50 of My Favorite Songs - choose one

93 til infinity but great list.

93 til infinity but great list.

gut reax is jay or minnie (cool or warm) but def gonna listen thru all of these before voting

Prince vs Badu vs The Sugarcubes is very difficult

'King Kunta'

If I was stuck on a desert island right now with one it would probably be Van. I need to have a listen through.

I went for "my old school"

haven’t you heard vs. never too much, the impossible choice

send it on

A lot of strong candidates but Patrice Rushen wins this for me

send it on is prob the best song on the best album

You've got some doozies on here. Nice work. Right now it's gotta be Death or Glory.

my old school

There are better songs, and even songs I might like more, but I kind of just want to vote for Broadcast.

Fela Kuti - Water No Get Enemy

Was jamming on this earlier this afternoon so it got my vote.

William DeVaughn - Be Thankful For What You Got

This. It'll be a nominee whenever I get around to doing my own version of this poll here.

reflected a bit on why i picked some of these songs:

Built To Spill - Carry The Zero - things I love about this song: the screaming slide guitar, the circular chord progression that could go on for hours, the way the maj7 chords create a cosmic dreaminess that compliments the stoner-logic lyrics, the cathartic secondary groove in the outro.

Jay-Z - Heart of the City (Ain't No Love) - Ye’s beat transforms an achingly blue soul chestnut into a triumph. Jay doesn’t look at his “rivals,” he looks past them: “what’s all the fuckin fussin’ for?/because I’m grubbin’ more/and I pack heat like I’m the oven door”, “Look scrapper I got nephews to look after/I'm not looking at you dudes, I'm looking past ya”; the choir plus strings plus horns--I mean come on. The stomp-clap breakdown at the end seals the deal.

The Only Ones - Another Girl, Another Planet - Best guitar solo of all time? It’s up there. Lyrical, not-too-complex, and soaring into space.

The Cure - Close To Me - the creaking door sound effect that opens the song, the way the whole song evolves in response to the questioning electric keyboard riff, the trumpet solo, and the abrupt, honking conclusion

The Velvet Underground - What Goes On - buzzsaw rhythm guitar; one of my favorite Lou vocals, snotty, louche, and bemused.

William DeVaughn - Be Thankful For What You Got - sure, he says that you can be cool even if you don’t have a car, but just listen to how fuckin’ sweet his car is.

Curtis Mayfield - No Thing On Me (Cocaine Song) - sometimes it just comes down to a beautiful vocal, sharp drums, and rolling piano; you believe Curtis when he says he doesn’t need drugs--you get a contact high from this instrumental

Neil Young - Cortez The Killer - A song about the titanic emptiness left when the conquistadors destroyed the original civilizations of this continent, and how we can never reclaim what we lost. It’s also my one of favorite Neil melodies, the guy knows how to just devastate with a well-placed minor or maj7 chord.

Joni Mitchell - Blue - the thesis statement for one of my all-time favorite albums, and one of my favorite songs to play on the piano. Joni makes all the harmonic and rhythmic complexity seem so effortless.

Aaliyah - Are You That Somebody - Love every second of this song, even Timbo’s dumb rap.

The Rolling Stones - Let It Loose - Pure feeling, rock as soul. Manages to be genuinely touching while still wallowing in the muck that covers the rest of the album.

there are only two songs that i would never pick -- the dan, the plan -- so screw you for making an impossible poll

There are better songs, and even songs I might like more, but I kind of just want to vote for Broadcast.

― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Wednesday, May 15, 2019 6:25 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ha, agreed, and this one jumped out at me, too. Love that song for reasons that are somewhat ineffable.

Live 1969 "What Goes On", otherwise, "Another Girl".

Voted for Patrice Rushen, because probably no one else will.

argh, that's what I get for skim-reading a thread.

What Goes On or My Old School.

my favorite song, it was joni singin'

a good poll would be ballad of dorothy parker vs. help me

The Cure - Close To Me - the creaking door sound effect that opens the song, the way the whole song evolves in response to the questioning electric keyboard riff, the trumpet solo, and the abrupt, honking conclusion

The album version, of course, has neither the creaking door sound effect or the horn solo.

well then guess i'm talkin' bout the single version

Water No Get Enemy sort of towers over the rest (except for stuff like Sinnerman) but I could post a top 50 and it would say nothing to you except polite acknowledgment towards someone who's spend a little time with music. I guess the exercise is really to compile it.

I like a lot of these (so I should probably check out the ones I don't know) but the one that stood out scanning the list was the Shangri-las

Went with Blue narrowly over My Old School and Judy is a Punk. That song just continues to fucking kill me. Ton of other great songs on the list though.

"Be Thankful" is one of those songs that has thankfully (see what I did there?) never gotten played out for me. Every time I hear it, it puts me in such a happy place.

Gawd there are four or five on here which'd plumb walk away from pretty much any poll they were in

more thoughts

Nina Simone - Sinnerman - a skeletal, elemental, and starkly beautiful rendering of the apocalypse. Nina’s vocal rises to the occasion.

Bruce Springsteen - Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) - The Boss at his most romantic and the E Street band at its best, with a loose and rollicking energy that makes the 7.5 minutes fly by in a snap. What’s my favorite moment? Oh god…”you don’t have to call me Lieutenant, Rosie, and I don’t wanna be your son,” or the organ breakdown before the bridge, or the entire fuckin bridge.

Souls Of Mischief - '93 Til Infinity - Opio’s first verse sets the bar, how he rhymes “digit” with “Bridgette” with “midget” with “dig it” with “swig it” with “frigid.” It’s 26 years since ‘93, and few have cleared that bar since.

Sleater-Kinney - Dance Song '97 - The happiest, but not the lightest, song on Dig Me Out, my real affinity for this song springs from seeing just how joyful they look whenever they play this song live (https://youtu.be/dB0DrHk-SQw). Janet Weiss is the best drummer in the world.

D'Angelo - Send It On - This one leaves me speechless, what can i say. Effortless virtuosity.

Belle & Sebastian - I'm a Cuckoo - Perfect verse melody, Thin Lizzy guitars, that ecstatic burst of horns during the bridge--rediscovered my undying love for this song during the B&S poll a few months back.

Prince - The Ballad of Dorothy Parker - outstanding world-building with a funky bassline, bubble baths with pants on, Joni on the radio--sounds like a real jam to me.

The Pharcyde - Passin' Me By - a perfectly constructed beat--all the individual parts talk to each other and the Pharcyde responds in kind. Each verse has an indelible moment that rappers still reference to this day.

Gang Starr - Work - supernatural cool. while y’all are starting beef, Guru is networking like a conference.

Broadcast - Come On Let's Go - I agree with those upthread--there’s really something entrancing about entering the world of this song. I imagine much of that has to do with Keenan’s vocal, which manages to be both nearly expressionless and very playful. The chord structure probably has something to do with it too, modulating whenever it seems to settle into a comfortable key

Dive For Your Memory is the best Lou Reed song he never wrote. Voted that for the personal resonance it carries. A band I was in recorded a version when I was in the process of leaving.

interesting thoughts voodoo chili

I'm a little unnerved that Dan S. has an ilx name and an aesthetic so similar to mine, but I really like The Go-Betweens and I like his post.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I think y’all made the right choice