Spot check: name your favourite song of all time
Cats: music|Mine is “Heroes” by David Bowie. What’s yours?
“Heroes” is a song about two lovers who meet at the Berlin Wall beneath an exchange of Cold War bullets. They know their relationship is doomed because they are from opposite sides of the wall, yet they find a way to seize the moment and extract the joy.
The lyrics are ambiguous (some say improvised) but for me “Heroes” is a song about passion and optimism. But it’s not a misguided optimism. It’s practical - heroes, yes, but just for one day. Perhaps this message of practical optimism is the reason a 1977 song has stood up so well over the years. If you can find passion and optimism in the ho-hum reality of the everyday, the song seems to say, if you can find a way to block out forces over which you have no control and take the moment like the two lovers, then you are truly inspired, a hero.
The other reason “Heroes” makes my top-song list is, of course, musical brilliance. The song is based on a simple chord progression that builds with intensity, gradually reaching a driving thrum that spools and spools, tighter and tighter until Bowie’s voice cracks, and in that moment the raw human passion spills out creating a sensation that exceeds the sum of the music and the lyrics. Without fail, that sensation makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Very fews songs can produce such a response. “Heroes” is a pop masterpiece.
April 22nd, 2007 at 12:43 pm
Favourite song of all time… Fool in the Rain -Led Zepplin. It is a bit reminiscent of my luck in love!
April 22nd, 2007 at 1:44 pm
Oh Nanc….
April 22nd, 2007 at 2:06 pm
… But the song really makes me Happy!!! It is the music and the great guitar riffs and the Whistle!!… that I love… the words are secondary…
April 22nd, 2007 at 4:19 pm
Zeppelin never fails to amuse. There’s one on Physical Graffiti - Talk about Love - about a guy who is in love with his car. Every time I hear it I laugh out loud.
April 23rd, 2007 at 4:26 am
Frontier Psychiatrist by The Avalanche. It’s been number 1 on my playlist for roughly 2 years.
That boy needs therapy, psychosomatic,
That boy needs therapy, purely psychosomatic
That boy needs therapy
Lie down on the couch! what does that mean?
Youre a nut! youre crazy in the coconut!
April 23rd, 2007 at 6:56 am
I would have to say Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. Unfortunately by saying so, I get grouped with all the young gaffers who didn’t know it existed until Wayne’s World featured it. Death on Two Legs is another great Queen song that I don’t have to worry about being accused of trying to pretend I’m young. It’s pretty dark if you listen to the lyrics, but that’s never been a problem of mine.
It is difficult to come up with one ‘favorite’ though.
April 23rd, 2007 at 7:09 am
I agree, Dick, it is difficult to settle on one all-time fav. But I would say that at any one point in time, you can pick one that you can identify as your favourite. The next minute, that could change. But that’s OK. Who’s holding you to it?
I’m still with “Heroes”
April 23rd, 2007 at 11:20 am
I think mine must be the Monster Mash by Bonzo Dog Do Dah Band / Bobby ‘Boris’ Pickett a mad song from the sixties.. I just think its funny and obviously composed through that weird world of LSD. Even funnier that the BBC banded it cos it was too morbid
April 23rd, 2007 at 11:45 am
Without hesitation I say “Visions of Joanna” by Mr. Zimmerman.
April 23rd, 2007 at 12:37 pm
I can’t pick just one, but the top 3 would be 1)Whole Lotta Love-LedZep from II - 1st album I ever owned, 2) Smashing Pumpkins - Geek USA from Siamese Dream, and just to prove I’m not stuck in the past - 3) Woman, by Wolfmother, which paradoxically proves that I am…
April 24th, 2007 at 2:57 am
The Beeb banned Monster Mash? Eeks! What were they on?
April 24th, 2007 at 6:04 am
I also find it difficult to name just one song - I have favourites for different reasons. Fave to dance to, fave to listen to while driving, etc.
However, one song that always gives me goosebumps is Ceremony by New Order. One of the last songs ever written by Joy Division, but never recorded by them. It was a dance club hit for New Order. I also have some very good memories associated with that song.
I can’t resist adding that my favourite song to sing along with is “Colour My World” (no, not the Chicago song!) by Petula Clark. She is my idol!
April 24th, 2007 at 7:04 am
TagBagger, proves that you are what …. stuck in the past, or a woman?
April 24th, 2007 at 9:05 am
Some songs that give you the most joy aren’t necessarily the most “meaningful” - right on Petula Clark who also wharbled the great Don’t Sleep on the Subway. Think country, too. I get a kick out of tunes such as Friends in Low Places (Garth Brooks) and the Dixie Chick’s Goodbye Earl.
April 24th, 2007 at 9:21 am
Very true, Susan. Think: “Out in the West Texas town of El Paso, I fell in love with a beautful girl” Is that Glen Campbell?
And “drop kick me Jesus through the goal posts of life…” Who sang that?
There are two of my other all-time fave’s for the reason you mentioned.
April 24th, 2007 at 6:45 pm
This is so difficult. I can’t name one. Can I name more than one? If so, here they are:
Train in Vain, the Clash
La Cienega Just Smiled, Ryan Adams
Red-Eyed, Blue, Wilco
Dixie Babylon, Cracker
Goodbye, Emmylou Harris
Save it For Later, The Beat
Thank U, Alanis Morrisette
What’s Going On, Marvin Gaye
Live Forever, Oasis
Sing, Blur
Captain Fantastic, Elton John
April 25th, 2007 at 3:21 am
Here’s another current great tune - by Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip. Half the fun is just knowing the group’s name! I am going to try to embed the video - I hope it works. If not hopefully it doesn’t bugger up the comment area.
Cheers,
John
April 25th, 2007 at 3:41 am
Oh I also forgot Gay Bar (1996) by Electric Six which is hilarious and has the funniest video ever. Oh it was also banned in the US for a couple of years for supposedly demeaning the stature of Lincon. Can you see a pattern here?
April 26th, 2007 at 3:22 pm
[…] days ago, GT’s Chief Cheddar correspondent Rowan wrote this comment in response to our request for a fave song. I think mine must be the Monster Mash by Bonzo Dog Do […]
July 5th, 2007 at 11:51 am
Great explication of “Heroes.” I love the song and the album is one of my favorites along with “Low” and “Station to Station,” but if I had to pick a single song, it would be “I Feel Loved” by Depeche Mode, which is a catchy dance tune about religious despair and the dark night of the soul. Love that stuff!
July 5th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
Baby Blue by Badfinger. I heard the cut,I’ve always liked, on the movie The Departed. The band, Brits, has been referred to as “the drunken Beatles.” Need I say more?