# Share Your Favorite Songs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 26, 2005, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-songs/286832 "2005-01-26T22:31:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RitzyRae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/aca169/32.png) [@RitzyRae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitzyRae)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2005, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-songs/286832/1 "2005-01-26T22:31:24Z")
So, you like them. You don’t know why. Or do you? Our favorite songs (or works) are just that - our favorites. They’re the ones we jam, bebop, or sob to. They strike a chord inside us and we celebrate them by singing along, playing an air guitar, or drummin’ on our pet’s belly. Now it’s time to share your favorites! Try to be as diverse as you can (yeah, it’s hard I know), and limit yourself to 15 or so. Whether you agree or disagree with someone isn’t so important. I’m hoping we all can find something new, or remember a long lost favorite. Enjoy! And here is my starter list in absolutely no particular order whatsoever. It’s all spur of the moment, people! “Our House” - Madness “Live and Let Die” & “November Rain” - Guns N’ Roses “A Summer Song” - Chad & Jeremy “Every Little Thing She Does is Magic” - The Police “Everybody Hurts” - REM “I’m Gonna Be” - The Proclaimers “You are My Lucky Star” - Singin’ in the Rain (Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds) “These Eyes” - Guess Who “Hotel California” - Eagles “Volare” - Dean Martin “Father of Mine” - Everclear “Margaritaville” - Jimmy Buffett “With or Without You” - U2 “Groovin’” - Young Rascals Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini - Sergei Rachmaninoff Yes, I was partially inspired by the current thread “Music to cry to”, but I can’t cry all the time… ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-songs/286832/2 "2005-01-27T03:35:11Z")
_Dublin Blues_, **Guy Clark** _Cowboy Junkie’s Lament_, **Townes van Zandt** _Boots of Spanish Leather_ or anything off of Blood on the Tracks, **Bob Dylan** _Return of the Grievous Angel_, **Gram Parsons** _Hold On_, **Chris Smither** _Southern Cross_, **Crosby, Stills and Nash** _Spikedriver’s Blues_, **Mississippi John Hurt** (or **Doc Watson** ) _Rexroth’s Daughter_, **Greg Brown** _Margin Walker_, **Fugazi** _London Calling_ (and everything else from that album), **The Clash** _Standing in the Shower Thinking_, **Jane’s Addiction** _Key West Intermezzo (I Saw You First)_, **John Mellencamp** _Buffalo River Home_, **John Hiatt** _1952 Vincent Black Lightning_, **Richard Thompson** _If I Should Fall From Grace With God_, **The Pogues** _Find a Way_, **The Silos** _Story of My Life_, **Social Distortion** _Pressure Drop_, **Toots and the Maytalls** _Snake Oil_, **Steve Earle** That’s a start… there are some more songs I love no matter who’s singing them: _Paradise_ (written by **John Prine** ), _City of New Orleans_ (by **Steve Goodman** ), _Deportee_ and _This Land is Your Land_ (by **Woody Guthrie** ), _Shady Grove_… this list probably doesn’t have an end, so I’ll just stop here. ---
**Author:** ![Freejooky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ba8739/32.png) [@Freejooky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freejooky)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-songs/286832/3 "2005-01-27T04:32:30Z")
I just wrote this for another board like 10 mins ago. It’s not my favorite songs “of all time,” but rather 10 songs that I just absolutely love. Talking Heads - “Air” - What a songo! I love so many things about it - Tina’s “aiiiiiir” vocals, the guitar riff under “what is happening…to my skin?”… the Magnetic Fields - “when the open road is closing in” - One of the finest songs on “charm…” and a great, great country song. the Walker Brothers - “the sun ain’t gonna shine anymore” - one of those songs, like “this could be the night,” that sums up so much in so little. A perfect piece of near-Brechtian vaudeville. Leonard Cohen - “sisters of mercy” - the more quaint and light side of Cohen; a bit of really pretty, sweet humanity from an era when he was tearing your heart out. Antonio Carlos Jobim - “the waters of march” (any version, but in this case the Jobum and Elis Regina version) - One of my favorite melodies ever penned, one that just sticks in your ear and catches you slightly swaying your hips while whistling or singing it later. “A stick, a stone…” the Microphones - “I want wind to blow” - It kicks off what’s now one of my favorite records ever, and makes me believe in the power of the acoustic guitar again. The moment when everything “kicks in” at 2:30 w/ the 4-on-the-floor tom tom, the harmonica, the organ, and that most beautiful little guitarmelody is near-symphonic in its impact; it causes my hair to stand on end. A Tribe Called Quest - “Check the Rhyme” - This will always be the Tribe song to me; it’s everything that made them great on one song. Q-tip’s verses are amazing, Phife’s are stupid, and that Average White Band horn riff is incredibly hot. The 12-bit beat thumps and smacks, and i love the drop-outs at the ends of the verses (“rap is not pop, if you call it that, you stop”/“before I get the butt, the jim must be erect”), the subtle chord change after the second chorus. Magazine - “Definitive Gaze” - I honestly wish the rest of their output was this good and interesting, because this is one of those songs that immediately makes a band your new favorite, and everything else by them is a disappointment after this song. I love the angular groove that breaks into the power chords and piano groove, before that amazing minimoog lead cuts through - you’ll be humming it for days. The shape of post punk that should have came to stay. Los Reactors - “Dead in the Suburbs” - I heard this on a weird 1980’s american underground comp and fell in love with it - the teenage angst is straight out of Repo Man, the pre-“Hey Ya” farting synth-bass, the perfect Farfisa riffs, the amazing punker singalong chorus. I was so thrilled when I recently found out that everything they ever recorded was just released on a CD two months ago! thje Breeders - “Doe” - The type of song that you want to get a sex change and start a cover band just to kick out at an open mic one night. The Steve Albini drums sound twice as huge as “Surfer Rosa,” the riffing is so lackadasical, and the Deal/Donnelly “da-da …da-da…da-DA” is so life-changingly hot. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-songs/286832/4 "2005-01-27T07:44:22Z")
Can’t limit myself to 15, but I can probably limit myself to 20. In no particular order and subject to change without notice: Annie Lennox - Love Song For A Vampire Pink Floyd - Learning To Fly Fatboy Slim - Praise You Great Big Sea - Wave Over Wave Vern Gosdin - Chiseled In Stone David Bowie - Can You Hear Me T’Pau - Heart And Soul Minstrels of Mayhem - Katie Sings Queen - Teo Torriate Elton John - High Flying Bird Dwight Yoakam - I Sang Dixie Joshua Kadison - Painted Desert Serenade Waylon Jennings - Amanda Dashboard Confessional - Vindicated Hair Of The Dog - The Ghost Of The Molly McGuires Jefferson Starship - Miracles Ray Charles & Willie Nelson - Seven Spanish Angels Corrs - Rebel Heart Beethoven - Moonlight Sonata Savatage - Sleep ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-songs/286832/5 "2005-01-27T08:49:04Z")
Oh, good grief! Where to start and how to limit?! “Spirit in the Sky”, Norman Greenbaum - All my friends and family know to play this - LOUDLY - at my funeral! “Conquistador”, Procul Harum - the song that nearly got me killed. Didn’t hear that siren… “You Don’t have To Say You Love Me”, Buffy Springfield - one of the all time howlers. “There Are Worse Things I Could Do”, Stockard Channing - Who needs Olivia and “Hopelessly” when you’ve got Rizzo? “In The Mood, Glen Miller” - That great, joyous run up to the final loud, proud note. Whew! “Sing Sing Sing”, Benny Goodman (full length) - A masterpiece. They’re so into the music. It’s like being lost in a jam. “Blue Is the Night”, James Melton - dark and mysterious. '30’s docks at night. “Somebody To Love” Queen - it just soars “White Rabbit” and “Somebody to Love”, Jefferson Airplane - a two for one on my '45. A deliciously loopy trip and an amazingly loooong note. “Cherry Bomb”, The Runaways - GRRRLS RULE! Whee! Joan Jett, Lita Ford, Cherie Currie, loud and in your face. At seventine, I wanted to be _them_! Whole album special mention - Gordon Lightfoot, “The Way I Feel”. It still gives me chills. And, of course, Alice. The one and only Alice Cooper - I must be the most vocal, unashamed, fan on the Dope! 😃 Yeah, yeah, I know… :rolleyes: This week’s favorites are - “Might As Well Be On Mars”, “Love’s A Loaded Gun”, Crazy Little Child", “Blue Turk” and “Poison”. The list keeps changing. Thirty years later, I’m still hooked! ---
**Author:** ![Caprese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9a28c/32.png) [@Caprese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caprese)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-songs/286832/6 "2005-01-27T13:05:48Z")
_Splendid Isolation_ **Warren Zevon** _Box of Rain_ **The Grateful Dead** _Little Bird_ /_Let’s Build A Home_ - **The White Stripes** _Over and Over_ **Neil Young** _Goin’ Home_ **Mark Knopfler** _Thousands Are Sailing_ **the Pogues** ---
**Author:** ![Mal\_Adroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Mal\_Adroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mal_Adroit)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-songs/286832/7 "2005-01-27T13:41:33Z")
“April Come She Will,” Simon and Garfunkel “Seven Seas of Rhye,” Queen “Covers and Pages,” Moviola “Superstition,” Stevie Wonder “The Golden Age of Leather,” Blue Oyster Cult “The Champ,” Jimmy Smith “New York Groove,” Ace Frehley “Sunship Balloons,” Flaming Lips “Vincent,” Don McLean “Take Your Mama,” Scissor Sisters “The Kids Are All Right,” The Who “Broadford Bazzar,” Jethro Tull “Freak,” Bruce Dickinson “Down on the Corner,” Credence Clearwater Revival “Blue Valentines,” Tom Waits ---
**Author:** ![RitzyRae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/aca169/32.png) [@RitzyRae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitzyRae)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-songs/286832/8 "2005-01-27T15:01:37Z")
Yes, the limit is evil, isn’t it? But, I think it is understood that we all could love 100 other songs than the ones we’ve listed. This is just for what pops in your head while you’re posting. If you to need to post another list, for sanity’s sake, then please do. \*\*Enginerd \*\* - I got to find “Standing in the Shower Thinking”! That’s the story of my life … and my water bill. \*\*LifeOnWry \*\* - David Bowie! \*\*zoogirl \*\* - Bravo, Glen Miller! I love “Moonlight Serenade”. **Moody Bastard** - I adore Stevie! ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-songs/286832/9 "2005-01-27T15:15:33Z")
_Desperados Under the Eaves_ - **Warren Zevon** _Genius_ - **Warren Zevon** _The Vast Indifference of Heaven_ - **Warren Zevon** _Sam Stone_ - **John Prine** _Hello in There_ - **John Prine** _American Pie_ - **Don McLean** _Vincent_ - **Don McLean** _California Stars_ - **Wilco** _Jesus, etc._ - **Wilco** ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-songs/286832/10 "2005-01-27T17:05:08Z")
> [@zoogirl](#): > > “You Don’t have To Say You Love Me”, Buffy Springfield - one of the all time howlers. Dusty, not Buffy. But you’re right, it’s a great howler! I could EASILY expand my list to include a hundred songs, but the ones I listed are the ones that pop into my head instantly when someone says “favorite songs.” ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-songs/286832/11 "2005-01-27T17:19:34Z")
Light - Assemblage 23 Oceania - Bjork Remember - Air Tech Romance - Her Space holiday The Riddle - Nik Kershaw Young & Lovely - Blur i-i-i a wave - the Gandharvas Los Rancheros - Adam Ant Pashernate Love - Morrissey Don’t Say Goodbye - Goldfinger A Different Point of View - Pet Shop Boys Veronica - Elvis Costello Primrose Hill - Madness Cybele’s Reverie - Stereolab Bloodletting Go - Tears For Fears These just randomly came up on my playlist. They’re all my favourites, so the list could go on and on. ---
**Author:** ![LindyHopper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@LindyHopper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LindyHopper)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-songs/286832/12 "2005-01-27T17:30:34Z")
15, huh? OK, I’ll give it a shot… “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, Nirvana “Mysterons”, Portishead “Back in Black”, AC/DC “Cannonball”, the Breeders “Too Bad About Your Girl”, the Donnas “You Took Advantage Of Me”, Carmen McRae “Brown Sugar”, the Rolling Stones “Bloodstains”, Agent Orange “Hello Operator”, the White Stripes “Hate to Say I Told You So”, the Hives “Song 2”, Blur “Graveyard Shift”, Uncle Tupelo “Side of the Road”, Lucinda Williams “So Whatcha Want”, the Beastie Boys “All the Time”, Green Day That’s the best I can do, here at work, without my collection in front of me. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-songs/286832/13 "2005-01-27T17:43:57Z")
> [@LindyHopper](#): > > “Cannonball”, the Breeders Ooooh, creepy, this is the song that came up right after my fifteenth! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Ocean\_City\_Maryland](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@Ocean\_City\_Maryland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ocean_City_Maryland)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-songs/286832/14 "2005-01-27T17:48:35Z")
**The Beatles** - Virtually every song, but I’ll pick _Dr. Robert_ **Rolling Stones** - _Angie_ **Exile** - _Kiss You All Over_ **T. Rex** - _Children Of The Revolution_ **Gerry Rafferty** - _Baker Street_ **Seals & Crofts** - _Summer Breeze_ **Blondie** - _Heart Of Glass_ **Boston** - _Foreplay/Longtime_ **Flock Of Seagulls** - _I Ran_ **AC/DC** - _Shock Me All Night Long_ **Ozzy Osbourne** - _Crazy Train_ **Guns-n-Roses** - _Patience_ **The Cure** - _Just Like Heaven_ **Public Enemy** - _Fight The Power_ **Collective Soul** - _Gel_ **Shania Twain** - _I Feel Like A Women_ **System Of A Down** - _Chop Suey_ **Eminem** - _Without Me_ **Coldplay** - _Clocks_ ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-songs/286832/15 "2005-01-27T17:58:09Z")
Okay, I’ll play with some of my favorites… **Depeche Mode** “Enjoy the Silence” **Depeche Mode** “Never Let Me Down Again” **VNV Nation** “Beloved” **VNV Nation** “Standing” **Mesh** “I Can’t Imagine How it Hurts” **The Echoing Green** “Blind” **Anything Box** “An Ending” **Anything Box** “Worth” **Death Cab For Cutie** “A Lack of Color” **Death Cab For Cutie** “Passenger Seat” **The Cure** “A Letter to Elise” **Color Theory** “Perfect Song” **Assemblage 23** “Horizons” **The Postal Service** “Nothing Better” **Lisa Gerrard** “Shadow Magnet” ---
**Author:** ![LindyHopper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@LindyHopper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LindyHopper)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-songs/286832/16 "2005-01-27T18:20:19Z")
> [@Anastasaeon](#): > > Ooooh, creepy, this is the song that came up right after my fifteenth! 🆒 Well, good, because I was starting to feel inferior. I mean, I’ve heard of most of the _artists_ on your list, but I only recognize one of the _songs_. Care to guess which one? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-songs/286832/17 "2005-01-28T01:11:37Z")
Dire Straits-“Brothers in Arms” Led Zepplin-“Kashmir” Love Spit Love-“Fall on Tears” Boston-“More Than a Feeling” Fleetwood Mac-“You Can Go Your Own Way” Jackson Browne-“Running on Empty” Jimmy Buffett-“A Pirate Looks at 40” Van Halen-“Dreams” Chicago-“You’re the Inspiration” U2-“Where the Streets Have No Name” ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-songs/286832/18 "2005-01-28T01:24:03Z")
Stairway to Heaven - Lede Zeppelin Ripple - Grateful Dead Our House - Madness Landslide - Fleetwood Mac Fearless - Pink Floyd Come on Eileen - Dexy’s Midnight Runners No Woman No Cry - Bob Marley That’s all that comes to mind right away. I’m sure I’ll think of 30 more as soon as I hit the Submit button ---
**Author:** ![archmichael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@archmichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/archmichael)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-songs/286832/19 "2005-01-28T02:15:34Z")
I don’t know about favorite, but these are the one’s I can’t fast forward on Winamp Alone Again - Gilbert O’Sullivan Love’s Theme - Barry White Down in the Valley - Otis Redding He’s a Fly Guy - Curtis Mayfield featuring Fishbone D’yer Maker - Led Zeppelin Windmills of Your Mind - Sting’s version The Chokin’ Kind - Joss Stone (How can such a young girl put so much of her soul into a song?) No Woman No Cry - Bob Marley U-Haul - Angie Stone Thinking of You - Tony Toni Tone So Lonely - The Police Ascension - Maxwell Te Busco - Celia Cruz Black Nostaljack - Camp Lo Hook - Blues Traveler ---
**Author:** ![Windwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/5e9695/32.png) [@Windwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Windwalker)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-songs/286832/20 "2005-01-28T03:30:29Z")
> [@interface2x](#): > > **The Postal Service** “Nothing Better” Heh, I did not expect to see that here; one of my faves as well. > [@Moody Bastard](#): > > “April Come She Will,” Simon and Garfunkel Yes! My second favorite S&G song that no one else seems to have heard of. Guess I should add some of mine: “California Dreamin’”, Beach Boys “I Fought the Law,” The Clash “Hook”, Blues Traveler “Photobooth”, Death Cab for Cutie “Paranoid Android”, Radiohead “Waltz #2”, Elliott Smith “Angeles”, Elliott Smith “Bleecker Street”, Simon & Garfunkel “Disarm”, Smashing Pumpkins “Human Hands”, Elvis Costello “Heroin”, Velvet Underground “Rosa Parks”, Outkast “What it is”, Mark Knopfler “It Don’t Mean a Thing (if you ain’t got that swing)”, Louis Armstrong? “Sing sing sing”, Benny Goodman “Tiger Rag”, Benny Goodman “Waltz no. 1 in Eb major”, Frederic Chopin “Piano Concerto no. 2, Allegro”, Sergei Rachmaninov “La valee de Dana”, Manau “Yo te quiero libre”, Silvio Rodriguez “El Mariachi”, Gypsy Kings [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-songs/286832.md?page=2)