Since people have already mentioned Throwing Copper’s powerful nature, I’ll put in a vote for Chevelle’s *Family System *.
You really have to crank this one up on a good sound system to feel the sheer power. It kicks off their Wonder What’s Next? album and I think it’s a perfect opening. I want to break stuff whenever I hear this song–in a good way.
I also love how the fragmented, earnest lyrics
*I’m tired of your open mouth
Crawling inside my skin
<snip>
Forget the time I said I would,
Replace that with i never will,
Beyond the facts held in your face,
Ignore the facts beyond your nose,
Say that its too late,
What a man’s got he’ll learn to hate.
*
And how all that just explodes at the end into this huge angsty ball of
*JUST GROW UP!
RRUHH!!!
RRUHH!!!
RRUHH!!!
RRUHH!!!*
I’m not normally a fan of excessive angst, but they do it so well. You feel like you are literally standing right in the middle of the argument in question. It just really pounds you with the frustration inherent in those kinds of relationships.
Thanks for posting that. I had never heard of the song and it is really good. I don’t particularly like the person singing it (youtube video) but the lyric was very moving.
I would like to nominate Alice in Chains - Junkhead Many people may not feel the same way, and that’s great!, but I personally think the song is great when you consider all of Layne Staley’s work. Particularly how his life ended. I find most of Layne Staley’s work to be very powerful. For instance, Nutshell
Oh! How Could I forget “Pray,” the lyrical version of the main Final Fantasy theme, done by Risa Ohki. Maybe it’s the nostalgia, but it tears me up every time.
Lisa Gerrard sang this when I saw in concert in May, it was great.
Another powerful DCD / Lisa song is “Sanvean”, particularly the live version from “Toward the Within” (which you can see here). She performed this both at the solo show I saw and the DCD show I saw in 2005.
That whole album, Little Earthquakes, is mind-bogglingly powerful. The one that moves me the most is Mother.
*
Go go go go now
Out of the nest
It’s time
Go go go now
Circus girl without a safety net
Here here now
Don’t cry
You raised your hand for the assignment
Tuck those ribbons under your helmet
Be a good soldier
First my left foot
Then my right behind the other
Pantyhose
Running in the cold
Mother the car is here
Somebody leave the light on
Black Chariot for the redhead
Dancing dancing girl And when I dance for him
Somebody leave the light on just in case
I like the dancing
I can remember where I come from*
I agree. I never cared for Cyndi Lauper until I heard her sing True Colors, sometime in the mid-90’s. I rate Phil Collins’ cover just a little higher though.
The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia always gives me a chill up the back (means it’s powerful). I only ever hear it, it seems, driving late at night struggling to stay awake by surfing the FM dial. There are so many Country Music stations and the songs are so incredibly inane they can hold my interest and thus stave off dozing just marveling at their unrelieved fatuousness. Surprisingly often, though, a station will happen to play The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia, by Reba, and suddenly I find myself listening with respectful rapt attention. This, even though I have never been able to figure out the plot behind the chain of events. Sleepiness is dispelled long after the song ends as I ruminate on those events.
Wikipedia has a full description of the chain of events and also some surprising facts relating to the song’s hit-status for two performers, Reba McIntyre and Vicki Lawrence, of all people.
It was written by Bobby Russell (1941-1992), Vicki Lawrence’s first husband (married 1972-1974). He also wrote Little Green Apples, which won a 1969 Best Song Grammy jointly for O. C. Smith (1932-2001) and Roger Miller (1936-1992).
Cher was offered The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia first but, unbeknownst to her(!), husband Sonny Bono turned it down. Vicki Lawrence, then a regular on The Carol Burnett Show, recorded her husband’s handiwork in late 1972. It achieved Number 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and also reached the Top 40 of Billboard’s Hot Country Singles. I can only imagine how Cher must have coveted a crossover – possibly a signature – hit like that. I don’t know enough about Country Music to know whether it’s Reba’s signature hit or not.
Peat Bog Soldiers by, oh, just about anybody - though I like The Home Service’s version.
In fact the Home Service’s first album is an amazingly powerful set of songs (with the exception of ‘Doing the Inglish’ which was a single and not on the original version) from Bill Caddick’s relentlessly downbeat ‘Never Going to be a Cowboy Now’ and ‘She Moves Among Men’ to John Tams’ socialist anthems ‘Don’t Let Them Grind You Down’ and ‘Walk My Way’ which open and close the set. The rock-group-with-a-brass-band arrangements add to the impact, too. Not bad for a bunch of English folkies.
“Don’t Speak” by No Doubt has always been able to powerfully affect me, even when I wasn’t a hundred-percent clear on what the song was about. I’ve broken to it a few times.
Okay, if Faithfool can do it, so can I - obligatory Alice Cooper song here.
“Might As Well Be On Mars”.
Oh wow. It’s unrequited desperation at it’s best. The scene is a man standing on the roof of his building, looking across and down at the corner bar where his former girlfiend sits.
“Baby I can’t fly
If I could, I’d come down to you
Maybe I should try…”
The first time I heard it and realized he was talking about jumping…major shivers. It’s simply one of the most moving songs I know.
It’s the story of an Australian conscript in WWI who gets his legs blown off in Gallipoli. It wasn’t written by Shane MacGowan, but I think his voice is perfect for the song. Maybe it’s the resigned, matter-of-fact way he relates the horror of war.
It was the first song I ever heard by the Pogues, and now they’re my favorite band. It’s definitely worth a listen, even if it is a bit long.
“Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” by Gordon Lightfoot
“Candle in the Wind” by Elton John
“We’re All Alone” by Boz Scaggs
“Kiss and Say Goodbye” by the Manhattans
