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Your top 3 recorded songs of all time

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As suggested by Junglijim on the Sam Cooke thread.

What are the AWers favourite recorded tracks of all time. 3 songs only please.

Off the top of my head (& at this minute) mine are;

1. Sonny Till – Tears & Misery.
How is this not a hit?! For me the arrangement & feeling in the voice are just incredible. I recently tracked this down on record & it is just breathtaking.

2. The Rolling Stones – Gimme Shelter
This is timeless. When you hear Merry Clayton hit THAT note & her voice cracks. It sends a shiver down my spine every time

3. Sam Cooke – Bring It On Home To Me
Hard to believe that this was a B-Side. The simplicity of the instrumentation just allows the voice to take centre stage.

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Comments

  1. Well today Sean it’s

    Sea Cruise by Frankie Ford

    There Was A Time ( live) by James Brown – ‘( JB ) – the name of the place was – ( audience ) Augusta, GA!) makes the hairs stand up every time

    At The Dark End Of The Street by James Carr

    Tomorrow it’ll all change – hoorah!

      • I’m still confused!

        I originally read this as the *greatest* 3 songs ever to have been recorded.

        Is it the best recordings of your favourite three songs, or the three recordings you like the most?

        • ONLY on the Afterword!
          How about your fave recirding of your fave song?
          Only to distinguish it/them from YouTube clips or anecdotes about ‘ that great encore by Robyn Hitchcock at the Clapham Grand when I was as high as the ceiling’.
          So to clarify, fave version of a top song ( song is the only really important bit here) that has probably been released.
          BTW, my 3 faves are SO out of date now…

          • You want “only on the Afterword”?

            A few years ago a bunch of folks in my office conducted a little experiment. You had to write down your top 100 albums, films and songs, in order.

            You got half an hour for each. You weren’t allowed to pretend it was impossible and that you were simply too much of a music fan, or any of that other Sophie’s Choice bollocks. You just started listing albums/films/songs, got to about a hundred, did some trimming and then ordered them. If something didn’t occur to you in the half hour you spent thinking about it then it obviously wasn’t that important.

            To be honest, the whole thing was a lot easier than you’d think, and I’ve not had too much cause to wish I could revise the list.

            As a consequence of this project, I know exactly what my three favourite songs are, as well as the other 97 which follow them. And I’m going to post the whole bloody list, just to fully confirm my anorakness.

            I’ll take the album versions of the first three, and I regret nothing.

            1. A Change is Gonna Come – Sam Cooke
            2. Mogwai Fear Satan – Mogwai
            3. Who Knows Where the Time Goes – Fairport Convention
            4. Sweet Thing – Van Morrison
            5. You’re So Cool – Hans Zimmer
            6. Your Hand in Mine – Explosions in the Sky
            7. All or Nothing – Small Faces
            8. In California – Joanna Newsom
            9. Kozmic Blues – Janis Joplin
            10. Gathering Storm – Godspeed You! Black Emperor
            11. Dream House – Deafheaven
            12. King of Rome – The Unthanks
            13. Ave Maria/ Ellens dritter Gesang – Franz Schubert
            14. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down – The Band
            15. My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down – The Ramones
            16. Marquee Moon – Television
            17. In My Eyes – Minor Threat
            18. Cookie Jar – Mark Mulcahy
            19. I Know It’s Over – The Smiths
            20. The Western – PFM feat MC Conrad
            21. Party Hard – Andrew W.K.
            22. Love Minus Zero – Bob Dylan
            23. Song to the Siren – This Mortal Coil
            24. Land of a Thousand Dances – Wilson Pickett
            25. Voodoo Child (Slight Return) – Jimi Hendrix
            26. My Name is Jonas – Weezer
            27. These Days – Nico
            28. River Song – Dennis Wilson
            29. Fool for You – The Impressions
            30. The Funeral – Band of Horses
            31. So Much Wine – The Handsome Family
            32. Could You Be Loved – Bob Marley
            33.Bring it on Home to Me – Sam Cooke
            34. Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands – Bob Dylan
            35. Protect Ya Neck – Wu Tang Clan
            36. One Armed Scissor – At The Drive-In
            37. Duchess – Scott Walker
            38. Cupid – Sam Cooke
            39. Goodbye England (Covered in Snow) – Laura Marling
            40. Olympians – Fvck Buttons
            41. Complete Control –The Clash
            42. Roots Bloody Roots – Sepultura
            43. New York City Serenade – Bruce Springsteen
            44. Heroin – The Velvet Underground & Nico
            45. Undecided – Shack
            46. Hey Self Defeater – Mark Mulcahy
            47. Suzanne – Leonard Cohen
            48. Into My Arms – Nick Cave
            49. Hyperballad – Bjork
            50. Wonderful World – Sam Cooke
            51. A Song For You – Gram Parsons
            52. A More Perfect Union – Titus Andronicus
            53. Straight Edge – Minor Threat
            54. Fool to Cry – The Rolling Stones
            55. Baby I Need Your Loving – The Four Tops
            56. Merchandise – Fugazi
            57. Northern Sky – Nick Drake
            58. Rumble – Link Wray
            59. Tracks of My Tears – Smokey Robinson
            60. This Is The Sea – The Waterboys
            61. Rise to Me – The Decemberists
            62. Tin Soldier – Small Faces
            63. Abide with Me – Henry Francis Lyte
            64. Over and Over – Fleetwood Mac
            65. Geek U.S.A – Smashing Pumpkins
            66. Baba O’Riley – The Who
            67. Elephant Stone – The Stone Roses
            68. This Woman’s Work – Kate Bush
            69. I’ve Been Loving You Too Long – Otis Redding
            70. The Obvious Child – Paul Simon
            71. You Are the Generation that Bought More Shoes (And You Get What You Deserve) – Johnny Boy
            72. September Gurls – Big Star
            73. Da Mystery of Chessboxing – Wu Tang Clan
            74. Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright – Bob Dylan
            75. Waterloo Sunset – The Kinks
            76. We Want Fun – Andrew W.K.
            77. Archangel – Burial
            78. Christmas Steps – Mogwai
            79. Highway Patrolman – Bruce Springsteen
            80. Bandits – Midlake
            81. Darling Be Home Soon – The Loving Spoonful
            82. Search and Destroy – Iggy & The Stooges
            83. She Belongs to Me – Bob Dylan
            84. Copenhagen – Scott Walker
            85. The Birth And Death of The Day – Explosions In The Sky
            86. Don’t Believe the Hype – Public Enemy
            87. This is Hardcore – Pulp
            88. The River – Bruce Springsteen
            89. Rudie Can’t Fail – The Clash
            90. Ada – The National
            91. I Want You – Bob Dylan
            92. Hazey Jane II – Nick Drake
            93. Tame – Pixes
            94. Black Steel – Tricky
            95. Commando – The Ramones
            96. Blank Generation – Richard Hell & The Voidoids
            97. Monkey Gone to Heaven – Pixies
            98. Here Comes a Regular – The Replacements
            99. Oi – More Fire Crew
            100. No Remorse I Want to Die – Atari Teenage Riot & Slayer

    • I hope I am not ruining Jims fine idea here, but I reckon favourite specific recording (that is how I have chosen my 3 anyway) 🙂

      FWIIW – my top 3 songs would be Tonight We Fly (The Divine Comedy), Apartment Story (The National) & Call Your Girlfriend (Robyn)

  6. I’m assuming what’s required here is a great combination of song and performance.
    In no particular order.

    Terry Callier – Lazarus Man

    .
    Etta James – At Last

    .
    Genesis – Carpet Crawlers

  7. Today, it’s been:

    Southside Johnny – You mean so much to me baby (the bonkers live version with Ronnie Spector)

    Tommy Tate – The School of Life

    Trevor Walters – Love me tonight

  8. 1. Underworld — Cowgirl (Bedrock Mix)
    The original is a five-star, gold-plated classic but it sounds positively leaden next to the shower of celestial sparks that is the Bedrock version. An epic 11.51 it builds and builds, sounding both motorik and psychedelic before shuttling down to a third-act breakdown that feels like being hooked up to an MDMA drip.

    2. Paul Oakenfold — Aeternal
    A bit of a shameless emotion-tugger, this one. It’s basically Oakenfold’s version/remix of the Kronos Quartet track that was first heard in Requiem For A Dream and subsequently used in a hundred movie trailers. It hits the sweet spot.

    3. Front 242 — Headhunter 2000 (Apoptygma Berzerk Mix)
    I was struggling with a third (others in the running: Hybrid – If I Survive (Featuring Julee Cruise) (Way Out West Mix), Kate Bush — Nocturn, Sleater Kinney – Sympathy) but went for this in the end. As a student I loved the original but this for me is the definitive reading — it’s at once more lively and sinister and it really emphasises the narrative of the song (which I like to believe is about bounty hunters harvesting DNA, rather than corporate business practice).

    2. Syndrome — MFT (Dave The Drummer Mix)
    A breakdown at 5.15 that makes you wan tot punch the air and kill
    2. Dynamo City — Bomb In Your Ass

    • Headhunter and Cowgirl’s twin sister Rez would both be strong candidates for my top 3. I’m not sure about that Headhunter remix though – I quite like the music, but the pitched up vocals just don’t sound right after hearing the original so many times. I see from YouTube that there is a whole Headhunter remix album, so I’ll give that a whirl later. The Bedrock mix, on the other hand, is a belter. I’d not heard it before and I love it. As for your comments about the last third, about nine minutes in I swear I felt the bottom of my stomach open up.

      Here it is with a nice undersea video if anyone else is interested

  11. Never changes!

    1. It’s Only Mystery (Eric Serra)
    From the soundrack to Subway. I don’t know why I love this song so much. It’s just pop. Nothing groundbreaking or profound or original. It just makes me smile. I bet there hasn’t been a week gone by in all these years since I first heard it that when I’ve not listened to it.
    2. Some Things Don’t Matter (Ben Watt)
    The lyrics appealed to me as an introspective narcissistic adolscent. “This boy” was me! Me, me, me! The slightly jazzy music I still find gorgeous and the moment the line “give him love” bleeds seamlessly into alto sax (or is it a clarinet) is magic the like of which I’ve never heard elsewhere.
    3. I’m torn twixt Rock On (David Essex) and Wondrous Place (Billy Fury). Both ultra cool, mesmerising, from eons ago but still sound like the future. I’ll go for the former cos it has that added ingredient of being just a tad bonkers.

  12. 1. Something cool that you haven’t heard of
    2. Something that you have heard of, in a really obscure bootleg live version
    3. Something very uncool, which I shield from criticism by claiming that it reminds me of my dead hamster

  13. Schools Out – Alice Cooper
    It started it all for me, it still sends tingles up and down all the right places.

    Birds Leave Shadows – Jackie Leven
    Loads of stories with and around this but at the end of the day just a sublime song

    David Thomas and Two Pale Boys – Surfs Up

  16. So what was the question? I take it to mean three songs where the composition, performance and recording all gel perfectly to create an unbeatable and irreplaceable synergy.

    So in that case:

    – Tequila, The Champs

    – Wuthering Heights, Kate Bush

    – Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except For Me And My Monkey, (I forget the artist… Who sang this again…?)

  17. I am so boring & predictable.

    Fabs – A day in the life

    The Dame – Heroes

    The Boss – Born to run

    No doubt it will be a different 2&3 tonight, but
    a day in the life remains my favourite song from my favourite band & I think it still sounds astonishingly good.

  18. Songs I will always listen to, if I hear them on, say, the radio, regardless of how well I know them:
    Hey Mr Tambourine Man/Byrds
    Rolling Stone/Dylan
    Hey Joe/Any version.

    (Spooky had I put All Along the Watchtower/Hendrix, had i nearly done as my 3rd, given the writer of 2 of my 3.)

  21. Pretty static choices, but it is a case of perm any 3 from 20.
    My usual responses to “the best songs ever written” are:

    1. Only Ones – Another Girl Another Planet
    The slow build, the cracked voice singing and that guitar solo. Always feels like it should be longer, but if it was any longer, then it wouldn’t be so perfect

    2. Faces – Stay With Me
    A party on a record. A series of breakdowns and false endings – it’s like the band never want to end it.

    3. Slade – How Does It Feel
    The song that broke Slade’s run of Top 10 singles. The best thing to come out of Noddy and Jim’s pen, and just shows that the British public weren’t really listening

  24. with all the usual caveats, and also sneakily deciding to count the songs I’ve mentioned in responses to others

    New Model Army – Green & Grey. It’s a song about dead end lives in Yorkshire, about as far from where I grew up as you could get and still be in England. But to someone growing to manhood in a no hope city on the edge of Dartmoor it resonated down all the miles and all the years since.

    Jets To Brazil – Conrad. A classic American short story in song form. This tale of someone checking into a cheap motel to end their life is no barrel of laughs, but it is told with such tenderness and compassion I find it totally compelling and strangely uplifting.

    The Cramps – Good Taste (live). Well, the first two weren’t exactly cheery numbers, so time for some gleefully dumb, gloriously dirty rock n roll. If Neanderthals had electricity this is the noise they would have made, and the world would have been better for it.

  25. Well….at the moment…

    David Bowie & Gail-Ann Dorsey duetting on Under Pressure from the A Reality Tour album
    George Harrison – What Is Life?
    Joe Smooth Inc – The Promised Land

    Will change by the weekend no doubt

  26. I’ll say

    St Dominic’s Preview – Van Morrison
    Across the Border – Bruce Springsteen
    Boulder to Birmingham Emmylou Harris

    All of which, I realise having chosen them, have a kind of yearning, a sense of loss, and a search – possibly fruitless – for hope in both the songs and the performances. But that’s just the way I am.

  28. Impeccable taste as ever, duc.
    Scratch really was at the top of his game with Heart Of The Congos – I still have no idea how he engineed that ‘bouncing’ rythm sound. Truly remarkable.

  32. River Man – Nick Drake
    Wichita Lineman – Glen Campbell
    Surfs Up – Beach Boys

    This is of course total enjoyable nonsense – it could well be another 3 songs by the time I finish writing this

  34. The Temptations – Papa Was Rollin’ Stone

    Anchored by a three note bass figure and a single chord, Norman Whitfield created a kaleidoscopic symphony for The Temptations final number one. The introduction lasts three minutes and fifty-three seconds and includes harp, strings, hand-claps, a tapping hi-hat, horns and wah-wah guitar. By the time Dennis Edwards’ angry rumble comes in the tension was palpable. The Temptations were already upset with Whitfield for focussing on The Funk Brothers and not giving them ballads to sing. Here he was tormenting them with long instrumental passages and a song evoking the urban reality of a fatherless family. Singers Dennis Edwards, Melvin Franklin, Richard Street, Damon Harris and Otis Williams trade lines and are, alternately, bitter, resentful, dismayed, apathetic and full of remorse. It is a record that’s a product of a studio master manipulating an suitably emotional performance from the vocalists. They sacked him shortly after.

    It’s just a pity Whitfield built the bed for the likes of Barry White to lie on.

    The clip stitches together sides A and B of the seven inch single.

    Massive Attack – Teardrop

    Another song of grief but, this time, twinned with love. The vocal and lyric are delicate, gossamer thin, on the point of breaking down, reflecting the fragility of life and the ephemeral nature of love. Liz Frazer wrote the lyric two days after her friend and ex-lover, Jeff Buckley, drowned. Massive Attack bring a doomy, complex sound bed that cracks open as the song progresses. However, there is an inner strength at its core. This is a song about standing resolute in the face of death even if your heart is broken. It is a song that actually helps during dark days.

    The video features a foetus singing from the womb. I know. Don’t let that put you off.

    Eminem – Lose Yourself

    The opening piano frill is the proverbial calm. A throbbing bass picks out a beat. Power chords blacken the mood. A sense of dread is multiplied by strings, horns and keyboard flourishes and the scene is set for the most dramatic, passionate rap Eminem ever performed. The words pour out of him, an accumulation of a lifetime of struggle, hope and despair. He does so in character, the lead role of the film 8 Mile, but that character, like his own alter egos, is based on his own life. The rap is perfectly constructed with a clear, concise story, replete with polysyllabic rhymes and rhythmic cadences, building relentlessly to crescendo and blending seamlessly with the music. It is strong, dynamic and inspirational. A phenomenon that stayed at number one for twelve weeks in the US, won an Oscar (the only Oscar winning song not performed at the ceremony because Mr Mathers was asleep in bed) and beat off Crazy In Love and Hey Ya! for the Grammy. A genuine example of a triumph over adversity.

  35. 1) God Only Knows- The Beach Boys
    2) Goin’ Back – Dusty Springfield
    3) Raggle Taggle Gypsy/ Tabhair Dom Do Lamh – Planxty

    Number three changes. Sometimes it’s The Pogues, sometimes it’s Chic, sometimes it’s Sly & The Family Stone.

  36. Another Girl Another Planet – The Only Ones.
    Simply my favourite song ever, just the best thing I’ve ever heard, and the guitar solo that makes my blood quicken like no other. My best chum from my student days in the 1980s turned 50 today; we used to sit in my tiny box room drinking Thunderbird Wine in the afternoon listening to the That Summer soundtrack and Psychocandy on cassettes I’d made at home. I bought the single off eBay a few months ago, framed it, and sent to him in Madrid.
    Debaser – The Pixies.
    Nearly as good as last one.
    Felicity – Orange Juice.
    I just love Edwyn and all his works.

    One or two of these might be different tomorrow, or even after a few pints into tonight.

  37. Today:
    Lucille – Little Richard (the most exciting singing ever caught on tape)
    Run of the Mill – George Harrison (the beauty of this song fills me with blissful joy every time. Will be played at my funeral)
    Complicated Game – XTC (brilliant lyrics performed perfectly – whispering, stuttering, barking and howling – until you’re a knot of OCD and phobias covered in cold sweat…but I could have chosen any of probably twenty XTC songs)

  38. In no particular order
    Year of The Cat – Al Stewart – I loved it when it came out in 1976, loved it when I started actually buying records in 1977, loved it ever since. A warm blanket / go to / never lets me down record.
    Supper’s Ready – Genesis. Prog in excelsis. Crimson’s ITCOTCK or Starless would have been close, but this is just… longer). But hang on, what’s this? – the Seconds Out version is definitely my favourite version. Sorry to all the PG lovers, but this was the first version I heard (I like the Foxtrot version too, just not as much), and was also one of my very early purchases.
    Out of Time – Blur; Not just to prove that everything I love dates from my formative years, and not a typical Blursong, but it has a decent tune, it has interesting sounds and ideas, and it has ok lyrics (in a good way – hey, it’s a pop song, not bloomin’ Shakespeare or Nietzsche) . And I know Albarn / Blur rub a lot of people up the wrong way, but every album of theirs has been a progression, chock full of new ideas up to and including The Magic Whip from last year, and live at Mile End in 1995 was just a sheer head on rush of delirious fun.
    On another day, Raspberry Beret could have been there, partially because of the way he drops in an oh so off-hand “Yeah”, about ten seconds after the 1-2-3 intro. I really love that “Yeah”.

  39. The Love I Saw You In You Was Just A Mirage: Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
    If it can pierce a cold gigolo heart, more tender tickers cannot fail to be swept away by its poised melancholy and perfect pitch. The Marv Tarplin guitar figure, the honeyed strings, the Smokey vocal. Three and a bit minutes of shimmering pop perfection.

    Tumbling Dice: The Rolling Stones
    Love at first bite. That opening chord. That opening whooh yeah. This is a different world. A Stones world. Low down gamblers, funk house fever, bitchy wimmins and itchy feet. No idea what it all meant then. No idea now. Just sounds great is all.

    Forever: Haim
    The Flame loves Haim. They seem to make her happy. She took me to one of their gigs. I liked it. She puts on the tunes, starts to wiggle, sing a long. And that’s all kinds of good. In my book.

  41. There’s a million songs out there and we only get to choose 3? Would have been easier to copy Bingo and have a hundred of the pesky wee things.

    Right, here goes (in no particular order)

    Funny Time Of Year – Beth Gibbons and Rustin Man
    The combination of the instrumentation and Beth’s voice lift this beyond the realms of mere pop and launch it into the stratosphere.

    That’s Someone You Never Forget – Elvis Presley
    This vocal sends shivers down my spine, sadly Elvis’ skills as an interpretive singer get overlooked because of the ubiquity of his best selling songs, and a dodgy movie career. He was the finest male singer of the 2nd half of the 20th century! (OOAA but oh so wrong.)

    The Light Pours Out Of Me – Magazine
    The rhythm kicks off the song and underpins John McGeoch’s guitar as the band slowly build the tension, before the final burst and the final bass note at the sudden ending.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0J1sOQdvudc

    Bubbling under: On another day these would have been strong contenders: Teenage Kicks, Ever Fallen In Love, Love Will Tear Us Apart, Transmission, Atmosphere, The Model, River Man, God Only Knows, Helter Skelter, (I’m Always Touched By Your) Presence Dear, Blood Red River, Who Knows Where The Time Goes (Fairport version), Johnny Was (SLF version), Life On Mars, Heroes, Baby Jane (Dr Feelgood), Wichita Lineman (Johnny Cash version – the way he sings “I need you more than want you, and I want you for all time” you know he means eternity!

  42. 3 from me, and I’ve been thinking about this for a whole week!:

    Richard Harris – McArthur Park (who knew the old goat could sing so sweetly?)

    Traffic – John Barleycorn (Winwood and Capaldi harmonising an ancient song wonderfully)

    Sissel – Laer Mag A Kjenne (my top choice, the voice of an angel. In Norwegian? Irrelevant.)

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