# Outstanding tracks you think only you are aware of. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 9, 2017, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outstanding-tracks-you-think-only-you-are-aware-of/776719 "2017-01-09T14:51:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outstanding-tracks-you-think-only-you-are-aware-of/776719/1 "2017-01-09T14:51:34Z")
My pick is Harry Nilsson’s version of Randy Newman’s “Cowboy”: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15dCBHGjx8I](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15dCBHGjx8I) ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outstanding-tracks-you-think-only-you-are-aware-of/776719/2 "2017-01-09T15:23:02Z")
_Come Back Little Sheba_ by Patti Smith. From a compilation album. She calls it one of her Appalachian Songs. Would love to hear more like that. [This](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q70R-vC2EHA) YouTube “video” has less than 6k views. _Because The Night_ has over 5 million. ---
**Author:** ![Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_Arachnid_Laser_1)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outstanding-tracks-you-think-only-you-are-aware-of/776719/3 "2017-01-09T15:30:57Z")
Hoosiers are a largely ignored brit pop band. But my favorite song from them is not one of their hits, but a b-side, [Ruby Blue](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bwb7qfud-D8). Such a kickass song. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outstanding-tracks-you-think-only-you-are-aware-of/776719/4 "2017-01-09T15:44:49Z")
I’ll throw out a couple of B-Sides that fans are surely aware of but may not be known by others: [Kate Bush-Under the Ivy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aApspl6na0E) [Peter Gabriel-Curtains](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7-wfM_-heM) ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outstanding-tracks-you-think-only-you-are-aware-of/776719/5 "2017-01-09T17:13:39Z")
There’s a bootleg of a live show by the Flower Travellin’ Band recorded just before that incarnation was disbanded. It’s incredible. The lead guitar parts are played by Katsuhiko Kobayashi on pedal steel with an absolutely searing fuzz tone, and he’s an amazing player. The bass sound of Jun Kobayashi is just about my ideal bass sound, and Jack Bruce has nothing on him. The fact that the album’s title, _From Pussies to Death in 10,000 Years of Freakout_, is a shoo-in for top 10 album titles ever, is just icing. The covers are more likely to be easy to digest, but their instrumental originals are awesome, too. Covers: [Stone Free](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pC84gwS77nI) [How Many More Times](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBCWNDumMZU) (as a duet) Originals: [Otoko](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0S_caUu7SI) I’m Dead [Pt 1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PB2BJt37i-U) [Pt 2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZeDyuxLfm0) (it’s a jam that’s longer than an album side) Most of my friends who are into this kind of music don’t know who they are, much less about this record. Many thanks to Julian Cope for blogging about them. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outstanding-tracks-you-think-only-you-are-aware-of/776719/6 "2017-01-09T18:12:22Z")
Another one of Nilsson’s, [_I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City_.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2swOlajJ-zU) Proffered as the theme song for the movie “Midnight Cowboy,” it was passed over for _Everybody’s Talkin’_. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outstanding-tracks-you-think-only-you-are-aware-of/776719/7 "2017-01-09T18:18:40Z")
The original _[Fox on the Run](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zqFDRA1HY8)_ by Manfred Mann. It became a bluegrass standard (with some bastardized lyrics) and has been played by jillions of people who have no idea it was first done by a British rock band. ETA: Nothing to do with song of the same name by Sweet. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outstanding-tracks-you-think-only-you-are-aware-of/776719/8 "2017-01-09T18:52:45Z")
**Rush** ’s _Best I Can_ from _Fly By Night_. Great groove, not a hit, but a great song. One of the rare Geddy lyric songs in the post Peart era. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wmNgszPNfI) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outstanding-tracks-you-think-only-you-are-aware-of/776719/9 "2017-01-09T19:01:10Z")
The Bonzo Dog Band version of “[Monster Mash](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Od2PBlZ3ZQM)” is superior to Bobby “Boris” Pickett in every way (including the video). There’s also “[In a Broken Dream](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZEHenH-KFM)” by Python Lee Jackson, which has Rod Stewart’s greatest vocal performance. “[Electric Sailor](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsHHhtWQanA)” by Kak, an great and obscure track off a great and obscure album. ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outstanding-tracks-you-think-only-you-are-aware-of/776719/10 "2017-01-09T19:06:48Z")
Syrinx - [December Angel](https://youtu.be/0GuH9us2FCU?t=50s) ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outstanding-tracks-you-think-only-you-are-aware-of/776719/11 "2017-01-09T19:39:49Z")
Wordburglars [Rhyme O’clock](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l857fq_tqOs), with More or Les. Or really anything by Wordbruglar, dude made an entire rap album about GI Joe which is surprisingly [good](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdCyXeJf844). ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outstanding-tracks-you-think-only-you-are-aware-of/776719/12 "2017-01-09T20:38:11Z")
Whenever this topic comes up, I’m reminded of _Motor Scooter_ by The Surrealists. A friend of mine put this on a mix tape for me in 1990. He apparently knew of it from another friend who found it on a barely released cassette, etc. It’s a song you never heard of on an album you never heard of from a band you never heard of, but for one brief moment they transcended obscurity and made something great. And until recently, if you searched for this song of the web the only hit was me having mentioned it here before. But no longer. The FOAF has digitized it, and even made a video for it. It does my heart good to know that this moment of brilliance will carry on to be shared with new fans. It can be seen [here](https://youtu.be/Rh_WKd3h01c). > [@RealityChuck](#): > > The Bonzo Dog Band version of “[Monster Mash](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Od2PBlZ3ZQM)” is superior to Bobby “Boris” Pickett in every way (including the video). Exactly so. Pickett sounded like he was just having a lark. The Bonzos can make you believe the singer is actually deranged. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outstanding-tracks-you-think-only-you-are-aware-of/776719/13 "2017-01-09T20:45:56Z")
Kurt Weill’s “Dadeldoo.” ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outstanding-tracks-you-think-only-you-are-aware-of/776719/14 "2017-01-10T01:10:11Z")
> [@Gary\_T](#): > > Another one of Nilsson’s, [_I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City_.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2swOlajJ-zU) Proffered as the theme song for the movie “Midnight Cowboy,” it was passed over for _Everybody’s Talkin’_. … but found a home with [Sophia Loren’s “Lady Liberty.”](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068970/soundtrack?ref_=tt_trv_snd) ---
**Author:** ![stolatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@stolatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stolatt)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outstanding-tracks-you-think-only-you-are-aware-of/776719/15 "2017-01-10T03:46:48Z")
Joni Hendrix “Remember” and John Lee Hooker/Van Morrison “Never get out of these Blues Alive”. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outstanding-tracks-you-think-only-you-are-aware-of/776719/16 "2017-01-10T05:45:24Z")
[Four Jacks and a Jill - “Master Jack”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hG_wA8RxKOQ): They had the poor taste to be White South African when anti-Apartheid sentiment was on the upswing in the rest of the Western world, so that song never really got the play it deserved. [Reparata - “Shoes (Johnny and Louise)”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jDX7ly8Jyo): This is just a randomly forgotten song that I happen to like. It has a strange Old World feel to it, with something of a dark undertone. [The Roches - “Mister Sellack”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJjJ6FNWFdI): Asking for your job back in three-part harmony? They make it work. [Big Star - “September Gurls”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNKSs1J38EA): They would be revived by the later proto-grunge era (The Replacements had a song about and titled Alex Chilton) but they were out of place and without honor in their own era (How out of place? They were a bunch of White guys handled by Stax.) so they never made it to the heights they should have. Listen to all of their stuff, I just picked a song almost at random. [Another good one is “Thirteen”, for something a bit slower.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pte3Jg-2Ax4) [Todd Duncan performing an abbreviated version of “Unchained Melody” in the 1955 film _Unchained_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szpGVAGcysw) which is, of course, the origin of the song. This version has been so eclipsed by the Righteous Brothers’ version of the song that, if you search Google for something like _unchained melody move soundtrack_ you end up with references to the _Ghost_ soundtrack which, of course, used the Righteous Brothers’ cover. I’m familiar with covers eclipsing the original to the point the original becomes, essentially, a bad novelty version forever to live in the shadow of the later definitive version, but I’ve never heard of a song named after a film becoming so dissociated from that movie that people forget the movie even existed even as the cover of the song continues to be played. And, no, _Unchained_, while it is a prison film, isn’t the movie where two escaped convicts are chained _to each other_. (My mom is also the only person who could confuse _Five Easy Pieces_ with _Slaughterhouse Five_.) ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outstanding-tracks-you-think-only-you-are-aware-of/776719/17 "2017-01-10T09:53:30Z")
I’m a big fan of people reworking their own stuff, like MTV’s _Unplugged_. Sometimes it’s harder to see how this would work. Case in point - Young Gods are a Swiss Industrial band, and especially their early stuff is[quite heavy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdJH8q5c1k8). But they seem to make it work here with just acoustic instruments + one megaphone :[\* Longue Route\*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enfDeW2Y6gw). And here they make it work with an orchestra (guest vocals by Mike Patton of FNM/Mr Bungle) covering Gary Glitter’s [_Did You Miss Me_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyYwjqkA-lw) (AKA _Hello, Hello, I’m Back Again_). Here’s their [original cover](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=og7KGjVUUVU). ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outstanding-tracks-you-think-only-you-are-aware-of/776719/18 "2017-01-10T13:44:45Z")
Keith Jarrett’s “European Trio,” [Innocence](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TDyVAZNnXvc) (the _Nude Ants_ version – I find the other versions weak). Great melody, great improvising. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outstanding-tracks-you-think-only-you-are-aware-of/776719/19 "2017-01-10T13:47:58Z")
Band of Gypsys (Jimi Hendrix), [Who Knows](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LyqC6_TgLOo). It’s just a groove, but what a groove! ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outstanding-tracks-you-think-only-you-are-aware-of/776719/20 "2017-01-10T17:12:02Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > [Big Star - “September Gurls”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNKSs1J38EA): They would be revived by the later proto-grunge era (The Replacements had a song about and titled Alex Chilton) but they were out of place and without honor in their own era (How out of place? They were a bunch of White guys handled by Stax.) so they never made it to the heights they should have. Listen to all of their stuff, I just picked a song almost at random. [Another good one is “Thirteen”, for something a bit slower.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pte3Jg-2Ax4) “September Gurls” is pretty much the first song I think of when asked “Name examples of a perfect pop song.” Great song, great band. I’m not sure they’re quite that obscure these days, at least among music lovers, (heck, the Bangles covered “September Gurls” and the them from That 70s Show is a Cheap Trick cover of a Big Star song) but the fact they didn’t get blowup huge in their heyday is sad. Did you see the Big Star documentary from a few years back, “Nothing Can Hurt Me”? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outstanding-tracks-you-think-only-you-are-aware-of/776719.md?page=2)