Thursday, April 26, 2018

Two Questions: "Never Again" vs."Never Enough"


Redartz:  Here's a couple questions for you to ponder over, two questions looking at the opposite ends of your musical spectrum. We have discussed favorite songs and performers, and also those we aren't so fond of. Today we will stretch this to the limits of our personal tolerance: 

1.  Name a song you could easily (and indeed would prefer to) avoid hearing again for the remainder of your natural life. 

2.  Name a song you could  still find enjoyable, regardless of how many times you are exposed to it.

Personally, I could list numerous examples of both. But in the interests of brevity, I'll keep it down to 
 two each (you can name just one, or a dozen; we try to be accommodating).

Songs I would be happy never to hear again: Rod Stewart, "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy". That song made me cringe the first time I heard it, and it hasn't gotten any better over the years. And neither has Roger Whitaker, "The Last Farewell"- that song seemed to be everywhere in the mid 70's, including heavy rotation on cheesy commercials. 

Songs I could hear over and over again: ( I won't subject you to the others.above): George Harrison, "My Sweet Lord"- wonderfully melodic, and inspiring every time I hear it.

 Also, ABBA, "S.O.S."-  Just one heck of a great song, with a magnificent arrangement. Debatable, but it could just be my favorite pop song of all time. 



 I look forward to hearing about your 'never again's and 'never enough's...

 

26 comments:

Charlie Horse 47 said...

Charlie has a piping-hot bowl of Maypo waiting and has to get to work, so here is his very abridged answer after 4 hours of sleep, LOL:

1) I don't care if I ever hear another "classic rock"song again: Eagles, Blue Oyster Cult, Leonard Skynard... The health clubs, bars, radio stations etc. that cater more to older white men have killed it!

2) One song I WILL NEVER tire of is Jaque Brel's "Ne Me Quitte Pas." Gorgeous, moving, passionate... That is once in a generation song and Jaque was a once in a generation performer as I understand it.

Rock on!!!

Charlie Horse 47 said...

Ne Me Quitte Pas

by

Jacques Brel


Ne me quitte pas
Il faut oublier
Tout peut s'oublier
Qui s'enfuit déjà
Oublier le temps
Des malentendus et le temps perdu
À savoir comment
Oublier ces heures
Qui tuaient parfois à coups de pourquoi
Le cœur du bonheur
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas

(Sorry, I just had to do that... I always wondered how I would feel doing that and I FEEL GOOD!)

Doug said...

Charlie, you have insulted me and those of my ilk. Sorry... I am squarely in the "old white guy" classic rock demographic. No foul... :)

"I Know What Boys Like" by the Waitresses and "Lovin' You" by Minnie Riperton absolutely drive me crazy. If ever tortured, the perps could skip the waterboarding and move straight to putting those two songs on repeat. I'd break.

I actually enjoyed one of my favorites on the way in this morning - "Night Moves" by Bob Seger. What I love most about that song (other than the "I remember when I had those raging teenage hormones" slice of life) is that you can easily pick out what each musician is doing. Very crisp production.

The Who's "The Real Me", "Get Back" by the Beatles, and "We've Only Begun" by the Carpenters are steady favorites that I will always pause to enjoy.

Doug

Charlie Horse 47 said...

Howdy Doug! As you know I fall squarely in the "older white guy club" too!

Nothing I can do about it though, lol.

And you just listed two of my almost nearly most favoritist songs in the whole world and they are by those UK rockers who preceded older white guy classic rock!

Dr. O said...

ANYTHING by ROD STEWART OF ANY ERA should be fired into the sun, except it might devour our life giving orb and doom us to an icy death. I feel the same way about anything by Elton John.

But less extremely, in my most recent post of my series exploring Omega the Unknown some Beatles songs I dislike came up. I would be perfectly happy never hearing "In My Life" or "Nowhere Man' ever again. That said, I will never get tired of songs like "I Want You (She's So Heavy), "I'm Only Sleeping" and "Tomorrow Never Knows."

I will never get tired of DeBarge's "Rhythm of the Night" or Prince's "When Doves Cry"

Worst most commonly played song in movies and TV? Smashmouth's "All- Star." I am convinced the band's name is inspired by what people wanted to do to them when they heard them play.

Graham said...

I've never heard anything from Madonna past the opening line. I just never "got" her at all. "Pop Music" by M from the late 70's/early 80's also makes my ears bleed, mainly because a guy would come into the local hangout and play it repeatedly on the jukebox the entire time he was there.

On the other hand, I can listen to Booker T & the MG's "Green Onions" on "Repeat" forever. Coolest song ever. There are a lot of other tunes that I love to turn up when they resurface on the oldie stations, but "Green Onions" has been my favorite ever since I heard it on the American Graffiti soundtrack.

Doug said...

Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry, Be Happy" rivals "Lovin' You".

Now it's going through my head...

Doug

Selenarch said...

Yeah, I'm only somewhat digging this wave of '80's nostalgia. I like Stranger Things, but when I hear the Smiths when I'm grocery shopping, or hearing the Specials in a minivan commercial, not cool.

For brevity's sake, I could never hear again anything by the Pretenders. Just ... no.

And I could listen again and again to anything by the Godfather of Soul, James Brown.

(Seriously, I sometimes fantasize about trying to restrict all my communications for one whole day to nothing but quotes from James Brown songs and seeing if anyone would notice).

Charlie Horse 47 said...

Knock me out!!!

Dr. O said...

Selenarch, that makes me want to jump back and kiss myself!

Edo Bosnar said...

Redartz, interesting that you brought up Abba; I've come to a renewed appreciation of many of their hit songs, like SOS, Waterloo or Dancing Queen. I liked those songs when they were big hits back in the 1970s and my older sister had some of their albums, but then when I hit my teens in the '80s and we were all into hard rock/metal, punk, new wave, etc. that kind of stuff, along with disco, became so uncool. Now I've gone full circle and enjoy listening to them occasionally.

As for my own answers, heck, I could list tons for both categories.
On the can't stand it side, I definitely agree with Doug about "Don't Worry, Be Happy" (and yes, now it's running through my head, too - argh!); a few others I can't stand and can live without hearing ever again (and luckily, I haven't in quite a while) are a few of those annoying yet inexplicably popular hits from the '80s that seemed to be ubiquitous for a time, like Murry Head's "One Night in Bangkok" or "Puttin' on the Ritz" by Taco. Just thinking about them now makes me shudder a bit.

On the other side, there's so many songs I never get tired of; I'll just say that one I can listen to almost on an infinite loop is David Bowie's "Rebel, Rebel."

Steve Does Comics said...

Songs I never want to hear again:

"Everything I Do, I Do it For You" - Bryan Adams.

"I Will Always Love You" - Whitney Houston.

"Africa" - Toto.

"Afternoon Delight" - Starland Vocal Band.


Songs I can never grow tired of:

"Gimme Shelter" - The Stones.

"Cambodia" - Kim Wilde.

"Driver's Seat" - Sniff 'n the Tears.

"Ship of Fools" - World Party.

"Eagle" - ABBA.

"Born of Confusion" - James.

"Song to the Siren" - Robert Plant.

"Coz I Luv U" - Slade.

"Motorcycle Emptiness" - Manic Street Preachers.

Steve Does Comics said...

Oops! That should have been, "Born of Frustration," by James. I always get the title wrong.

Chim said...

Strange, it seems I am not allowed to post these as links to the YoutTube videos. The post is automatically instantly deleted.

So here without direct linksand only with links to special versions of a song or for probably not so well known songs:

La Javanaise (here a cover version used in the movie „The Shape of Water“
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RY-7RLvcdao

Gimme Shelter – Stones Live with Lisa Fischer (the links jumps right to her solo in the middle of the song)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLx4xJdCcZ4&feature=youtu.be&list=RDrLx4xJdCcZ4&t=241

Simon & Garfunkel – A Hazy Shade Of Winter

Sometimes it Snows In April – Prince

Johnny Cash – „One“ (The U2 cover version)

God’s Gift to Women – Rory Block
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiQ_g7qzIZ4

I’m Stepping Out – John Lennon

Ain’t no Mountain High Enough – Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell

My favorite Live Music Video
Queen & Annie Lennox & David Bowie – Under Pressure. Annie Lennox ist phantastic in voice and looks!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCP2-Bfhy04

Music from Movies:

Falling Slowly – Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova (Once)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkFB8f8bzbY

The Hidden Cameras – Boys of Melody (Short Bus)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sx4ybOL968

I really have a hard time to come up with a song I do not like. But here is a song I do actually like, but do not like to hear more than once in a time: Murray Head – Say It Ain’t So, Joe

A sub theme: Best TV Show Themes:
The Streets of San Francisco Theme (Intro & Outro)

When it comes to TV, has anyone seen SENSE8 from NETFLIX? If not, try it!
If so, you know this scene of the first season:

What’s Up – Sense8 Season 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRJYCW_dCN4

Last but not least, a song that EVERYONE SHOULD HEAR AT LEAST ONCE IN HIS/HER LIFE Seasons of Love (Reunion Version) – RENT (2008 Broadway Cast). Such a feel good song…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoaeKvYg4FA

Chim said...

I forgot to mention Aretha Franklin. Here a nice live performance of the late Aretha Franklin from 2015, where Barak Obama was in the audience and drops a tear.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diwF1-xJwZM

Mike Wilson said...

Well, I've always hated pretty much anything by U2, REM, Fleetwood Mac, and Boston. There are other songs that I technically like, but they've been so overplayed that I end up never wanting to hear them again (Stairway to Heaven, Welcome to the Jungle, Pour Some Sugar on Me, all of Bon Jovi's singles).

As for songs I never get sick of, there are way too many to mention. Here's one off the top of my head.

Killraven said...

Chim, Aretha's still with us!

Like many here too many to list in both categories.
For sure the "classic" rock songs have been watered down to nothing, and that's too bad some were really good in their time.

I never get sick of some Roy Orbison songs like "Only The Lonely" and "You Got It" to name a couple.

Chim said...

"Killraven said...
Chim, Aretha's still with us!"

Oh, that is my bad english! Didn't know that "late" in this context means "dead". Sorry. I meant "as an old person". But thanks for correcting me, I learned something from it.

Killraven said...

Ah, now I know what you meant, Chim. A later rendition.

The English language can be a bit challenging at times.

Anonymous said...

I can't stand "A Whiter Shade Of Pale" by Procol Harum. And I agree with Steve about "Everything I Do, I Do It For You" by Bryan Adams - it was No.1 in the UK singles chart for 16 weeks in 1991. SIXTEEN WEEKS...but why??? And I'd be happy if I never heard "Bohemian Rhapsody" ever again - nor the rest of Queen's songs to be honest.

A song I never tire of - "The Tide Is High" by Blondie. I loved it the first time I heard it back in 1980 and it's one of my favourite ever songs.

Redartz said...

Thanks for sharing your loves and hates, everyone! Music touches us on such a personal level; it can produce such a visceral reaction both positve and negative...

Anonymous said...

More from The Prowler on the move in America:

Songs I'm so over:

"Ridin'" by Chamillionaire
"Baby I Love Your Way/Freebird Medley" by Will To Power
"Mary Jane's Last Dance" by Tom Petty
"Friday" by Rebecca Black

Songs I could have on an endless loop:

"Dance The Night Away" Van Halen
"Refugee" Tom Petty
"Dancing Queen" ABBA
"Tops Drop" Fat Pat
"Valerie" Amy Winehouse

Bonus factoid:

Sade, Gino Vanelli, Emmylou Harris and KT Tunstall could sing the phone book and I would buy it...

Mike Wilson said...

@Prowler: Have you seen/heard the Weird Al version of "Ridin"? I love it because I can relate :)

The Prowler said...

Yes I have!!! One of the girls had it as her walk up song...


Anonymous said...

From Terry in Virginia:

Sorry I'm late to this party, but I love this topic and enjoyed reading all of your comments. Here goes...

First, we're all here mainly for what we have in common, so I expect different musical tastes and even different political beliefs (which I'm glad are rarely indicated here) won't dampen our common ground...

That said, I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only person here who hates Madonna and Rod Stewart (although Maggie May was pretty good early in his career before he went all disco on us).

Songs I never want to hear again? "Miracles" by Jefferson Starship. Equally offensive are "Runaway" and "Count on Me" by the same band.

And my absolute favorite song of all time? Ironically, it would be "Wooden Ships" by Jefferson Airplane (better than the very nice CSNY version). Other contenders are "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" (Beatles, of course), "All Along the Watchtower" (Dylan or Hendrix versions -- both are great), and, in agreement with at least 2 others here, "Gimme Shelter" by the Rolling Stones. I also really love "Amongst the Waves" by Pearl Jam, which came out in 2008. Eddie Vedder, who is about 54 years old, is an outstanding rock singer ... for a snot-nosed kid, anyway.

Old white guys.... count me in, although I'd be very pleased to see young black men or middle-aged Asian women or any other people join in here who share our love for comics....

Redartz said...

Again, thanks for all the comments!
Terry- fear not, the Mike is always open here no matter how late the hour! And I share your love for "All Along the Watchtower", especially by Hendrix.

Oh, for the other ABBA fans out there: in yesterday's news was word that they have reunited in the studio! At least a couple new recordings are forthcoming. Couldn't be more pleased...

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