The Perfect Song
Sep. 19th, 2003 12:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sisabetMy lovely and sweet and wonderful public radio station (WRVG - I had the call letters wrong in a previous post - http://www.wrvg-fm.org/ ) was just running a retrospective of Roy Orbison. And I had to go back to my desk. Sigh. My life is hard. I'd listen to it here, but the carpet behind me flooded and they have these huge fans going now and there is no way I can hear anything at all. I can't even hear my phone ringing. As long as it doesn't mildew, I can tolerate noise. It is a kind of white noise, anyway. I'm pretending it is the ocean and I have a couple of co-workers set to "kaw-kaw" if they walk by my cubicle to give it that authentic touch. I am so very lucky that most people humor me.
Back to Roy. So I was thinking about "Pretty Woman" - did you know that song is 39 years old? How is that possible? But that wasn't my original thought, it was just an aside, my original thought was that the music in Pretty Woman is just about perfect. The guitar riffs, the drum beats - that song is very satisfying to me as a person. It is like really great pizza. Y'know - the kind of pizza that is just exactly what you want out of pizza. The kind of pizza that is in the back of your mind everytime you order (or if you are![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
heres_luck make) pizza. That song does it for me. I should make a list of others. That would be fun.
Hell, tell me your perfect song. I want to know.
Back to Roy. So I was thinking about "Pretty Woman" - did you know that song is 39 years old? How is that possible? But that wasn't my original thought, it was just an aside, my original thought was that the music in Pretty Woman is just about perfect. The guitar riffs, the drum beats - that song is very satisfying to me as a person. It is like really great pizza. Y'know - the kind of pizza that is just exactly what you want out of pizza. The kind of pizza that is in the back of your mind everytime you order (or if you are
heres_luck make) pizza. That song does it for me. I should make a list of others. That would be fun. Hell, tell me your perfect song. I want to know.
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Date: 2003-09-19 10:21 am (UTC)What a tenor!
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Date: 2003-09-19 10:38 am (UTC)Now I am confusing myself. Perhaps I should examine what "perfect" and "favorite" mean to me.
And now I really need to make a list of my potentially perfect songs. And then divide it up by genre and time period, perhaps with footnotes and maybe I should go back to school?
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Date: 2003-09-19 10:45 am (UTC)Hmmm.. thinking. My favorite Led Zep is "How Many More Times," but the perfect Led Zep is "Kashmir".....
thinking... thinking.. Ouch!
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Date: 2003-09-19 11:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-09-19 11:09 am (UTC)The perfect Weezer song is probably "Hashpipe" (with "Getchoo" and "Buddy Holly" as potential alternates) but my favorite Weezer song is "El Scorcho."
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Date: 2003-09-19 11:18 am (UTC)Favorite Stevie Ray Vaughn? "Crossroads." Perfect SVR? "The Sky is Crying."
Favorite Jonny Lang? "Little Schoolgirl." Perfect Jonny Lang? "Lie to Me."
Favorite Disturbed? "Down With the Sickness." Perfect Disturbed? "Down With the Sickness." Because sometimes, they dovetail. :)
Kinda hung up on icons, though, like the Beatles or the Stones. I can't pick a favorite, but I think I can pick a perfect. Perfect Beatles? "Carry That Weight" or "Come Together." But favorite? I can't imagine. Perfect Stones? "Satisfaction" or "Emotional Rescue" or "Waiting on a Friend." Favorite? God. Who knows?
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Date: 2003-09-19 11:29 am (UTC)Off the top of my head, I'm only coming up with definitive answers for one band:
perfect Madder Rose: "Beautiful John"; favorite Madder Rose: "Razor Pilot."
Clearly I need to go home and look at my CDs. Yeah, like I needed an excuse to do *that*.
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Date: 2003-09-19 11:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-09-19 11:46 am (UTC)Favorite John Hiatt "Everybody Went Low" - perfect John Hiatt "Riding with the King"
Favorite Guns-N-Roses "Mr. Brownstone," perfect GNR, "Sweet Child O' Mine"
Favorite Red Hot Chili Peppers, "Sir Psycho Sexy" perfect, "Give It Away" or "Taste the Pain"
Favorite Dr. Dre "Ain't Nuthing but a G-Thang", perfect Dre "Fuck the Police"
Favorite Lucinda Williams "Gotta Get Right with God" perfect Lucinda Williams "Bleeding Fingers" or "2 Cool 2 Be 4-Gotten"
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Date: 2003-09-19 12:59 pm (UTC)Joni Mitchell: Favorite, "All I Want." Perfect, "Blue."
Aretha: Favorite, "Chain of Fools." Perfect, "Respect," of course!
Pink Floyd: Favorite, "Wish You Were Here." Perfect, the entire Dark Side of the Moon.
Gershwin! :)
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Date: 2003-09-19 01:51 pm (UTC)Oh, Oh, Oh!!!
Date: 2003-09-19 03:04 pm (UTC)Johnny Cash: Favorite, "One Piece at a Time" Perfect, "Ring of Fire"
Now I'm sad
Re: Oh, Oh, Oh!!!
Date: 2003-09-19 03:21 pm (UTC)Warren Zevon: Favorite, "Searching for a Heart." Perfect, "Werewolves of London."
Johnny Cash: Favorite, "Ghost Riders in the Sky." Perfect, "I Walk the Line."
Frank Sinatra: Favorite, "I've Got You Under My Skin." Perfect, "I Get a Kick Out of You," both of which are Cole Porter songs.
Nirvana! Favorite, "Come As You Are." Perfect: "Smells Like Teen Spirit."
Re: Oh, Oh, Oh!!!
Date: 2003-09-19 03:24 pm (UTC)HANK!! Favorite, "Half As Much." Perfect, "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry."
"Wichita Lineman" is Glen Campbell. :)
Re: Oh, Oh, Oh!!!
Date: 2003-09-19 03:38 pm (UTC)Willie: favorite "Pancho and Lefty" perfect "Crazy"
Hank, Jr: favorite "All My Rowdy Friends (Are Settling Down)" perfect "Country Boy Can Survive"
Waylon Jennings: favorite "Luckenbach, Texas" perfect "Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys"
Re: Oh, Oh, Oh!!!
Date: 2003-09-19 06:26 pm (UTC)It may be the perfect song of all time. The Patsy Cline version of it is perfect, though my favorite is the Robin and Linda Williams version (no annoying strings).
Re: Oh, Oh, Oh!!!
Date: 2003-09-19 03:27 pm (UTC)The Doors: favorite "Break On Through" perfect, "Riders on the Storm"
Alice In Chains: favorite "Man In a Box," perfect "Would" or "Rooster"
Keith Whitley: favorite "I'm No Stranger to the Rain" perfect "When You Say Nothing at All"
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Date: 2003-09-19 11:22 am (UTC)'Baby Got Back'
What? It's moving.
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Date: 2003-09-19 03:05 pm (UTC)Heee - you crack me up.
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Date: 2003-09-19 11:46 am (UTC)Also, more obscure, "Take Me For a Little While" by Evie Sands (covered later by Dave Edmunds and others).
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Date: 2003-09-19 03:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-09-19 04:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-09-19 01:25 pm (UTC)When I was going off to college, my mom asleep in the back seat, my brother John driving, it's about 3 am as we go through Kentucky and "Paper in Fire" comes on the radio. Ahhh.
More recently, upon leaving "Pirates of the Carribean", Beck's "Loser" came on the radio. How perfect is that.
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Date: 2003-09-19 03:06 pm (UTC)Perfect Music Moments are not to be taken lightly.
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Date: 2003-09-19 01:50 pm (UTC)I was drunk the day my mom got out of prison...
Date: 2003-09-19 02:15 pm (UTC)You have no idea the amount of pain this song has caused me.
While in college I worked at a steakhouse/salon. The kind where you throw the peanuts on the floor - well it was my job to sweep the peanuts and scoop them out and I never could shower enough to get that smell of peanuts to go away. It got into my pores. But that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was every Friday and Saturday night - we had to stop whatever it was that we were doing whenever that song came on (no matter how busy we were) and stand and sing that damned song for the entertainment of smoking blue-haired grannies from at least a three county region. It was humiliating.
But the crowd loved us. It was a big ole hit. I quit when management added line dance steps. Enough was enough
Ok- Given my current Cranky- No sleep for 28 hours mood-
Date: 2003-09-19 04:39 pm (UTC)~Tell Me Something Good~ love Chaka Khan- but would pick Tina Schlieske's live version fo this anytime, anywhere.
~Rocky Racoon~- the Beatles. not sure If I were to just list my top 5 Beatles songs- if this would be #1, or even in that list- but it's a song I can't not sing-a-long to & just smile
~Give me one Reason~ Tracy Chapman
~Margaritaville~ Jimmy Buffet. *sigh* happy song
Mmmm, margaritas....tequila..., ok, will have to come back later to perhaps add on. ;-)
Re: Ok- Given my current Cranky- No sleep for 28 hours mood-
Date: 2003-09-19 04:47 pm (UTC)Favorite: One Reason
Perfect: Fast Car
& can't NOT mention ~The One~
Date: 2003-09-19 04:52 pm (UTC)Ooohhhh! & since GNR was mentioned- another of my 'perfect'- mood-enhancing songs would be ~Welcome to the Jungle~ Does more than make my toes tap- makes them curl all Justin-like. *sigh*
Re: & can't NOT mention ~The One~
Date: 2003-09-19 09:29 pm (UTC)interesting thread
Date: 2003-09-20 11:38 am (UTC)I no longer believe in favorite songs -- I can get tired of anything upon repeated listening, no matter how much I like it -- but I do believe in perfect ones. Here are some that come to mind:
George Michael, "Cowboys and Angels"
Jeff Buckley, "Last Goodbye"
Ice Cube, "When Will They Shoot?"
There are others, and I may have to throw recent gems like "Lose Yourself," "No Such Thing," and "No One Knows" in there at some point, but I also have a Hall of Fame mentality when it comes to this kind of thing -- I wait at least two years after its release before a song (or movie) merits long-term consideration. Sadly, I've very Ross Geller about this sort of thing.
- UB
Re: interesting thread
Date: 2003-09-21 09:18 am (UTC)I was thinking about Eminem yesterday on the car trip to my aunts. His perfect song is obviously "Lose Yourself" but my favorite is in such flux, probably it is "Cleaning Out My Closet" but right now I am in love with "Business" - maybe it is a temporary infatuation, but there ya go.
Yeah, JB and "The Last Goodbye" - but I'd have to give serious contemplation to favorite.
Re: interesting thread
Date: 2003-09-26 01:21 pm (UTC)I think the perfect JB song is "Grace," but "So Real" is and has always been my favorite of his. I can call that one perfect, but it's a very personal perfect, instead of universal.
Re: interesting thread
Date: 2003-09-26 01:41 pm (UTC)Oh and work? Bah.