ILM POLLS THE 20TH CENTURY'S BEST TRACKS ››› YOUR RESULTS THREAD ‹‹‹

The Sleepwalkers was my second-lowest VdGG vote and it still came 65th :P

― gospermaban sim gishel (acoleuthic), Friday, December 3, 2010 12:23 PM (30 seconds ago) Bookmark

your tales of vdgg vote splurging are funny in relation to earlier bitchings about the anglo art rock & post-punk voting bloc. cuz if this board were packed with prog heads and the top 50 were all yes & univers zero, such behavior would seem intolerable. as things stand, it brightens my day.

Still hope for Univers Zero

Glen Campbell will kick all y'alls asses. I'm just glad By The Time I Get To Phoenix and Galveston didn't split the vote.

it has some neat melodic twists for a cheesy 60s stringsnallpopsong

'Young Girl' is still miles better obv

contenderizer I splurged thusly in full knowledge that it was an act of futility - my bitchings weren't about ALL anglo art rock, they were about soft Anglo art rock, i.e. not very arty but popular stuff

Yes, "Wichita Lineman"! I remember when ILM had a 1960s poll and it got in the top 10 or something, and I was like "Wtf is this song, I've never head about it?", and then I listened to it and I was like "OMG, how come I haven't heard this before?!!". Love at first hear. Such a huge yet economic song, there's so much emotion and truth in between the simple lines.

thought it wd be about american football

Yeah, the title is very disorienting to me. "Wichita Lineman" just seems so asbtract.

oh lorax, nobody is being elitist, we just hate other people's shitty awful taste.

Is Campbell's the "best" verzh of "Wichita Lineman"? Dunno. This feels like a vote for a classic song above and beyond the performance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twbbSxWolBc

i like "witchita lineman", but never considered voting for it. different strokes (RIP, little buddy).

plus i wasn't pointing the finger of those bitchings at you specifically, LJ. i did plenty of it myself!

The first time I heard it was on an AM gold station that was coming in kinda poorly as I was driving home in the rain from the country. IMO, the best possible introduction to it one could hope for.

I believe it.

When I was younger I hated 'Wichita Lineman' the string arrangements and his voice sounded increadibly cheesy to my ears... they still sound cheesy to be honest but stripped down the basics it's a really great song.

Is Campbell's the "best" verzh of "Wichita Lineman"? Dunno. This feels like a vote for a classic song above and beyond the performance.

I've heard a couple of other versions of it (Cash and someone else), but the arrangements and orcestration in those was nowhere near the genius of Campbell's version.

Is nobody gonna pick up my Glen Campbell vs Gary Puckett throwdown?

I am glad someone else uses the term "AM Gold"!

05. BILLIE HOLIDAY "Strange Fruit" (1939) [2,699 points, 24 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXdnD39GYVU

PERFECT

Billie Jean will surely be the most recent song in the top ten

Unfinished Sympathy must be in with a shout.

hawtt

Great, I was not expecting it to make it at this point.

Think "The Straight Life" or "Dreams of the Everyday Housewife" are my fave tracks on Wichita Lineman btw

Tuomas I think The Meters verzh of "Wichita" will poke your buttons if you haven't heard it.

Although my Billie Holiday votes went for 'gloomy sunday' and 'when you're smiling'. I was beginning to regret not voting for this one. Glad it made it so far.

"Strange Fruit" is almost out of place in this poll in terms of the massive gravity of it beyond lol pop songs.

great jorb ilx!

Amazing song, happy it placed so high.

re: sabbath. i love them, but didn't vote for a single song. i considered "sabbath bloody sabbath", "paranoid" and "supernaut", but found reason to cut them all. i probably would have thrown some points to "children of the grave" or "fairies wear boots" if anyone had nominated them.

feel kinda bad about this, but no more than the fact that i didn't get a chance to vote for "the number of the beast" or "sanitarium". which i would have, in a heartbeat.

I voted for "Gloomy Sunday", but I'm glad Billie got this high, she certainly deserves it. My only problem with "Strange Fruit" is that on a compositional level it isn't quite as good as on the lyrical one. Though Billie's interpretation is of course brilliant.

a POPLAR choice.

YESSSSS

is this the only pre-1950's song in the poll?

such an amazing song.

Think "The Straight Life" or "Dreams of the Everyday Housewife" are my fave tracks on Wichita Lineman btw

Reason To Believe is epic too.

I Feel Love is going to win this, isn't it?

Not my favorite Billie Holiday song, but I voted for it, and it is iconic and weighty, for sure.

yep, anyone who jumps in doubting the relevance and weight of this song and performance is gravely misguided.

thank you ILX. billie holiday helps make up for a lot.

a POPLAR choice.

this is not really so funny

JohnnyFever - sorry I had a typo earlier
I like the polls, I don't like the pollers (not pollsters)

I voted for "Gloomy Sunday", but I'm glad Billie got this high, she certainly deserves it. My only problem with "Strange Fruit" is that on a compositional level it isn't quite as good as on the lyrical one. Though Billie's interpretation is of course brilliant.

― Tuomas

One of the first times I agree with you on this poll Tuomas, this song wouldn't be anywhere as immense if it weren't for her, lyrics aside the composition is a bit meh.

is this the only pre-1950's song in the poll?

Clair de Lune ranked back in the 80s. So that's two. TWO SONGS FROM BEFORE 1950!!

ok that's good but it doesn't need a 1-minute intro, ditch the horns at the start and leave it to the piano imo

'how I would edit ILX's 5th favourite track of the 20th century'

this is not really so funny

for real

Tuomas I think The Meters verzh of "Wichita" will poke your buttons if you haven't heard it.

Oh yeah, that's the other version I've heard. I love The Meters a lot (why didn't I nominate "Hey Pocky A-Way" in this poll?!), but IMO "Wichita Lineman" isn't a song that matches their strengths.

Hang on, is there a different version of "Strange Fruit" where the composition isn't awesome and dramatic and sends tingles down your back that I've missed?

maybe it's worth doing a 1900-1950s poll sometime in the future.

is this the only pre-1950's song in the poll?

Clair de Lune ranked back in the 80s. So that's two. TWO SONGS FROM BEFORE 1950!!

― Señor Mexico (Johnny Fever)

Which begs for a second poll comprised of only pre-50's songs.

xpost: lol

Hang on, is there a different version of "Strange Fruit" where the composition isn't awesome and dramatic and sends tingles down your back that I've missed?

no

I vv much love #4...

04. THE RONETTES "Be My Baby" (1963) [2,721 points, 25 votes, 1 first place vote]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3ceRov1AUg

I go back to Wichita Lineman every couple years, thinking I'll get it, it'll finally hit me. Guess I'll wait another couple years now.

?!

I thought I had grown out of musical protectionism but watching ppl blithely yammering on about butchering one of the greatest songs ever recorded is making my blood boil

xxxp: hawtt