I use emusic a lot and sometimes I just have enough money for one song at the end of the month. So here’s a question: if you had money for just one song, and it wasn’t on a record you or another normal person might already have, what would it be?
Here’s what we just got under these circumstances, because it’s not on any of Michael’s regular albums. But far more hip-and-obscure recommendations are welcome.
BGinCHI
I have had Marty Robbins’ song “El Paso” stuck in my head all day.
I so loved that Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs record when I was a kid.
cleek
Aldo Nova, Fantasy.
because i ordered that album through the record club in 1981 but they never sent it to me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPQgfaB3S1c
BGinCHI
@cleek: He might be Canadian, which explains it.
WereBear
Play that funky music by Wild Cherry.
Because they are one of those bands with ONE great song.
The Dangerman
Mark Cohn, One Safe Place. Not on any of his albums last time I checked.
dedc79
Clearly it’s gotta be a very long song.
Right Off (Pts 1 and 2) – Miles Davis
One Sunday Morning – Wilco
Heard it Through the Grapevine – CCR (extended version)
Violet
DougJ, I only just found out last week that you are on Balloon-Juice sabbatical, except for the music posts. I’m already missing your other posts, but good to see you here now.
Alex S.
Björk – Karvel (B-side of “I Miss You”)
or maybe
The Walker Brorthers – Archangel (B-side of the rare single “Deadlier Than the Male”)
smintheus
Marmalade, I See the Rain.
Lyrics are a bit twee, but oh that twin bass sound! An early (’67) and mostly forgotten 45 from a band that eventually got onto the charts.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
Dexy’s Midnight Runners Come On Eileen
If I never heard another song from this one-hit-wonder, I wouldn’t care less. But this song? Fuck, man, it’s iconic for late Boomers and early GenXers.
cervantes
People might actually have the Roy Buchanan album Live Stock, but if they don’t, they should at least have Can I Change My Mind?
One hit wonder, not exactly hip but a real catchy song, Smoke of a Distant Fire, by Sanford-Townsend Band, two session men who tried to make it as front men.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
…Or this.
DougJ
@Violet:
Thanks!
the Conster
Young Aretha singing I Say A Little Prayer For You on the Cliff Richard show from 1970, that I’ve only seen on YouTube. I’d love it remastered and basically put in liquid form so I could inject it.
JCJ
Vivaldi – Four Seasons
DougJ
@cervantes:
Wow, Smoke of a Distant Fire is exactly what I had in mind, almost mentioned it as a possibility.
Billy K.
Del McCoury Band – 1952 Vincent Black Lightning
I’m not a bluegrass fan, or even really a Richard Thompson fan (he wrote and recorded the original), but there’s something profound and transcendent about this song. Thompson said he wrote it because he felt England lacked ballads of common people. It’s something like if the story of Bonnie and Clyde were sung by Marty Robbins, but they lived in England and rode legendary motorcycles.
SatanicPanic
The Greatest Song in the World
wasabi gasp
This and that.
Cassidy
Is get the one of Tim Waits just growling for 30 minutes while a Nick Cave plays a jack in the box in the background.
22over7
Paul Simon and George Harrison singing “Here Comes the Sun” on Saturday Night Live.
Billy K.
http://www.americansongwriter.com/2012/08/1952-vincent-black-lightning-by-richard-thompson/
Bruce
Try “I Don’t Feel Like Dancing” by the Scissor Sisters. Just fantastic, and it’s something you likely don’t hear every day.
The Dangerman
This came off a fine record (as you’ll see, duh) as a studio track…
…but this is the best version of The River (Springsteen, also probably duh) ever. Solo/Acoustic/Live, I don’t think it’s on any album in this configuration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZHlSyTsfvI
The Pale Scot
Don’t Nobody Move (This Is a Heist)–Tony Powers
Edit: Just thought about this a day ago for the first time in 25? years
Linda Featheringill
Cross eyed cat
by Muddy Waters and Johnny Winters
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-V4ytkl2p0
piratedan
@BGinCHI: that’s an awesome album, I have a hard time picking a favorite from that LP, but I have to go with Running Gun, but Utah Carol and Strawberry Roan are right up there too.
but in keeping with the original thread topic… I don’t have this one, but I will some day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5q3ALvb16EE
schrodinger's cat
@DougJ: I have a suggestion, how about a math post, once in a while?
GregL190
“In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed” by the Allman Brothers. Any live version, preferably the one from “Wipe The Windows, Check The Oil, Dollar Gas”. You can just feel the stress of the day melting away…
DougJ
@schrodinger’s cat:
I’ll think about it.
Linda Featheringill
Or maybe
Leave her alone
Junior Kimbrough
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIoZwcTn6hU
gogol's wife
@22over7:
Isn’t it amazing how many great songs Harrison wrote?
Villago Delenda Est
OK, let’s cut to the chase. I might be normal, but the rest of you are bonkers.
ON topic: Bette Midler, “You’re Moving Out Today”.
Villago Delenda Est
@SatanicPanic: That would be “Happy Birthday” as performed by Dietrich Buxtehude on an organ in a baroque church somewhere in Saxony.
Aaron
Comfortable by Fleming and John. Or almost any song of theirs. Not a well known group, but amazing music.
Villago Delenda Est
@Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again): Three key changes. Three!
SatanicPanic
@Villago Delenda Est: I was referring to the Tenacious D song, but apparently they can’t remember how it goes
Linda Featheringill
Or even
Voodoo chile
Jimi Hendrix
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIIVrgIBvnI
Villago Delenda Est
@Villago Delenda Est: OK, perhaps also, too, Buxtehude’s version of “In-A-Gada-Da-Vida”
“Wait a minute this sounds like Rock and/or Roll!”
Gindy51
Dead Man’s Party, Oingo Boingo. One of my all time faves and has a nice beat to it plus really cool lyrics. No wonder Tim Burton loves Danny Elfman
What Do You Want From life by The Tubes
Just Walk Away Renee by The Left Banke
Well that’s three from someone who is not all that into music to begin with.
Amir Khalid
Off topic, sorry, but The Guardian is reporting something I think many of us had feared: the separatists in Ukraine are working to cover up the traces of their involvement in bringing down MH17.
beth
Liza singing The World Goes Round. Always puts me in a much better mood after a crappy week like this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KQc5UTXXG0
Villago Delenda Est
@Amir Khalid: What a surprise.
Uncle Vlad’s got some ‘splainin’ to do.
Alex S.
@Amir Khalid:
It’s probably their end. They’ve gone too far. Putin will have to cut them loose.
burnspbesq
@cervantes:
Two winners there.
I would probably go for the London Symphony/Gergiev recording of “Bolero.”
Or maybe the live version of Los Lobos’ “Cumbia Raza,” from the Live at the Fillmore album.
Xjmueller
Sweet Jane, Lou Reed. Live version.
The Dangerman
@Villago Delenda Est:
Seems to me that shooting down a civilian airliner qualifies for War Crimes; Putin, or, more correctly, his unfortunate underlings that get tossed under the bus, can explain in The Hague (which, of course, is in The Netherlands, how apropos).
ETA: Or, we can get Uncle Vlad to shit his pants by having the Netherlands invoke Article 5.
Princess
Bolero Lava “Inevitable”
Because it is pretty much unavailable, but here it is on youtube:
Inevitable
Roger Moore
I’m surprised nobody has given the obvious answer.
Keith G
Re the question at the top: To cheat, it would be any song written and performed by Tom Odell.
Forced to make a choice in would be his Sense.
Had a chance to meet and share a drink or two. He oozes fun, as well as talent, from every pore.
Keith G
@Roger Moore: That seems like a cry for help.
James E. Powell
Isn’t Russia the international version of “too big to jail”? Even if every European nation agrees – and how likely is that? – what steps could they take that would change Russian policy?
And what would be the consequences of taking those steps?
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Amir Khalid: CNN just showed a video of a BUK crossing the border from Ukraine into Russia with only two missiles. Someone’s toy has been taken away.
raven
In Memory of Elizabeth Reed
raven
@GregL190: Great minds.
Amir Khalid
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism:
Put it another way: Someone’s smoking gun is going to be tossed down a well.
Amir Khalid
It just occurred to me: we haven’t heard a peep from our man in Portland all day, have we?
p.a.
Joe Ely plays a Butch Hancock song.
p.a.
I’m getting ‘post failed’ messages, but they do load. Anyone else?
Cassidy
@p.a.: IPhone?
Alex S.
@Amir Khalid:
Our man in St. Petersburg.
James E. Powell
@The Dangerman:
If I’m going to go acoustic Bruce, it’s got to be Thunder Road
raven
@James E. Powell: I like the Robert Mitchum version better.
p.a.
@Cassidy: I wish. MotoRazr, VzWitless carrier.
p.a.
@Amir Khalid: he’s formulating a response. Or waiting for one to be communicated to him.
Alexandra
Theme from the best soundtrack ever:
Angelo Badalamenti – Theme from Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hOERnIuvbg
Or maybe Sycamore Trees, with Jimmy Scott.
Janeform
@the Conster: there’s a version of say a little prayer on the album Aretha’s Gold. I’ve always loved it.
FridayNext
Jon and Vangellis
Friends of Mr. Cairo.
Nobody has this on any album everything else these two did together is boring pap. But I always I liked this song and enjoy running to it.
Mike E
@p.a.: Yep, same…motoRAZR Verizon.
eta I always ignore the “unsuccessful” when submitting by smart phone, and refresh to see the comment has been (almost always) posted.
raven
@Janeform: That’s funny. I watched the Muscle Shoals documentary the other night and it has a good bit about her. When they first introduce her they have her singing on Hullaballoo or some such show. She’s singing some over-produced song with heavy string and I said “they were trying to make her Dionne Warwick”! Thankfully the Swampers got ahold to her and this was the result.
Howard Beale IV
@The Dangerman: Ah the ol’ NATO ‘An attack on one member is an attack on all’ ruse.
Wake me up when EU members of NATO finds the cash for that little excursion, ‘mmkay?
Keith G
@p.a.: I have been getting some really slow load times over my cable/modem connection this afternoon. I just figured it has been Comcast punishing the serfs.
KG
something old and bluesy, like so old that no matter how many times they’ve tried to remaster it, the recording still sounds old. the singer’s name probably wouldn’t be his actually name and likely include a word like “blind” or “old” or “young” or “deaf”. because if it’s my last song ever, it might as well be something like that.
GxB
Ran across this just recently, A young Stevie Wonder doing Superstition on Sesame Street. Not only is it a stomping version, but you get a couple shots of a young headbanger that instantly put it in my must preserve for future generations pile.
Mike E
Funky Drummer – In The Jungle Groove, JB…pretty sure it’s outa print and the source recording may have deteriorated beyond repair, so, that one.
tybee
alex harvey: hoodoin’ of miss fanny de berry/ritual of miss fanny de berry
http://www.divshare.com/download/11207951-7ac
http://groovyrotations.blogspot.com/2010/04/hoodooin-ritual-of-miss-fanny-deberry.html
Trollhattan
@Amir Khalid:
Least surprising news, ever. Suspect the missile debris is Priority the Firstest, although the smaller bits are going to be impossible to gather amongst such a huge amount.
This reminds me of the company boys who went into the Big Branch Mine after the explosion to cover their tracks of misdeeds. Mostly got away with it, too.
p.a.
@Mike E: mine started last week. recent OS upgrade, but don’t remember the upgrade timing vis the issue.
Anoniminous
Definitely Suite per orchestra n.5 op.34 “Dans les rues” by Hanns Eisler.
Johnny Yuma
It depends on your mood, of course. A heart tugging-in-a-sweet way song is Frank Sinatra and Rosemary Clooney singing Some Enchanted Evening. I love both singers, and the collaboration was inspired. But even had I been unaware of them, and was hearing each sing for the very first time as they performed that duet, my abiding reaction would still be: “those two are in love”. They worked on the same wavelength in their rendition, and sang as though from one heart. It’s just beautiful. Again, you’ve got to be in the mood. If you ever are, give it a listen.
Janeform
@raven: That is funny. Yeah, strings would wreck it.
MomSense
@Linda Featheringill:
Awesome song choices!!!
I am in the very fortunate position of having a musician in the family so I never have to worry about choosing just one song. He even learns songs I like so I can sing with him.
Dick Move
Actually, I once had a $.99 credit at Amazon’s music download store, and I used it to buy THIS VERY SONG. I’ve been wearing out my vinyl LP of Destiny since about the day it came out, and wanted a digital copy. Since then, I’ve been using any additional music credits to fill out the album.
Good Choice!
Amir Khalid
More Russian fun and games. (Link goes to Slate.) If there is nothing to hide, why work so hard to hide it?
Mike E
@SatanicPanic: Tribute.
eta This is not the Greatest Song In The World…
Janeform
@raven: Very nice. Here’s Say a little prayer. I hope it works. I’m link challenged.
Anthony
Bicycle – St. Vincent
Which I had to rip from that youtube video with a stereo cable because it only exists as a bonus for downloading the whole album on amazon.
gogol's wife
@Johnny Yuma:
Thanks for that — Clooney is exquisite. But I just don’t get Frank Sinatra. He sounds flat and unengaged to me.
My favorite version of that song is Bernadette Peters on her Richard Rodgers recording. It’s not on YouTube. This is a poor-quality video of her singing it live: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwo25dOiPfg
Trollhattan
If there’s a more joyous live performance than Muddy at Newport in ’60, I don’t know what it might be. He definitely had his Mojo Workin’. His best band, playing at their peak.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gNs-29s-0Q
(The less I encounter Michael, the dead pederast, the better.)
Suzanne
Everclear ‘s “Happy Hour”.
Do not have full internet here in Mexico, but look it up—I swear.
Litlebritdifrnt
This one, it should be the theme song of every progressive campaign from now until forever. I still think that it should have been Obama’s campaign theme but they ignored me.
John Farnham “You’re the Voice”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbkOZTSvrHs
gbear
I’d also occasionally those get 99 cent credits from Amazon for music downloads when I bought something else.
The song that I wanted the most without having to buy an album was ‘Ode To Billie Joe’ by Bobbie Gentry. That record just stood out for it’s incredible atmosphere when it came out, and it still holds up now.
Janeform
@raven: Very nice. Here’s Aretha Say a Little Prayer. http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Yq3yi2kF6d0
john fremont
Led Zeppelin in their first year covering Garnett Mimms “As Long As I Have You” It would segue into Spirit “Fresh Garbage”, Modern Jazz Quartet “Bags Groove”, Cream “Cat’s Squirrel” , Chuck Berry “No Money Down” and Muddy Waters “Manish Boy”. A pretty intense live recording I’ve only heard on You Tube.
Also too, Wes Montgomery with a full horn section doing “West coast Blues” on the BBC
James E. Powell
@raven:
I like the Robert Mitchum version better.
I saw that movie at the theater when I was a little kid. I read it got bad reviews, but I liked it a lot.
The poster for the movie inspired Bruce to write his song by that title. He claims not to have seen the movie, but I can’t believe after all these years he’s never checked it out.
the Conster
@Janeform:
Can’t go wrong with Aretha and one good one deserves another, but my favorite version is this one – more soulful I think.
Bubblegum Tate
Rosetta Hightower — “A Little More Line”
the Conster
@the Conster:
Also, Burt Bachrach said something like he didn’t really appreciate what he’d written until he heard Aretha sing it.
Johnny Yuma
@gogol’s wife: I suggested that song from memory, and it had been years since I last heard it. I actually just took my first listen after all that time after reading your response. I do understand what you mean about Sinatra’s delivery, but counter with this observation.
Humility is not a quality one associates with Frank Sinatra, but the man respected and was always generous in his public acknowledgements of musical talent (his snide initial comments about Elvis aside). My guess is he deliberately understated his bit with Clooney, because she was so damned brilliant and he admired her accordingly. He did it again a decade later (circa ’65), when he left the spotlight to Ella Fitzgerald in their TV special duet of The Lady Is A Tramp. Sinatra, understanding Fitzgerald could run rings around any delivery of his, simply left her to carry the tune while he filled in the bits. Frank (that is, Mr. Sinatra) always knew the score musically.
gogol's wife
@Johnny Yuma:
Could be.
Louis
Finger Poppin Time by Hank Ballard and The Midnighters vs. any of a number of versions of Tippatina by Professor Longhair.
condorcet runner up
Bullring Brummies – The Wizard (Sabbath cover with Butler, Ward, and Halford, and also Jimmy Wood on harmonica)
condorcet runner up
Bullring Brummies – The Wizard (Sabbath cover with Jimmy Wood on harmonica)
JenJen
Leonard Cohen, Dance Me To The End Of Love.
Debbie
Vassal Clemmens’ version of Orange Blossom Special with the Flying Burrito Brothers.
debbie
Sigh, Vassar Clements.
JerryN
I run into that situation on emusic every once in a while. I tend to download catchy pop tunes from albums that I’d never buy. Songs like the Bananarama version of I’m Your Venus and Dancin’ In The Moonlight by Orleans have ended up on my music disc that way.
Spike
I’m not a huge fan of Josh Ritter, but The Curse blew me away when I saw this video a few years ago.
Panurge
@Aaron:
I have a close friend who knows Fleming and John personally; I’ve gotten to meet them myself and hear them live. Definitely a band that should’ve seen better fortunes, but at least John apparently makes a good living as a session player and producer in Nashville. But I think they still do things together occasionally.
Jane2
Frank Carillo – With her Pyjamas on.
angelfoot
“Lay Down Your Weary Tune” by Dylan, from Biograph. “Percy’s Song” is a strong contender, but, yeah.
gogiggs
@Xjmueller: Sweet Jane is my favorite song and that is my favorite version, closely followed by the Mott the Hoople version.
Although, why that’s a song you wouldn’t normally own is beyond me. Rock n Roll Animal is a great album.
My choice is Dave Edmunds version of Elvis Costello’s Girl’s Talk. I own 4 versions (Edmunds, Costello, Ronstadt and Sweet/Hoffs) but Edmunds’ is the best and it’s the only song of his I have outside of the Rockpile album.
Ramalama
1) The group Labelle – Chameleon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8xlKFPt03s
2) Material (the band) with Whitney Houston singing the paint off of the wall.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xj4xGiXfW0
3) The Smiths – Well I Wonder
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXZUEx9M188
4) Simon Bousquet – Tes accords défilés
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APd3SFjKswU
jm
@cervantes: Was that Billy Vera singing?
Bill Murray
I’d go with Doreen Shaffer backed by the Skatalites for probably anything, but to go fairly hard to find Adorable You
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPFHYZWlGpg
or You’re Wondering Now or The Vow
reboho
Maggot Brain from Funkadelic http://www.emusic.com/album/funkadelic/maggot-brain/10924700/ If you don’t know, it’s your loss…
Bill
Look Away, from Game Theory’s album Lolita Nation