Beautiful Songs

What are some beautiful songs to you? Not just simply songs that are great...but ones that strike you with the gorgeousness of the mood or the images or the orchestration. Ones that you close your eyes while listening to because it just needs to wash over you.

Me:

Birgit - Peter Mulvey
Pray Your Gods - Toad the Wet Sprocket
Across the Universe - The Beatles
Wrapped in Grey - XTC
Fell in Love - Moxy Fruvous

And many more. You?

Cat Stevens- "Father and Son."  Very poignant.  Also from the same album, "Sad Lisa" mostly for the melody and sweeping piano.

Also, from BF5's Reinhold Messner CD, "Don't Change Your Plans" for the simple eloquence and "Narcolepsy" for the orchestration.

Down the Line's "Wait Til Tomorrow" (which they haven't recorded yet) becuase it's very full and sounds like something Jeff Buckley would have recorded if he'd overdubbed himself in doing harmonies, soo pretty.

Monkees' "Porpoise Song" from the Head soundtrack.  Carole King rules.

The Flaming Lips "Waitin' for a Superman."  It wasn't intended this way, but this one gets me down when I drink.  With this knowledge, I steer clear of it ;)

Crowded House's "Fall at Your Feet."  Gaaaaaaah.

Same for Martin Sexton's "Can't Stop Thinkin' Bout You."

Andy Stochansky's "Stutter" for his wispy vocal and the great hook. Gorgeous.

There's tons more, but I have to go be productive

Oooh, I'm with you on Fall at Your Feet. The original, as well as the Jennifer Kimball cover.

Three of us for FaYF. Especially the JenK cover. And speaking of amazing cover songs by former members of The Story, check out Jonatha Brooks cover of "Blecker Street". Mindbendingly beautiful.

oh, god, yes. "porpoise song" and "as we go along." both beautiful songs and beautiful scenes in the movie.

I'll have to agree with goovie on those two! :)

Word!!  Another beautiful song by the Monkees is "Sometime In The Morning" 

   I'll add my vote for "I Will" and my other beautiful Beatles songs are "Something", "Here, There, and Everywhere", and "Because"

"Bridge Over Troubled Water" may be hokey, but it gets to me.  So many Simon and Garfunkel songs do- like "El Condor Pasa" and "America"

  Because I can't do a list of beautiful songs without Joni,  I'm adding "A Case Of You" and "Michael From Mountains"

And I certainly cannot leave out The Beach Boys- , "Good Vibrations" , "Add Some Music To Your Day" and um.. pretty much the entire Pet Sounds album, really.

 Last but not least, "Under Your Spell" from Once More With Feeling

*squee* "michael from mountains," "urge for going," "song to a seagull," "blue" (the original or the sarah mclachlan cover). and yeah, pet sounds (esp. "god only knows," "you still believe in me" and "caroline no") and "under your spell."

Oooh....good call on "America," I forgot that one somehow.  :)

A Case of You and America are on my list.

"oh very young," cat stevens "here comes the sun," "something," "julia," dear prudence," and "i will," beatles "pablo's lights," vance gilbert "lady lilah," eric schwartz dvn;'s cover of "what a wonderful world" lots more. i gotta get back to this.

Nnnnnh. Yes. Julia.

How about the Louis Armstrong version of "Wonderful World?"

"our way to fall," yo la tengo.

Yea, XTC!

I'd put "Knights in Shining Karma" by XTC on the list. and most of the "David Matheson" CD, especially "Hay" and "You Remind Me"

Paul Simon's "Hearts and Bones," "Train in the Distance"

Quiet, beautiful songs

Gin Blossoms - 29

Addinto my list here. Skid Row - In A Darkened Room, Quicksand Jesus, and Wasted Time

October by Russell Wolff

One Caress by Depeche Mode

Fat Bottom Girls by Queen

In no particular order..

Machine Gun Fellatio - "Unsent Letter"

Diamanda Galas - "Keigome Keigome"

Captain Tractor - "1000 Goodbyes"

Cree Summer - "Deliciously Down"

The White Stripes - "Fell In Love With A Girl"

Dave Dobbyn - "Beside You", "Slice of Heaven", "You Oughta Be In Love"

Danny Michel - "Bones"

Zane Campbell - "Post Mortem Bar"

Remedios Silva Pisa - "Naci En Alamo"

Peter Gabriel - "More Than This"

Dire Straits - "Romeo and Juliet"

Tori Amos - "Spark"

Nakatani Miki - "All This Time"

Elton John - "Tiny Dancer"

Mazzy Star - "Into Dust"

PJ Harvey - "Good Fortune"

U2 - "Until the End of the World"

Hole - "Jennifer's Body", "Doll Parts"

Eddie From Ohio - "20 Thousand Hearts"

Heather Alexander - "Stolen Child"

Christine Fellows - "20 Bullets"

The Cure - "From The Edge of the Deep Green Sea"

Wild Colonials - "Coy"

Boondock Saints - "Invincible"

Boiled in Lead - "Drowning"

Cocteau Twins - "Persephone"

Bif Naked - "Sophia"

Gary Jules - "Mad World"

Sleater-Kinney - "The Size Of Our Love"

Oooh....20,000 Hearts....I forgot that one, too.

Additions made necessary by my morning drive. Yum. Simon & Garfunkel

America
Bridge Over Troubled Waters (emphatically NOT the arrangement Clay sand on American Idol last night. Yuck. Whoever arranged that version should be flogged.)

Dude, that show is still on? Are these people that indecisive?

They always drag it on for as long as possible to maintain ad revenue and ratings.  They did that over here with pop idol and it seeemed like years before anything got decided with a choice between bland 16 year old boy and bland posh gay man.   The latter one the former has had more sucess due to the fact that 13 year old girls seem to have an unquenchable appetite for cover versions and soulless nonsense.

Oh, AI also reminded me how very much I love Here, There and Everywhere by the Beatles. And Clay did OK on that one. :)

Ruben butchered Imagine. Grrr. You do NOT put vocal runs into that song. You just don't.

Um...yeah...I should put Imagine in here too then, because that is a beautiful song. :)

they were talking about those annoying musical runs on some show I was watching... they're called "melismas," I think?  That's why I couldn't watch the vocalists last season- this season's have been marginally better.  Clay in particular, he knows how to actually hold a note ;)

Melismas!  My favorite winter holiday!

I knew you'd hop all over that one ;)

Dust in the Wind - Kansas

My Little Town - Simon & Garfunkel (or just Simon? I never know, because it's on my Paul Simon boxed set which contains both eras)

Oh, and:

She's Got a Way - Billy Joel
Goodnight Saigon - Billy Joel

Just about anything from Geggy Tah's - Into the Oh. Like  Holy Oak Tree, Special Someone,  Dumb Submarine, Love is in Love.  Really good stuff!! Really Nate, go buy it!

• La Vie en Rose - Piaf
• Visions of Johanna - Dylan
• Yesterday - Beatles
• Tupelo Honey - Van Morrison
• From a Distance - Julie Gold

I guess I should mention my favorite song.

1952 Vincent Black Lightning - Hoopoe the Clown

damn! 'fell in love' already taken. *sulk* :D

'how can you mend a broken heart?', al green
'in the wee small hours', frank sinatra
'am i the only one?', BNL
'harvest moon', neil young
'guinevere', CSN

there are others, i'm sure.

(oh, and sorry, gordondon, but i really really dislike 'tupelo honey'. i have to study it in depth for my a-level music exam and it drives me up the wall) ;)

and I thought I was the only one to love "Am I the Only One?"

Gah.
Ick.

ooh, In the Wee Small Hours! And so many other really good jazz tunes like that, if they're orchestrated well. I'm partial to anything Gershwn :)

ooh, I know where there's a good little mp3 of Gershwin... Cole Porter too... go to www.onthedancefloor.com and go to the sound bites... adorable vocalist Dan sounds HOT on "Love is Here to Stay."   I requested it when I saw them and all the women swooned. 

also. forgot to mention that des'ree song off baz luhrmann's romeo and juliet soundtrack. i know, i know, it's clich�d, but yeah. it's purty. :)

Blackbird

Across The Universe the Beatles

No More Lonely Nights Paul McCartney

Heaven Can Wait Meat Loaf

Stay (Faraway So close) U2

How Deep Is Your Love? Bee Gees

• Thirty - Peter Mulvey
• What A Good Boy - BNL
• The Mountain, Kate and the Ghost of Lost Love, Bitterroot Valley - Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer
• What A Wonderful World - both the Louis Armstrong and DVN version
• S'il Suffisait D'Aimer, On Ne Change Pas- Celine Dion (what?...her old French stuff is good!)
• Dust, Leaving Here - Josh Woodward
• Iowa - Dar Williams
• A Thousand Goodbyes - Captain Tractor
• The Drinking Song - Moxy Fruvous (of course!)

When I Fall - BNLMorph�e - Moxy Fr�vous

The Dangling Conversation - Simon and Garfunkle

Kid A - Radiohead

Motorcycle Drive-By - Third Eye Blind

Only in Dreams - Weezer

The Rain Song - Led Zeppelin

Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd

How's that?

Galileo, Love Will Come to You (Indigo Girls)
Amazing Grace (Chris & Meredith Thompson)
Little Spaceman (from Convenience)
Name, Black Balloon, and Acoustic #3 (Goo Goo Dolls)
Worlds Apart (Jars of Clay) - I hated this song until I heard it live, now I can't get enough of it.
Both Sides, Now (Joni Mitchell)
O Magnum Mysterium (by Poulenc)
Troubled Times (Fountains of Wayne)
Blame it on Me (BNL)

There are a bunch more, but I'm trying to limit myself, here.
Runners-up are:
Albany or Writing Again (We're About 9)
11:11 or Intertwined (Russell Wolff)
Gulf War Song or If Only You Knew

These are the songs I wish would be longer...the ones I close my eyes while singing along to...and the ones I always play again as soon as they end.

Y'all are totally not allowed to laugh at me for any of these ;)

While My Guitar Gently Weeps - Beatles
Dog On a Chain - Stephen Fearing
Shine - Junkhouse
Lace and Pretty Flowers - Willie P. Bennett
Let's Take the Long Way Around the World - Ronnie Milsap
All the Time - Barry Manilow
Massachusetts - Bee Gees

Magic - Ben Folds Five

Luckiest - Ben Folds

Cruel Kindness - Inside Out A Cappella

Old Park Bench - Inside Out A Cappella

And So It Goes - Billy Joel

For Me This Is Heaven - Jimmy Eat World

Oooh, count me in on And So It Goes!

especially Primal and Catch the Breeze....well th whole just for a day cd really.

Of course there is also Mojave 3

uh and Tom Waits Closing Time is the best album ever of all time

Beach Boys - God Only Knows
R.E.M. - At My Most Beautiful
Moxy Fr�vous - Love Set Fire
Beth Amsel - Simple, This Farewell
The Nields - Wanting
Barenaked Ladies - When I Fall
Ben Folds Five - Magic
Kris Delmhorst - Damn Love Song

many great somgs have already been mentioned.... a few others come to mind

Bob Marley - No Woman, No Cry
                      - Is This Love
                      -RedemptionSong
Aaron Neville - Louisiana 1927 (a Randy Newman cover)
Most Eagles Songs, particularly Love Will Keep Us Alive, and I Can't Tell You Why
Crosby, Stills, Nash, (and Young) - Chicago, and Sweet Judy Blue Eyes

Hallelujah- The Jeff Buckley verson not the one from Shrek or the original and You Do Something to me by Paul Weller as I like love songs that express real emotions.  It also sends me to summer which is nice as it is consistently drizzling here lately.

re Hallelujah... I don't know the Jeff Buckley one, but I was opting for the Rufus Wainwright cover (from Shrek) and the original Leonard Cohen...

and for my 0.02$..

Daddy I'm Fine - Sinead O'Connor
Kyiri� El�ison - Sinead O'Connor
You Remind Me - Dave Matheson
Fibber - Dave Matheson
Cedar Town - Dave Matheson
Close Your Eyes - Jump, Little Children
Cathedrals - Jump, Little Children
Tender Blindspot - Peter Mulvey
Cedar Tree - Indigo Girls
Sous la pluie - Brothers Creeggan
Wednesday Morning 3am - Simon & Garfunkel
Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon & Garfunkel
The Boxer - Simon & Garfunkel
Poses - Rufus Wainwright
La complainte de la butte - Rufus Wainwright
Imaginary Love - Rufus Wainwright
Barcelona - Rufus Wainwright
Beauty Mark - Rufus Wainwright
In My Arms - Rufus Wainwright
Heartburn - Rufus Wainwright
Les faux-monnayeurs - Tom�s Jensen
La bandera - Tom�s Jensen
Monsieur - Tom�s Jensen
Veinte Anos - Buena Vista Social Club
These Foolish Things - Jane Birkin and Jimmy Rowles
Dugenou - Thomas Fersen
Les malheurs du lion - Thomas Fersen
Ir�ne - Thomas Fersen
Elisabeth - Thomas Fersen
Monsieur - Thomas Fersen
La chandelle - Thomas Fersen
Kyoto - Pol�mil Bazar
Damn� ramdam - Pol�mil Bazar
� hue � dia - Pol�mil Bazar
Les cigales - La rue K�tanou
Les hommes que j'aime - La rue K�tanou
La fianc�e de l'eau - La rue K�tanou

enough...

oh.. and When I Fall - BNL

 

I went back to look at a tape I made of my favorite songs and found these which are also beautiful.

• Summertime - Sarah Vaughn
• Stormy Weather - Lena Horne
• Carpet of the Sun - Rennaisance
• Jersey Girl - Tom Waits
• Irene Goodnight - Leadbelly
• Michelle - Pete Best's old band

Many of these songs have special memories for me.

For Emily, Wherever I May Find Her - Simon and Garfunkel

A Most Peculiar Man - Simon and Garfunkel

Go On - Ookla The Mok

Home - Ookla The Mok

My Secret Origin - Ookla The Mok

The Cat Carol - Meryn Cadell

The Last Unicorn - America

When Maribel Runs - Deirdre Flint

Leader of the Band - Dan Fogelberg

California Dreamin' - The Mamas and The Papas

Red Rubber Ball - The Cyrkle

My My She Cries - Carole King

 

That's all I can think of right now. I'm certain I'll think of more later.

 

 

The Cat Carol - Meryn Cadell

That song makes me cry every time I Hear it!

I concur on Dan Fogelberg.... the whole double album The Innocent Age is brilliant, but the best of the best was side 2 with Leader of the Band, Run for the Roses and Same Old Lang Syne.

beautiful songs?...hrmmmmm

Catch the Wind - Donovan

Standing at the Edge of the Earth - Blessid Union of Souls

To Where You Are - Josh Groban

Adiemus - Enya

Universal Soldier - Buffy Sainte Marie

Fly - Moxy Fr�vous

Don't Tell Me You Do - Rockapella

Far Away - Five O'Clock Shadow

Say Goodnight - Beth Nielsen Chapman

 

Bella Morte - Whispers�& December Dreams��

Can of Xymox - There is no Tomorrow

Don't Look Down - Brainwashed

Erasure - My Heart... So Blue & Rock me Gentaly

Evanesence - Feilds of Innocence [older stuff, not the new stuff everyone loves ^_^]������������������

From Autumn to Ashes - Short Stories with Tragic Endings [screamy scream mixed with a femme voice, very pretty]��

Juanes - Nada & La Tierra��

Kyu Sakamoto - Sukiyaki [Japenese love song]����

Mr. Mister - Broken Wings [no not "Kyrie" that song makes me hate my name, although I was named after it >.<]�

OhGr - Lusid & Watergate�

Selena - Dreaming of you�����������������������������������������������

Siouxsie and the Banshees - Lost Little Girl & Placebo Effect�

The Cure - Pictures of You������������������

The Turtles - So Happy Together�

Collective Soul - Decemeber Dreams

I love these songs, so very pretty ^_^

Kyrie--

Dood, I think Pictures of You should be in the "most depressing song" category, even though it is also beautiful.

Lol. Never thought it wasn't supposed to be depressing to be beautiful. Just like loves comes with hate, beauty comes with sorrow. ^_^

Kyrie--

Ben Folds Five: "Smoke"
Big Head Todd & the Monsters: "Bittersweet"
Bruce Springsteen: "Meeting Across the River"
Counting Crows: the whole of VH1 Storytellers
Dead Can Dance: "The Carnival is Over"
Eddie From Ohio: "Jerusalem" "Bookends" "From Dacca" "Fifth of July"
and the Three Rooms versions of "Step Into the Outside" "Continents of Time"
Everything But the Girl: "Troubled Mind" "Get Me" "Two Star"
Charles Mingus: "I.X. Love" "Celia"
Miles Davis: "It Never Entered My Mind"
Moxy Fruvous: lots but I didn't see anyone mention their cover of
"Early Morning Rain" yet.

When i got up to "M" i hit the musicals...
Carousel: "Soliloquy" and the pas de deux dance music
Company: "Marry Me a Little"
Five Guys Named Moe: "Azure Te"
Holly Cole Trio: "Losing My Mind" "Color and Light" (Sondheim songs)
Hair: "Easy to be Hard"
Hedwig! "Origin of Love" "Wig in a Box"
Kiss of the Spider Woman: "Anything For Him"
Once on this Island: whole thing
Secret Garden: whole thing .. "Where In The World/How Could I Ever Know"

ok i'll stop.

<3 Dead Can Dance.

You're my new bestfriend ^_^

Kyrie--