Your Top 10 Songs of Value

[LuckyNumber7]

I was thinking it'd be fun to see what everyone would throw out there. Try and draw up a list of 10 songs (order it if you think you can) of songs that are important to you, mean a lot to you, powerful lyrics, anything like that. If you want, go ahead and say why. Or, just leave it to the imagination.

Fire away.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

And here's my list:

1. U2 - Bad
2. LCD Soundsytem - All My Friends

3. U2 - Beautiful Day
4. The Verve - Bitter Sweet Symphony

5. The Airborne Toxic Event - Numb
6. Twenty One Pilots - Holding On To You

7. U2 - Elvis Presley and America
8. New Order - Your Silent Face

9. The Airborne Toxic Event - A Letter to Georgia
10. The Killers - Losing Touch

 

[Zoomerang96]

This sort of thing changes all the time as you get older and things change... trying to be as objective as possible:

My Bloody Valentine - Soon

Ride - Vapour Trail

Radiohead - Airbag

U2 - All I Want Is You

Massive Attack - Paradise Circus

Blur - To The End

Broken Social Scene - Stars and Sons

Gorillaz - Don't Get Lost in Heaven into Demon Days (that's one song as far as I'm concerned)

Yeah Yeah Yeah's - Hysteric

Modeselektor - This

 

[the tourist]

In no particular order, it's probably something like:

The Beach Boys: God Only Knows
Fleet Foxes: Blue Ridge Mountains
Simon and Garfunkel: The Sound of Silence
U2: With Or Without You
Led Zeppelin: The Rain Song
The Beatles: She's Leaving Home
Starflyer 59: I Like Your Photographs
Tame Impala: Mind Mischief
Weezer: Only In Dreams
The Supremes: You Can't Hurry Love

 

[No spoken words]

Agreed that the list is a fluid thing and that time/life events can have a major impact. But I'll give it a go, and will restrict it to one song per band. For me, this list will be about the word value as the thread title suggests....or meaning.....not my favorite songs, or even my favorite songs by the artists listed below, if the distinction matters. They're just songs that impacted me at certain points in life..Anyway:

U2 - A Sort of Homecoming (How a song that's almost 30 years old, one that I've listened to probably thousands of times can still give me the chills/goosebumps is beyond me.)

R.E.M. - Find the River

Catherine Wheel - Black Metallic

Elton John - Someone Saved My Life Tonight

Rush - Witch Hunt

Stevie Wonder - I Was Made to Love Her

Led Zeppelin - Kashmir

The Beatles - Something

The Left Banke - Just Walk Away Renee

Pearl Jam - Dissident

Doves - Catch the Sun

 

[No spoken words]

In no particular order, it's probably something like:

The Beach Boys: God Only Knows
Fleet Foxes: Blue Ridge Mountains
Simon and Garfunkel: The Sound of Silence
U2: With Or Without You
Led Zeppelin: The Rain Song
The Beatles: She's Leaving Home
Starflyer 59: I Like Your Photographs
Tame Impala: Mind Mischief
Weezer: Only In Dreams
The Supremes: You Can't Hurry Love

I like this list. The Supremes.

 

[the tourist]

(How a song that's ... old, one that I've listened to [many] times can still give me the chills/goosebumps is beyond me.)

There is a song that is like this that I didn't include in my list because I rarely go out of my way to play it, but all the same, every time I do it has that effect. Good Night by The Beatles. Not a "great song" by any stretch of Lemon Melon's imagination [], but gets me every time.

 

[LemonMirrorSky]

U2 - One

R.E.M. - The Great Beyond

Pearl Jam - Amongst The Waves

Pink Floyd - High Hopes

Radiohead - (Nice Dream)

Oasis - Some Might Say

Led Zeppelin - In My Time Of Dying

Soundgarden - Slaves And Bulldozers

Alice In Chains - Nutshell

Tori Amos - Cornflake Girl

 

[Danny Boy]

My list makes me feel old, but I see I'm in good company for the most part...

U2 - MLK
The Cure - From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea
The Velvet Underground - Sweet Nuthin'
R.E.M. - The One I Love
World Party - Is It Like Today
Jane's Addiction - The Ocean
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under The Bridge
Pearl Jam - Daughter
Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart Again
Bauhaus - Bela Lugosi's Dead

 

[LuckyNumber7]

For me, this list will be about the word value as the thread title suggests....or meaning.....not my favorite songs, or even my favorite songs by the artists listed below, if the distinction matters. They're just songs that impacted me at certain points in life..Anyway:

Absolutely what I'm shooting for.

I'm pretty young on my music, if you will. I never started intently listening until I was about 18 (I'm 21 now). But if there's a song that has continuously never left me, it's been Beautiful Day. Perhaps since I was 10 or so. And it continued to find new meaning for me.

Another one I listed, very new stuff, was Twenty One Pilots. Very few times has a song ever put me in some hypnotic trance before, but it's just one of those cases where when that song came out it related so strongly to me that I didn't even have to find meaning, almost as though I felt it was my story. Every time I hear it now its like it takes my head into a different world. I think it's crazy how music can do that, and that's why I particularly wanted to see what input others have for a topic like this.

 

[LemonMirrorSky]

World Party - Is It Like Today

Wow I never imagined that anybody would ever remember or mention this obscure little ditty from 1993 again. Absolutely love this song!

 

[u2popmofo]

Crazy Town - Butterfly

Gloria Estefan - Conga

Lifehouse - Hanging By A Moment

Color Me Badd - I Adore Mi Amore

Cher - Believe

John Mayer - Waiting on the World to Change

Santana & Rob Thomas - Smooth

Jennifer Lopez - Jenny From the Block

Shania Twain & Mark McGrath - Party For Two

The Used - The Taste of Ink

 

[LemonMirrorSky]

I see that you believe in life after love, u2popmofo.

 

[iron yuppie]

Santana & Rob Thomas - Smooth

Santana And Rob Thomas' 'Smooth' Sweeps Grammy Awards For 13th Year In A Row | Video | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

 

[Popmartijn]

Another one I listed, very new stuff, was Twenty One Pilots. Very few times has a song ever put me in some hypnotic trance before, but it's just one of those cases where when that song came out it related so strongly to me that I didn't even have to find meaning, almost as though I felt it was my story. Every time I hear it now its like it takes my head into a different world. I think it's crazy how music can do that, and that's why I particularly wanted to see what input others have for a topic like this.

Interesting choice. I saw them live about 2 weeks ago. Great concert. They have a very good vibe.

Wow I never imagined that anybody would ever remember or mention this obscure little ditty from 1993 again. Absolutely love this song!

Yes, that's a great song! I bought it on (CD) single back in the day. It has some killer B-sides too.

As for my list, after listening to and finding meaning in music for so many years it's really difficult to limit it to 10 songs. These are my choices for this very moment, omitting some songs already mentioned before (like U2's ASOH, The Beach Boys' God Only Knows).

Lou Reed - Magic And Loss (the final lines still get to me every time)
Spearhead - People In Tha Middle (when I still had a signature on this forum it was a quote from this song)
Pearl Jam - Alive
Urban Dance Squad - Routine
Arrested Development - Natural
The Miracles - The Tracks Of My Tears (I can post a list of 10 Motown songs alone, but limited it to one)
Bettie Serveert - Palomine
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Into My Arms
John Hiatt - Have A Little Faith In Me (forget all those sappy love songs, this one's about true love)
Kris Kristofferson - Here Comes That Rainbow Again (whenever I'm about to lose faith in humanity I just have to listen to this song and all's well again)

 

[gump]

I guess my top 10 would be something like this:

U2 – Discotheque
Wilco – Jesus, Etc
Beatles – Strawberry Fields Forever
Radiohead – Fake Plastic Trees
Miles Davis – So What
Nirvana – Come As You Are
Coldplay – The Scientist
The Shins – New Slang
Strokes – Last Night
The National – Slow Show

But there are bunch of other songs that could make the list any day.

Spoiler

Bob Dylan – Most of the Time
Flaming Lips – Do You Realize?
Sigur Rós – Starálfur
Jay-Z – Empire State of Mind
Otis Redding – Wonderful World
Damien Rice – 9 Crimes
Andrew Bird – Plasticities
Arcade Fire – Wake Up
Interpol – NYC
Belle and Sebastian – The Boy with the Arab Strap
Louise Attaque – Léa

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

Thunder Road is at the top of my list. That's about the only certainty.

Also, probably Strawberry Fields Forever.

 

[the tourist]

But there are bunch of other songs that could make it in the list any day.

Me too!

Spoiler

Diana Ross: Ain't No Mountain High Enough
Creedence Clearwater Revival: Run Through The Jungle
The Flaming Lips: Do You Realize??
The Beatles: Penny Lane, Something, She Said She Said
Kanye West: Diamonds Of Sierra Leone
The Mamas & The Papas: Monday Monday
The Association: Windy
George Harrison: Awaiting On You All
The Beach Boys: Caroline, No
Marvin Gaye: Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)

And many, many others.

 

[LMP]

"All I Want Is You," U2
"Pyramid Song," Radiohead
"Rebellion (Lies)," Arcade Fire
"On Sight," Kanye West
"All My Friends," LCD Soundsystem
"Jungleland," Bruce Springsteen
"Modern Love," David Bowie
"The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," The Band
"Windmills of Your Mind," Dusty Springfield
"This Must Be the Place (Naïve Melody)," Talking Heads

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

Crazy Town - Butterfly

Gloria Estefan - Conga

Lifehouse - Hanging By A Moment

Color Me Badd - I Adore Mi Amore

Cher - Believe

John Mayer - Waiting on the World to Change

Santana & Rob Thomas - Smooth

Jennifer Lopez - Jenny From the Block

Shania Twain & Mark McGrath - Party For Two

The Used - The Taste of Ink

Powerful stuff

 

[LMP]

Crazy Town - Butterfly

Gloria Estefan - Conga

Lifehouse - Hanging By A Moment

Color Me Badd - I Adore Mi Amore

Cher - Believe

John Mayer - Waiting on the World to Change

Santana & Rob Thomas - Smooth

Jennifer Lopez - Jenny From the Block

Shania Twain & Mark McGrath - Party For Two

The Used - The Taste of Ink

Really bummed that Bodean's "Closer to Free" didn't make the cut.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

Interesting choice. I saw them live about 2 weeks ago. Great concert. They have a very good vibe.

Music has profound effects on a mind in need. I guess.

I saw them at Lolla and didn't feel like I got enough (I was far and couldn't physically see them). Just bought my ticket to see them here in Orlando. I imagine it to be far more intimate. I'm excited.

 

[iron yuppie]

The National – Slow Show

This one really gets to me as well. I had to restrain myself from totally losing it when I heard it live.

Two other ones like that are There Is a Light That Never Goes Out and We Used to Wait from Arcade Fire. The stripped version of Across the Universe from Let It Be Naked is up there as well.

Edit: And Beach House's Ten-Mile Stereo.

 

[No spoken words]

"Modern Love," David Bowie

There tons of Bowie songs I'm likely supposed to like more than this one, but I am a sucker for this tune and most of Let's Dance, frankly. I love Tony Thompson's drumming to death on this song....plus Stevie Ray Vaughn plays on it, somehow.

 

[LMP]

That opening guitar lick is life-affirming and overbearingly joyful. Unabashedly Bowie at his most pop-heavy, though maybe "Young Americans" comes close (another one of my favorites of his), it's just a solid jam through and through. I can't count how many times I've sang this awfully in my car.

 

[bono_212]

So...I think I'll go ahead and make a list that's sorta the "soundtrack to my life" rather than a list of my favorite songs (since that list hasn't really changed much):

1) Mo' Money Mo' Problems - This was one of the first songs I have clear memories attached to. My two best friends and I, playing 3 Ninjas in their grandma's backyard while this was playing out of the garage on a suburban summer afternoon.

2) Gimme Shelter - My first favorite song (that I remember anyways, apparently I was a big fan of I Wanna Be Rich), heard it in the movie The War and it was almost the starting point for my life in music, a world apart from my sister and friends.

3) Ultraviolet (Light My Way) - When I was in junior high school, I had such a crush on this one guy. It lasted into freshman year of high school and it ended with me getting hurt, but I remember when we were both working on this play together and I was sitting backstage, listening to Achtung Baby for the 5th time that day. He came back there and chatted with me about U2. One of the only other people I've met in my day-to-day life that I could actually have a conversation with about the band. This song still reminds me of that day each time I hear it. One of those special adolescent moments.

4) Mr. Brightside - When I heard this song on the radio, it prompted my first impulse album purchase. I think it might have been the first new CD I bought for my first car. I would blast this album over and over again driving to pick my cousin up from her school 25 miles away.

5) Come Sail Away - It's the stupidest things sometimes, that can really just get at you, and this song is one of those things. We did a Styx show in marching band my senior year and this was the closer. My best friend played the first verse as a solo, and it was so mournful and beautiful on trumpet. Adding the lyrics to that is almost too much. The final time we played the show and she went out there to play the solo, I was quietly singing the lyrics to myself and I shed a few tears.

6) An Honest Mistake (The Bravery) - I had to pick some song from Desert Island II and this is the one I'm rolling with. That contest was the soundtrack to my freshman year of college and every time I hear this song it just takes me right back there in my memory.

7) From the Morning (Nick Drake) - There's not much to say about this specifically, it was just another constant presence in my college years and it's so beautiful.

8) I'm in Love With a Girl (Big Star) - When I first started dating Travis, it was weird, because, what online relationship isn't? But he recorded me a cover of this song right at the beginning and it is one of the most special gifts I've ever received.

9) The Promise (When in Rome) - My first slow dance with Travis, and then our wedding song.

10) Slow Show - I fell for this song and hard right before the wedding, so when we decided to pick lyrics for the insides of our wedding bands, I went with a line from this one for his.

I think that about tells the story of my life pretty ok. Sorry for the long post.

 

[bono_212]

That opening guitar lick is life-affirming and overbearingly joyful. Unabashedly Bowie at his most pop-heavy, though maybe "Young Americans" comes close (another one of my favorites of his), it's just a solid jam through and through. I can't count how many times I've sang this awfully in my car.

I think Bowie may be responsible for some of the greatest car sing-along songs of all time.

My vote for best of his to sing along to, though, is Golden Years.

 

[Jive Turkey]

Color Me Badd - I Adore Mi Amore

I think I'll wear my silk shirt unbuttoned tomorrow

 

[Dalton]

In no particular order:

Andrew Bird - Scythian Empire
Wilco - Via Chicago (Live)
Johnny Horton - Comanche (The Brave Horse)
R.E.M. - Nightswimming
Remy Zero - Life in the Rain
Broken Social Scene - Anthems for a Seventeen Year-old Girl
Counting Crow - Rain King
The National - Fake Empire
U2 - Bad
Sinatra - It Was A Very Good Year

 

[cobl04]

Great thread, Seven. Getting to it late but here's 10 songs, one per artist, not necessarily my favourite by that artist, not in order, that I really love.

U2 - Stay
Took me a long time to really warm up to this song, but it's one of U2's best moments. An extremely passionate vocal from Bono, particularly the final chorus, warm and simple music, and then the final drum clap. I hated that clap for years, but not even the most traditional of U2 songs could escape something a little different in the 90s.

The Avalanches - Extra Kings
A tremendous album about love and loss and men with golden eyeballs ends on a happy note, wrapped up heartwarming noise, in spite of unrequited love. "Try but I just can't get you, ever since the day I left you..."

Bat for Lashes - Laura
Mesmerising.

The Beatles - Let It Be
Perhaps the most perfect pop song ever crafted.

Broken Social Scene - Ibi Dreams of Pavement (A Better Day)
Dat crescendo.

Outkast - SpottieOttieDopalicious
Not my favourite Outkast song. But the best example of why I think they're so great, why I never shut up about them. While contemporaries and groups since have been content to rap about hedonism, here was a seven-minute slow jam, replenished with live horns, opened with a scene-setting verse from Sleepy Brown, followed by two largely spoken-word verses about the implications of hedonism. "One moment you frequent the booty clubs, the next four years you and somebody's daughter raising your own young'un... that's if you man enough to handle real-life situations that is."

Paul Kelly - How to Make Gravy
Australia's greatest singer-songwriter with a heartrending song about an incarcerated man missing his first family Christmas.

David Bowie - A New Career in a New Town
An astonishingly cathartic instrumental that is truly evocative of its title. Quite honestly up there with Life on Mars? and "Heroes" as my favourite Bowie tracks. The echoing harmonica is amazing.

Flaming Lips - Abandoned Hospital Ship
And I'm
sort of relieved
And I'm getting over it now...

GZA - Swordsman
Hypnotic beat, a beat so cold that you need to put an extra jumper on. Mind-blowing lyricism and exceptional flow from Gary Grice.