What's Your Favorite Song?

My friend TK asked me for my favorite song.  He makes a mix each year and gives it to friends; this year, the theme is his friends' favorite songs.  He said, "I've noticed that men see this as a simple question and just give me their favorite song, and women say, 'I have lots of favorite songs,' and have trouble deciding."  I rolled my eyes and thought, "silly women."  And then was unable to come up with my own favorite song. 

I asked my iPod, which has a handy list of my top 25 most frequently played songs.  The top two are Radiohead songs.  Then there's an Old 97s song, then a Willie Nelson song.  I was pleased to see "You Sexy Thing" by Hot Chocolate in the top 10.  None of those would have occurred to me as my favorite songs. 

Does he mean the song I most frequently want to hear?  A song with a sentimental meaning?  A song that, when I hear it, I find really really enjoyable?  The song I judge to have the most musical merit? The song that I am least likely to get sick of?  This will be burned onto a CD and shared with other people -- so guilty pleasures are out.  Does a choice as "my favorite song" mean I am representing the song as the best song by this artist, or the best song I know?  Because that's probably not true.  Sometimes a song is a favorite because of adolescent associations.  There are so many considerations.  Some of the songs below appeal to me for a particular musical feature -- the way they build and change, for example.  A couple strike me as complete and fantastic examples of their genre.  Two others are on the list because they put me in a great mood when I hear them. 

Here's the list of 33 favorite songs I came up with (in alphabetical order):

A Lucky Guy -- Rickie Lee Jones
A Shot In The Arm -- Wilco
Bell Bottom Blues -- Eric Clapton
Breakdown -- Tom Petty
Busted Afternoon -- Old 97s
Cock O' the Walk -- Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire
Dogsong -- Be Good Tanyas
Fake Plastic Trees -- Radiohead
Feelin' Good Again -- Robert Earl Keen
Fool in the Rain -- Led Zeppelin
From This Moment On -- Jimmy Somerville
Going Back To Georgia -- Nanci Griffith
Houses on the Hill -- Whiskeytown
I Can't Help It If I'm Still In Love With You -- Willie Nelson
Idiot Wind -- Bob Dylan
In The Still of the Night -- Neville Brothers
It's Up To You -- The Jayhawks
Lake Charles -- Lucinda Williams
Love and Affection -- Joan Armatrading
Lover, You Should Have Come Over -- Jeff Buckley
Mario y Maria -- Butch Hancock
Mr. Mudd & Mr. Gold -- Robert Earl Keen (Townes van Zandt song)
Pissed Off 2 AM -- Alejandro Escovedo
Some Tears -- Thad Cockrell
Southern Cross -- Crosby, Stills, & Nash
Tanglewood Tree -- Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer
The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades -- Sufjan Stevens
The Weight -- The Band
Via Con Me -- Paolo Conte
Waiting On A Friend -- Rolling Stones
Wasn't Born to Follow -- The Sadies
When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again -- Gatemouth Brown
You Sexy Thing -- Hot Chocolate

What's your favorite song?  Is it a hard thing to identify for you? 

Comments

[will]

Love and Affection -- Joan Armatrading

I love, love, love this song and her greatest hits album.

[hkd]

Copacabana by Barry Manilow. I kind of hate to admit it but it's true.

I loved it as a kid when I played it over and over again on the groovy pink and blue neon jukebox at Lenny's Penny Arcade. I can remember drunkenly singing it a capella with my best friend and her husband in the recording studio at Pleasure Island at Disney World and having it broadcast to the whole island over the loud speaker. I fondly remember it kicking off the dance party at my wedding.

It's an embarassing song to love but it makes me smile just thinking about it.

[MT]

I could offer something if I felt obliged, but since your curiosity seems more about who finds it hard, I'll just say "me!" Basically impossible.

[Eleanor]

Man, that's tough. I have so many songs that make me exclaim "Oh I LOVE this song!" when they come on the radio or at a party.

Lover, You Should've Come Over is a great one. I think I tear up every time I hear the "It's never over" lines, especially "It's never over/All my love for the sweetness of her laughter" and the voices in the background raise up -- oh. In fact I'm tearing up just typing the lines.

My favorite piece of music is Rhapsody in Blue, by Gershwin. My favorite pop song just might be "Closer" by Nine Inch Nails -- I rediscover all these levels each time I listen to it, and it rocks so hard. So I guess that's the answer for my favorite song, but it's tough.

My favorite cheesy song, that I'm embarrassed to love, is "I Will Always Love You," sung by Whitney Houston (but written by Dolly Parton, I believe).

Speaking of cheesy, the theme music to Philly's Action News is pretty great: http://www.southernmedia-nmsa.com/audioplayer.php?version=theme&id=202

[Dan]

Hmmm... that's actually a tough one... but music wasn't my thing... If I had to pick one song, it would be a toss up between "At Last" by Etta James and "One More Day" by Diamond Rio.

[J]

Thanks! Now I have a "Sherry's Favorites" playlist - great picks!

[Autumn]

One of my students just asked me this today! I gave my standard answer, "Romeo and Juliet" by Dire Straits without really thinking about it. That was my favorite for a really long time, but it's not now. I'm not sure what it is now. Maybe "California Stars" by Billy Bragg and Wilco. Or "Sweet Caroline" for the simple reason that I can't help happily belting out the words when I hear it.

[Carol Anne]

In terms of the sentimental, it would probably be "Time in a Bottle" by Jim Croce. Pat and I had that played at our wedding, although there was a bit of a glitch -- my grandmother and aunt got lost, and when they asked for directions, they were sent to the wrong church, and so the pianist had to play it over and over and over until they arrived.

Lately, I've been on a Frank Sinatra kick -- if anybody who can hold a tune were to sing "Time After Time," I'd be utterly helpless.

[Andy B]

"Flying Red Horse" by John Gorka

[Jason]

"She's a Jar" - Wilco.

[bill]

"Cortez the Killer" by Neil Young. Banned in Spain!

[PG]

"Sweet Caroline" is a wild favorite at my office this summer. I don't think I knew the song before, but now the chorus is firmly embedded in my brain. "SO GOOD, SO GOOD, SO GOOD!"

If you want to put on a song that will be new to many of the people who get the mix (assuming that most of them don't have a Texas connection), go for "Feelin' Good Again." That song nails the stuff about living in a small town with people whom you know and love even if you don't like all of them individually, the feeling you get from going to the local hangout and seeing everyone there and wishing for one particular person and then "I looked across the room and saw you standin' on the stair/ when I caught your eye, I saw you break into a grin/ feels so good, feelin' good again." It's not an outstanding song musically or lyrically or god knows for the quality of REK's voice, but it's lovable nonetheless.

[Trevor]

It's hard. (not in alpha order)

At Last, Eva Cassidy

Solsbury hill, peter gabriel

I'll do anything for love, (but i won't do that), Meatloaf

Faithfully, Journey

I'll Stand by you, Pretenders

Soak up the sun, Sheryl Crow

Wish you where here, Pink Floyd

I Shall believe, Sheryl Crow

hallelujah, Jeff Buckley

I'm on fire, Bruce Springsteen

[turboglacier]

Hmm. Well, I know it's either a Springsteen song or a Beatles song. And here are the contenders:

"Incident on 57th Street": What killer energy that E-Street band had. You listen to this, you'd swear Jerry Lee Lewis, BB King, Sonny Rollins, and Dylan were all mixed in there. And then Springsteen out front, screaming like it all matters. Whoo-ee. They don't record things like this anymore.

"I Will": Purity of understatement makes it timeless.

[girltuesday]

in no particular order and off the top o' my head (and knowing i am forgetting well-deserved, well-loved songs):

copacabana. barry manilow. (i love that someone else also named it--brilliant!)

gimme shelter. rolling stones

southern cross. cs&n

sunday, bloody sunday. U2

you dance. eastmountainsouth

magnificent seven. the clash

any rousing, rowdy traditional irish music, particularly drowsy maggie by the chieftans (also, i think ashley macissac's sleep maggie is also quite good).

górecki's third (with dawn upshaw).

motets, as sung by the sixteen (harry christophers conducting).

renegades of funk. RAM

[terrilynn]

All time favorite is Moon River, the classic version by Andy Williams, of course, but there are other versions that I love, particularly Raul Malo's.

I could make a nine-mile list of other almost-very-favorite songs, though. I sang I Will to my son in utero and on the night that he was born, I sang it again while I danced him around the room, so it's way up there on my list, too.

[Eleanor]

Sunday Bloody Sunday. YES. It's my favorite psych-up, gear-up-for-something-big song.

[Keith Singer]

I noticed a question about the song Don't Think Twice, It's Alright- Check Peter Paul And Mary Top 10 in 1963.
Favorite Song- (I Can't Get No)Satisfaction
by the Rolling Stones. No matter how many times I have heard it; I never have gotten tired of it.
Honorable Mentions
Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon- Neil Diamond
Bell Bottom Blues- Derek And The Dominos
(Also On Your List)
The Weight- The Band
(Also on Your List)
Enjoy!
Keith
dani1996@optonline.net

[josie]

Some of my favorite songs..

The Energy-Triple Ex
Acid Bath-Jezabel
Luke Mulholland-Cold Night
Cynic-Veil of Maya
Echo Jet-Chemical
Slayer-Ghosts of War
PJ Harvey Rid of me
Clayton Senne-Wonderland
Rush-YYZ
Tack-Cat Man

[Jay P]

This is currently my 29 favourite songs. The songs in the 20s might change weekly but most of these songs have always been in my top. They all mean something to me.

29. Ryan Adams - When The Stars Go Blue

28. Led Zeppelin - Babe I'm Gonna Leave You

27. Goo Goo Dolls - Here Is Gone

26. Our Lady Peace - Somehwere Out There

25. Prozzak - Sucks To Be You

24. Pearl Jam - Yellow Ledbetter

23. John Denver - For Baby For Bobbie

22. Muse - Butterflies And Hurricanes

21. Jim Croce - Don't Mess Around With Jim

20. Matchbox 20 - Unwell

19. Tragically Hip - Ahead By A Century

18. John Lee Hooker - I Wanna Hug You

17. Sloan - The Other Man

16. Default - Wasting My Time

15. Live - Lightening Crashes

14. Joni Mitchell - Both Sides Now

13. Black Crowes - She Talks To Angels

12. Bob Seger - Like A Rock

11. Radiohead - Fake Plastic Trees

10. Incubus - Drive

09. Foo Fighters - In Your Honour

08. Billy Joel - The Downeaster Alexa

07. Bruce Springsteen - Jungleland

06. Elton John - Daniel

05. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under The Bridge

04. Coldplay - Yellow

03. Queen - Who Wants To Live Forever

02. R.E.M. - Losing My Religion

01. Simon And Garfunkel - The Boxer

There you go! Good quality songs. I advice you to listen to them all and increase your musical knowledge.

[Trixie]

Hi. In the future I'm going to keep here links to their sites. But I do not worry about the sites where my link is removed. So if you do not want to see a mountain of links, simply delete this message. After 2 weeks, I will come back and check.