The Thread for Classic Popular Songs

[LA Ute]

I was thinking we'd all enjoy a thread about great popular songs. I'm thinking of everything from Sinatra's rendition of "The Way You Look Tonight" to Don McLean's "American Pie" to Michael Jackson's "Thriller" to whatever Taylor Swift is cranking out today. I'm not talking about what music we might like personally (although that's obviously a huge factor), I just wanted to talk about objectively great songs. For example, I don't like Hall and Oates much, but they were very good at their craft.

My first great song is one I heard for the first time in a while yesterday. "The Wichita Lineman." It was written by Jimmy Webb, a truly great songwriter, back in 1968. The song speaks to any man who's ever loved and missed a woman. It's not a favorite of mine by any means but I was struck by how well-done it is.

Glen Campbell made the song a huge hit. James Taylor covered it in 2009 and won a Grammy with this version:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrSdrzNacbQ

It's best with good speakers.

Here's Glen Campbell performing the song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EG1l05xrw44), as only he can. He's older here, but I think this rendition is more evocative and emotional than Taylor's.

What are your nominees?

[DanielLaRusso]

My song is perhaps one of the deepest songs of the last 50 years. It tells a story that we all know...you love someone who loves someone else. I'm sure we've all had a crush on someone who we just couldn't make realize that what they needed was right in front of them. That anguish is so perfectly expressed by this song that it just becomes...aural magic. The song continues by giving us all the spirit to move on and basically telling us to say "F*** you!" to people who can't appreciate us! Isn't that what life is really about anyways? When you struggle or get knocked down, you just have to dust yourself off, move along, and don't look back.

But it's the music that most people adore. You wouldn't expect such a melancholy song to such have a tremendous beat. But the constant pulsing is, frankly, representative of the song's message being hammered home. I'm pretty sure all the drum and voice work was done on the first take too. It just has that organic feel that few songs can replicate.

I guess what I find particularly perplexing about this song is just how underrated of a pop hit it was. I mean, you would think a song as meaningful as this would get tons of radio play, be on commercials, and basically infect everyone's ear canal like some kind of sonic infection. Even the associated tour barely made any money. But alas, far too few people ever heard this song. The fact that it didn't get big or anything is truly a shameful display of our obnoxious American obsession with crappy pop music.

Anyhoo, I've blathered on long enough about this gem. Enjoy! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbXiECmCZ94)

[IdahoUteTroutHead]

"You Down with OPP" Naughty by Nature.

[LA Ute]

This is an interesting summary and looks like what I heard all the time back when I was "doing entertainment law."

The Elements of a Great Pop Song (http://http://www.gearslutz.com/board/songwriting/685816-elements-great-pop-song.html)

[LA Ute]

And here's another great one.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBpTedlEFsY

[LA Ute]

I guess you have to be older or a pop music audiophile to know about the White Album, but here is a very simple song that is simply great and has borne the test of time.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrxZhWCAuQw

[LA Ute]

A classic folk-rock song:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raO2E3cIiYM

[FountainOfUte]

Here's a classic song from one of America's living treasures: The Rainbow Connection covered by Willie Nelson. If you want to cut to the chase, jump to about the 1:50 mark.


http://youtu.be/deebKNI-dTE?t=1m50s

[LA Ute]

Here's a classic song from one of America's living treasures: The Rainbow Connection covered by Willie Nelson. If you want to cut to the chase, jump to about the 1:50 mark.

Great stuff, I'd never seen that. Thanks!

[LA Ute]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9ZGKALMMuc


"The Way You Look Tonight" is a song featured in the film Swing Time (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swing_Time_%281936_film%29), originally performed by Fred Astaire (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Astaire).[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Way_You_Look_Tonight#cite_note-British_Hit_Singles_.26_Albums-1) It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Award_for_Best_Original_Song) in 1936.[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Way_You_Look_Tonight#cite_note-British_Hit_Singles_.26_Albums-1) The song was sung to Ginger Rogers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginger_Rogers) as Penelope "Penny" Carroll by Astaire's character of John "Lucky" Garnett while Penny was busy washing her hair in an adjacent room, and feeling anything but beautiful at the time. The song was written by Jerome Kern (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerome_Kern) with lyrics by Dorothy Fields (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Fields),[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Way_You_Look_Tonight#cite_note-British_Hit_Singles_.26_Albums-1) and has become a standard (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_%28music%29). Fields later remarked, "The first time Jerry played that melody for me I went out and started to cry. The release absolutely killed me. I couldn't stop, it was so beautiful."[2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Way_You_Look_Tonight#cite_note-Wilk-2)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Way_You_Look_Tonight

[LA Ute]

This song has not quite a standard yet, but it has been covered quite a few times. This version, sung by Stevie herself, is worth watching just for Lindsey Buckingham's guitar performance.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMVBP_0OOZY

[wuapinmon]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1xSt7iganA

A song so well written that even I had people clapping along when I sang it at a talent show last year.

[Mano]

IMHO, the greatest rock anthem:


http://youtu.be/oBtClQEykxw