My favourite song is no doubt older than me.
GREENFIELDS by the Brothers Four and probably the second one is by AHA: I'LL DO MY CRYING IN THE RAIN.
Yes I love many songs but these two take me somewhere I do not know where...
Tora

"Slip Sliding Away," "Kodachrome," "Still Crazy After All These Years"- just some of the great lyrics from Paul Simon.

"Like a Rolling Stone," "Ballad of a Thin Man," "Positively Fourth Street" from the cranky Mr. Dylan.

"Diamonds and Rust"- Joan Baez

"VIncent"--Don McLean

"Twisted"-Annie Ross (I think Joni Mitchell did a cover)

"Suzanne" "Sisters of Mercy" "Bird on the Wire" -- Leonard Cohen

"I Ain't Marchin' Anymore" "Changes" "Chords of Fame" "Pleasures of the Harbor" --Phil Ochs

Just about any song by George and Ira Gershwin

"My Funny Valentine"--by Rodgers and Hart

"Maggie Mae"--Rod Stewart

"Christians and the Pagans"--Dar Williams

I guess we could all go on forever . . .

Jack Shalom

Handbags and Gladrags-Rod Stewart.
The Killing of Sister George-Rod Stewart.
Bell Bottom Blues-Derek and the Dominoes.
Tears in Heaven-Eric Clapton.
Dreamer-Supertramp.
Reelin' in the years-Steely Dan.

Just some of my favourites.
Tom

I Will - Beatles

The other song you were talking about - the pay it forward song is called Chain of Love by Clay Walker

He was drivin' home one evening
in his beat up Pontiac,
When an old lady flagged him down,
her Mercedez had a flat

He could see that she was frightened,
standin' out there in the snow
Til he said "I'm here to help you maam,
by the way my name's Joe".

She said "I'm from St-Louis"
and I'm only passin' through
I must've seen 100 cars go by
this is awful nice of you

When he changed the tire and closed her trunk
and was about to drive away
She said how much do I owe you,
here's what he had to say..

"You don't owe me a thing,
I've been there too
And someone once helped me out
Just the way I'm helping you."

"If you really want to pay me back
Here's what you do
Don't let the chain of
love end with you".

Well a few miles down the road
the lady saw a small Café
She went in to grab a bite to eat
and then be on her way

But she couldn't help but
notice how the waitress smiled so sweet
And how she must've been eight months
along and dead on her feet

And though she didn't know her
story and probably never will
When the waitress went to get her
change from a hundred dollar bill.

The lady slipped right out the door
and on a napkin left a note
There were tears in the waitress'
eyes when she read what she wrote

"You don't owe me a thing,
I've been there too
And someone once helped me out
Just the way I'm helping you."

"If you really want to pay me back
Here's what you do
Don't let the chain of
love end with you".

That night when she got home from
work the waitress climbed into bed
She was thinkin' about the money
and what the lady's note had said

As her husband lay there sleepin'
she whispered soft and low
"Everything's gonna be alright,
I love you - Joe".

Some of my favorite lyrics :-

In My Life - the Beatles
Hurt - Johnny Cash
The Ghost of Tom Joad - Bruce Springsteen
Mr. BoJangles
Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley

Most things mentioned before are just great Nice to see there are still people who like music with things like actual lyrics instead of three repeating words.

I really like most Falco lyrics, but I have to say I like his song 'Jeanny' best. Even without actually hearing the music the words give me the right feeling. Oh, and Bob Carlisle's Butterfly Kisses. That one's beautiful.

Ron - I imagine this is something you've tried with your family or friends...but I think maybe a unique way for you to experience some of music these songs with lyrics you truly enjoy offer is through the reverberations...most likely and normaly from the beat. Either feeling a speaker when a song is on (possibly be able to sort out the different instruments based on their feel) or even having someone you know tap the beat (on your arm for example) whilst you read andor watch the lyrics.

Again - probably a normal practice for you - but just incase not, I thought it may be something you'd enjoy.

Ahh yes - butterfly kisses. I sing that to my twins every night (or almost everynight) I love this song. It's touched me since my early teens - even then I always imagined singing it to my girls at bedtime and envisioned singing it to them at their receptions on their wedding day's and probably bawling. Truly a beautiful song showing a fathers love.

Not falling for the Music is as good as it ever was routine, that it wasn't better back in the day. How many Classics do you think will come out of the 2,000's? Certainly not the Hip Hop scene or the current Pop scene. The difference isn't the Bass line or other modern sillyness...it is the lack of striving to produce quality and instead go for the EDGE and the shock and all the repetitiveness of the lyric line and melody set for the bottom feeders.

Many songs since late 80's have the Hall and Oats habit of writing two whole lines and singing them (saying them these days) over and over till you puke. Method to the madness is that todays LAME brains can memorize a song in a flash and a memorized song is a more probable purchased song.

Find me a "Smoke Get's In Your Eyes"..."I only Have Eyes For You"..."One For The Road"...Todays music does suck. Murder, Rape, Sex & Gang themes predominate the rap arena...an arena that preempts the cornucopia of past music genius and classics, the Black musician/writer/singer. Rythm and Blues, Soul, Blues, etc were all Cashmere and silk Compared to todays output of gutter trash and mindless lyric and note repetition. Boys To Men attempted to take it back but it didn't work.

Fortunately we have the music of the past, just like we have the Old Masters Paintings to look at and the Disney Classic Animation to see what it was really all about...The Mona Lisa, Pinocchio and The Flamingos?

As opposed to what...Snoop Dog? Degraded crap. The college binge drinker setting the scale.

Taste is missing. Taste and quality and the striving to make things better all racing lower and lower.

The only area that's holding it's own to any extent is Film Scores.
Thank you John Williams and James Horner and yes, The Flamingos.

Much as I hate to disagree with Doug, I will be a bit contrary here. There are some short periods of time where the popular songs just stand out better than other times. In particular, the middle decades of the 20th century saw some outstanding jazz songs. The top 40 hasn't done so well. Scroll around the historical top charts at Billboard:

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/charts/ye......ndex.jsp

I don't know about you, but I know all the songs from the mid-60s to about 1980, so I have better reactions to those lists. Even so, most of the top 5 the pop up are very weak, forgettable songs. 1970 looks good with "Bridge over trouble Water" at #1 and "American Woman" at #3, but for my tastes, the Carpenters, BJ Thomas and Edwin Start produced pretty forgettable tunes.

In terms of the top pop songs, I can't find a "golden era" between 1946 and 2006. I just happen to like the style of my teen years better than the style of my children's teen years.

Ok, so it's mixed agreement and disagreement with Doug.

John

"Walkin' in Memphis" ~ I can't remember the real artist, but Cher did a good remake

"Door Into Summer" ~ The Monkees (I don't know who wrote it.)

Voltaire, a goth artist with an odd sense of humor, had an album called "Now and Again" (I think). There were some beautiful lyrics in that collection but the one I liked best was "Good Night Demonslayer" where he takes an odd direction to convince his son the creature under his bed isn't a real threat.

John...sorry...but I must have missed the disagreement...

But to keep it alive...anyone for Blue Swede?

ooga chucka ooga chucka... Now there's some beautiful stuff to span the ages and bring us all together.

Hank Williams Jr also does a song about "Superman," I think the proper title is Man of Steel.



That would be "The Cirlcle of Love." I think Brad Paisley. More popularly known as "the Joe Song."

Can't beat the simplistic beautiful nature of this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRcj6CAhe7s

Virtuoso, by David Phelps:

A handful of dust a worthless piece of clay
And you breathed the breath of heaven
Then there was a soul
The heart, the hands, the voice that could sing of your perfection
Life is a symphony that only you can play
You know I can hear it through the madness everyday

Virtuoso, virtuoso
This heart is your instrument
This life is your song
Virtuoso

There isn’t a note of mediocrity
In all of your creation and all the beauty
We create with human hands is only imitation
Thunder crashes, waves crescendo on the sand
The wind that’s whispering can only be your hand

Virtuoso, virtuoso
This heart is your instrument
This life is your song
Virtuoso

A timeless melody of beauty and emotion
Perfect harmony inspiring true devotion
No one else can play its chords so graceful yet so strong
You made the instrument and wrote the song
Virtuoso

Virtuoso, virtuoso
This heart is your instrument
This life is your song
Virtuoso

I like a lot of song lyrics, and am quite partial to the ones for "I'll Be Seeing You", sung by Sinatra, Lanza, et all.... in the 40's or 50'.

The last lines:

I'll find you in the morning sun, and when the night is new,
I'll be looking at the moon, but I'll be seeing you.

It loses a lot without the music.