Feel free to send more floggings my way for duplicating the Dylan cut…
Ode to Joy is the last one standing.
I’m not wild about Ode to Joy.
Does that mean you don’t think Ode to Joy is good?
I’ve been pondering that. I’d have to say it’s good, but not to my taste (since first learning it in 3rd grade and singing it in high school chorus).
What about the 1812 Overture? You might appreciate cannons even if classical music is not your bag.
Kashmir- Led Zeppelin
Now I know there are some who will disagree, the seeming fate of every other song offered here. But Stairway to Heaven is too obvious & is one of the most divisive songs in terms of opinion re: rock history.
Yet even if one doesn’t care for Zeppelin it’s hard to deny the epic level of symphonic composition in which each player is crucial to the otherworldly atmosphere of Kashmir. Also Page, Plant & JP Jones all have said this one, not Stairway, is the definitive Led Zeppelin song.
I’m going to object to Ode To Joy on technical grounds.
If we’re talking about Ode to Joy as set by Beethoven in the fourth movement of his ninth symphony, I don’t think it qualifies as a song. It’s far too sprawling and varied, with multiple sections, interludes, musical forms (fugues, marches, chorales), and a whole host of themes beyond the one we’re all familiar with. It’s much more a suite than anything as cohesive as a song.
Now, if we’re talking about the use of that theme in another setting, say “Joyful, joyful we adore you”, I could get behind that.
Definitely not a song.
Curve ball: “When Night Comrs” - Joe cocker.
It’s hard to resist
From our out-of-left-field-category, may I present “The Salt in your Tears” by Martin Briley.
Kashmir is long and heavy, and not everyone likes long and heavy. If I had to choose one Zeppelin song that could appeal to everyone, I’d probably go with “Ramble On”.
Wrong. Quite stirring with cannons, choral, and bells.
Did I miss Something in the poll? Or was it nixed here already, and I missed that?
Nobody has mentioned Tom Petty, either, but what can you do.
I had 3 Fabs cuts in there as it was. [Note I like it, personally]
Absolutely no United States-centric, patriotic bullshit. No “America the Beautiful,” which was mentioned upthread, and similar crap.
This may resonate with Monday morning commuters.
Yeah offensive but a satisfying groove.
A song needs to be sung, but not all that is sung is a song. There needs to be some sense of coherence to the vocality. Rearranging an orchestral work to include voices doesn’t cut it. Certainly Buketoff’s arrangement includes a song (God Save the Tsar), but the 1812 Overture remains an overture, not a song.
So a prog rock song like Genesis’ “Supper’s Ready” also wouldn’t count as a song in your book? What else is it? A suite? A mini-opera?
I think there’s considerable gray area, but there are things that clearly exist outside of those areas.
Das Rheingold by Wagner is two and a half hours of continuous music, with a great deal of singing. I don’t think anyone would call it a song. That’s just one example of many. Lots of things clearly are songs. Plenty of examples in this thread.
I’m not familiar with the Genesis song and don’t have time right now to listen to it.
For the purposes of this thread, I would argue that things like the fourth movement of Beethoven’s ninth and Buketoff’s (and von Karajan’s) arrangements of the 1812 Overture are not “good songs” in that they fail to be good at being songs.