What makes your favorite song, your favorite?

[Hobo]

I've seen lists of favorite songs etc, but people hardly ever say why. So I decided to start a thread to uncover the reasons behind it. Of course your favorite song can change, mine seems to change weekly.

Last week it was Rainy Day People by Gordon Lightfoot, apparently I listened to it 29 times (so Last.fm says). I'd guess I like that song because I'd guess it links in to how I've been in the last couple of weeks and I've had my own "rainy day people" to help me out.

Over all Thunder Road by Bruce Springsteen is one of my favorites, mostly because I love the lyrics. "Screen door slams, Mary's dress waves/like a vision she dances across the porch as the radio plays/Roy Orbison singing for the lonley..." Some great lyrics there.

I suppose most songs I like have personal resonance(sp) with me except for Katie Belle and Tecumsah Valley by Townes Van Zandt as I don't have anyway to relate to a a lullaby for Townes' daughter (Katie Belle) or the story of a minors daughter who becomes a prostitute and kills herself, sounds bleak but it's a really pretty song.

[Liam]

With me, I think the reason my favourite songs are my favourite songs is usually empathy. I know I'll probably get ripped for it, and its not my usual kind of musicl, but my favourite song of all time is probably David Gray - Babylon. Its my favourite song basically because I can empathise with pretty much every line in the song, and know the feelings he is singing about.

Other songs that I like for that same reason are The Smiths - How Soon Is Now?, Gordon Lightfoot - If You Could Read My Mind,Ben Folds Five - Brick and Evan Dando - All My Life. Not all my favourites, but I can empaphise with a lot of what is said.

[Skummy]

It changes a lot, but here are some consistent ones:

The Smiths - There Is A Light That Never Goes Out

It's an unconventional love song, and so full of dark irony, but under it all it's one of the most genuinely sentimental songs I've ever heard. It's also one of the two songs that made me love The Smiths (alongside Bigmouth Strikes Again), so it's always going to have that in it's favour. But ultimately, it's because "If a double decker bus crashes into us, to die by your side, is such a heavenly way to die" is the best way I've ever heard anyone skirt around saying "I love you", but meant it so much.

The Moldy Peaches - Nothing Came Out

Pretty much sums up the whole Moldy Peaches ethos of childlike innocence, while at the same time having such unique and incredibly touching lyrics, it's such an innocent and lovely way to say you care about someone that most people look right past it. "All I wanna do is ride bikes with you, and stay up late and watch cartoons"...fantastic.

Jeff Buckley - Forget Her

This one's more of a sorrowful song than the last two, a break-up song to end all break-up songs. When I first heard it, it summed up how I felt to a tee, and I've found it beautiful ever since. I find it hard to explain why I like it so much, I just find it utterly amazing every single time.

Shakespears Sister - Stay

A bit corny, and frankly quite naff, but it'll always have a place in my heart as the "depression" song for me. It's not a bad piece of music, and Marcella Detroit and Siobhan Fahey's voices play off each other perfectly, and the acoustic version is astoundingly beautiful. Ultimately, it's attached to a lot of personal memories for me.

The Morves - I Wish I Was Gay

It's a very obscure one, but I love this song. The Morves were a late 90s/early 00s grunge band, and they only ever released one EP, mostly of aggressive generic grunge, but the last track was this acoustic beauty. The chorus is "Every time I meet some pretty baby, and I think I've found the one, she turns around and leaves me...I wish I was gay...so that girls couldn't hurt me".

And the more and more the singer gets into it, it just sounds like he's going to break down in tears, and I adore it.

The Cure - There Is No If

Another overly sentimental beautiful love song. There isn't much I can say about why I like this, just listen to it and understand!

[MDK]

I have about 17 songs on my iTunes that are rated 5 stars and they are my all time favourite songs. They include songs such as Sunshine by 20 Minute Crash, This is all I Need by Agent Orange, True Believers by Bouncing Souls and others. All of these songs mean something special to me, songs that I can relate to or whatever.

[MDK]

EDIT - Silly double post, NAUGHTY *SMACK*

Edited September 18, 2005 by Myked

[Pepsi Punk]

I'd say my favourite song is Seasons in the Sun by just about anyone. I don't really know why I like it, it's kinda like it's a sad song yet somewhat upbeat at the same time. I'll like the song no matter who sings it. Ofcourse the original is my favourite, but I also have it by Gob and Nirvana and despite both versions really sucking I like them just because it's Seasons in the Sun.

Also, usually I can't listen to a sad or slow song when I'm depressed, but I can put this song on and just get happy again.

[Farmer Reil]

With me, I think the reason my favourite songs are my favourite songs is usually empathy. I know I'll probably get ripped for it, and its not my usual kind of musicl, but my favourite song of all time is probably David Gray - Babylon. Its my favourite song basically because I can empathise with pretty much every line in the song, and know the feelings he is singing about.

Edited September 19, 2005 by TheReilDeal

[Liam]

With me, I think the reason my favourite songs are my favourite songs is usually empathy. I know I'll probably get ripped for it, and its not my usual kind of musicl, but my favourite song of all time is probably David Gray - Babylon. Its my favourite song basically because I can empathise with pretty much every line in the song, and know the feelings he is singing about.

David Gray is probably the only artist on commercial radio I like, without being afraid to admit it. He's just...good. End of.

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I love you more than I thought possible, Reily.

[Guest KidDiamond]

Favorite Songs and Why... Okay.

Green Day - Worry Rock: This song is my favorite, because it's all about relationships with terrible communication. Something, I know all too well about, I found the lyrics catchy and it's one of the few songs that I can listen to 50 times in a row and want to hear one more time.

the Immigrants - Holding Onto This Somehow: Another favorite, not because it relates to me in a somewhat direct manner. It's more like the kind of situation I'd like to find myself in. That, and the chorus is really really catchy. Again I could listen to this song over and over and over and want to hear it again.

Vertical Horizon - Everything You Want: This one is kind of a bittersweet favorite. My first serious girlfriend and I had dubbed this our song. So everytime I hear it, I think of her, and I cry. I mean, we still talk and all now, but it's just not the same. I have to keep myself from just falling down and begging her to give me another try.

The Tea Party - Turn the Lamp Down Low: This one, I can't really say why it's my favorite. It might be the fact that it opens up a lot of doors in my head that I wouldn't really open myself. During the song, some of the lyrics offer philosophical questions (Does the fool rejoice in wisdom when the raven calls?) and it gets my brain going. I like that feeling.

Matt Skiba - Good Fucking Bye: Most everyone has someone in their life who just won't go away. This song hits me in that place, and makes me enjoy thinking about it for a change. I always sing along, and I know the words very well. This is another of those I can hear it a lot and want to hear it again.

The Tea Party - Raven Skies: I have no real clue why this one is a favorite, I think it was like the gateway to the Tea Party's sound. It's a good song in it's own right, and it was the primary reason I had the Splendor Solis album special ordered.

[Reflecto Is My Favorite Poster]

Too many of my favorite songs are quick and change at many moments. It's usually a case of "I like the beat, I like the lyrics", and they change from moment to moment, eventually becoming just another notch in my record collection as to why I won't sell that CD.

The only song that is in my realm of fave songs that actually has a story behind why it's still in my collection behind it is the song "Automatic" by the band Collapsis:

When I listen to it, I go back to the year 2000. Late in 1999, I had fallen in love for the first time. I spent the rest of that year and much of the beginning of 2000 in almost a daze, unable to coincide the fact that my skill at virtually everything had left me almost higher than the emotion of love, mixed with the fact that I couldn't tell anyone how I felt (I cared so much about her that her rejection would lead to me dying inside, I could barely tell my friends since the antagonistic relationship we all had led to us all not wanting anything to use against each other, and I couldn't tell my parents because they basically have a bad tendency to taunt me about failing in anything [and to them, falling in love was "failing".]) This led me to get into a deep funk, finally brought out in late April when, as the two of us were walking back to get our stuff after a shift at the place we both worked at, I kissed her- and she didn't resist. Ecstatic from this sign of some success there, I got my stuff and put on my Discman, with this being the song I played after this occurred. Listening to the song should have originally brought me back to this happy time, and in all rights, does in a bit...unfortunately, I was fired from that job two weeks later, and the fact that we went to different high schools about halfway across the state from each other made it so we really could never see each other again, the lyrics to the song ended up taking me back to the failure:

It's automatic

I never really had it,

The love that grows in time

Apophatic.

Cataphatic.

She's really not the tragic kind.

She's just waiting for love,

But she hasn't got the time.

Maybe someday

She'll complain...

Don't say it to me now.

Shut up now.

Love will only break your heart.

Don't say it to me now.

Shut up now.

We were broken from the start.

It's automatic

I never really had it,

The love that grows and dies.

Apophatic.

Cataphatic.

She's really not the tragic kind.

She's just waiting for love,

But she hasn't got a clue.

Maybe someday

She'll complain...

Don't say it to me now.

Shut up now.

Love will only break your heart.

Don't say it to me now.

Shut up now.

We were broken from the start.

It's automatic.

It's automatic.

It's automatic.

It's automatic, baby yeah.

Don't say it to me now.

Shut up now.

Love will only break your heart.

Don't say it to me now.

Shut up now.

We were broken from the start.

Don't say it to me now.

Shut up now.

Love will only break your heart.

Don't say it to me now.

Shut up now.

Shut up now.

Shut up now.

[GoGo Yubari]

A Day in the Life - The clever lyrics, the interplay between John and Paul, the distinct differences when each are singing, and the final cacophony of noise.

Redemption Song - Lyrics. All lyrics

Strawberry Fields Forever - Lyrics and just lovely music in general.

[Chris the Human]

Eh, I'm going to give away my pop sensibilities here (I like a broad range, but the ones that stick with me are the poppier ones) but here goes....

Comfortable - John Mayer: Just a wonderfully bittersweet song, that reminds me of my own experiences with breakups almost unerringly.

Heaven Coming Down - The Tea Party: Just a kick-ass song, and I can't really describe why. A girl I went on a date or two with recommended it to me, and thought there was nothing there, the song itself really stuck with me.

Three Libras - A Perfect Circle: I don't know why, but it kind of feels like a 'loser anthem', maybe it's the 'You don't see me' repetition. I was a big loser in high school, and that's a while ago now, but I still like to cling to some of my outcast heritage.

Boys of Summer - Don Henley: NFI why. I heard the DJ Sammy and Ataris versions first, but his version is by far the best.

High - The Lighthouse Family: Eh, this one has a weird association with my best mate and how much goofy, stupid fun we used to have as kids. One night it came on the radio and we both sang it like idiots. Just kind of stuck with me ever since.

[Bushmeister]

Either: sheer brutality and aural aggression, as demonstrated by the following songs.

"One Shot, One Kill" by Dying Fetus

"Frailty In Numbers" by Pig Destroyer

"Hammer Smashed Face" by Cannibal Corpse

"Baptism By Fire" by Marduk

"Son Of A Bastard (I Smell Like Death)" by Carnal Forge

Dunno what it is, but they act like a cup of coffee to me. Put these on my MP3 player and listen to it on the way home from school, and I'm completely revitalized when I get there. It's a great way to wind down after doing something stressful, I find.

Other one that I also play constantly is a pair of songs, always played in the same order. Neurosis' "Stones From The Sky" followed by Pelican's "March Into The Sea" is a powerful combination that I used when I feel like just sitting down and thinking about stuff. Who knows, maybe I could use them for meditating. They're mesmerizing songs.

[Guest KidDiamond]

The whole Dirty Wake album by Collapsis was great. I fell in love with Automatic when I heard it on one of the Music Choice channels on Cable... and then I found the CD. Brother lost it, and now I search for it everywhere.

[Hobo]

Boys of Summer - Don Henley: NFI why. I heard the DJ Sammy and Ataris versions first, but his version is by far the best.

That song always makes me sad....I dunno why. But then again that is why I like it.

[YI]

Matt Skiba - Good Fucking Bye: Most everyone has someone in their life who just won't go away. This song hits me in that place, and makes me enjoy thinking about it for a change. I always sing along, and I know the words very well. This is another of those I can hear it a lot and want to hear it again.

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Edited September 19, 2005 by YI

[TOG]

"Change" by Blind Melon

[Steeb]

3 Libras - A Perfect Circle The lyrics to this song relate really heavily to a certain point in my life. On top of that, I adore the music.

Velorium Camper I: Faint Of Hearts I love everything about this song. The progression, the vocals, the lyrics, the guitar, the bassline....everything.

Halleluljah - Jeff Buckley I love the vocal-line on this track, it's just so beautiful to me.

Cygnus...Vismund Cygnus - The Mars Volta What is there to hate about it? It's incredibly catchy for a prog. track, and extremely intricate too.

[Benji]

I don't really have one particular song, but if I had to choose it'd likely come down to "Californication" by RHCP, it's such an uplifting musical number, but it protests globalization, something I've never been overkeen on, I prefer mom 'n' pop stores, it allows for more local interaction, better prices for them and generally a damn good deal for the customer. Along with globalization came the shit about eating certain foods, now every food is so good for you that it's now bad, I don't care if it has eNumbers, if it is part of GM crop or if it is mis-labelled by 1/2 a calorie, I'll eat what I eat and I'll enjoy it, I don't need people telling me that certain vegetables are bad for me or the environment blah, blah, blah.

Sorry, small rant there, I forgot the point. Yeah so "Californication", it is also one of the most covered songs by 'junior' bands because of its simple to play but effective sound style.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Aphex Twin - "Windlowlicker"

Richard D. James, otherwise known as Aphex Twin is a ginger, bearded, Cornish guy who makes music in private, doesn't perform live, doesn't care what fans think. Therefore he's able to EXPERIMENT, and while some songs don't work so well, there's a number that are ludicrously mindblowing. Windowlicker has haunting melodies, twangy beats, some random drums and then when you think it's all over explodes into the most brilliant raging finale (as seen in the Mercedes A Class adverts - Some people are just better at movement than others)

Bjork - "Hunter" & "Five Years"

I love Bjork and her 'crazy' little Icelandic ways. I see her in interviews and think she's adorable and YET, there's something that lurks inside of her that seems to strive to push out new things. Her recent album Medulla follows that with her deciding to completely chuck away any instruments and just use human beatboxes and choirs. Fantastic.

My real love is music that broke boundaries in the electronic fields, whether they're cross-over acts or not and for me, although "Debut" was a good first solo album for Bjork, "Homogenic" blew it out of the water.

So many great tracks like Pluto, Neon Like, 5 Years, Hunter...The album still ranks in my top three of all time.

On to my two choices, 5 Years has a great drum beat, Bjork's haunting vocals swell beautifully and then hitting the pinnacle of the track, her voice breaks, adding real emotion and frustration. Throw in wonderfully sampled strings and we're away.

Hunter is brooding, dense, military-esque. It's got such ambience and builds a massive sense of foreboding and angst in me. I've used it every year when writing Battle Royale fights, picturing the action up against it...

Madness - "Baggy Trousers"

The ska and two tone movement in the UK was great. Glad it happened. Madness bought a real humour and yet reality to music. Baggy trousers has great lyrics about childhood and were perhaps the most English group there's ever been.

Muse - "Muscle Museum", "Apocalypse Please" & "Citizen Erased"

Apart from the fact that my back was visible on the first video for this (before the one with people crying), I went to see them live, supporting Ash in late '99/early '00 and within the space of 4 tracks they blew everyone away, Muscle Museum providing a real sense of grandeur alongside the usual guitars 'n drums situation - and these guys made all that noise with just three of 'em! Went out and bought Showbiz the very next day and I've only ever done that with two groups I've seen live.

As for Apocalypse Please, being a huge fan of classical influences I was blown away on the first first listen of the album "Absolution". It showed a new string in Muse's bow. It's epic and lavish.

Citizen Erased is Muse's "Paranoid Android". It's massive, huge, wonderous.

To be continued...