Best Song of All-Time?

[WoVeU]

I think it comes down to time and place, styles, and the mood you are in?

(Oh, and the Joe Nichols song, Impossible, is kick ---!)

Some bands were so huge they could get their own category the same as style or category.

Eagles, Zepplin, Beatles, Bob Seger, Skynyrd, Aerosmith, Stones, Metallica, Hank Sr./Hank Jr., Alabama

2 Songs that just paint an indelible picture/scene for me, probably bolstered from a pivotal moment in my life...

Skid Row - I Remember You
Tim McGraw - Everywhere

(And a very close 3rd, Don Henley - The Last Worthless Evening) {Oh, Ronnie Milsap - Smokie Mountain Rain)

Absolutely Incredible Lyric:
Night Moves, Against the Wind (both make a lot of good songs read like Mother Goose, no music required)

Best Movement/Musical Structure:
Led Zepplin - Over The Hills and Far Away, Metallica - Fade to Black (Queen - Boh. Rap)

Combination Lyric and Musical Movement:
Journey - Faithfully (Buttons, zippers, hooks, and elastic all seem to lose their physical function when this song plays)
Alan Jackson - Devil and Me

Best Cover:
Metallica - Whiskey in the Jar
Whitney Houston - I Will Always Love You

EVERYBODY Likes:
Drift Away

Best Video:
Whitesnake - Here I Go Again

Can I have a tissue:
George Jones- He Stopped Loving Her Today
Brad Paisley - He Didn't Have To Be

Best Vocal:
Martina McBride - Where Would You Be

Free Beer For Every One:
AC/DC - Shook Me All Night Long, Garth Brooks - Friends In Low Places

Less Known To The Masses:
Hank Jr. - OD'd in Denver, Montgomery Gentry - If A Broken Heart Could Kill

Just Too Many Great Songs out there!

[Eric]

George Jones is awesome. The guy's one of the best singers I've ever heard.

[WoVeU]

In his time he could bring it. The latest thing I heard him on was ridiculous, he can't hold key anymore!

[Spence]

George Jones is awesome. The guy's one of the best singers I've ever heard.

I like George Jones too, but if you listen to him too much people will put you on suicide watch.

[Derek]

George Jones is awesome. The guy's one of the best singers I've ever heard.

I like George Jones too, but if you listen to him too much people will put you on suicide watch.

Is he the one that, after his wife took his car keys...Rode to the liquor store on his riding lawn mower?????

[Spence]

That would be him.

[WoVeU]

Dedication and resourcefulness! Possum Style!

[billybud]

Ahhh music...We are all a prisoner of our time and tend to like music that is identified with our era, particularly our youth.

I am proudly a Boomer and have been lucky enough to live through great periods of music...I do sound like a curmudgeon when I proclaim that music went down hill in the 90's with grunge and rap...the end of melody.

Billy's list of favorites (after my #1..in no particular order). Also my "liner notes"..

1...The Heart of the Matter...Don Henley
If you've ever have loved and moved on, this song will hit you. Henley sings it with believable emotion. Great lyrics...great delivery.

...I Will Not Go Quietly...Don Henley
Yes..I'm a Henley fan. I liked his work with the Eagles..but he is great solo. Again, simple and heartfelt...I will not go quietly, I will not lie down...

...When a Man Love a Woman....Percy Sledge
Simple truths, great melody, soulful delivery

...No Woman, No Cry....Bob Marley
The greatest of reggae tunes...a man and his woman. We danced in the moonlight on the beach in Jamaica to this one.

Knockin' on Heaven's Door...Guns and Roses
More than a great cover. Axl's voice and the soulful arranging added a new nuance to this Dylan folk piece and made it something different from the original.

Lay, Lady, Lay....Bob Dylan
So simple, and yet very sexy, and so out of place in our current times. I heard Dylan sing this one in person and I still think it holds power all these decades later.

You can't Always Get What you Want...The Rolling Stones
A Boomer anthem. It has meaning to us. Great organ intro. And the Stones, like us Boomers, will not go quietly. They smoke on stage (a no-no in these PC times) and dance (albeit badly) in spandex while in their 60's. Gawd, I still love these guys even if they are old men.

Piece of My Heart...Janice Joplin
Janice sings this with a rawness underlied with a hint of sweetness. Lots of female singers have come and gone but Janice still rivets me with her wail. It's not technique, it's what she was. One of the lost of my generation.

Whiter Shade of Pale....Procul Harem
This was on the radio a lot when I was a young Marine. Never knew what they meant by the lyrics, but loved the organ and the melody. A song from a time that was, at once, more innocent and more turbulent.

The Thrill is Gone...BB King
The guitar work, the lyrics, BB's soulful voice...overplayed now...but a great blues song.

Louie Louie....Kingsmen
OK..not a great song but a phenomena of the times. Came out when I was in high school and was banned from being played at the prom. Probably the only tune that has been investigated by the FCC and FBI for obscenity. Louie Louie was banned in Indiana and in many munincipalities. Bluto (Animal House) brought Louie Louie to a new generation.

Unchained Melody...Righteous Brothers
Don't roll your eyes! It is almost trite now from overplay...yet still a powerful love song. Anyone who has been in the service and separated from the one he loves, will be moved by the great lyrics and vocal performance...

Oh, my love
my darling
I've hungered for your touch
a long lonely time
and time goes by so slowly
and time can do so much
are you still mine?
I need your love
I need your love
Godspeed your love to me

Lonely rivers flow to the sea,
to the sea
to the open arms of the sea
lonely rivers sigh 'wait for me, wait for me'
I'll be coming home wait for me

[..fanatic]

No particular order:

Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Bohemian Rhaposdy - Queen
More Than A Feeling - Boston
Lyin' Eyes - Eagles

I could answer this question another day and come up with completely different answers/genres. I'm fairly eclectic in taste, but these are some that I can always fall back on.

[WoVeU]

Ahhh music...We are all a prisoner of our time and tend to like music that is identified with our era, particularly our youth.

There must be nearly a hundred songs that will just simply stop me in my tracks! Just how quickly and powerfully your mind can take you on a trip back to a time critically linked to the song is amazing.

1...The Heart of the Matter...Don Henley
If you've ever have loved and moved on, this song will hit you. Henley sings it with believable emotion. Great lyrics...great delivery.

...I Will Not Go Quietly...Don Henley
Yes..I'm a Henley fan. I liked his work with the Eagles..but he is great solo. Again, simple and heartfelt...I will not go quietly, I will not lie down...

Henley is simply a lyrical genius. I used to listen to Heart of the Matter and Last Worthless Evening back and forth for 20 or 30 minutes.

I love playing guitar and singing (not that I do either well) and I get frustrated that Henley's chord progressions are so complex that I just can't handle them.

[WoVeU]

I could answer this question another day and come up with completely different answers/genres. I'm fairly eclectic in taste, but these are some that I can always fall back on.

To this point and the power of music. I was coming through the house last night and Lee Greenwood's Ring On Her Finger came into my head (I haven't heard that song in probably 10 years) and I don't know why. If you asked me right now it would of course have to be on my list!

I told my wife to email me with that song title in the subject line. (One of my favorite note-to-self systems.) This morning I downloaded it. You gotta love technology!

[billybud]

I wasn't a fan...but I still play Conway's "Hello Darlin" from time to time....George Jones' "He stopped Loving Her today" and, for my wife's amusement...Waylon's "Good Hearted Woman".

[donovan]

Ahhh music...We are all a prisoner of our time and tend to like music that is identified with our era, particularly our youth.

Applies not only to music........

The Best song....not sure...just know it was sung by the King.....BJE (Before Jumpsuit Era)

[WoVeU]

Ahhh music...We are all a prisoner of our time and tend to like music that is identified with our era, particularly our youth.

Applies not only to music........

The Best song....not sure...just know it was sung by the King.....BJE (Before Jumpsuit Era)

Don't recall if it was on my list, but Suspicious Minds is awesome. And Dwight Yoakam's cover was great!

[WoVeU]

I wasn't a fan...but I still play Conway's "Hello Darlin" from time to time....George Jones' "He stopped Loving Her today" and, for my wife's amusement...Waylon's "Good Hearted Woman".

Conway's "Don't Take It Away" is incredible...great dynamic with a powerful vocal on the chorus! Classic Conway for sure.

Waylon's "Amanda" is probably may favorite from him...so simple but refined. I love a song I can play and sing nearly asleep. But GHW is sure up there and like Waylon buil on a great fundamental usage of the 1, 4, 5.