On the Nature of Daylight by Max Richter.
― joni mitchell jarre (anagram), Saturday, 26 June 2021 20:14 (two years ago) link
London Calling
― bobo honkin' slobo babe (sic), Saturday, 26 June 2021 21:47 (two years ago) link
songs that have really wimpy voices over 'heavy', thundering riffs, utterly rendering the riff useless
Collective Soul - Where the River Flows
― not up to Aerosmith standards (Neanderthal), Saturday, 3 July 2021 13:32 (two years ago) link
songs that should never be allowed to be used in Television or movies ever again
Fortunate Son
― kornrulez6969, Saturday, 3 July 2021 18:52 (two years ago) link
It feels like there could/should be a thread for this but I can't find one.
Songs where the sings talks over an instrumental backing for most/all of a track:
Robert Ashley - Private Parts (the motherlode for this sort of stuff)Paddy McAloon - I Trawl the MegahertzJonathan Richman - Twilight in BostonCassandra Jenkins - Hard DriveJon Hopkins/Ram Dass - Sit Around the Fire
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Monday, 20 September 2021 11:19 (two years ago) link
My favorite of these is that lovely Billy Bragg / Johnny Marr cover of "Walk Away Renee"
― enochroot, Monday, 20 September 2021 12:16 (two years ago) link
So... spoken word songs?
If that's what we're looking for then My Sister and Chocolate by Tindersticks.
― joni mitchell jarre (anagram), Monday, 20 September 2021 12:23 (two years ago) link
Shangri-Las: Past, Present and FutureLou Reed: Harry's CircumcisionVU: The Gift
― juristic person (morrisp), Monday, 20 September 2021 14:18 (two years ago) link
BB King "Lucille" -- just introduced to this for the first time on NPR American Routes last weekend. Good one.
Tom Waits must belong in this list but the only spoken word that comes to mind is "What's He Building in There" which I don't think is what you're looking for because the instrumental backing is less of a song and more sound effects (as Tom Waits does)
― Lavator Shemmelpennick, Monday, 20 September 2021 15:33 (two years ago) link
Diamonds on my windshield
― calstars, Monday, 20 September 2021 17:04 (two years ago) link
yes, right
― Lavator Shemmelpennick, Monday, 20 September 2021 17:08 (two years ago) link
Talking Heads "Seen and Not Seen"
― Lavator Shemmelpennick, Monday, 20 September 2021 17:10 (two years ago) link
Butthole Surfers - Pepper
― you had me at "giallo" (Neanderthal), Monday, 20 September 2021 17:16 (two years ago) link
88 Lines About 44 WomenDetachable Penis
― juristic person (morrisp), Monday, 20 September 2021 17:30 (two years ago) link
(all the klassiks, lol)
Rockwell - Somebody's Watching Me
― you had me at "giallo" (Neanderthal), Monday, 20 September 2021 17:33 (two years ago) link
A boy named sue
― calstars, Monday, 20 September 2021 17:38 (two years ago) link
Jimmy Castor Bunch - Troglodyte (Cave Man)
― Josefa, Monday, 20 September 2021 17:40 (two years ago) link
The Clientele - Losing HaringeyJames Yorkston - Woozy With Cider
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Monday, 20 September 2021 17:59 (two years ago) link
I think Rockwell is "singing," no(?)
― juristic person (morrisp), Monday, 20 September 2021 18:00 (two years ago) link
I mean Michael Jackson sings, but if Rockwell is singing, it's of the Henry Hill variety
― you had me at "giallo" (Neanderthal), Monday, 20 September 2021 18:01 (two years ago) link
*Higgins
Isaac Hayes talks for over 8 minutes in his version of "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" but the whole song is 19 minutes long
― Josefa, Monday, 20 September 2021 18:03 (two years ago) link
I think it has to be ALL talking to qualify. Hayes feels like the progenitor of a lot of this stuff but feel like he always breaks into singing at some point?
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Monday, 20 September 2021 18:06 (two years ago) link
i always wished there were songs like the songs by The Manhattans where there's a spoken word intro, but unlikely the Manhattans, it just never ends, like you always think it's going to give way to a beautiful harmonized R&B chorus, but the spoken words get more and more drawn out, and 8 minutes in, the narrator says, alright, I'm bout to give it to you, and the song just ends.
SO ARE THERE?
― you had me at "giallo" (Neanderthal), Monday, 20 September 2021 18:06 (two years ago) link
Parklife!
― J. Sam, Monday, 20 September 2021 18:07 (two years ago) link
88 Lines About 44 Women
I withdraw this (just revisited) - it's rhythmic/rhymed verse, or whatever
― juristic person (morrisp), Monday, 20 September 2021 18:22 (two years ago) link
Does "Institutionalized" fit, or the sung chorus disqualifies it?
― juristic person (morrisp), Monday, 20 September 2021 18:24 (two years ago) link
Yeah, great tune though! I think sung chorus means OUT. By the rules I made up 4 minutes ago.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Monday, 20 September 2021 18:26 (two years ago) link
R.E.M. - Belong / (The non-Patti Smith parts of) E-bow the Letter
― Hideous Lump, Monday, 20 September 2021 20:31 (two years ago) link
Another Waits song is "9th and Hennepin"."Coney Island" by Van Morrison."Three" by the Cure and "Hot Rox Avec Lying Sweet Talk" by the Loud Family both feature spoken word buried deep under music.
― Halfway there but for you, Tuesday, 21 September 2021 00:38 (two years ago) link
...also "The Jeweller" by John Cale.
John Prine's "Lake Marie" doesn't count because the chorus is sung, but it's such a great song I wanted to mention it anyway.
― Lily Dale, Tuesday, 21 September 2021 01:54 (two years ago) link
Another John Prine with spoken verses and sung chorus is “Jesus The Missing Years.” And another Tom Waits is “Frank’s Wild Years.”
― Lavator Shemmelpennick, Tuesday, 21 September 2021 02:17 (two years ago) link
lol weird this is the 2nd time I've come across "88 Lines About 44 Women" tonight. The first was in a comment left by the song's writer on an article about the Butthole Surfers' "Pepper," in which he claimed that Gibby Haynes cited the song as an inspiration: https://www.texasmonthly.com/arts-entertainment/butthole-surfers-pepper-hit-song/#comment-5522363564
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 21 September 2021 02:23 (two years ago) link
xp and yet another John Prine song like that is "When I get to Heaven," although it rhymes which might be another disqualifying factor.
― Lily Dale, Tuesday, 21 September 2021 02:50 (two years ago) link
Songs with a lyric that suggests/evokes the album title, without directly providing the source for itAnother example of this: the Indigo Girls LP Nomads Indians Saints takes its title from the song “World Falls”:
I wish I was a nomadAn Indian or a saint
― juristic person (morrisp), Thursday, 30 September 2021 04:24 (two years ago) link
Songs where the song title is boldly announced as the first word of the lyrics, like Help!
― Alba, Thursday, 30 September 2021 06:13 (two years ago) link
Yesterday
― Gardyloominati (Neanderthal), Thursday, 30 September 2021 06:15 (two years ago) link
Pixies, Hey
― ledge, Thursday, 30 September 2021 07:30 (two years ago) link
Good ones. I should have said word(s) – I didn’t mean only one-word titles. I Shot the Sheriff would count.
― Alba, Thursday, 30 September 2021 07:35 (two years ago) link
In that case, Gouge Away.
― ledge, Thursday, 30 September 2021 09:30 (two years ago) link
Ramones are the kings of this:Now I wanna sniff some glueI don’t wannna walk around with youEtc
― calstars, Thursday, 30 September 2021 11:32 (two years ago) link
danzig - mother
― grove street (party) direction (voodoo chili), Thursday, 30 September 2021 12:04 (two years ago) link
R.E.M. - Stand, Nightswimming
― juristic person (morrisp), Thursday, 30 September 2021 14:38 (two years ago) link
Pavement - Two States
― juristic person (morrisp), Thursday, 30 September 2021 14:43 (two years ago) link
there are like four thousand of these, arguably rates its own thread if people are feeling it
― I Am Fribbulus (Xax) (Doctor Casino), Thursday, 30 September 2021 15:38 (two years ago) link
I think the key it has to be "boldly announced" (however you judge that), and not merely the first word/line of the lyrics...
― juristic person (morrisp), Thursday, 30 September 2021 15:56 (two years ago) link
Yeah that should help to narrow it down. Help! does feel like the classic example. Maybe I’ll start a standalone thread tomorrow.
― Alba, Thursday, 30 September 2021 18:29 (two years ago) link
Weezer - "El Scorcho"
― Indexed, Thursday, 30 September 2021 19:34 (two years ago) link