Five Favorite Songs Our Friends' Top Five Favorite Current Songs From Around The Globe. March 2007 Page 1 The following lists of songs have been submitted by friends around the world, a testament to the recognition that although our world is increasingly a Tower of Babel, teeming with so many disparate cultures and so many different languages that it's often hard for people to understand each other and to be understood (hell, even here in Los Angeles, there are so many cultures forever clashing and such a deluge of languages spoken that meaningful communication frequently isn't even attempted), that one of the few unifying forces forever at play is music. Great songs unite us. From Jakarta to Jamaica, from Indianapolis to Israel, from Beijing to Baltimore and beyond, songs connect our fragmented, disconnected lives. They bring joy, revelation and a breadth of meaning to our lives. They touch our hearts and our minds at the same time. They remain consequential and significant in a world of increasing inconsequence and insignificance. While so much information is daily disseminated on such a vast level every day, and so much of it is rapidly transformed into disposable trivia, great songs remain great, they exist beyond the perpetual gray static of everyday, and provide genuine inspiration that permeates even the most formidably grim fabric of existence. They remain timeless in the timely context of our briskly passing lives. So what you have here, submitted by fellow artists, musicians, teachers, students, scientists, humanitarians and roustabouts from every corner of our world, is a list not of five all-time, ultimate favorite songs, but five songs that are currently at play in the soundtrack of their lives, lives led across vast oceans and expanses of land, but connected by this miracle that is the Internet, and this force that forever flows through all of us, the power of song. Click here to submit YOUR Favorite 5. Back    |   Archives Steve Jenkins Berkshire, England. Day Dream Believer. 1. Jackson Browne, "Barricades of Heaven." I'm getting back into a few oldies and this one holds that magic still. 2. John Hiatt, "Aint Ever Goin' Back No More. One of my favourites from the new Master of Disaster CD and so so soulful. 3. John Hiatt (again), "Thank You Girl." 'Cause this track just rocks and I dig that riff. 4. John Hiatt (yet again), "Slow Turning." It's just such a happy happy track. 5. John Hiatt (surprise surprise), "Perfectly Good Guitar." Sad, soulful, energetic, beautifully written and delivered with passion. Top    |   Back Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. New York, New York, USA. Author. 1. Brownie McGhee, "Betty And Dupree." This is great music, and great songwriting. It's a service. Anybody practicing the fine art of composing music, no matter how cynical or greedy or scared, still can't help serving all humanity. 2. Billie Holiday, "Strange Fruit." Music makes practically everybody fonder of life than he or she would be without it. Her voice, this song, it all makes sense. Gives me faith. Cheers me up. Even military bands, although I am a pacifist, always cheer me up. 3. Henry Kaiser, "Autumn Waltz." The scorched-earth sound is like manna. My favorite song by Stephen Foster, maybe the great songwriter America has known, and the first to be exploited and cheated by ruthless businessmen, starting a tradition which extends to this sad day. 4. Sviatoslav Richter, Erich Leinsdorf & The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, "Piano Concerto #2," by Brahms. This gives me hope when I am hopeless. It feeds my imagination. We are not born with imagination. It has to be developed by teachers, by parents. There was a time when imagination was very important because it was the major source of entertainment. 5. Baz Luhrmann & The Whoever Band, "Everybody's Free to Wear Sunscreen." Based on a very good speech by me which I never gave. Top    |   Back Tomas Ulrich New York, New York, USA. Cellist-composer. 1. B.B. King, "The Thrill is Gone." Loved this song when I heard it as a kid and it just gets better with age. 2. Annie Lennox, "Train in Vain." Not a big Clash fan, but I love her performance of this tune. Great singing. 3. Mstislav Rostropovich, Shostakovich Cello Concerto No.1 For me he is the ultimate cellist. With all the new pieces that were written for him, he single-handedly changed the repertoire for the instrument. 4. Frank Zappa, "Black Napkins." Frank is undoubtedly a guitar genius. 5. David Bowie, "It's No Game, Pt.1." Used to listen to this every morning when I lived in Jersey. The ever amazing Robert Fripp strikes again. Top    |   Back DJ Nasser Beijing, China. A Vampire of Vulcan origin, songwriter, designer. 1. Diana King, "L. L. Lies." The music is fascinating, unique and so '80s. The lyrics are a nice variation from the standard English (Jamaican) good for dance. 2. Ludacris, "Grew Up A Screw Up." "This is a song with a lot of powerful emotions and feelings, and the lyrics just add to the power. Partially clean, no f word (surprise!) good for a bored mood or motivation. 3. Akon, "I Wanna Love You." Number 1 in UK right now. also love the F version. his voice is perfect, the music is the best for couple dancing at slow tempo. the cadence is just perfect for non-stop dancing. 4. Kelis, "My Milkshake Never Came." A cool song that has a happy-go-lucky style, very sexy voice, the lyrics not too bad too, very entertaining. good for those who just woke up. 5. Jesse McCartney, "She's No You."The lyrics are so real. The voice is painful, the music sad. Good for those in love or about to break up. I just love Jesse! Top    |   Back Tomasz Szpaderski Lodz, Poland. Philologist. 1. Brett Anderson, "Love Is Dead." Brand new single of my favourite voice: absolutely sentimental trash. 2. Herbert, "Cafe de Flore." The most elegant accordion sound I've ever heard. 3. Dungen, "Festival." Swedish psycho-pop is so unique! 4. Coldcut, "Timber." Rediscovering old electronics. 5. The Cinematics, "Break." Another band sounds like Interpol or the Editors, but this single is a hit. Top    |   Back Peter Case Santa Monica, California, USA. Jockey. 1. Tom Waits, "Lie To Me." Is goo... 2. Tom Waits, "Lowdown." Is very goo... 3. Tom Waits, "2:19." Better. 4. John Lee Hooker, "Church Bell Tone." The modern sound... 5. Randy and The Rainbows, "Denise Denise." Birthday special. Top    |   Back Abdülhamîd Çagatay Ankara, Turkey. Poet-sorcerer. 1. Ibrahim Tatlises, "Esarbini Yan Baglama." Spirit alive. 2. Unutulmayan Bestecileri, "Ismail Dede Efendi." Better than sex dance. 3. John Prine, "Blue Umbrella." My American dream. 4. Carmen Phyre, "Sugarcane Widow." History can be true, sometimes. 5. Anadolu Sevdasi, "Rengahenk Türküler." Purity, redemption, fever night. Top    |   Back Amber Solongeti Perugia, Italy. Actress. 1. Georgio Conte, "Gnè Gnè." Stirs me up like a spoon in my stracciatella. 2. The Association, "Cherish." Romantical mystery. 3. Duke Ellington, "Just Squeeze Me." Sex, jazz, lovelife. 4. Johnny Cash, "I Walk The Line." Always makes me swoon. Sexiest man no longer alive. 5. Tuo Segemini, "Insula." Sex, sex and more sex. With friends and lovers, alone, in the forest, butterflies, amore, insetti, cieli blu. Top    |   Back Martin Pinker Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Jockey. 1. West Kazakhstan Philharmonic, "In Paradisum." This piece is by Karl Jenkins, from his Requiem. It features a haunting harp, the most beautiful harp I have ever heard. 2. Various Artists, "Quartet (A Model of Decorum)," from Chess. Saw this great musical in London many years ago. One of many great songs in the show. 3. Van Dyke Parks, "An Invitation to Sin." A brilliant songwriter whom I rediscovered a year ago. I love everything he has done. 4. Ensemble, "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man," from Showboat. The 1994 Broadway revival was outstanding. This is the showstopper. 5. Madonna, Antonio Banderas, "High Flying Adored," from Evita, the film soundtrack. An Andrew Lloyd Webber great. Top    |   Back Dilip Gururaj Sherpa Karnataka, India. Teacher & Musician. 1. Kanu Devidan Barot, "Ajarakai Jariya Na Jay." Folk music of India. Essential song of our world, our soul, our history, our blood. 2. Raja Tumbha Ali, "Earth." Sacred text, sensual music, swirling spirit. 3. Archana Puran Singh & Carran Kapoor, "Mera Dil Leke Dekkho." From the film by Shatrughan Sinha directed by debutant Rohit Kaushik. Lyrics by Sameer. Great song from decent soundtrack that is pretty enjoyable as long as it lasts. Relish some Jatin Lalit style of music. 4. Shubhra, "Chori Choria Akhiyan." Classic Bhangra. She is so beautiful, and this song is celestial. 5. Bhimsen Joshi & Balamurali Krishna, "Raga Bhairav." Classic Jugalbandhi music, recorded live in Shivaji Park in Bombay; a union of the melodious legends of the north and sound. Mesmeric. Top    |   Back Yoshi Allal Tel Aviv, Israel. Artist. 1. Bob Dylan, "All Along The Watchtower." Biblical. The man is working with the sacred texts and brings it to our hearts. This is the apocalypse now. 2. Paul Wilbur, Roi V'simchi. Messianic music for messianic times. 3. Tom Waits, "Alice." He bends spoons with his mind and minds with his music. Sad and beautiful. 4. Elisheva Shomron, "Kadosh." Music for modern messianic times. Makes me weep and rejoice and then weep more for us all, for our children, for the world. 5. John Coltrane, "Naima." The ultimate in love songs, written for his beloved, it is as beautiful as beauty gets in this ugly, sad world - this is the inverse and opposite of all that oppresses us and threatens to steal our souls and sanity. This is beauty incarnate; this is absolute truth, this is transcendence. Top    |   Back Oumou Kinshasa Bamako, Mali, Africa. Musician & Poet. 1. Amadou & Mariam, "Beaux Dimanches ." Great music from Bamako, with special star Manu Chao - this is so good. Infectious rhythms of the heat. A fusion of French and Mali, reggae and blues, and ultra-rhythmic techno-pop. Sophisticated and complex, yet joyous and simple. Lyrics in French are very funny and very serious. 2. David Wilson-Johnson, Sacred Music, Volume I, by Vivaldi. As beautiful music as a human can create, to listen to this is to embrace the divine. 3. Manding Griot Ensemble, "Dialiya." Senegambian bliss. Beautiful music on 21-string kora, the 7-string koning, the wooden 21-key balafon and the djembe orchestra. Recognition of rhythmic Gestalt in relation to more than one perception frame. Make me happy, happy, happy. 4. Mamani Keita & Marc Minelli, "Electro Bamako." Great blend of old world with new - the ancient rhythms and the technology of modern times. Sexy, classy. It jazz (bop), reggae-ska rhythms, funk and traditional bambara vocals. Sometimes sounds like rock while at other times exudes the elegance of American jazz. 5. Chocolate Genius, "Amazona." Soul opens the doors of perception. Paradigm shifting music for the heart and mind. Top    |   Back Kathy Archbold London, England. Artist. 1. Nada Surf, "Blonde on Blonde." Contemporary ode to classic Bob album. 2. Replacements, "Unsatisfied." Teenage angst that lasts a lifetime. 3. Drive-By Truckers, "Lookout Mountain." Drive a ten ton truck through despair! 4. Bob Dylan, "Workingman's Blues." Bob and his hundred-year-old voice still tell it like it is. 5. Ronnie Lane, "Country Boy." Heartbreaking version of an old classic you only thought you knew. Top    |   Back Earl Grey Burbank, California, USA. Musician. 1. Todd Rundgren, "Couldn't I Just Tell You." Sheets of jangly Beatlesque guitars set the foundation for Todd's vocal, which soars high above, enveloped in lush harmonies that could only be generated by "The Wizard/True Star;" this is true "Power Pop" that pre-dated the term. Todd is rock's original auteur, playing all the instruments, producing and engineering one of the finest songs from one of the finest albums ever. A must hear. 2. Bob Dylan, "Visions Of Johanna." I've been listening to the so-called "Albert Hall" recording that you can find on Biograph. Just Bob, his acoustic, foamy harmonica embellishments, and a vocal that walks around the parameters of this tactile song, pointing out `"hosts of 'lectricity" and faces so delicate as to be made of veneer, as though he were a Daliesque tour-guide in a lucid dream. 3. George Harrison, "Beware Of Darkness." This song always holds true, warning of the ever-present "greedy leaders" and "soft-shoe shufflers" who buy in to the Maya of things. My favorite "Harrisong." 4. Joni Mitchell, "Amelia." "I was driving across the desert, when I noticed six jet planes, leaving six white vapor trails across the bleak terrain, it was the hexagram of the heavens, it was the strings of my guitar: Amelia, it was just a false alarm." What more can one say about such sublimity? A gem. 5. The Beatles, "Strawberry Fields Forever." The loss of childhood viewed from the other side of adulthood's impenetrable wall. JL's most evocative lyric, a voice from the other side. Top    |   Back Noah Stone Studio City, California, USA. Singer-songwriter. 1. Deadman, "When the Music's Not Forgotten." It seems no one makes music this soulful anymore. And, if they do, the world has forgotten. And then Steve Collins writes a song about it. Amazing. 2. Regina Spektor, "Ghost of Corporate Future." And when he gets to the crowded subway platform, he takes off both of his shoes/He steps right into somebody's fat loogie and everyone who sees him says, "ew." Need I say more? 3. Peter Bjorn And John, "Young Folks." This song just makes me so happy. The trashy drums, bouncy bass and whistling are the fresh makers. 4. Shivaree, "New Casablanca." collection of noir clichés sung with such earnestness they seem fresh and new. 5. Badfinger, "Day After Day." I just found out this wasn't Paul McCartney and Wings. It's a shame. It was my favorite Paul McCarney song. Top    |   Back Asha Sommars Houston, Texas, USA. Work in Progress. 1. Mum, " Don't Be Afraid You Have Just Got Your Eyes Closed." Like nothing I've heard in a long time. 2. Muse, "Knights of Cydonia." "You and I must fight for our rights. You and I must fight to survive." 3. Sandra, "Secret Land." I hated this song when it first came out in the late '80s. I've since re-discovered it and am loving it. 4. Fratellis, "Flathead." The song from the new iPod adverts that makes me want to get up and dance. 5. Angelo Badalemente, "Dub Driving." One of my favorites from the Lost Highway Soundtrack. Top    |   Back Oliver Trager Brooklyn, New York, USA. Writer-editor-author. 1. Sun Ra, "Dancing Shadows." The late, great and quite underrated Arkestra tenorman John Gilmore at his harmonic-stretching best from the hard-to-find Nothing Is Sun Ra disc. 2. Ellington, Mingus & Roach, "Money Jungle." Duke, pushing 60-something gives two of the great avant-gardists a run for their money on this classic track from the titular collection. 3. Paul Brady, "Lakes of Ponchatrain." This will help you cry. 4. Grateful Dead, "Morning Dew. The Dead really nailed this one in 1977, a year when things really jelled for them. This version from Dick's Picks, Vol. 3. 5. Lord Buckley, "Bad Rapping of the Marquis de Sade." Classic hip-goth-gospel spoken-word comedy philosophy at an excruciating peak. Top    |   Back Henning Ohlenbusch Northhampton, Massachusetts, USA. Songwriter, Musician, Singer, Producer. 1. Freedy Johnston, "Tearing Down This Place." Freedy is able to take the simplest phrase and melody and make it fit your life like a puzzle piece. A devastating story of loss illustrated by flashes of images of moments. 2. Spouse, "Are You Gonna Kiss Or Wave Goodbye?" Jose Ayerve is a pop-rock master. With a voice that gently shreds apart on all the right words, he leads us through this beautiful song one person at a time. "Don't slow done until you're out of sight." 3. Fountains of Wayne, "Valley Winter Song." Although Schlesinger & Collingwood may have become eclipsed by the success of their ribald novelty hit, "Stacy's Mom," don't make the mistake of under-evaluating the rest of their catalog. This is one of Collingwood's best, a dark late afternoon wistful rumination on the bleakness and comfort of a cold New England Winter. 4. The Dead Milkmen, "Punk Rock Girl." When you hear this for the first time, you will believe that you have known it your whole life. A delightful and goofy love song with a truly unforgettable melody, funny and endearing lyrcis, and an honest and joyful performance. 5. Simon and Garfunkel, "America." Choosing a best Paul Simon song is like trying to pick your favorite candy. This, though, stands out from a crop of stand-outs. A snap-shot of a time and a place and a feeling that is not only personal but also captures the mood of an entire nation. I, as the listener, may not have been on that particular bus ride, but, man, I feel like I was. I even know what Cathy looks like. Top    |   Back Matt Douglass White Hall, Maryland, USA. Musician, IT. 1. The Blue Nile, "Easter Parade." Paul Buchanan's plaintive voice, the imagery. 2. The Byrds, "Truck Stop Girl." Skip Battin's voice and Clarence White's guitar, of course!! 3. Citizen Cope, "Every Waking Moment." Interesting song and melody, arrangement. 4. Peter Case, "Downtown." Still one of my all-time faves for any month!! 5. Kelly Joe Phelps, "I Am The Light Of The World." Great version of a Rev Gary Davis song. Top    |   Back Paul Zollo Hollywood, California, USA. Rabble-rouser. 1. Prince, "A Case of You." From Joni Mitchell tribute, as good as it gets - Joni & Prince together in one inspirational golden track. This is the ultimate. He always said he loved Joni - now here he shows how real that love is. 2. James Taylor, "Our Town." Randy Newman's breathtaking & wistful ballad from Cars with JT lending his classic vocal sound, it's beautifully nostalgic for the American town of yore - the kind of song only Randy could write. 3. Rickie Lee Jones, "Nobody Knows My Name." From her beautiful new album, this is all soul, all street wisdom, as pure and spiritually rich as the Words themselves on which she based these songs. 4. Noah Stone, "Married To A Mystery." Driving, haunting, inspirational - and with an astounding track created by Mr. Stone himself. 5. The Clash, "Washington Bullets." One of their sweetest melodies with a biting, amazing lyric. "…there was no interference from America, human rights in America!" If only. Top    |   Back [advertisement] [advertisement] [advertisement] [advertisement] [advertisement] ©2007. All rights reserved. about us    |   privacy    |   credits    |   contact