What does a truly great song do for you?

11top

11top

Cousin Eddie's cousin
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I was on the tread mill this morning, and one of my favorite songs came across my earbuds. It got me thinking how wonderful music is, and how lost I'd be without it. While we don't all agree on what is a great song, I believe that we all have songs we consider great.

A great song moves me in mysterious ways. Sure, it makes me tap my foot , but a really great song can almost turn my consciousness into a dream state. And, I can get to the point of being emotional; maybe it's a combination of minor chords and great lyrics. Sometimes it allows me to escape reality, and go to some magic place. Often a great song will take me back to a happy memory.

Whatever it is, I'd be lost without music.

Sorry for being a little melodramatic here, but I have a feeling, I'm preaching to the choir.
 
Wakester said:
Same here. The truly great songs bring me back to my past, maybe to a quieter time, or a happy moment. Sometimes a not so happy moment. Or they take me to a different place, kind of like reading a good fantasy novel. The truly great songs are the soundtrack to my life.
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That's a really good comparison! I couldn't agree more.



BTW, I just finished Swan Song by Robert Maccammon. Have you read that? Incredible (but very dark and disturbing)!!! It's 900+ pages of small print. I read it in 4 days; compelling. I didn't want it to end. It's kind of like The Road meets The Stand.
 
Some of my favorite pieces of music can make the hair on my arms stand up, and even bring me to tears at crucial moments. I have to be careful not to listen too closely in some casual company for fear of looking silly.
You're right in that everyone's definition of a truly great song is different, and I try to keep that in mind when I hear kids jamming to music I dislike. My mantra in those cases is "Better that they are passionate about music I dislike than to be dispassionate about music."
 
Not to get too philosophical, but there is something intangible and mystical to music. It opens pathways in the brain that would otherwise be closed to our consciousness. I've heard masterpieces that take me places I never new existed. No other medium has been so emotional or moving. For me personally, it is evidence that we are more than the physical animal.

It has been hypothesized, "When does a robot become human? When you can't tell a difference." When does a human become spiritual? When that human can't discern whether they are in the physical or the spiritual. Music can do that for us.
 
Art’s an interesting thing. It’s hard to put your finger on what distinguishes merely good from great.

For me, it’s the combination not only of a great composition, but a great arrangement coupled with a great performance. Unless you have these, the composition is merely unrealized potential.

We’ve all seen that great arrangements/performances have elevated any number of songs that aren’t the best compositions to achieving something capable of moving audiences.

And we’ve all heard bad performances of songs we’ve loved that ruined the experience.

Of course, cover bands these days don’t just try to cover the composition; they also try to copy the arrangement and performance.
 
11top said:
I was on the tread mill this morning, and one of my favorite songs came across my earbuds. It got me thinking how wonderful music is, and how lost I'd be without it. While we don't all agree on what is a great song, I believe that we all have songs we consider great.

A great song moves me in mysterious ways. Sure, it makes me tap my foot , but a really great song can almost turn my consciousness into a dream state. And, I can get to the point of being emotional; maybe it's a combination of minor chords and great lyrics. Sometimes it allows me to escape reality, and go to some magic place. Often a great song will take me back to a happy memory.

Whatever it is, I'd be lost without music.

Sorry for being a little melodramatic here, but I have a feeling, I'm preaching to the choir.
Click to expand...

Not melodramatic. I agree with every word you said.

There are many "great songs" that really "aren't my kind of music." But I love them anyway. Some, just great because the song, performance, etc. Some, really either remind me of something or have some meaning to me and become emotional. I've mentioned before the Todd Rundgren song "I saw the light in your eyes." I absolutely love that song and it still make me emotional every time I hear it because of how closely it relates to something very important to me. Other songs, have other "meanings" or some are just plain great. Some are just pure adrenaline like ..


Some are adrenaline and brain food, like Dream Theater.

I was raised in a family of musicians and singers and was around music all the time. I wouldn't even want to imagine life without music.
 
I'd agree with a lot of what you guys have already said. For me, most of the time a particular song will take me back to a memory. Doesn't necessarily have to be great song, but it may be intertwined with a specific time in my life. Then there are those truly great performances that just leave me feeling the same way. It's funny, I like all kinds of music, but most of the "great" songs I think of are from my youth. Those informative years. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of great songs out there since "my youth" but they don't seem to have had as much of an impact. There are exceptions, of course.
 
Great thread! I agree with just about everything said.

Other observations

Scientific*: music creates “Limbic resonance” between the performer and the listener.

Emotional: a lifelong companion, helping us to further enjoy the great times, while also helping us cope with the bad times

PRS Forum Geek**: music is like a good Brazilian rosewood neck - it enhances the highs and the lows but doesn’t take away from the mids. :)

Notes:
*I’m not a scientist, nor have I ever stayed at a Holiday Inn Express.

**I believe I am a PRS Forum Geek, but you guys need to confirm this for me!
 
Definitely part of the Choir here. Agree with you all...I'd put two words out there...which have both been discussed. MELODY...A song that just grabs you, from the most simple, (like Maybe Im Amazed) to the most complex (damn near any Rush ). If I'm surfing the car radio and come across one of "those" songs, I have to turn it up, and everything else stops...yup, conversation, et al...even though I have the damned CD at home, and could listen to it at any time. The other is definitely MEMORY. Many concerts as a youth, plus I'm lucky enough to say I loved my Middle and High School years. I can remember stupid things about concerts like nobody's business, but what great memories. Roger Taylor's shorts, 3 Stooges music before the boys take (took) the stage, Tommy Shaw`s acoustic (for Crystal Ball), wanting to watch John Deacon, but Freddie just captures your attention ( yeah, he did that the whole show, every show!), the single time I took a girl to see Rush, (now my wife, she LOVED no line in her bathroom) and there were steps between our seats which were half way back at the old Capitol Centre, so the Usher worked some magic and we ended up AT Geddy's corner (T4e tour), as we walked down steps to the floor, tears rolling down my cheeks, she looked at me and just smiled, Crack the Sky at Painters Mill, Rik Emmitt just starting Magic Power (tears), Queen with Paul Rodgers covering Radio Ga Ga (yes, without Freddie, I consider that one a cover), I could go on and on...ALL of these things make the hair on my arms go bonkers!! Not only am I a member of the Geek club, but I think I could be the damned President.Great thread! Music is just magical! Sorry for rambling, this is such a great topic!
Holy crap...just remembered first 2 times pulled over for speeding...Neon Knights and Blue Collar Man, late 80`s and about 10 years ago!
 
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Bill SAS 513 said:
Definitely part of the Choir here. Agree with you all...I'd put two words out there...which have both been discussed. MELODY...A song that just grabs you, from the most simple, (like Maybe Im Amazed) to the most complex (damn near any Rush ). If I'm surfing the car radio and come across one of "those" songs, I have to turn it up, and everything else stops...yup, conversation, at al...even though I have the damned CD at home, and could listen to it at any time. The other is definitely MEMORY. Many concerts as a youth, plus I'm lucky enough to say I loved my Middle and High School years. I can remember stupid things about concerts like nobody's business, but what great memories. Roger Taylor's shorts, 3 Stooges music before the boys take (took) the stage, Tommy Shaw`s acoustic (for Crystal Ball), wanting to watch John Deacon, but Freddie just captures your attention ( yeah, he did that the whole show, every show!), the single time I took a girl to see Rush, (now my wife, she LOVED no line in her bathroom) and there were steps between our seats which were half way back at the old Capitol Centre, so the Usher worked some magic and we ended up AT Geddy's corner (T4e tour), as we walked down steps to the floor, tears rolling down my cheeks, she looked at me and just smiled, Crack the Sky at Painters Mill, Rik Emmitt just starting Magic Power (tears), Queen with Paul Rodgers covering Radio Ga Ga (yes, without Freddie, I consider that one a cover), I could go on and on...ALL of these things make the hair on my arms go bonkers!! Not only am I a member of the Geek club, but I think I could be the damned President.Great thread! Music is just magical! Sorry for rambling, this is such a great topic!
Click to expand...
I had a somewhat similar Rush experience. I took my fiancé (now wife of 14+ years) to see Rush during the Vapor Trails tour at the Gorge in WA state. We were like the 12th row on Geddy’s side. Epic in every way possible. You could see how much fun Alex, Geddy and Neil were having (first tour after Neil’s personal tragedies). I loved it when they played The Pass. Highly emotional concert for me.

I even managed to take her with me to the R30 tour, different venue but after that we weren’t able to see them live again. Concert BRs are good, but not the same as being there!
 
11top said:
That's a really good comparison! I couldn't agree more.



BTW, I just finished Swan Song by Robert Maccammon. Have you read that? Incredible (but very dark and disturbing)!!! It's 900+ pages of small print. I read it in 4 days; compelling. I didn't want it to end. It's kind of like The Road meets The Stand.
Click to expand...
To be honest the last book I read was "The Shack," which I read while listening to Adult Contemporary Christian music. Very powerful book, that brought me to tears a number of times.
 
@11top, this isn’t meant to sound like I’m a sycophant, however there’s passages in your OP that I could have written word for word!

You’ve echoed my feelings perfectly. I find myself in an almost “unconscious state” when listening to certain tracks and also when playing some songs too!

Thanks.
 
They move me in some fashion. They don't necessarily have to make me feel good either, I find I naturally like music that pursues its own purpose even if it makes me uncomfortable.

If it sound 'honest', whatever that means. Like the writer had to make the song, not because they wanted to or because they were asked to, but because they had to get something out. A lot of my favourite songs today I might have dismissed when I was younger as too simplistic or boring or longwinded etc, but I think I was missing the point back then and I was more impressed by odd time signatures and technicality.

Sometimes it does just help my in the gym, or something to listen to in the background while I do something else. My favourites are the ones where I pop a record on and that's all I am doing at that moment. It's like meditation in a way, you forget about yourself for a little while.



 
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