Or “Crying”.
His duet with K.D.Lang on that song still gives me goosebumps.
Now, the interesting thing for this thread is that Lang is emoting her heart out… and hitting the really high notes: “The touuuuuch of your hand” at 1:45 … who else could match chops like that with Roy?
(That’s from a great live version - Top of the Pops, 1988)
This was going to be my contribution to the thread. I still get The Shivers when I hear it.
mmm
Simon & Garfunkel’s “Scarborough Fair/Canticle” is hands down the prettiest song of the classic rock era. (Yes, it’s classic rock. The Beatles also did harpsichords. And string quartets.) The song haunts, partly because of the plaintive addressing of the melody but also because of SImon’s anti-war “Canticle” in counterpoint.
It all peaks with the last repetition of “Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme” at 2:36, with their high harmonies on “thyme” sending chills down your spine. There’s an apt comment on YouTube, “This is a song that makes you stop doing whatever you’re doing and just sit still and listen.” Few other songs can make that claim.
The last chorus of Brandi Carlile’s The Story really cranks. Brandi Carlile - The Story - YouTube Jump to about 2:50 if you must.
I don’t think I could even come close to picking one impressively sung line.
Likewise for me is the last line in “Alive”:
“Is something wrong?” she said
Well, of course there is
“You’re still alive,” she said
Oh, do I deserve to be?
Is that the question?
And if so, if so
Who answers, who answers?
The subtle pain in “who answers” is just…perfect.
The line “baby it’s you” sung at about 2:30 -
chills every time
Perhaps there is a defect in me that the symbolism of 9/11 eludes me. New York lost two of its ugliest monuments to ugliness, and the response was a nightmare of wrongness. But the Tori Amos does a haunting song that puts it on a personal level that should reach just about anyone.
You said you would find me
Even in death
And you said you would find me
But I can’t see New York
Circling down, in a white cloud
Falling out
Got in an argument many moons ago with a BIL about Joan Baez’s handling of X-Mas carols. He felt that her frequent vibrato rendered everything saccharine, and I’m like - fuck that noise - this is pretty darn fine, as far as I’m concerned, TYVM.
(Her “Coventry Carol” off this album - haunting, transcendant, moves me, totally in my DNA)
Pass me some of that dumbass over there; hey Bubba, I tell ya…
The Buttholes.
Beautiful.
Not too technically demanding or anything - just plain really nice sounding - the Pretenders’ Chrissy Hynde in “I’ll Stand By You”, especially the quietly powerful notes she hits during
Won’t let nobody hurt you
Yet today, my love has gone away, I am without my love (without my love)
Impressively sung? Got to be the song Focus by Hocus Pocus, yodeling with speed metal prog rock.
This. 100% this.
Juliet, when we made love you used to cry
said I love you like the stars above, love you til I die.
You mean “Hocus Pocus” by Focus.
Gotta love the hard rock yodeling!
Once you said that, I realized I’d sure like to declare for “Zombie” by The Cranberries.
One that pops out for me is “And I won’t be denied” by Sarah McLachlan in Possession (around 3:25) It doesn’t really push her vocals or anything (that’s practically impossible), it is just so pointedly powerful sexy.
Not impressive range or anything, but it would be interesting to see if you played Ticket to Heaven for a good Christian whether they were to hear an inspirational song or satire.
Ooh, that’s a good one! I hear what you mean when you say it sounds sexy, but it also sounds very threatening. Not surprising when the inspiration for this song was notes that she had been receiving from obsessed fans who had been sending disturbing letters to her.
Puts a different slant on these lyrics when you consider that:
And I would be the one
To hold you down
Kiss you so hard
I’ll take your breath away
And after I’d, wipe away the tears
Just close your eyes dear
From “And the Band played Waltzing Matilda”. Another memorable series of lines:
“I see the old men all tired, stiff and worn
Those weary old heroes of a forgotten war
And the young people ask “What are they marching for?”
And I ask myself the same question,”
The Who, Won’t Get Fooled Again, “Ye-e-e-e-e-e-s!”
Janis Joplin, Cry Baby, any of the choruses “C’mon and cry, baby!”
Etta James, At Last, first line “At last, my love has come along”