It´s the singer not the song

[dimpfelmoser]

Hi there, you’re looking good
When I clicked through the recent thread on coverversions I was a reminded of a not so recent poll by a mainstreamy German music monthly, that asked it’s readers to vote for the best songs of all time and hey, again the outcome was rather boring and predictable. Stairway to Heaven got there on top followed by the usual suspects. Smells like Sympathy for the Hotel California. Give me a break.
It was so obvious, that it wasn´t so much the song they were voting for but the band. I think in order to find the best tune of all time we have to seperate the song from the artist.
Like, are there songs that are truely great no matter who sings it, or songs that are really hard to slaughter? So, yeah, I would like to know what you think is the best tune of all time, and to make sure that you vote for the song and not for the singer you should at least know of 3 versions by different artists that you all like. Or is that too complicated?
Anyway here are my faves
1) has to be "the Girl from Ipanema". Have 32 renditions of said song so far and only two fail to please
2) Moon River; no matter how much kitsch you heap upon it, it remains such a good tune.
3) Bizarre Love Triangle. Never been a big fan of New Order, but they struck gold with this one.
4) Surfin Bird. Can´t slaughter this one either
5) Caravan, apparently, ther is a festival in Germany where you are not allowed to play anything else and quite rightly so.

gruss
d

<FONT>[ October 18, 2001 04:15 AM: 1 dimpfelmoser ]</font>

[rosa]

SOME of the best songs of all time:

Moon River
Peter Gunn
I Put a Spell on You
Cry Me a River
House of the Rising Sun
Love Me
Let My People Go
Nature Boy
Baltimore Oriole
That Old Black Magic

With regard to these best-ever lists, I think people tend to vote for what they THINK they SHOULD vote for, and what they think will stand the test of time. Which is not totally dishonest voting, but can be a little poorly thought-out.

It’s like how Citizen Kane tops the film lists year after year. It’s a sentimental favorite because it was innovative and accomplished, but it was also a kickass movie that people continue to enjoy.

A song isn’t voted "the best" because the band is popular, but rather because people view it as important music. Sometimes it’s important because it’s a great song that sets a standard of artistic innovation; other times, it’s important because it sets a standard of popular success. Does that make sense?

Rosa

[John Dyson]

Can’t take my eyes off of you

[Javro]

My Girl
I can’t get no (satisfaction)
I can’t help (falling in love with you)
I’ll never fall in love again (or indeed anything written by Burt)

[SG]

I`m going to give this some thought,but what dimpf and Rosa mentioned I think are great songs:
Girl From Ipanema-I agree on that
Caravan-brilliant song,Juan Tizol wrote it,trombonist for Duke Ellington`s orchestra in the 30 and 40`s.
Cry Me A River-Julie London`s version is the most famous,I love Dinah Washington`s version too.
Moon River-my Dad had a Mancini record he used to play this from,Peter Gunn was on it too,Mancini wrote some brilliant material.
I like all the other ones dimpf and Rosa mentioned.

In terms of old standards,here`s some of my favs:
Stella By Starlight
All The Things You Are
I`ve Got You Under My Skin
All Or Nothing At All
Just One Of Those Things
What Is This Thing Called Love
I Can`t Get Started

I`ll think up more later.

[malcom]

Girl from Ipanema-Although I do really love the Stan Getz Version

Head On-Not sure how this will survive the test of time, but I’m always trying to decide if I prefer the origional or the Pixies cover.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font>quote

Quote:

I can’t get no (satisfaction)

Javro, does this mean you like Britney? [img]images/smiles/converted/tongue.gif[/img]

[Javro]

so that’s why you are known as "evil Malcolm"…. (notice how I avoid the question politician style)

[everyonelovesjaron]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by dimpfelmoser:
<STRONG>So, yeah, I would like to know what you think is the best tune of all time, and to make sure that you vote for the song and not for the singer you should at least know of 3 versions by different artists that you all like. Or is that too complicated?
</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Complicated, no. Asinine, yes.

You generally make an assumption nothing good has come out in the last 10 years becuase other artists haven’t had sufficient time to record cover versions. The only music written in the last 3 years that has 3 seperate versions is pop… so there you go, we must all vote for pop.

Did you ever stop to consider people might actually like Smells Like Teen Spirit? I mean, I don’t think it’s the best song of the 90’s but prolly top 10. But no, no, no, there aren’t 3 covers of it I know so therefore it can’t possibly be good.

If the increase in popularity of teeny bop, date rap rock, and rock/rap has taught us anything, it’s that [most] people will generally like whatever they’re told to like by the media. That’s why polls come out the way they so often do. Unfortunately, that doesn’t make what’s popular bad.

If you are actually upset Stairway to Heaven, SLTS, and Hotel California were on the list, you probably need some "anti-indie elitest" pills cause most everyone would agree they’re fine songs.

3 covers or not.

[dfkgurl]

"Girl from Impanema" has been my favorite song for a long, long time! I couldn’t believe it when I saw several people here mention it.

I actually looked for years for the version I loved the most, but couldn’t find it because there were so many versions and I didn’t have a clue who sang the version I liked most. A DJ at a local club was playing it one night and I went immediately to find out who the singer was. It was the Astrud Gilberto version. The DJ turned me on to Stan Getz as well.

Two others I absolutely love are "Would You Like to Swing on a Star" and "Never Never Land" (I like the Todd Rundgren version best).

[dimpfelmoser]

Hey Javro.
There are actually more than 3 Coverversions of SLTS available. My favourite is a Lift music rendition from a Finish Easy Listening Combo whose name is really hard to remember. You might think that all those songs that are mentioned in the Best song of all time Poll are quite good (personally I like Smells like Teen Spirit, but could do without Stairway to Heaven and I think Hotel California is one of the worst songs ever). But that wasn´t the point. You know I have quite a lot of favorites, where I think, well as far as composition and lyrics go, this is really exellent, but they never appear in those lists. But it´s not elitist at all cause generally heaps of people have covered said songs. I mean it´s all pop music. Like Moon River is a really good pop song and people still play it. However, the voters concentrated on what I guess we still have to call Rock with a capital R (and the stardom/image that it represents)and I would like it to be more open for all kinds of popular music. I mean it´s all verse chorus, mostly really.
See, I was just trying to suggest a new approach. Frankly, some of my favorite songs don´t even have a tune and are therefore rather hard to cover.
And Dfkgrrrrrl. For years I thought it was actually called the Girl from Impanema. Sounds more natural, doesn´t it.
Only recently I got hold of the version by Julie London, which is my favourite at the moment. Great stuff.
gruss
d

[SG]

To tie the last 2 threads together:
Philistines Jr. recorded a version of Moon River

I agree with dimpf about people here should be more open to music,I think some folks here are,while some need to at least try to be,I can blab about jazz here forever,it does`nt mean people here are going to check it out but I`ll help anyone out if they want to learn,I`m sure others here that listen to a variety of music would do so too.

I was reading Bluenote Records bbs the other day and was glad to see that people there were talking about other music besides jazz,I think the same thing could be done here.

[AGAP]

Hey,

Louie Louie is the 1st song that comes to mind, even has its own website…
http://www.louielouie.net/index_2.html

As to people being more open to music, I agree people here for the most part are very open to suggestions about music. But people make their own choices, some may not listen to the wide range others do but hey I am pretty sure they enjoy what they do choose,
which is cool with me. While I love Motown and old R & B sounds given the choice I will usually put on a wicked guitar driven sound like Mascis, Hellacopters, Sonics, etc etc but like I said don’t see anything wrong with that.

Allison [img]images/smiles/converted/biggrin.gif[/img]

[dimpfelmoser]

So you don´t think there is anything wrong with that?!
Well of course you don’t because you are such a nice person. And believe me in this day and age, where you watch TV and think to yourself, Where is all this hostility coming from? we need more nice people than ever. On the other hand, I tend to find people who are always on the diplomatic side a bit disconcerting, suspecting that they really can´t be that goodhearted and friendly (i.e. better than me). Don´t you feel the urge to be mean from time to time? Don´t get me wrong I don’t take pleasure in hurting someones innermost feelings, but with music I don’t think you have to take everything so seriously.
gruss
d

[AGAP]

Hey D,

Don’t think I take anything to seriously actually, but hey I think thats ok as well [img]images/smiles/converted/eek.gif[/img]

Sure I feel the urge to be mean to people every now and then, jaron will testify to that one [img]images/smiles/converted/wink.gif[/img] Just find being negative a waste of my time [img]images/smiles/converted/tongue.gif[/img]

More cool songs…

Great Big Kiss
Do You Love Me

Allison [img]images/smiles/converted/wink.gif[/img]

[Hansione]

Cool question; "Yesterday"
might be a cliché but it is not!
How about:
Eight miles high ( Husker du vs Byrds)
I’m on fire (Johnny Cash vs Bruce Springsteen)
The air that I breath ( Steve Wynn vs Hollies)
But the song no one can destroy, no not "search and destroy", whatever shape you’re in, I think, is the simple "blue suede shoes". Come on, even you ,having a shower, it still sounds great.

[Author]

Posts