Best Song Ever?
I posted this on my school blog last week and thought maybe some people here would be interested (if you haven't already seen it--I think I posted a link on facebook, too).
This really doesn’t have anything to do with class-except for the fact that Cameron asked me what I thought the best song ever was today during class and now I can’t stop trying to figure it out.
Cameron said maybe the best song was Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which is definitely an excellent song, especially if you’re looking for something epic. As much as I love Queen, though, I love Radiohead more, and my pick for best epic rock song might have to be “Paranoid Android” instead.
But, really, to answer this question I have to determine what criteria to consider in evaluating what the best song ever is. Complexity? Originality? Performance?
For me, the most important criteria is none of these; the best song ever doesn’t have to be musically complex, doesn’t have to blaze new ground, and is judged separately from the performance. I’m more interested in strong lyrics that combine the particular and the universal (details + broad appeal) and a song whose lyrics are strengthened by an appropriate song structure, melody, and harmony.
My first reaction when asked this question in class was to say that the best song ever surely had to be something by The Mountain Goats. John Darnielle [seen here being interviewed on The Colbert Report and here playing a song from the band's new album on The Colbert Report], the chief member, singer, guitarist, and songwriter for the band, writes songs that tell stories of people who love and suffer-sometimes simultaneously. He deals in the particulars of these characters’ lives (some of which are based on himself but many of which are fictional), giving them a life of their own, but because the experiences he describes in his songs of falling in love, difficult childhoods, losing people, etc., are so familiar, we identify readily with his characters, no matter how odd they may be or how different the specifics of their situation might be from our lives.
One of my favorite Mountain Goats songs is “The Best Ever Death Metal Band Out of Denton,” a song about two young boys named Jeff and Cyrus who, as the song title implies, start a death metal band in Denton, TX. The song is about much more than teenage rebellion and death metal, though. As a result of their dedication to their band (“in script that makes prominent use of a pentagram, they stencil their drumheads and guitars with their names”), one of the boys is sent away to a school “where they told him he’d never be famous.” The song becomes about the dreams we all have, embodied in these boys’ experiences. They have a dream, they work toward their dream, and they are judged and discouraged as a result. The song ends with the following lines:If you punish a person for dreaming his dream,
Don’t expect him to thank or forgive you.
The best ever death metal band out of Denton
Will in time both outpace and outlive you.
Hail Satan! Hail Satan!
This song takes an experience of youth and rebellion, discouragement and punishment, and makes of it a statement about the necessity of having a dream, of having something to hope for. Live performances of this song are amazing because everyone in the audience knows the song and sings along, including the triumphant “Hail Satan!” chorus at the end, which is accompanied by a clubful of fans throwing up horns in solidarity with Jeff and Cyrus. Darnielle is not, here, endorsing actual Satan worship but taking the side of Jeff and Cyrus and their death metal band over the forces of conformity they face. And the audience takes their side, too.
This is not The Mountain Goats’ best song, though. There are stronger songs on Tallahassee, an album about a destructive and failing relationship (“No Children,” another concert favorite, stands out as a strong contender for best song ever) or The Sunset Tree, an album that deals with Darnielle’s adolescent abuse at the hands of his stepfather, but “The Best Ever Death Metal Band Out of Denton” nicely illustrates some of the qualities of a good Mountain Goats song.
To be honest, I love The Mountain Goats so much (if you couldn’t tell by now) that I have a hard time narrowing favorites down to just a few songs. They are extraordinarily prolific and the quality of songwriting is fairly consistent.
Leaving The Mountain Goats behind, one last song I will mention is Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” I do not like Cohen’s recording of the song, but this is one of the most covered songs I know for a reason. It has been covered by Bob Dylan, Rufus Wainwright, Brandi Carlile, k. d. lang, John Cale, and Jeff Buckley-along with many others. The very fact that it has been covered so many times indicates its universality and its appeal to both audiences and performers. There are a few variations on the lyrics, as it has several verses, not all of which are commonly performed, but here is one common arrangement:I heard there was a secret chordthat David played and it pleased the Lord,
you don’t really care for music, do you?
Well it goes like this, the fourth, the fifth,
the minor fall and the major lift
the baffled king composing hallelujah.
Hallelujah…
Well your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you to her kitchen chair
She broke your throne and she cut your hair
and from your lips she drew the hallelujah
Hallelujah…
Baby, I’ve been here before
I’ve seen this room and I’ve walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew you
I’ve seen your flag on the marble arch
but love is not a victory march
It’s a cold and it’s a broken hallelujah
Hallelujah…
Well there was a time when you let me know
what’s really going on below
but now you never show that to me do you?
But remember when I moved in you
and the holy dove was moving too
and every breath we drew was hallelujah
Well, maybe there’s a God above
but all I’ve ever learned from love
was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you
it’s not a cry that you hear at night
it’s not somebody who’s seen the light
it’s a cold and it’s a broken hallelujah
Hallelujah…
This song appeals because of its creative use of familiar metaphors and narratives and its ability to comment simultaneously on love, faith, and sex.
I strongly recommend checking out Jeff Buckley’s version of the song. It is, as far as I’m concerned, not only the best cover of this song-the one that strikes most closely at the emotional heart of the song in its performance-but is also one of the best covers of all time.
In short, I am clearly incapable of answering this question-what is the best song ever?-in any definitive way, but I can at least narrow it down somewhat. My short list (based on the way I feel today) would therefore include the following: “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen (performance by Jeff Buckley preferred); “The Best Ever Death Metal Band Out of Denton,” “No Children,” “Woke Up New” (a fantastic, simple song about a breakup), or, really, pretty much anything from The Sunset Tree or Heretic Pride by The Mountain Goats; anything from OK Computer by Radiohead; or any of a number of later songs by the Beatles, including “Eleanor Rigby,” “Golden Slumbers,” “Here Comes the Sun,” “I Want You (She’s So Heavy),” and “When I’m Sixty-Four.”
Is this any easier for others? What would you say is the best song ever? And how do you decide?
This really doesn’t have anything to do with class-except for the fact that Cameron asked me what I thought the best song ever was today during class and now I can’t stop trying to figure it out.
Cameron said maybe the best song was Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which is definitely an excellent song, especially if you’re looking for something epic. As much as I love Queen, though, I love Radiohead more, and my pick for best epic rock song might have to be “Paranoid Android” instead.
But, really, to answer this question I have to determine what criteria to consider in evaluating what the best song ever is. Complexity? Originality? Performance?
For me, the most important criteria is none of these; the best song ever doesn’t have to be musically complex, doesn’t have to blaze new ground, and is judged separately from the performance. I’m more interested in strong lyrics that combine the particular and the universal (details + broad appeal) and a song whose lyrics are strengthened by an appropriate song structure, melody, and harmony.
My first reaction when asked this question in class was to say that the best song ever surely had to be something by The Mountain Goats. John Darnielle [seen here being interviewed on The Colbert Report and here playing a song from the band's new album on The Colbert Report], the chief member, singer, guitarist, and songwriter for the band, writes songs that tell stories of people who love and suffer-sometimes simultaneously. He deals in the particulars of these characters’ lives (some of which are based on himself but many of which are fictional), giving them a life of their own, but because the experiences he describes in his songs of falling in love, difficult childhoods, losing people, etc., are so familiar, we identify readily with his characters, no matter how odd they may be or how different the specifics of their situation might be from our lives.
One of my favorite Mountain Goats songs is “The Best Ever Death Metal Band Out of Denton,” a song about two young boys named Jeff and Cyrus who, as the song title implies, start a death metal band in Denton, TX. The song is about much more than teenage rebellion and death metal, though. As a result of their dedication to their band (“in script that makes prominent use of a pentagram, they stencil their drumheads and guitars with their names”), one of the boys is sent away to a school “where they told him he’d never be famous.” The song becomes about the dreams we all have, embodied in these boys’ experiences. They have a dream, they work toward their dream, and they are judged and discouraged as a result. The song ends with the following lines:If you punish a person for dreaming his dream,
Don’t expect him to thank or forgive you.
The best ever death metal band out of Denton
Will in time both outpace and outlive you.
Hail Satan! Hail Satan!
This song takes an experience of youth and rebellion, discouragement and punishment, and makes of it a statement about the necessity of having a dream, of having something to hope for. Live performances of this song are amazing because everyone in the audience knows the song and sings along, including the triumphant “Hail Satan!” chorus at the end, which is accompanied by a clubful of fans throwing up horns in solidarity with Jeff and Cyrus. Darnielle is not, here, endorsing actual Satan worship but taking the side of Jeff and Cyrus and their death metal band over the forces of conformity they face. And the audience takes their side, too.
This is not The Mountain Goats’ best song, though. There are stronger songs on Tallahassee, an album about a destructive and failing relationship (“No Children,” another concert favorite, stands out as a strong contender for best song ever) or The Sunset Tree, an album that deals with Darnielle’s adolescent abuse at the hands of his stepfather, but “The Best Ever Death Metal Band Out of Denton” nicely illustrates some of the qualities of a good Mountain Goats song.
To be honest, I love The Mountain Goats so much (if you couldn’t tell by now) that I have a hard time narrowing favorites down to just a few songs. They are extraordinarily prolific and the quality of songwriting is fairly consistent.
Leaving The Mountain Goats behind, one last song I will mention is Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” I do not like Cohen’s recording of the song, but this is one of the most covered songs I know for a reason. It has been covered by Bob Dylan, Rufus Wainwright, Brandi Carlile, k. d. lang, John Cale, and Jeff Buckley-along with many others. The very fact that it has been covered so many times indicates its universality and its appeal to both audiences and performers. There are a few variations on the lyrics, as it has several verses, not all of which are commonly performed, but here is one common arrangement:I heard there was a secret chordthat David played and it pleased the Lord,
you don’t really care for music, do you?
Well it goes like this, the fourth, the fifth,
the minor fall and the major lift
the baffled king composing hallelujah.
Hallelujah…
Well your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you to her kitchen chair
She broke your throne and she cut your hair
and from your lips she drew the hallelujah
Hallelujah…
Baby, I’ve been here before
I’ve seen this room and I’ve walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew you
I’ve seen your flag on the marble arch
but love is not a victory march
It’s a cold and it’s a broken hallelujah
Hallelujah…
Well there was a time when you let me know
what’s really going on below
but now you never show that to me do you?
But remember when I moved in you
and the holy dove was moving too
and every breath we drew was hallelujah
Well, maybe there’s a God above
but all I’ve ever learned from love
was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you
it’s not a cry that you hear at night
it’s not somebody who’s seen the light
it’s a cold and it’s a broken hallelujah
Hallelujah…
This song appeals because of its creative use of familiar metaphors and narratives and its ability to comment simultaneously on love, faith, and sex.
I strongly recommend checking out Jeff Buckley’s version of the song. It is, as far as I’m concerned, not only the best cover of this song-the one that strikes most closely at the emotional heart of the song in its performance-but is also one of the best covers of all time.
In short, I am clearly incapable of answering this question-what is the best song ever?-in any definitive way, but I can at least narrow it down somewhat. My short list (based on the way I feel today) would therefore include the following: “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen (performance by Jeff Buckley preferred); “The Best Ever Death Metal Band Out of Denton,” “No Children,” “Woke Up New” (a fantastic, simple song about a breakup), or, really, pretty much anything from The Sunset Tree or Heretic Pride by The Mountain Goats; anything from OK Computer by Radiohead; or any of a number of later songs by the Beatles, including “Eleanor Rigby,” “Golden Slumbers,” “Here Comes the Sun,” “I Want You (She’s So Heavy),” and “When I’m Sixty-Four.”
Is this any easier for others? What would you say is the best song ever? And how do you decide?