I second this one. My mom used to play an album with this on it, every Sunday morning, so I don’t have a memory of when I heard it first. Matter of fact, I used to know it by “Tran tran tran” (what my older sibs called it). Beautiful piece.
I’ll submit Roundabout by Yes.
All of Darkside of the Moon by Pink Floyd. I remember enjoying it rather deeply when I first gave it a listen.
Just one? Yikes, a very tough choice.
Symphony #6 by Beethoven.
But if I could, I’d also like to include
Symphony #9 by Beethoven
Daphnis and Chloe by Ravel
Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun by Debussy
and a number of others.
Oh wow. That would absolutely have to be Bittersweet Symphony. Hearing that song for the first time was just pure transcendant bliss. I wish I could forget it and then hear it for the first time on some sort of psychedelic drug.
Same goes for Unchained Melody. I remember hearing that song for the first time as a kid. It had such a hauntingly complete instrumental texture to it. It had a way of just wrapping me up, completely enveloping me in its pleasantly dark misery. Actually, the song sounds like the quintessential great drug trip feels to me.
I also wish I could forget John Coltrane’s “Acknowledgement” (the first track of A Love Supreme) and hear it for the first time again. The way he strains the highest notes of his saxophone, blowing all the way through the ceiling, reaching toward God, is mind-blowing. If that doesn’t just send you into space, you have no soul.
I also have to second Peter, Bjorn and John’s “Young Folks”. Something about that song can just transfix you. I can’t believe it’s been forgotten so quickly. And I’ll second “Roundabout”.
And along the lines of cgg419’s post, I’d like to forget the Sneaker Pimps’ “Six Underground” because of the bittersweet memories.
Hostile Dialect,
Hostile Dialect, Narcissist
Closer by Nine Inch Nails (in concurrence with Shamozzle)
Radiohead - Fake Plastic Trees (still a powerful song, but I want to relive the breath-taking first time)
Benny Goodman - Sing Sing Sing (don’t even remember the first time, but it’d be nice going into this without knowing all of the cool transitions in advance)
I would not want to forget any of my favourite songs. For this to really work, all memories of what I associate these songs with would have to be gone forever too. Unless, you promise that these memories come back after my second ‘first time’. But when you listen to a song, only afterwards to remember again where and when you heard it before, the ‘first time’ experience wouldn’t have been quite the same, would it?
It’s already possible in reality, sort of. Basically, it would be like listening to music while under a bad anesthesia. There are sedatives that induce temporary retrograde amnesia. No memory of who you are, what happened, why you’re here, only aware of the here and now. The grogginess after an electroshock might be very similar too. I think I’ll pass.
Well, here’s one: Peter Frampton - Do You Feel Like We Do. Not particularly for the re-listening value of a favourite song, but specifically because you can experience the full surprise effect of the guitar/scream transition and the reaction of the crowd really only once and then never again.
Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb
There was something incredibly uplifting and emotionally overwhelming about the transition from the verse to the first chorus that I’ve never quite captured on subsequent plays. I’d also like to scrub my memory of The Wall film and watch Comfy Numb on that too, similar reason but with the added effect of the expansive shot of the field with little Pink running.
Forgetting and having another first listen to The Dark Side of the Moon would be interesting because I first heard that as a young 10-11 year old boy on my Mum’s record player, and the only Pink Floyd I’d heard before was Another Brick in the Wall, and for some reason I thought PF were a hard rock verging on heavy metal band. So my expectations of Dark Side were a little off, and I didn’t immediately appreciate it.
Houston’s International Festival concentrates on a particular country every year. But international, national, regional & local acts round out the entertainment schedule for two weekends in the spring. Long ago, admission was free; it’s still a great bargain.
Some years back, Joe Ely was scheduled for the closing show. We were told he couldn’t bring his band, but I was among those who arrived early for a seat on the grass, anyway. As a solo act, he’s still kickass. We watched the stage setup–hmm, they were setting up more than a mikestand for one. Seems as though he’d convinced a few of his pals to make the trip down from Austin, after all.
The band came out, the lights went on & Joe Ely kicked off the show with Robert Earl Keen’s epic story song “The Road Goes On Forever”–which was brand new to most of us. (Joe’s a fine songwriter but is glad to take friends’ tunes & make them his own.) The combination of that song, that performer & that band was better than a jolt of tequila & a few rails. (Without the after-effects of nausea, headache & “where’s all my money?”)
Seriously–if Joe comes to your town, check him out. Hey, he’s on this weekend’s Prairie Home Companion, broadcasting from Duluth. Followed by trip to Clear Lake, Iowa for 50 Winters Later. (Like Buddy Holly, Joe came from Lubbock.)
Then again, I remember a very young Townes Van Zandt at Sand Mountain Coffee House in the 60’s. He shyly introduced his first “serious” song: “Waitin’ Round To Die.”
Nina Simone’s “Feelin’ Good.” The first few hundred times I heard it, it was a real pick-me-up.
The one song that I’d like to forget and hear again.
Everybody Dance Now! C and C Music Factory.
For better, for worse. This is the song that started me liking dance music for…ugh…over 20 years now.
I never thought I’d be sitting here think about the early 1990s.
Coldplay - Fix You
Keane - A Bad Dream
Evanescence - Bring Me To Life
Damian Rice - 9 Crimes
Roxette - It Must Have Been Love
I could actually make a huge list, but each of those songs have made me feel better in hard times when I first heard them.
I hadn’t heard Cake until I heard ‘Short Skirt/Long Jacket’ while on a ski trip. Cake quickly became our family’s favorite band. I would love to recreate that feeling of discovery and joy I got from hearing that song for the first time.
Windy by The Association
Being a child of the '80s there is several from then.
New Years’s Day - U2
Overkill - Men at Work
Fall On Me - REM
Wanna Be Startin Something - Michael Jackson
Panama - Van Halen
Love Shack - B52s
Straight to Hell - Drivin N Cryin
911 is a Joke - Public Enemy
Plus a couple from the 70s
Wish Your Were Here album - Pink Floyd which to me is better than Dark Side or the Wall
and the best dance song ever - Stayin Alive - Bee Gees
My Generation, “Live At Leeds” version (with crackling noises!)
On a really good system, and very loud. The second note will cut you in two.
Green Mountain Hop - Reno & Smiley
In fact, I’m going to listen to it now.
This sorta happened to me. A few years back I was listening to Billy Joe Royal’s “I Knew You When,” which came out in that awkward period in 1965 when I was out of 9V batteries and couldn’t listen to the radio, so I hadn’t heard it before. I loved it and said to my wife, “I guess it isn’t that I like particular songs. I like their style.”
I’m not really sure—I didn’t particularly like a lot of my favorite songs the very first time I heard them. Maybe Bohemian Rhapsody? That’s always a good choice, and it was definitely an interesting experience the first time I heard it on the radio.
Valete,
Vox Imperatoris