poll of songs i have described as "the best song in the world"

Jets, fool

maze: "back in stride"

this is the one

There's a lot of good songs in there, but it's no accident that an ILXor prone to calling something
"best" has a penchant for songs with titles that begin with absolutes like "every," "always," "never."

"Everywhere," "Every Heartbeat," "Everybody Wants to Rule the World." Plus "Always Be my Baby" and "Never Too Much."

I love so many of these that it's hard to choose. "Sweet Love?" "Time After Time?" "Breathe?"

FWIW I voted "Time After Time," with "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" as runner-up.

"lowdown" isn't even the best boz skaggs song!

no, wait, yes it is. voted that.

I would probably have to go with "Sign in Stranger", since at various times I've called it my favorite Steely Dan song, which is not too far from the thread title concept.

What a list!

Candy, Never Too Much, Jumbo, Teardrops, Take A Bow, Oh Patti, Forever More, Say Hello Wave Goodbye, He's On The Phone, The Downtown Lights and Time After Time are the main contenders. I need time to think about this one.

impossible

sending a vote to amy grant on a whim

but i mean ysi?

There's like 4 songs here in my top 50 of all time, including what I would call #1 most days: Tears For Fears. I MUST check out the songs on this list I don't know

PS: You have exquisite taste, Brad

There's a lot of good songs in there, but it's no accident that an ILXor prone to calling something
"best" has a penchant for songs with titles that begin with absolutes like "every," "always," "never."

lmao i didn't even think about this, thanks ymp

Hoo boy. I like:

janet jackson: "escapade"
cameo: "candy"
george michael: "one more try"
madonna: "take a bow"
cyndi lauper: "time after time"
rickie lee jones: "we belong together"
abba: "knowing me knowing you"
tears for fears: "everybody wants to rule the world"
machine: "there but for the grace of god go i"

Voted Tears for Fears, but that may only be because I missed Machine the first time through.

Ah, the classic "Haven't You Heard" vs "Disloyal Order of Water Buffaloes" dilemma.

Big fan of ... 19 ... of these and should really check out or refresh my memory on the rest.

OMG, I can't vote. They truly are all the greatest song of all time!

I should add that my shortlist above was limited the ones that I keep on my iPhone/hard drive at all times. There are numerous others there that I like well enough, but just not as much. This is a good list!

omfg at this list. How do you choose between the best songs ever.

...it's no accident that an ILXor prone to calling something
"best" has a penchant for songs with titles that begin with absolutes like "every," "always," "never."

lmao i didn't even think about this, thanks ymp

― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Sunday, January 7, 2018 8:59 PM (forty-eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

So where are:

Everyday is Like Sunday

Never Say Never Again

I'll Never Fall in Love Again

All Things Must Pass

All the Young Dudes

Nowhere Man

?

Never Surrender

All Through the Night

Never Gonna Give You Up

one of these, a murderer's row

patrice rushen: "haven't you heard"
van halen: "panama"
luther vandross: "never too much"
evelyn "champagne" king: "love come down"
machine: "there but for the grace of god go i"
maxwell: "pretty wings"

Jesus, can't believe I've never heard "The Downtown Lights" before. amazing song

Can't believe no one has said Tessio yet

but yeah, so many amazing songs here. if anyone makes a spotify playlist out of them they will be a hero

The Sound of Crying, best Prefab song

These actually are most of the best songs ever.

Probably would not choose "Jumbo" over about 10 of these but "Jumbo" is lit.

This isn't difficult at all - voted Tears For Fears. Runners up: Soft Cell and Fleetwood Mac. Nothing else was remotely in contention.

What a list of tunes!

I went with "Always Be My Baby" just based on my mood

1. Machine 2. The Jets 3. Evelyn "Champagne" King

went for Jets

Teardrops
Tessio
Everywhere
Escapade
The downtown lights
Mountains
Candy
Sweet love
Haven't you heard
Jumbo
Forever more
Everybody wants to rule the world
Love come down
Halcyon + on + on

^^^all of these are god tier and it's nigh on impossible to pick one. Tho if we're talking the FKEK mix of Forever more then it's game over
Crush

Crush should be among the list and not below the line there obv

"by your side" by sade is, at times, the best song in the world

"crush" comes close

Every Heartbeat 4EVA!!!!!

v happy with myself for suggesting this poll, will vote later

There are enough songs here I'm in agreement about that this is an effectively impossible poll.

Just listened to 'Time After Time' the other day with 'fresh ears' (i.e. in isolation after having not heard it in some time and not as either a popular single whose prior ubiquity causes it to skirt past my attention or one of a collection of fantastic songs on a fantastic album) and, yes, it's certainly among the greatest.

No point in my scrolling past Soft Cell... I have definitely had moments where I thought that was the best song in the world.

It ain't why it just is.

This is a list of many artists I love singing songs I don't care so much for!

The only two songs on this list I've myself once called "the best ever" are "Escapade" and the Tears For Fears song

Voted "Escapade" fwiw

small hours seems out of place on this list but i voted for it, although halcyon + on + on prob the only one on here that has felt like mb the best song ever

brad pls add the missing trax to yr spotify playlist!

Lots of amazing stuff here but it's between this pair for me:

tears for fears: "everybody wants to rule the world"
evelyn "champagne" king: "love come down"

will consider other songs while temporarily pretending that "tessio" refers to the present lover version

Get back to me with MBeat's 'Sweet Love' and we'll talk.

hi Brad

No point in my scrolling past Soft Cell... I have definitely had moments where I thought that was the best song in the world.

― enochroot, Monday, January 8, 2018 3:50 PM (forty-eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It's a classic, but it's not even the best Soft Cell song, IMO.

wrong

No point in my scrolling past Soft Cell... I have definitely had moments where I thought that was the best song in the world.

― enochroot, Monday, January 8, 2018 10:50 AM (fifty-two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Same.

https://imgur.com/rz6zN8o

'Heat', 'Soul Inside', 'Fun City' > 'Say Hello, Wave Goodbye'

https://media.giphy.com/media/TO5NRhGT2XpKg/giphy.gif

Tessio v Small Hours v Forever More (but only if it's the 10:39 Francois K Mix)

love come down is such a masterclass of anticipation--the way it starts on the' response' part of the groove, the build to the scat hook in the first verse, saving the chorus so you don't get tired of it when they repeat it approximately 1000 times at the end of the song.

but then i listen to haven't you heard and that groove hits...and then there's that piano at the beginning of there but for the grace of god go i...

good choices, brad, i am thinking way too hard about this

i love "forever more" in all its forms so the francois k mix is definitely implied

Teardrops every time

my first instinct is "forever more" but i think i need to think about it more

it's kind of harrowing how alien Brad's listening history is to my own - I know maybe five of these. less. maybe this could work as a compleat gyde to soft-rocke. never too late to learn

I definitely thought Say Hello Wave Goodbye was the greatest song ever for several months in the 80s.

I definitely thought Say Hello Wave Goodbye was the greatest song ever for several months in the 80s.

Jesus, can't believe I've never heard "The Downtown Lights" before. amazing song

― Vinnie, Sunday, January 7, 2018 11:52 PM (yesterday)

I will not turn this into a blue nile thread
I will not turn this into a blue nile thread
I will not turn this into a blue nile thread

brad this is longer than your spotify playlist!

leaning toward sade but going to put this playlist on to see if I change my mind

Yes, please don't turn this into a Blue Nile thread - if only because I don't require an insomnia cure.

Voted Tears For Fears because all of these songs rule and no vote is a bad vote so I went with the one I most recently enjoyed myself.

Some of these songs are great, some of them are perfect, but only one of them is The Downtown Lights.

where can this playlist be found?

It was really hard to keep going after I saw Blue Nile there, it's true. It's probably still them but it seems they got good representation, so I'll throw one to my girl Michelle Branch.

where can this playlist be found?

― niels, Monday, January 8, 2018 12:27 PM (fifty-six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

gonna try to update my old one in a little bit, will paste the link

i love this poll

https://open.spotify.com/user/unbornwhiskey/playlist/2Kw3MDIhLmfQgIXjZ3PhI3

i'd do one of these except half the list would be the entirety of The Cars and Candy-O

surely a very enjoyable playlist, thanks!

Of the tracks I've heard, I wouldn't describe a single one of them as you have but I'll go with 'Tessio' for now ('Synkro' is way better, though).

though I was quick to vote Sade I don't know half the song on the list, so far Take a Bow is a beautiful surprise

ty for the playlist Brad, also you are one of my fave ilm'ers and this poll is a testament to that <3

Going to listen to this whole playlist tomorrow and then vote for the FKEK Mix of Forever more

the heart says Downtown Lights, but the heart's heart knows it's Teardrops

gut instinct was rickie, but everywhere takes it

My write-in vote is for Neiked's "Sexual".

I can get behind that.

i like nearly all the unfamiliar tracks i've heard so far, so thanks for that brad, but the only ones that come close to approaching the ones i cited earlier in the thread are the Amy Grant song and the Forever More remix

also i was unknowingly familiar with "candy" for years as 2pac's "all about u"

spotify playlist lacks rickie lee jones' "we belong together" and womack & womack's "teardrops" so i'll just put them here in case anyone hasn't heard them and specifically wants to

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RjiuJjJdFM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9C0MSa7SXE8

"We Belong Together" is on Spotify! I listened to that album a bunch of times on there when you polled it a couple months back.

re: "I'm In Love" I have always had a real soft spot for this reggae cover, hits that blissful sweet spot in a different way

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srK1TlIT82c

poll is too hard sorry

"We Belong Together" is on Spotify! I listened to that album a bunch of times on there when you polled it a couple months back.

― iCloudius (cryptosicko), Monday, January 8, 2018 4:59 PM (ten minutes ago)

ilx needs to get to the bottom of this -- I also cannot find this album on spotify but iirc alfred told me it worked for him at the time

i have not been able to find pirates on spotify at all recently

that jennifer lara cover of i'm in love is gorgeous

sarah mclachlan "sweet surrender" but ONLY THE TIËSTO REMIX (jk altho it's actually really good)

i actually voted for "pretty wings"

but who are you
just a-no-ther scur-vy bro-ther

scrolled down thinking "well where's the ACTUAL best song in the world, 'he's on the phone' " and boom there it is, good work

Lots of my faves here. The ones that get my pulse going just reading the titles would be Everywhere, Escapade, Sweet Love, Take A Bow, at first glance. Even allowing for the songs I don't know or don't care about, the list captures a certain overcome-by-music *wow* feeling that I'm very familiar with (and that makes me go quiet and ignore people when I hear them in company). Hope no one mistakes the poll name for hyperbole.

Voted “Escapade,” because “MINNEAPOLIS!”

Womack & Womack

Womack & Womack

RLJ's debut and Pirates have mysteriously been off (US, at least) Spotify for a handful of weeks.

Jumbo.

You know..

i say this a lot though imo i'm always correct in the moment. not exhaustive, obv, and in no particular order, basically listed them as they came to mind and stopped when i got to 50

the blue nile: "the downtown lights"
annie lennox: "why"

Vote
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Sunday, January 7, 2018 8:29 PM (two days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Funny enough I checked out The Blue Nile after really liking the Annie Lennox cover song of "The Downtown Lights" back in the day.

brad yr love of spacy country and Sarah MacLachlan makes me wonder if you've listned to Blue Rodeo's Five Days in July which features some of both and an incredibly distended last couple tracks

This is the book I never read
These are the words I never said
This is the path I'll never tread
These are the dreams I'll dream instead
This is the joy that's seldom spread
These are the tears
The tears we shed
This is the fear
This is the dread
These are the contents of my head
And these are the years that we have spent
And this is what they represent
And this is how I feel
Do you know how I feel?

Great list! I would have put lots of these on any "best ever" list, too. It's Love Come Down for me, but Sweet Love and tears for fears are close behind

regardless of how good it is i hope i don't have to endure Teardrops ever again. put Teardrops in a locked box with several of the most famous chic songs and bury them in an unknown location.

Aaaallllll the way down

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

voted for Tessio

voted Mariah Carey. there was a time when i saw that music video every morning before school. to this day the wordless "do-do-do dum do-do-do-da-do-da-dum" bit randomly pops into my mind, especially around moments of wordless joy

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

great results

Thank fuck this self-indulgent nonsense is over.

<3 love u boo

I've always been in love with you

the blue nile: "the downtown lights"	10

Never heard of it.

Didn't vote for it (Tessio 4 lyfe <3) but glad to see the ilx blue nile fan club coming in full force here

Best poll ever.

I ended up voting for Patrice Rushen but could have easily gone for The Blue Nile, Fleetwood Mac, Saint Etienne, Evelyn King, Womack & Womack, Luomo, John Martyn, Underworld or about half a dozen others.

I tried to change my vote to sade but it said I’d already voted

Brad, what did you vote for?

the first four songs listed with zero votes were all robbed tbh

In a way I’m glad I missed this poll because so much of it lines up with my tastes too closely to pick

Solitary vote for Summertime in England! Some people shouldn't be allowed to have ears.

"cloud city" is like... the best song i've ever heard

― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Wednesday, June 24, 2020 6:25 PM (one hour ago)

stiff competition:

this is the best song ever

http://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=KylJMl_ms54&feature=emb_logo

― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), maandag 15 juni 2020 22:31 bookmarkflaglink