50 of My Favorite Songs - choose one

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