Thinking about a song absolutely everyone (family, friends, enemies, critics, other musicians, me) likes; a song that I’ve never heard anyone say a bad word about.
My nomination: Billie Jean
(my daughter, independently, suggested Thriller, which would also work)
Other suggestions (or prove me wrong about Billie Jean)?
I believe you’re referring to the Afterword’s own One True Tune To Rule Them All (OTTTRTA), aka Ghost Town.
Mmm not exactly; I was more interested in thnking about a song that appears to have universal appeal, which is not necessarily the same thing as the Afterword’s favourite.
Billie Jean? Don’t like it. Insipid tosh.
Bah – away to your Ghost Town and your Mahavishnus then!
Christ.
This…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUXTG6ShYKk
Never failed to move feet at any party i was at…always want it to go on for another minute….
The answer is that there is no answer*
The closest thing you’ll get to a tune everyone likes is this:
https://youtu.be/7CYgk8_HmOA
Not the fantabulicious theme, but the “work’s over – go home” klaxon
(*That’s some Matrix sequel dialogue, right there..)
Or this:
‘Groove is in the Heart’.
(I originally typed that as ‘Grove’. Just- no.)
Look, if we’re going to just repeat an earlier thread in its entirety, can it not be the one where everyone took their clothes off?
Must have missed that one….
As I said above, what I was interested in is songs that seem to have universal appeal, which is not really the same as “what is the afterword’s favourite song”.
Crazy in Love – obviously.
A thousand times no.
Woah, woah, woah, woah, woah.
TOTTTRTA isn’t merely the Afterword’s favourite song. It’s far, far more than that.
It underwent a rigorous two phase process before claiming its crown.
Firstly, in this thread https://theafterword.co.uk/is-there-a-song-that-no-one-dislikes/, where it was established as a leading light in the great list of songs that absolutely nobody dislikes, amidst way too much fighting on the blog floor.
Then, latterly, in a separate thread which I can’t be bothered to track down, it was voted the alpha of its peer group, the grand poobah of that select band of sacred tunes in respect of which even this embittered community of twitching, lip curling vinyl junkies could muster no negativity.
One tune to rule them all, one tune to find them, one tune to bring them all and in the darkness bind them. It is our North, our South, our East, our West. I mean, I could go on…
We established TOTTTRTA in expectation of PRECISELY this sort of eventuality – questions being asked. Difficult, divisive questions about songs no one dislikes. Questions that lead to arguments. Arguments that lead to punching. Punching that leads to serious head trauma, and perhaps even death. Well, not again, sir. Not on my watch.
I implore you to do as we have done: accept TOTTTRA as your lord and saviour. Stop struggling. Just embrace it.
Oh, and if this thread does need to continue, I’d like to suggest a that anyone who slags off Billie Jean (including, inevitably, the blog’s own Candyman, who is probably stood in the doorway of his bunker, turning his nostrils to the night air even as I type this), be required to tell us all what they prefer to dance to of an evening out….
…”dance”…. “evening out”…. what the hell are you talking about?
Not the Candyman, but, as one who was/is happy to slag off Candyman, hell, here by chance is my evidence. At least about this dancing you talk of: http://sixsongs.blogspot.co.uk/2017/09/incompetentcant-i-cant-dance.html
(BTW, I lied about the Genesis song)
More Than a Feeling
this or most anything else by the super Swedes
I’d back you on a lot of Abba but I’d have to veto this one. I actively dislike it.
It certainly has broad appeal. There’s a church hall round the corner which is used by an evangelical Nigerian movement on Wednesdays. After their meeting last week, a group of girls in their late teens or early twenties had to wait in the street for about half an hour for their lift home. They passed the time by singing this very song, trying out different ways of harmonizing it. A nice sound for a warm August evening.
Everybody likes Dancing Queen in Hindi, don’t they?
[audio src="http://www.aprilwinchell.com/h/mp3/MithaMazeDar.mp3" /]
*edit* you’ll have to copy and paste the URL
As a DJ (well, that one time at a wedding) I can 100% guarantee that the only song that delights young & old, hipster or grumpy is Paul Simon’s “You Can Call Me Al”
I’ll cast a vote for Lionel Richie’s “All Night Long”.
Thriller? Well IMHO it’s shyte, the same goes with everything that pervert recorded.
Put him in the same group as Gary Glitter and Jonathan King.
The correct answer is, of course, “Mr. Blue Sky”
Yeah, that’s a pretty good call, Mr Dog.
the mere thought of that song made me vomit up my own spleen.
(so that’s a no from me)
Perhaps not, then. How about “I Say A Little Prayer”?
I have pointed out before the pan-generational appeal of The Proclaimers. My parents, who were in their mid-70s at the time thoroughly enjoyed their show. And thanks to Shrek, children stomp along to I’m Gonna Be (500 miles) at school discos the world over. Musicians must appreciate the songs, the vocals and the simplicity. Gnarled old socialists love their radical posture too.
And here’s another amazing thing. If you are on the International Space Station orbiting the earth and you play that song, from beginning to end – you have travelled *exactly* 1000 miles i.e. 500 miles and 500 more. Now tell me there isn’t a God.
Can I direct all Afterword Proclaimers fans to the fecking marvellous “Sunshine on Leith”.
The trailer doesn’t really sell it, but it really is a thing of wonder: avoids all the usual musical tropes, lovely arrangements of great songs, gentle but moving story about ordinary people living ordinary lives, musical numbers that in some cases only last a minute or so, sung with a total lack of stage school brassiness. Also contains both Jane Horrocks and Peter Mullan.
I’ve yet to show this movie to anyone who didn’t enjoy it. You’d need a heart of stone, etc, etc.
Yes, I enjoyed “Sunshine on Leith”.
And I believe the Proclaimers themselves have a small blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo role as two guys stumbling out of a pub or something. When I watched the film, I must’ve blinked, because I missed the said cameo.
I think it’s right at the start, in the very first song.
I wasn’t that taken with it when I caught it on TV, but I do often see the DVD piled high in the local Poundland if anyone’s looking for a bargain.
Noel Coward in da house.
I’d rather douse my testicles with Eau De Truffle and bury myself naked under a pile of mulch in a New Forest glade during wild boar rutting season than listen to Billie Jean.
This. Just gorgeous. If you haven’t heard it, give it a blast.
In my view, “Ripple” is the catchiest, most commercial song the Grateful Dead ever wrote. It’s short and crowd-pleasing and it’s brilliantly tuneful. So, naturally, one would expect the Dead to have performed it endlessly at virtually every show throughout their 30-year career. But incredibly, they did not. In over 2,500 shows, they played “Ripple” around 40 times: it was performed in acoustic sets in 1970 and 1980, a handful of electric sets in 1971, and as an encore once in 1988. That’s the lot. For comparison, they played “Me and My Uncle” over SIX HUNDRED times. Bizarre.
Yes.
That’s my suggestion, not an answer.
My tuppence: The Waterboys “The whole of the moon”
Forever ruined by Father Noel Furlong
Surely, SURELY….
It’s…..
Into The Groove
Yes. This is correct. I retract my previous answer.
Right. I had a think about this and I think I’ve got the one tune that everybody likes. It transcends national, geographic and cultural borders. Hummed or whistled by people of all ages, colours, creeds or orientations. You might hear it in an elevator in Lima or an empty hotel lobby in Pyonyang or Vladivostok. It can be seen as bland and inoffensive while at the same time given kudos as a great piece of songwriting. It has been in your head for as long as you can remember and you don’t mind it being there. It is “The Girl From Ipanema”
White Xmas, Highway to Hell, Rolling in the Deep, My way, Viva la Vida: no poor song can survive the ghastly fate of being put on constant rotation in the lifts of the world. But it cannot reduce my love for this wonderful version of that song about the Brazilian beach babe, sung by Vinicius de Moraes who wrote the lyrics.
The forest here is currently full of blueberries. Who can possibly dislike Fats?
Bing Crosby’s White Christmas is easily the best selling single of all time (over 50 million sales – how about that for universal appeal!) and it is delivered with such sincerity it is impossible to dislike (unless you are some kind of monster, like retropath).
Daydream Believer or I’m A Believer. Surely no-one will object to either of these.
Excellent choices. Only the Awkward Squad would object.
What about ‘Son of a Preacher Man’?