Five Favorite Songs Our Friends' Top Five Favorite Current Songs From Around The Globe. April 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 Kofi Annan Stockholm, Sweden. Former Secretary General of the United Nations. 1. Lady Angie, "Hyira Me Ndwuma." Uplifting, soul stirring gospel of the ages. A Nzema, who grew up in Takoradi, she knows her Fanti and it’s beautiful. 2. Moses Ofosu Amponsah, "Ka Ma Nyame." Inspirational gospel inspired by the Pastor’s life of giving. 3. Bela Bartok, "Bluebeard’s Castle." His only opera, and it speaks to me. Timeless and glorious. 4. Bob Dylan, "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll." Mr. Dylan shines lights into places no one would recognize without him. A great tribute to the significance of each human life. 5. John Lennon, "Imagine." A utopian masterpiece. It is even more important now than ever. Top    |   Back Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. New York, New York, USA. Author. 1. Ernestine Anderson, "I’m Walking." As am I. You walk or you die. 2. Oscar Peterson, "Night Train." His piano playing makes me happy to be alive, even when I’m walking. 3. Bill Evans Trio, "Peri’s Scope." One of his most beautiful solos. I sing it to myself while I’m out walking. 4. Peggy Lee, "Is That All These Is?" Good question. 5. Count Basie, "Splanky." Living spunk and drive. Top    |   Back Claudio Martella Rome, Italy. Student. 1. Radiohead, "Pyramid Song." From Amnesiac. This song is definitely going to be played at my funeral. Its tempo is simply stunning and Thom Yorke's voice is unbeatable. 2. Jimi Hendrix, "Little Wing." There's a live version where the groove is even stronger. I love the melody so much. It's hard to say if it's my fav by him, but for sure I wouldn't go to an island without it! 3. Pink Floyd "Echoes." From Meddle, as with Mr. Hendrix, hard to say it's the best, but this one makes me fly high. 4. John Lennon "Working Class Hero." From John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. It's so amazing how his writing is so simple and direct on such a linear guitar chord progression. Mind opening. 5. Eric Clapton "Cocaine." From Slowhand. In reality this is representative for the whole artist, the greatest white guitar player ever. Top    |   Back Diana Krall New York, New York, USA. Musician. 1. Elton John, "Burn Down The Mission." One of the best rock pianists in history, this is one of his finest and most enduring songs. Blistering. 2. Lucinda Williams, "Blue." Aggressive, raw, fearless and unflinching. I’ve always wanted to interpret it and I’m still working on it. 3. Randy Newman, "Cowboy." Randy’s artistry combined with Aaron Copland. Beautiful, poignant, almost sad, and I like the cowboy element. 4. Duke Ellington, "Lotus Blossom." Duke would play this every night after a gig, as the guys were packing up. A very reflective piece. 5. Robert Merrill and Jussi Björling, "Au Found du Temple Saint." Just absolutely gorgeous. This is a song I’ve heard since I was a little girl, so it reminds me of home. Top    |   Back Abdülhamîd Çagatay Ankara, Turkey. Poet-sorcerer. 1. Ibrahim Tatlises, "Mesmeric." The title says it all. 2. Stan Getz, "I’ll Never Be The Same." Simplicity and depth. 3. Debbie Harry, "Stormy Weather." My favorite interpretation of my favorite song. 4. Jimmy Scott, "Over The Rainbow." A miracle singer sings a miracle song. Better than Judy Garland, and he’s still alive. 5. Jimmy Scott, "I Had A Love Once." When he sings, I believe. Top    |   Back Earl Grey Burbank, California, USA. Musician. 1. The Rolling Stones, "Wild Horses." I first heard the song through a transistor radio, hidden between my ear and a pillow (...past my bedtime back then you know!). Like a voice heard from the door of a dark creaking cabin along the Bayou of dreams... 'Childhood living is easy to do...' I could barely understand what this old blues singer was moaning about, it scared me a bit, it transported me as well, and I wanted to hear more. I was surprised to find Sticky Fingers on the 'new release' shelf in the local record-joint. "Wild Horses" sounded so aged... I bought my first Rolling Stones record then and there, while it was still spinning. "Wild Horses" is my favorite, but the rest of the album is as good. ...Listened to it all week, this week, again. 2. Odetta, "Motherless Child." It made me feel sad and wistful at age four. 3. Peter Case, "Steel Strings." It was a million miles away from "A Million Miles Away." And "A Million Miles Away" was the stuff. But "Steel Strings" did all that with an acoustic guitar and a voice, and it made the impression. ...Listened to it quite a bit this week, as well as the rest of that first album. 4. Bela Bartok, "The String Quartets." How anything could be so angular, rise so high, fall so deep, and still stand up as Bartok's quartets? They aren't the music of the spheres, but the music of the non-Euclidian planes. When you discover Bartok, it's like Albert Hoffman discovering LSD. It's a bike ride you never forget, and it changes the way you hear everything, ever after. That powerful. 5. Bruce Cockburn, "The Loner." From Slowhand. One of the greatest songs, by one of my 'personal favorite' artists. The slow slide of chords up and down the neck of a DADGAD-tuned guitar, a violin distorted with such echo-permutations so as to sound like a silver cosmic bird... The lyric, "I always live and I always die, on the event horizon of your eyes." An amazing track, one of my favorite tracks in the world, always. Top    |   Back Amber Solongeti Perugia, Italy. Actress. 1. Pearl Jam, "Life Wasted." Mine isn’t, but I love Eddie V. and this song. 2. Beth Orton, "Heartlandtruckstop." I love this Americana, it makes me swoon. 3. Bird York, "Wicked Little High." Yes yes yes. It’s fun to be wicked. 4. Henry Kaiser, "Autumn Waltz." Beautiful Stephen Foster words and music. 5. Aretha Franklin, "Exactly Like You." She is the soul queen and is the best forever, and I love this Jimmy McHugh classic song. Top    |   Back Chad Watson Chatsworth, California, USA. Musician. 1. Left Banke, "Walk Away Renee." As a 13 year old I heard a hybrid of styles from unknowns breaking through ... It has given me courage ever since. 2. The Beatles, "Hey Jude." It made playing the piano seem very possible...and at 69 cents...we all got our money's worth...especially on the jukebox! 3. The Everly Brothers, "Don't Blame Me." My parents' combo covered it before I knew it was a standard...My first C ,G minor, A7 song! 4. Rick Nelson, "She Belongs To Me." It was romantic, Country, hip...and it brings back acoustic/electric memories of December 1969...and the title never appears in the lyric! 5. Sibelius, "Finlandia." This one has a history of stirring up hope for the underdog...Isn't that what art should do? Top    |   Back Rich Agata Los Angeles, California, USA. Advertising Director/Singer-Songwriter. 1. Lowell George, "Two Trains." I prefer the solo album (Thanks, I'll Eat It Here) version over the Dixie Chicken version 'cause there's more to love - about another minute and a half. Lowell needs the extra time just to sing the words "Lou-easy-isiana railroad." His vocal bends still challenge and inspire me. 2. Jackson Browne, "The Pretender." As a junior in college I literally lived "in the shade of the freeway," and today as an ad man, I particularly like the irony of the last verse: "I'm going to be a happy idiot/And struggle for the legal tender/Where the ads take aim and lay their claim/To the heart and the soul of the spender/And believe in whatever may lie/In those things that money can buy/Thought true love could have been a contender/Are you there? Say a prayer for the Pretender/Who started out so young and strong/Only to surrender." 3. Peter Case, "Hidden Love." This song possesses all the qualities I love about music: great melody, great lyrics, great vocals, tenderness, loneliness, strength and ambiguity. Peter, a Bluerailroad columnist, honored me by performing piano, organ and harmonica on my CD. 4. U2, "The Sweetest Thing." There are two versions of this song, and again, I prefer the first, an obscure B side (b/w "One") recorded during the Joshua Tree sessions. 5. Elvis Costello, "Watch Your Step." My favorite song from my favorite Elvis album, Trust. It will forever by linked in my mind to the girl I loved the most and loved the longest...and still do to this day... Top    |   Back Harriet Kaplan North Hollywood, California, USA. Music Journalist. 1. Amy Winehouse, "My Tears Dry On Their Own." I can't stop listening to Amy Winehouse's latest CD, Back to Black. This isn't really a happy song but Winehouse's determined and defiant delivery is unleashed with unbridled gusto backed by rollicking production has made the song instantly catchy and memorable. Her tough, hard-hitting approach to relationships and how Winehouse copes with them and calls herself on her own stuff is both funny and poignant and at the same time makes her a new unique voice one doesn't easily forget long after the song ends. I love the'60s girl group inspired sound that recalls the production of legendary sound of Stax Records. Winehouse melds influences as diverse as Aretha Franklin, Billie Holliday, Rickie Lee Jones and Portishead's Beth Giddons. She makes the music her own which is fresh and original. 2. Amy Winehouse, "I'm No Good." The understated, subtle approach and style of the song drive home the lyrical points of the human folly and foibles in a way that's more hard hitting and resonate a lot longer than material that tends to hit you over the head with cliches and easy, pat explanations of love gone wrong. Brutal self examination is the order of the day. 3. Nine Inch Nails, "Getting Smaller." The king of pain strips himself bare and gets to the core of his feelings, phobias, delusions on "With Teeth." On "Getting Smaller," Trent Reznor's primal scream works to great effect to break free of self-imposed limits and transcend his past experience to go beyond. Reznor stakes out a brave future in which he is in control of his destiny, mind and soul without apology. 4. The Libertines, "Music When The Lights Go Out." I bought The Libertines CD based on listening to "Can't Stand Me Now" on internet radio. So it was on the strength of that song, I hoped the rest of the CD would be nearly as a good. "Music When The Lights Go Out" is a classic and the crown jewel of the CD. Much had been made in the music press about the brother-like/musical relationship between Carl and Pete. The giddy highs and crashing lows are acutely felt and illustrated in this song which equates loss with the creative process as well as a breakdown in communication of two human beings that both love and often hate each other in equal and disparate parts, and try to find meaning and sense in the ongoing battle they at one time shared. 5. Fiona Apple, "Oh Well." It's hard to single out one great song on a CD, especially Fiona Apple's Extraordinary Machine, which is one of the best pieces of contemporary music I have heard in a long time. Her lyrical point of view is unflinchingly honest and sometimes chilling in its nakedness of emotion and feeling that leaves one vulnerable and exposed. She casts herself as both the object of her affections and the one actually being scorned and rejected. She lividly captures the conflicting points of view and perspective of each partner in the relationship and how that affects the one on the losing end in often heartbreaking, sad and dejected terms. Top    |   Back Jason Sarna West Hollywood, California, USA. In The Works. 1. Bob Seger, "Beautiful Loser." As if Seger wrote this for me, and dreamers alike. 2. Black Label Society, "Bored To Tears." Grainy distortion, grooving riffs, and rocking melody custom brewed for the ultimate song debut. 3. Johnny Cash, "A Boy Named Sue." Although originally written by Shel Silverstein, Johnny Cash's rendition hits a nerve. Cash's profound voice, sincerity, and eerie story telling ability add color to this sad, brutal, and touching song. 4. Led Zeppelin, "Hey Hey What Can I Do." Music and lyric blended perfectly to clear the mind. The song strikes feelings of past loves, but drives the weakest into rock/arm-crazed frenzies. 5. Pantera, "Cowboys From Hell." Livens up the senses by "taking over" your soul. Top    |   Back Dilip Gururaj Sherpa Karnataka, India. Teacher & Musician. 1. Tarun Bhattacharya, "Chatterche." "Let music be the sanctuary in this age of unrest," says Pandit Tarun Bhattacharya, who is the Maihar school’s only santoor player. Soon the world will discover santoor as it did sitar. This is music for the heavens. 2. The Pretenders, "Back On The Chain Gang." This is my morning song. It revs my engine. Is this America? If it is, I wanna go. 3. Jaywant Naidu, "Raaga." Hindustani classical music on Hawaiian guitar. Glory. 4. Warren Hatfield, "Body and Soul." Wonderful sax rendition of this classic American standard. Makes me long for the country I’ve never known. 5. Satsang, "Gaao Re." Devotional sitar and guitar together. Classic and modern merge. Top    |   Back Paul Zollo North Hollywood, California, USA. Circus Roustabout. 1. Emmylou Harris, "The Magdelene Laundries." From the new Joni Mitchell tribute album. Emmylou’s crystalline rendition of Joni’s masterpiece is all heart, all sorrow and beauty. Brings this amazing song home in a whole new way. 2. Joss Stone, "Tell Me ’Bout It." Yeah. This works for me. Love the song, the soul, the voice, the presence. A whole lot of soul. Great groove, great horns and very hip confidence and swagger. 3. Neil Young, "Love In Mind." From the new old Live at Massey Hall concert. Neil very young, solo, and amazing. He is so focused, so dynamic, and with a profusion of classic songs all spilling out. I know all the songs except this one – and it’s beautiful. Where did this song come from? Startling to hear it because it’s as powerful and great as all the classics. Simple, eloquent and haunting. 4. Rickie Lee Jones, "Gethsemane." From her new album, this is a song about Christ only Rickie Lee could create. It’s beautiful, human and divine. You could spend a week just in this song. I know. I have. 5. Bruce Hornsby with Elton John, "Dreamland." Bruce & Elton together is enough reason to listen, but it’s also one of this great songwriter’s greatest and most inspirational songs. Lifts me up every time I hear it, and I hear it a lot. Top    |   Back [advertisement] [advertisement] [advertisement] [advertisement] [advertisement] ©2007. All rights reserved. about us    |   privacy    |   credits    |   contact