russell:

    graham parker “endless night” or “stupefaction”

    The Up Escalator is a great album from start to finish.

  81. 81.

    trollhattan

    Hard to pick just one XTC piece, so I’ll go with Chalk Hills and Children.

  82. 82.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    @DougJ: You are a Clash and EC aficionado and a Nick Hornby fan as well? Get out of my head, man.

  85. 85.

    gbear

    @russell: The TVZ song that always grabs me is ‘Highway Kind’. So many of his songs are haunting (especially given his personal history), but that one always stops me in my tracks.

    Now to change directions completely: I Can See For Miles by The Who.

  87. 87.

    Ronnie Pudding

    Pancho and Lefty really is the greatest song ever. But does anyone really say that about Wichita Lineman?

    EDIT: apparently people do. Anyone remember that episode of News Radio?

  88. 88.

    Lynn Dee

    That’s Pancho and Lefty, not Poncho and Lefty. A poncho is a sleeveless wrap thing.

  89. 89.

    AMinNC

    Jessica – Allman Bos.
    I’ve Been Loving You Too Long – Otis Redding
    Song for My Father – Horace Silver
    Exile on Main St.(pick one) – Stones
    Russian Easter Festival Overture – Rimsky-Korsakov

  92. 92.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    @JerryN: I prefer Stax to Motown.

    Otis with “Try a Little Tenderness” for example.

    ETA: Or Hi Records. Ann Peebles with ” I Can’t Stand the Rain.”

  96. 96.

    BGinCHI

    I wish I still had all my records/cds from the 80s Flying Nun label out of NZ.

    Damn.

  97. 97.

    gbear

    @BGinCHI: My fave on that album is Big Sky (by a mile). Someone posted Some Mother’s Son from the Arthur album last weekend as the best Memorial Day song. Was that you?

  101. 101.

    janeform

    I’m “undefined” above

    Was ETAing some more of my favorites:

    Ombra Mai Fu (Lorraine Hunt Lieberson version)
    Say a Little Prayer (Aretha version)
    Thunder Road
    Codex (Radiohead)
    Separator (Radiohead)

    There are so many more.

  103. 103.

    Anoniminous

    @? Martin:

    If you like Gershwin you should take a listen to Kurt Weil and Hanns Eisler (his non-political stuff.) Neither, IMO, is quite as good as Gershwin but they get there.

    We can thank Ross Gorman for the opening clarinet glissando in Rhapsody. He was goofing around during rehearsals and Gershwin heard it, fell in love with it, and told him to play it that way at the concert.

  105. 105.

    SatanicPanic

    @BGinCHI: Good Vibrations is a good song but then production sucks- too obviously spliced together. Sloop John B or Wouldn’t It Be Nice or even I Get Around are better.

    Edit- or Don’t Worry Baby

  106. 106.

    recurvata

    This is an impossible and endless thread. Nevertheless, a few entries, by no means inclusive…or is that exclusive?
    Getting Mighty Crowded, Elvis Costello
    Rock Lobster, B-52s
    Pictures and Paintings, Charlie Rich
    Lie to Me, Dirty Looks
    Everchanging Moods, Style Council
    Blitzkrieg Bop, Ramones

    Could go on for a while

  108. 108.

    Honus

    Elvis Presley’s Hound Dog. Every second of that record is perfect. If you would hear it today for the first time your reaction would be “what the fuck was that”

  109. 109.

    JerryN

    @trollhattan: Yeah, it was hard to pick just one. We’re also missing anything from Stax. “Dock of the Bay” in particular. There have been so many mediocre covers that it’s easy to forget how good the original is. (and I see that I was beaten to the punch)

  112. 112.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    “Mary hatte ein kleines Lamm”, as performed by the Vienna Philharmonic, Simon Rattle conducting.

  113. 113.

    scav

    @MikeJ: Oooh, I admit a Simon & Garf from that period would rank extremely high on my list, but which exact one? ow.

  119. 119.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    “Thirteen” by Big Star (it barely edges out “September Gurls” in my mind).

  123. 123.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    “Libertango” by Grace Jones – with Sly and Robbie as the rhythm section.

  124. 124.

    Wag

    Since 1980

    U2. One or anything from Under a Blood Red Sky

    REM. driver 8

    Heads. The Lady Don’t Mind or RiL

    New Order. True Faith

  127. 127.

    charles pierce

    1) Over The Rainbow
    2) Blind Willie McTell — Bob.
    3) Desperadoes Waiting For A Train — Guy Clark (Hi, Tom!)
    4) I Can See For Miles — The Who
    5) Kyrie — From the Missa Solemnis

  128. 128.

    annagranfors

    At the moment, though I’d argue bitterly with myself a few minutes from now:

    40s–I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry–Hank Williams
    50s–The Girl Can’t Help It–Little Richard
    60s–Waterloo Sunset–The Kinks (or Out In The Street–The Shangri-Las)
    70s–Teenage Kicks–The Undertones
    80’s–Gigantic–Pixies (and eff you, Frank, for selling it to AT&T) (or…and probably moreso…I Will Dare–The Replacements)
    90’s–Nothing Sacred–Jonatha Brooke
    00’s–Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)–Arcade Fire
    10’s–Piracy Funds Terrorism, Vol. 1–M.I.A. (yeah, it’s a mixtape. Whatevs.)

    Lots of great picks above, though…do this again next week and I’ll have a different song for every decade.

  129. 129.

    gogol's wife

    testing — I’m not able to comment

    It won’t let me respond to MikeJ who read my mind about a great clip of Johnny Mercer and Evelyn Poe in Old Man Rhythm. I love you, Mike J!

  130. 130.

    trollhattan

    Wracking my brain for the best John Hyatt song, but can’t settle on one.
    Slow Turning will do.

  136. 136.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    @David Koch: “Push It” is a candidate. I would call Run-DMC’s “Walk This Way” a cover. The other two? No. But “Straight out of Compton” and “Fight The Power” belong in the mix. As does “The Seed (2.0).”

    @gogol’s wife: The disappearing reply thing happened to me the other day. Adding my parenthetical seems to have cured it.

  137. 137.

    Emma

    Laura (with or without lyrics) from the movie of the same name
    Speak Low from A Touch of Venus
    Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen
    Dancing in the Streets
    Honestly Now by Harry Connick Jr.
    Any part at all of Bethoven’s Missa Solemnis

  138. 138.

    Tommy

    @jame: Not saying the best song, but Tangled Up in Blues, well one I could listen to on a loop for days if not weeks.

  139. 139.

    MattF

    @gogol’s wife: Y’know, that happened to me a few days ago. I thought it was my DSL modem going haywire, but come to think of it, I was trying to reply to MikeJ.

  141. 141.

    NobodySpecial

    Gods, where would I start?

    “An American Tune” – Paul Simon.
    “One In Six” – Maggie’s Dream.
    “I’ll Be There” – Jackson 5.
    “Hong Kong” – Gorillaz.
    “Something About You” – Level 42.
    Seconded is “Every Little Thing She Does” by the Police.
    Sixth or seventhed is “Wichita Lineman”.
    “Poor Side Of Town” – Johnny Rivers.
    Tons more, if I was to ruminate on it.

  142. 142.

    ? Martin

    @annagranfors:

    80′s–Gigantic–Pixies (and eff you, Frank, for selling it to AT&T)

    Actually, it was sold to Apple, who was cobranding with a number of the carriers. You know, Apple, the largest music retailer on earth and who now has two of the biggest music producers as executives. iTunes has about half the annual revenues of Google.

    If you’re going to sell out, at least sell out to the folks that move most of your music.

  144. 144.

    JerryN

    Tom Waits’ “San Diego Serenade”. Springsteen’s “Sandy”. For something current, Jason Isbell’s “Elephant” may be the saddest song I’ve heard lately.

    And how can we forget the John Prine / Steve Goodman collaboration on the “perfect country and western song”, “You Never Even Called Me by My Name”. :-)

  147. 147.

    vtr

    The best version of “Poncho and Lefty” is Townes’ and it’s not even the best song he ever wrote.

    September – Shins
    Cinnamon Girl – Young with Crazy Horse
    I Want To Be Happy – Lester Young with the Nat Cole Trio.

  148. 148.

    gbear

    @angelfoot: My younger (54yo) sister recently died of what I can best describe as ‘death by lifestyle’. That song was the only song I could listen to that put her death into perspective, but I didn’t dare play it for my other sisters or her family. They would have been pissed.

  152. 152.

    Gin & Tonic

    @efgoldman: There’s a version that’s done by an women’s a cappella (“barbershop”) group called Ambiance that is absolutely spectacular. First heard it on Ron della Chiesa’s defunst afternoon show called “Music America.” I will never forgive WGBH for pulling that program off the air.

  159. 159.

    Ripley

    The Books. ‘The Lemon of Pink’

    Post-1980 stuff, so turn down the volume on your hearing aids.

  160. 160.

    bg

    @BGinCHI:

    I agree w/ BGin CHI – Sunday Morning Coming Down

    Crazy – Patsy Cline or Willie Nelson version
    You Were Always on my Mind – Willie Nelson
    Walk the Line – Johnny Cash

  167. 167.

    Tommy

    I recall being a kid. Early 70s. I used to steal away into my father’s study to listen to his 3-4 eights tracks on his headphones. I know to this day the three were Johnny Cash, Jim Croce, and John Denver. I’ve also thought many years as a youth, heck an adult, not a bad group of three to listen to as a kid. Heck my father and I have not a lot in common, but the “Man in Black” we exchange his music as often as we exchange anything. I mean Johnny “Fucking” Cash.

    Now off to listen to a little John Denver.

  168. 168.

    Nunca El Jefe

    Well, I am very out of touch with the general sensibilities on this music thread, but will still push my picks:

    Hurt – by either NIN or Cash
    Rusty cage – Soundgarden

    And my all time fave for ever and ever and ever and ever:

    Pushit – Tool

    No links, sorry, this is from my phone. As for nothing good since the 80’s: suck it hater. Metallica’s covers of Tuesday’s Gone and Astronomy are unbelievable.

  173. 173.

    gogol's wife

    @MikeJ: Yes, that was the subject of my five impassioned messages to you that didn’t work because I can’t reply to you. It was fabulous! Johnny Mercer is a god.

    The film in general was fabulous — I love the art deco dorm rooms with balconies.

  177. 177.

    Jay C

    Good news and bad news today: the good part:

    SGT Bowe Bergdahl, the last (only) US military POW held in Afghanistan was freed today .
    Bergdahl, of Hailey, ID had been held prisoner since June, 2009/ He was exchanged for five Taliban high-rankers who had been held at Guantanamo Bay: they were turned over to officials in Qatar (who had helped broker the deal).

    The bad news? In among all the outpouring of support and gratitude for Sgt Bergdahl’s release: who, do you think, has decided to piss on the parade by griping about the President’s negotiations? Well, if you guessed “Republican lawmakers”, you’d be correct! Oh, and the alternative answer of “John McCain” would also be right.

    ETA: Ooops, wrong thread, sorry.

  179. 179.

    barbequebob

    @DougJ:
    agree, they are not in same class as rest of that album.
    But, look at Exile, except for “Happy” rest of side 3 (original vinyl double LP), is equally weak (Just wanna see his face, let it loose, )

    I’d say all four of those Stones Golden era albums belong in same category.

  181. 181.

    Gin & Tonic

    @efgoldman: Yeah, but they pulled that program when he was barely into his 50’s. You could just hear his love for that genre of music in his announcing/narration, in a way that didn’t come through (at least to me) when he was doing Tanglewood or opera. I bought lots of CD’s because of that show.

  182. 182.

    A Ghost To Most

    Dixie Chicken (live) – Little Feat
    Into the Mystic – Van Morrison
    Won’t Get Fooled Again – The Who

  183. 183.

    Steeplejack

    @WaterGrrrl!:

    A (hopefully temporary) fix is to change their name slightly in the “reply” link in your message (as I’ve done here with your name to illustrate).

  184. 184.

    annagranfors

    @Martin:

    Thanks for the correction, Martin. I don’t watch US television so much, so my personal most-hated corporation erroneously sprang to mind.

    But I’m *done* with the Pixies anyway. Their seemingly eternal “reunion tour” was awful when I caught it at the Greek Theatre in LA a few years back–the band were playing the hits half-heartedly, and seemingly every audience member was drowning out the vocals by singing themselves (~75% out of tune). I can’t blame…in fact applaud…Kim Deal’s defenestration from the band.

    But once upon a time, I saw ’em playing the Roxy in ’88 (?), and they were godlike. Gods all die, though.

  185. 185.

    debbie

    Wow, 187 posts and not a single Muddy Waters song. As much as I like lots that’s been mentioned here, no one’s come close to feeling the music as Muddy did.

  187. 187.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    @annagranfors: I was nervous about seeing Strummer with the Mescaleros in the late 90s for fear of being disappointed. Joe, however, did not disappoint. I am iffy about seeing the Replacements this fall for the same reason.

  188. 188.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    @debbie: How much of it was the song and how much was Muddy? The thread is about the songs themselves. Not that Willie Dixon didn’t write some good ones.

  189. 189.

    Thoughtful David

    As a big fan of someone as obscure as Townes Van Zandt, I’m sometimes surprised to see that there actually are others of us out there. Glad to see ya!

    So, my vote for top No. 1 has to be Pancho and Lefty, the TVZ version. The Emmylou Harris is ok, but the Willie Nelson is an atrocity.

    For No.2 I’ve got a shout-out for another one already mentioned (non-TVZ): City of New Orleans. Incredibly evocative song.

    Some others, including some oddballs:
    Just My Imagination (Cranberries)
    Just What I Needed (Cars)
    Someday Soon (Judy Collins)
    Resurrection Fern (Iron and Wine)
    Sugarcane (Missy Higgins)

  191. 191.

    Kris Collins

    For jazz tunes, I think the consessus would be “Lush Life” by Billy Strayhorn (not Duke Ellington, as many people believe.) My choice for best version is without question Johnny Hartman singing the tune accompanied byJohn Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, and Elvin Jones. It is sublime! A close second, in my opinion, but not mentioned as often as “a greatest ever” is “Angel Eyes,” especially the 1958 Sinatra version, also sublime.

  197. 197.

    Jeffro

    Banged and Blown Through – Saul Williams
    Ordinary – The Alternate Routes
    Spring and By Summer Fall – Blonde Redhead
    More Than This – Roxy Music
    Low Lying Dreams – Deathfix

  198. 198.

    AkaDad

    The first thought that popped into my head was, “Nobody thinks Wichita Lineman is the greatest song ever.” Apparently I was wrong.

    I’m surprised that nobody mentioned “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen. Most everyone knows it and likes it, and I’m also surprised how many people chose “Tangled Up In Blue.”

    The comments seem to be more of a my favorite song(s) than a greatest song(s) list.

    I think it would interesting to see a list of people’s perfect albums, where they believe every song on it is good.

    There’s a reason why the 4th song on Led Zeppelin’s 4th album is considered one of the greatest songs ever. It’s a great song. Fact.

  200. 200.

    PopeRatzy

    Boom Boom – John Lee Hooker
    Juke – Little Walter
    Dust My Broom – Elmore James
    St. James Infirmary – Just about anyone
    Born Under A Bad Sign – Albert King
    Call It Stormy Monday – T-Bone Walker
    How Blue Can You Get – B.B. King (Live At Cook County Jail)

    There is NO greatest song. Just awesome sauce poured over the the sonic joy of music you like.

    Although the Mark Knopfler solo in Sultans of Swing on Live Alchemy may be the closest to perfection there has ever been.

  201. 201.

    Just One More Canuck

    @MP: @Oscarbob: For me it’s between Ripple and City of New Orleans

    A couple of years ago my daughter (then 7 was in the car with me late one beautiful fall afternoon, and Ripple came on the radio. After the song was over, she said “I like that song – it sounds like they were singing about today”

  206. 206.

    debbie

    @PopeRatzy:

    The very song I was thinking of. As an underager in 1971 (maybe 1972), I sat at a front row table at Paul’s Mall in Boston and heard this and many other songs. But Mannish Boy is the only one I still remember.

  207. 207.

    PopeRatzy

    @JerryN: Amongst all those versions of Stagger Lee the one that always stood out for me was New Orlean’s Cousin Joe. He rather embellishes the story even further and makes it his own. (Playing Now)

  208. 208.

    debbie

    @Steeplejack:

    Neil Young’s Heart of Gold is one, Beastie Boys’s Fight for Your Right is another. So is Lou Reed’s live version of Sweet Jane with the Intro. If they come on the radio, I stop working and grab the headphones. If I’m driving, I roll up the windows and bellow along. I should probably pull over.

    Then life returns.

  210. 210.

    Rex Everything

    Greatest song ever? That’s EASY: “Sugar Babe” by the Youngbloods.

  212. 212.

    PopeRatzy

    @debbie: I cannot think of any riff that more defines a musical genre than the simple line of Mannish Boy.

  213. 213.

    Shane in Utah

    “Cee Cee Rider Blues” (aka CC Rider, See See Rider, Easy Rider)
    “Devil Got My Woman”
    “Strange Fruit”
    “Long Black Veil”
    “Folsom Prison Blues”
    “Rock and Roll” (Velvet Underground)
    “Rebel Rebel”
    “Sympathy for the Devil”
    The entirety of Shoot Out the Lights and Fox Confessor Brings the Flood

  215. 215.

    Rex Everything

    @Kris Collins: HELL YES to that recording of Lush Life. How about Joe Williams’ recording of Come Rain or Come Shine with Count Basie WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  216. 216.

    shelley

    I’ll Be Seeing You.

    “Cathedral bells were tolling, and our hearts sang on…
    Was it the spell of Paris, or the April dawn?”

  217. 217.

    Bob In Portland

    There is no greatest song ever. That being said, “Motel Matches”, or Lee Fields’ “I’ll Go To Jail”. Or “Hold On Tight” by T-Bone Burnett.

  218. 218.

    Thoughtful David

    I think a great song has to be evocative, like good poetry. It has to make you *feel* that you’re there, and it has to say something about the human condition. That’s only one part: the performance has to be great too.
    That’s why one of my nominations is “Someday Soon.” I grew up in West Texas, and if you’re not aware of it (;-), rodeo is a Thing out there. The song evokes that very well–the people, the young man just out of the service, looking for his fun, the young woman’s conflicted feelings, her pa’s reaction. I know those people, they were all around me growing up.
    Then there’s the performance. Collins’ voice is so clean. The key shifts are amazing, into minor key and back. And then when she skips up a register at the end…amazing.
    And that song isn’t even be my top pick.

  219. 219.

    Lymie

    Joan armatrading Love and Affection
    Linda ronstadt Different Drum
    Doors Light My Fire

  220. 220.

    MikeJ

    @Lymie:

    Linda ronstadt Different Drum

    That’s a great cover. I’m a big fan of Nesmith’s solo stuff.

  222. 222.

    mainmata

    “A Day in the Life” by the Beatles. Many other songs also qualify but as a particular young’un it had a profound impact on my sensibility.

  225. 225.

    Lymie

    Our hospital just started a fund raising campaign called IMAGINE and every time they discuss it I am stuck with the John Lennon ear worm. Gah

  227. 227.

    Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)

    No one song for me, and many I like have been mentioned, so I’ll just throw these out there:

    Rally Round – Steel Pulse
    Mister Magic – Grover Washington Jr.
    Headin’ Home – Joshua Redman Quartet
    Boomerang – Marcus Miller

  228. 228.

    Anoniminous

    @gogol’s wife:

    Rhapsody, “a free instrumental composition in one extended movement, typically one that is emotional or exuberant in character.”

    Song, “a musical composition suggestive of music meant to be sung.”

    So … why not? Granted it is a long song at 15 -17 minutes; Iron Butterfly’s “Ina goda davida” is considered a song and it’s 17 minutes plus.

  229. 229.

    Digital Amish

    Well this thread was pretty much done with ‘Mack the Knife’ on comment #2.

    ‘Stand By Me’ Ben E. King

    It’s all about context. Today was warm and sultry. Late in the afternoon I was sitting on the porch drinking a beer. The neighborhood kids dinking around out on the road. The iPod spits out Springsteen’s ‘Girls in Their Summer Clothes’. Best song ever at that moment.

  231. 231.

    stinger

    Songs that get me choked up, no matter how many times I hear them — I call that great:

    Abraham, Martin, and John – Dion
    A Change Is Gonna Come – Sam Cooke
    Danny Boy — pretty much anyone

  232. 232.

    Mack

    “Tattooed Love Boys” Of course, I’m a HUGE Pretenders fan.

    Also, too, anything by DaDa. Seen them live twice, I’d pay big bucks to see them again.

  234. 234.

    StringOnAStick

    Hmm, I sing and play for giggles, and Pancho and Lefty is one I’ve been tempted to work up but wondered if only I loved it; guess not. I do a version of Blame it on Cain that always gets applause – love Elvis C.

    Votes from me for:
    Romeo and Juliette – Dire Straits

  235. 235.

    Sandia Blanca

    “I scare myself” by Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks.

    “Moondance” by Van Morrison.

    Any song by Gordon Lightfoot.

  240. 240.

    sxjames

    Well, if we are talking American songbook classic pre R’nR…

    Somewhere Over the Rainbow (Listen to Eva Casidy’s version, and be sure to have a hanky handy).
    Summertime from Porgy & Bess

    Post 1955….

    A Day in the Life
    Bridge Over Troubled Waters (the last of the ‘spoon-moon-june’ tin pan alley songs)
    Desperado – Eagles

  243. 243.

    PhilbertDesanex

    Yea, favorite songs
    Joan Armatrading ‘Barefoot and Pregnant’
    John Phillip, Me And My Uncle (kills his uncle for the gold – how American)
    Best Title: ‘Hold On I’m Coming” – Sam n Dave

    Final: Over the Rainbow – Israel Kamakawiwo’ole

  244. 244.

    Tehanu

    “Georgia on my MInd” Ray Charles. Nothing else comes close, but …

    “Your Mother Should Know”
    “Blackbird”
    “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking”
    “Delirio” by Cesar Portillo de la Luz
    “Meeting Across the River”
    “Begin the Beguine”

  245. 245.

    Annamal

    Perfect day to chase tornadoes-Jim White (or Corvette, or Handcuffed to a Fence in Missisippi or Bluebird)
    Singapore-Tom Waits
    This year- The Mountain Goats
    In Liverpool-Suzanne Vega

  246. 246.

    J R in WV

    Ring of Fire – Johnny Cash
    anything by Duke Ellington
    just too many good ones…

  248. 248.

    Cephalus Max

    @DougJ: Ditto here. Sticky Fingers overall is not in the league of Let it Bleed/Exile, but Dead Flowers and Wild Horses still knock me on my ass with every listening, and I’d probably pick Dead Flowers as my all time fav song too. Not sure I’d call it the ‘greatest song’ though–just my personal favorite.

    I’m surprised to see no Band love here… The Weight? Dixie? Stage Fright?

    I can think of a few from London Calling that ought to be in the running too.

  249. 249.

    Ken T

    To me, “Greatest Song” has to refer to something that can be and has been covered by a lot of different artists, not just a single version. So my list would include:

    “Feels Like Rain” by John Hiatt
    “When I Go” by Dave Carter
    as well as seconds to “1952 Vincent Black Lightning”, “Rhapsody In Blue” and “The Weight”.

  250. 250.

    Digital Amish

    Well waddayaknow. Woke up this morning and hit ‘Play’ on the ipod and came to the realization that “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” by the Platters was the best song ever.

  252. 252.

    Peter VE

    @Jim: 52 Vincent Black Lightning: red hair and black leather…. After the first song at an RT solo show, the person behind asks her companion: “Where’s the other guitarist?”.

  253. 253.

    LittlePig

    Funny. “Wichita Lineman” led me right to “Gentle On My Mind”, for which I could make an argument.

  254. 254.

    Rufus T Firefly

    Pancho and Lefty, Angel From Montgomery, Desperadoes Waiting for a Train and Ripple are all worthy contenders. There are lots of great records, but those are great songs.

  255. 255.

    beejeez

    Whoa, whoa, whoa. We got this far without “Tangled Up in Blue” coming up?

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