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comment by cgod
cgod  ·  3636 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Zappa and the Mothers - Trouble Every Day

It's one of my top 10 favorite songs of all time.





user-inactivated  ·  3636 days ago  ·  link  ·  

You got a list?

cgod  ·  3636 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Don't know that I have 10 but I know what a bunch of them are in no particular order. Most of my favorite songs are about social justice. Most songs, even great songs don't really matter much. They are about loving some girl and losing her and what not and in the end just don't make the list for lack of significant content. I'm a bit agnostic about who sings a given song as long as it's an honest version by a decent singer.

Marvin Gaye - Inner City Blues

Marvin Gaye - What's Going On - Sung by Less McCann,

Marvin's version is just as good but hardly anyone has heard Less's version so why not, it's fantastic and it leads into my next song.

Less McCann - Compared To What,

Roberta Flack killed this song on her first recording (which Less produced), if you like the song it's worth a listen. I had no idea that this performance was filmed, RAD! It's my favorite live jazz album, big Eddie Harris fan.

Sam Cooke - A Change is Gonna Come - Sung by Otis Redding,

Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, Baby Huey all did great versions, I'm sure another dozen soul singers did great versions. This is probably the version I've listened to the most times in one day, always fucks me up inside.

Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five - The Message.

The greatest rap song of all time in my estimation. I should probably let a few more rap songs into my top ten but I guess none of them are top tens of my heart yet.

Zappa and the Mothers - Trouble Every Day

Stevie Wonder's "Songs in the Key of Life" has no one song that makes this list but has a lot of content that feels like the stuff on this list to me, same with most of Gil Scott Heron's better material. Some of The Last Poets stuff comes close as well, but is just too edgy for me to feel comfortable saying it's in my top 10.

Now a few that break from my social justice theme but are all time favorites.

Leon Russell - This Masquerade

Lots of people have covered this, to little success in my opinion.

Townes Van Zandt - Nothin

I can't think of anything else. Lots of great songs but to be a song of my heart of hearts is rare.

user-inactivated  ·  3636 days ago  ·  link  ·  

This is great. Will say McCann's version doesn't hold a candle to Gaye's in my opinion -- the lounge singer atmosphere kills the raw emotion Gaye's original rolls with.

cgod  ·  3636 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I like Marvin's version better but I think that McCann's is heavy and soulful, it's a song right in line with his brand of soulful populism. I'm also a big Less McCann and Eddie Harris fan.

Been sitting up pondering this list and while I can't find anything to add to the official list there are few that are strong contenders.

Herbie Hancock - Watermelon Man

No explicit message to the song, yet the title is a trip out that is laced with meaning. THIS is what a "Watermelon" man can do, it's funky, syncopated, sophisticated, improvisational and all around bad ass. Comes in with the bottles evoking an African rooted groove and then just ramps up those roots with a super bad composition. Whole title and song are a big fuck you to racist bastards. I feel like funky is an emotion that people mostly don't acknowledge, it can be a lot rawer than this but I think that the track, the title is owning this thing, this feeling called funkyness.

Funkadelic - Maggot Brain

This is a strange one. The reason I really like is a lot more in line with Townes than with Marvin. George Clinton told Eddie Hazel to pretend that he just heard that his mother died, to really get into it and then to pretend that he just found out it wasn't true. Supposedly they were all on LSD at the time. I like the explosive emotionalism of the thing, Hazel was a fantastic guitar player, it's exciting to hear a guy like this go raw.

Big Star - Thirteen

I love the way it paints a picture of a place and time. Listened to it waaayyy to many times.

Barbara Dane and the Chambers Brothers - It Isn't Nice

It's a great social justice song. It's Barbara Dane and the Chambers Brother. It's great. Just doesn't quite make it into the top ten. Feel bad, I got no ladies up there.

Ray Koerner & Glover - Banjo Thing

Another weird pick. I don't know why I love this so much. Might be because my dad gave me this album, but Dad gave me and introduced me to many albums. Something about these young white guys listening to a pile of white and black folk stuff and coming up with the sound they did in the early 60's, I just love the album and love this song even more.

William Onyeabor - Why Go To War

Love this guys whole catalog, too bad no one is putting it all out (you can find it on the internet). A forgotten artist I ran into a few years before his stuff got brought back in the public eye (like Death). I was convinced that there was no justice in the world and then David Burn released a compilation of his work. Night I ran across his stuff I listened to him for about 5-6 hours straight, blew my mind and delighted me. (If you dig it at all I can always help you get a hold of anything I post with a PM.

Think that's all I can think off tonight. The stuff I've been listening too is so far from any of the stuff I've posted, Motown girl groups, 80's smooth hits, mediocre 90's ska.

While not in my top 10 songs of all time and probably wouldn't make my top 100 here is the most played song on my I Tunes. STEVE ARRINGTON & DAM FUNK - I BE TRIPPIN

I can't justify or explain why I've listened to this song as many times as I have, but whatever, it's groovy. Steve was an amazing drummer for a band called Slave back in the day. When Slave let him sing a few Steve started piling up hits on the urban charts. Something about the syncopation he uses for his vocals gets me, guess I be trippin.
user-inactivated  ·  3635 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Thanks for all this. Thirteen is simply perfect. In every way. God what a record.