Pretty self-explanatory (I hope) but to clarify, I’m not neccessarily talking about songs that are personal reminders of a time or situation in your life, but songs that really grab you and drag you into them, mood and/ or imagery wise. Not sure how to explain it so I’ll name a couple of my favorites:
“Under The Milky Way” by The Church. No matter where I am or what I’m doing, this song makes me stop and take notice. The combination of the melody and the singer’s baleful voice is . . . dark and swirly. I hear this song and I’m suddenly picturing myself alone, staring up at a starry sky. Goodness knows it’s hardly the first song to mention the night time sky, but this one positively envelops me with it.
“Baker Street” by Gerry Rafferty. I think the combo of the sax and Mr. Rafferty’s silky smooth voice is what makes this song so effective for me, but not knowing much about music I find it hard to define. It’s melancholy and comforting at the same time. There’s a lightness (somehow tropical?)that belies the narrator’s regret.
Hopefully you have an inkling of what I’m rambling about and you will share the songs that you feel really convey the artist’s vision and what elements help accomplish that.
“The Latin One”, by 10,000 Maniacs. Adaptation of the poem of the same name by a WWI soldier who died in the trenches. Harrowing portrayal of the retreat from a gas attack, set to a poppy 80s beat, utterly with the singer (Marchant) utterly cool and detached throughout the thing. I’m not doing it justice - but youtube can! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOEcl-9yNhg
Black Haired Girl by Dave Alvin (caution - link opens audio player in new window). The lyrics describe a lonely, rainy night pretty well, but it’s Alvin’s guitar that really sells the song.
Roxy Music’s More Than This, because the very tasteful synthesizer and sax put a timeless spin on the 80s, and Bryan Ferry’s lyric interpretation is beautiful.
Nestle’s Alpine White commercial from the mid-80s: whenever I hear it, no matter what I’m doing, it transports me to the mountains, which is a very nice place to be.
Oddly there’s a cover version being used on a recent US ad, with, even more oddly, a female singer…
I have storyboarded this song from beginning to end in my head with the saga of an imprisoned writer and his attempted escape from a winter/Siberian gulag. Also includes Mother Russia as a sad-eyed yet statuesque blonde in a flowing robe. The actual escape sequence occupies the middle instrumental section, and in the end he finds Mother Russia out in the middle of the wilderness as the men with machine guns and the dogs find him and riddle him with bullets.
Both of these songs make me ache inside in a way no others do, and I can’t really explain why because it’s not that I relate to them on some deep level: “Happy Apple Poison” by Lovedrug and “Make it Last” by Stroke 9.
The Ronette’s “Be My Baby,” when I was younger and had little experience in the ways of these things always made me think of how it would feel to be in love for the very first time. And now that I’m older, I still do.
“Here Comes the Rain Again” -Eurythmics
“Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” -Eurythmics
“Loser” -Z
“priest=aura” -the Church
“Requiem” from the Akira soundtrack -Geinoh Yamashirogumi
Several songs from The Gathering fill the bill for me, especially Waking Hour, Morphia’s Waltz, and My Electricity (this one being the only official video of the ones I listed)
Nightwish has a song, The Islander, that I think perfectly captures my landlocked romantic notions of the subject of the song.
A Flash Before My Eyes by Spock’s Beard. It’s about a guy who is killed in a car accident, and the song spends 30 minutes describing the instantaneous, well, title of the song. The best part is where he describes meeting his wife; you really get a sense that he is less concerned with losing his life than what his death will do to his family. Sends shivers down my spine every time.
A great tune. Rafe Ravenscroft’s sax work in that is just epic, and while he only had a couple tunes that I know, Gerry Rafferty (and Stealers Wheel)didn’t go halfway - what I know of ain’t weak by a long shot.
I guess I’ll trot out my usual suspects. Can’t help it, I love these tunes.
One song I always think of in this way is “Can’t You See” by The Marshall Tucker Band. Southern Rock doesn’t get much respect, I guess, but this piece of work, sung by writer/guitarist (and not the usual lead singer) Toy Caldwell is a piece of Southern Rock poetry. I love the blues, and I think this rivals any blues tune you could ever think of for emotion. Some might argue that the imagery is a bit hackneyed, but I prefer to think of it as simple, direct, and to the point, painting a mood with as few words as possible.
What a WONDERFUL performance here. I feel lucky to have found this on Youtube. I can’t imagine there’s a lot of good quality audio & film of their early performances, and I’m glad someone posted it. I’d buy this DVD in a heartbeat.
A bit of a switch from the MTB is this pop tune from the early 80’s. “Only the Lonely” by The Motels. Martha Davis has a voice that might annoy me on anything else, but seems purpose-built for this song. The way the song is so restrained (particularly the achingly understated guitar), building slowly to the screaming sax climax - It’s like slow, tender, aural sex, and what an interesting compliment to the lyrics.
I don’t really have a comment on it, but I thought I’d throw one final song up. “When the Rain Comes Down” probably stands on it’s own without comment. Thanks to **Equipose **for posting it and introducing me to Happy Rhodes. Oh, I will say that I originally thought she did some sort of digital effect to get the Kate Bush-like vocals, but if you look around Youtube, you can see her do it live. No studio trickery.
Samba Pa Ti, by Santana. Can’t link to it from work, and it’s not so much a “song” in that it’s not sung (instrumental), but Carlos’ guitar work is so emotional you can practically hear the guy pleading his love for the girl. At least, in my mind that’s what’s going on. If I’m in the right frame of mind, this track can bring tears to my eyes, it’s so beautiful.
I can’t find the original on the webs at the moment, but I love the short piano theme “Fold” from the movie “Rounders”. The original version has a nice string accompaniment that puts me over the top into shiversville. This guy does a pretty good job on the piano though…
For me it sets the mood perfectly of that period when desperation becomes acceptance becomes hope, “all is lost” but the resolve remains.
The ad, Lincoln MKT. The singer, Sia. The FREE download, here! You can also get Shiny Toy Guns version of Burnin’ For You (Blue Oyster Cult).
Love Under The Milkyway. We would play it while driving through the woods at night, like it was a soundtrack for the evening.
It really made the movie Donnie Darko when they played it during the party scene, but alas, the director’s cut has replaced it and you only hear it briefly during a different scene.
