'Out Of Gas'
There's a lady plays her fav'rite records/On the jukebox ev'ry day/All day long she plays the same old songs/And she believes the things that they say/She sings along with all the saddest songs/And she believes the stories are real/She lets the music dictate the way that she feels.
Question for a Wednesday morning: What songs never get old?
Just now, "Sugar, Sugar" played on the radio. And I was thinking, I've been hearing that song for more than 40 years, at least 2,000 times, 3,000 times, maybe more -- I lost count long ago. And I never get tired of it, it never gets old.
Another song in that category: "Love Is Blue." Again, I can't remember a time when I didn't know it. But I could still happily listen to it all day.
What songs do other people just never get tired of?
What songs do other people just never get tired of?
While I got fully sated on Tom Waits music while researching the book, certain of his songs are always welcome including "Swordfishtrombones," "Cold Cold Night" and "Alice."
Looking through my Radio Schmaydio playlists (which I play all the time in the car), these songs have never lost their charm despite dozens (probably hundreds) of plays:
See Line Woman - Nina Simone
California Dreamin' - Bobby Womack (a great slinky soul cover)
That's How Much I Need Your Love - Chuck Prophet
Dark Rapture - Count Basie
Make Me Yours - Bettye Swan (soul nugget)
Six Months In A Leaky Boat - Split Enz
Stupidly Happy - XTC
California Sex Lawyer - Fountains of Wayne
1952 Vincent Black Lightning - Del McCoury Band
Spanish Stroll - Mink Deville
Skylark - Jackie Paris
Rather random scurry through my playlists, but those songs have been very durable.
My list would include:
Amii Stewart - Knock On Wood
Abba - S.O.S.
Jona Lewie - Louise (my favourite song of the early 80s, and still much fun)
Spandau Ballet - True (and to a lesser extent, Through The Barricades)
An extensive bunch of Beatles songs, especially the run from Help! to Sgt Pepper.
Six Months In A Leaky Boat - Split Enz
I only put this on my iPhone a couple of months ago. Odd, since I'm hardly short of Split Enz tracks.
On the New Zealand theme, I would like to call attention to the musical stylings of one Gin Wigmore, for example:
(The last song has been used in a Heineken commercial tie-in to Skyfall. Another of her songs, Kill Of tThe Night, was used for Alfa Romeo in Australia.)
In terms of "hey, these songs have been out for decades and decades and they still rock" and not "I could listen to these songs that just came out yesterday/the week before and they don't get old" would be many songs by The Police, Led Zep's "When the Levy Breaks" ( I want to have baby's with the base line/drum beat).
I've found, once I got into it, that Alt-J can bear repeated listening for hours a day and weeks on end. I think I listened to it solely for months without boredom, and still find myself enraptured. Except for My Matilda. That one drags and earworms me horrifically.
For my childhood first loves, Sting/The Police and Marc Cohn still hold strong. I'm actually curious to find out more about Sting's musical (Broadway show?). He put me off when he went classical, but Soul Cages haunts me to this day as an album and a piece of storytelling and pseudo biography. Which may be more of a Natter topic?
I also listened to the Grease soundtrack last week for the first time in a long time, and it holds up beautifully. When the movie came out, I thought of "There Are Worse Things I Could Do" as a fine song but not one of my favorites. Now, it's amazing. I think it's one of those songs that you can only appreciate after getting some life experience.
And "Summer Nights" is another one for the "never gets old" list.
I would include Abba's "Waterloo," and "Brown-eyed Girl," by Van Morrison, just to start with.
"Fernando" is my goto ABBA song. Though my interpretation is different than the one ABBA gives it in interviews.
"Little Green Bag" comes to mind immediately.
The first song that comes to mind is "Fall At Your Feet" by Crowded House. I don't know why, but that song in particular has always struck me as a perfect pop song. It's melancholy and romantic; it's restrained but still soars. I just love it.
The first song that comes to mind is "Fall At Your Feet" by Crowded House. I don't know why, but that song in particular has always struck me as a perfect pop song. It's melancholy and romantic; it's restrained but still soars. I just love it.
Ooh, my favourite Crowded House song. Which also reminded me, U2's "All I Want Is You" and "One" are also songs I find to be enduring in their appeal.