Let Me EnPOLL You: The "Song to the Siren" Poll

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"Song to the Siren" by Tim Buckley: Great song no matter who is doing it. But I wonder...of all the good versions, whose is the best? A thread below asked the same question in 2005, but there were no polls then; also, Bryan Ferry's version didn't exist. So I ask it again. Also: post youtubes of versions here.

Poll Results

Option	Votes
This Mortal Coil	20
Tim Buckley (Starsailor version)	6
Tim Buckley (1968 "Monkees" version w/ "Oyster" in lyrics)	3
The Czars	1
Bryan Ferry	1
Some other version (please specify & youtube)	1
Robert Plant	0
Lost Witness — "Did I Dream (Song to the Siren)"	0

― Mark, Sunday, 21 November 2010 06:38 (fifteen years ago)

Order of preference..........Song to the Siren......

― Mark, Sunday, 21 November 2010 06:38 (fifteen years ago)

It's between these: This Mortal Coil and The Czars

Might go with TMC just because it sounds more mythological.

― Johnny Fever, Sunday, 21 November 2010 06:41 (fifteen years ago)

Any version other than This Mortal Coil's is laughably incorrect.

― Alex in NYC, Monday, 22 November 2010 00:37 (fifteen years ago)

― the 'Friends' experiment (Pillbox), Monday, 22 November 2010 00:38 (fifteen years ago)

Bryan Ferry's version is very, very good.

― look at it, pwn3d, made u look at my peen/vadge (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 22 November 2010 00:43 (fifteen years ago)

Bryan Ferry gets points for adopting some of Buckley's vocal stylings from the Starsailor version, but the arrangement kind of saps the otherworldly timelessness and situates it squarely in late '80s adult contemporary.

― Ou sont les cankles d'antan? (Leee), Monday, 22 November 2010 01:24 (fifteen years ago)

I.e. it doesn't sound enough like the TMC version.

― Ou sont les cankles d'antan? (Leee), Monday, 22 November 2010 01:34 (fifteen years ago)

That's what I want in a cover though.

― look at it, pwn3d, made u look at my peen/vadge (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 22 November 2010 01:35 (fifteen years ago)

Yeah Ferry finds something new in the song & his version is fantastic.

― Mark, Monday, 22 November 2010 01:42 (fifteen years ago)

The Buckley version on Starsailor is one of my favourite songs. It has this 'unstable' quality the other versions lack, with its loose guitar playing going in and out of time, and Buckley's wild yowling voice doing amazing things to the melody.

― Davek (davek_00), Monday, 22 November 2010 01:44 (fifteen years ago)

The Ferry and TMC versions don't have the drama and intensity which make Buckley's interpretation so breathtaking.

― Davek (davek_00), Monday, 22 November 2010 01:45 (fifteen years ago)

I sometimes find them a little irritating post-More Sad Hits, but this video is pretty nice:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_uY84iZRFQ

― dlp9001, Monday, 22 November 2010 02:22 (fifteen years ago)

^^ Gentle and yet psychedelic, I approve.

― leTeReL (Leee), Monday, 22 November 2010 02:34 (fifteen years ago)

xp: never heard that somehow, but <3<3 G500 & D/N so yeah.. I am really digging it (not that it can compete w/ TCM, mind)

― the 'Friends' experiment (Pillbox), Monday, 22 November 2010 02:37 (fifteen years ago)

Really like the Bryan Ferry version.

― mike t-diva, Thursday, 25 November 2010 10:10 (fifteen years ago)

Just discovered the Czars version, which is majestic. But then so are the TMC, Buckley and Ferry ones. It's a hard song to fuck up.

― The baby boomers have defined everything once and for all (Dorianlynskey), Thursday, 25 November 2010 10:15 (fifteen years ago)

Can't believe you omitted this option, Mark G.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjk2L5BFq1A

The winner is Buckley, Starsailor version, obv.

― Stevie T, Thursday, 25 November 2010 10:17 (fifteen years ago)

("Were you a hare? Was I a fox??!!??")

― Stevie T, Thursday, 25 November 2010 10:18 (fifteen years ago)

No, the winner is Nigel's incredulity when he delivers that line.

― ia! ia! Cartman fthagn! (aldo), Thursday, 25 November 2010 21:54 (fifteen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

― System, Monday, 6 December 2010 00:01 (fifteen years ago)

voted "other" for the version Chris Lee opened his set with the first time I saw him live in 2001. no youtube or anything as far as i can tell of him doing it, but i've yet to hear any other version of the song that compares to my memory of that performance.

― ITT Deadliest Choads (some dude), Monday, 6 December 2010 00:22 (fifteen years ago)

Most of these are good but I love Ferry's diffident take.

― look at it, pwn3d, made u look at my peen/vadge (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 6 December 2010 00:26 (fifteen years ago)

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

― System, Tuesday, 7 December 2010 00:01 (fifteen years ago)

Can't believe you omitted this option, Mark G.

Not my poll, Stevie T.

― Mark G, Tuesday, 7 December 2010 07:52 (fifteen years ago)

damn straight

― jerkstore cowboy (Pillbox), Tuesday, 7 December 2010 08:27 (fifteen years ago)

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