Perfect Music

[mythteller]

Do you have a song that, when you hear it, makes you stop and take notice of it? You'll be walking down the street, driving in your car, or riding the bus when you hear this song and it stirs something inside you. You feel every note, you know every word, and still the song is as fresh and new as it was the first time you heard it. You close your eyes, your mind clears instantly, and you get lots in its music.

I was driving to work today and two of these songs came on one after the other. If I had had the opportunity, I might've pulled over to be able to listen to them.

• Thunderstruck -- AC/DC: There's something about how this song builds that gets my full attention every time. I crank the volume and get lost in it.


• Still haven't found what I'm looking for -- U2: similar to Thunderstruck, the build-up of this song draws me in. I'm a child of the 80's; go figure.


• Canned Goods -- Greg Brown: specifically from his Live One album. It reminds me of spending summers as a kid at my great aunt's cottage.


• Chet Baker's Unsung Swan Song -- David Wilcox (the American one): I've known of Chet Baker, but I've never gone out of my way to hear his music. This song makes me want to discover Bakers' music.


• Nighthawks at the Diner -- Tom Waits: the whole album is an experience, but the story of Big Joe and Phantom 309 gets me every time.

What are your five perfect songs? These pieces of music should be a few years old (it's too early to say how new music will affect you a few years from now) and state why you think they strike such a chord in you.

Comments

Take Five

[kino-kid.livejournal.com]

Not THE five, but five.

Moments in Love - The Art of Noise: A mix of restraint, heat, passion, poignancy and flow. Any time someone says all techno/electronica is cold, I laugh to myself.

Music and Politics - Disposable Heroes of the Hiphoprisy: The first Michael Franti "love song" I ever heard. Although known for his protest music, he writes these unabashed love songs and this one isn't that. It is ripping open his heart to the person closest to him; A big 6 foot 6 man with an imposing voice; who for two albums uses a driving industrial backdrop to push forward sociopolitical ire and messages, and then this track of acoustic guitar is dropped in the middle of that to remind us how political the personal is.

So What - Miles Davis Quartet: No words are adequate. Childhood. Summertime. Deceptive simplicity. Cool as a cucumber on ice.

Tell Me Something Good - Rufus and Chaka Khan: Oh my God, that woman's voice and the rhythm are hot.

Visions of You - Jah Wobble and The Invaders of the Heart featuring Sinead O'Connor: Holy and early 90s all at the same time. Just depends on what mood I'm in. Beautiful layers of sound, but not overproduced.