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What’s the ‘Coolest’ Song Ever?
A cool song needs a groove. Check. The singer needs to sound cool and the musicianship effortless. The lyrics tell a story with no judgement and we are encouraged to see it as we wish. This is the kind of song that works perfectly as background for a party. Not too serious, grandiose, or complicated.
You get a shiver in the dark
It’s raining in the park, but meantime
South of the river you stop and you hold everything
A band is blowin’ dixie double-four time
You feel alright when you hear that music ring
Setting the time and the mood, and the theme “you feel alright”
And now you step inside, but you don’t see too many faces (good music but small audience?)
Comin’ in out of the rain, you hear the jazz go down
Competition in other places (question or answer?)
Oh, but the horns, they blowin that sound (but it’s good stuff..)
Way on down south, way on down south, London town
A joke, because we are expecting New Orleans. But the fact that it’s south London makes it more interesting. Of course, a hot Creole band plays in London whether they hail from NOLA or are indigenous Brits.
The narrator is a fan of music. We can tell he’s got his own band (which is playing the song) He is reporting his observations.
You check out guitar, George
He knows all the chords
Mind he’s strictly rhythm
He doesn’t wanna make it cry or sing
Yes, and an old guitar is all he can afford
When he gets up under the lights to play his thing
The lyrics make a fine use of the second person. “You” are experiencing these things as they happen. You can see it and feel it. ‘You’ become the narrator with the cool voice. Okay, I’m there…
And Harry doesn’t mind if he doesn’t make the scene
He’s got a daytime job, he’s doin’ alright
He can play the “Honk Tonk” like anything
Savin’ it up for friday night
With the “Sultans”
With the “Sultans of Swing”
Filling out the scene there are some who are underwhelmed…
And a crowd of young boys, they’re fooling around in the corner
Drunk and dressed in their best brown baggies and their platform soles
They don’t give a damn about any trumpet playing band
It ain’t what they call rock and roll
And the “Sultans”
Yeah, the ‘Sultans’ played Creole, Creole
This is a perennial problem with playing live music. Genre. If people don’t like or accept the genre, they will not be taken with musicianship. This is even worse if the genre is considered “uncool”.
And then the man, he steps right up to the microphone
And says, “At last”, just as the time bell rings
“Goodnight, now it’s time to go home”
And he makes it fast with one more thing
We are the “Sultans”, we are the “Sultans of Swing”
The players know they are making good music, but it’s hard to remember when you’re playing in front of a small audience, some of whom are ignoring you.
Regardless, he’s saying we are proud of our music and playing, in the humility that musicians are relentlessly guided into with public performance. The ‘man’, the singer and bandleader, is acknowledging his bandmates just by announcing the name and allowing the musicianship to play out.
Every professional musician has encountered these types: ‘Guitar George’ who’s adept at finding tasty chords (we here a couple right after that line) and he’s uninterested in being a wailing lead-player, Harry who’s got a day-job, “doin’ alright”, playing out for fun. Almost every band in the world has these types, and any seasoned musician can recognize the band dynamics instantly.
This song is timeless.
What are your “cool songs” and why?
Published in General
I would pick Here Comes My Girl or Refugee “coolest” Petty song, but I guess I haven’t defined cool precisely enough here.
The Blues brothers managed to work a pro-America message into Green Onions
A song can’t get any cooler than this, a perfect Sinatra song.
I like the second and third.
Two out of three ain’t bad. (Is this one cool?)
I’m here for ya buddy.
Gosh, great question.
Don Henley “Sunset Grill”
Dire Straits “Your Latest Trick”
Phil Collins “In the Air Tonight”
The Cars “Heartbeat City”
Stevie Nicks “Edge of Seventeen”
Huey Lewis & The News “Bad is Bad”
Christopher Cross “Ride Like the Wind” (which features Christopher on one of the greatest guitar solos ever performed)
ZZ Top “La Grange”
There’s so many more…
I’ve never loved ZZTop but Sharp Dressed Man and La Grange (@bryangstephens and @drbastiat) are very solid nominations.
Fun post.
I’m astounded nobody has the actual answer.
Anything by Ray Charles would qualify.
I will go with his first use of an electric piano:
https://youtu.be/6uTDa3771HM
Runner up:
Ring of Fire
I’m with you on the last one. A very cool song.
I tell this story everythime Don Henley’s name comes up: I was performing as a stilt walker in Trump’s Taj Mahal casino in the public areas in the early 90’s. It was mostly meet-and-greet, joking and spreading good cheer, and sometimes I would put on impromptu juggling/comedy shows and gather a small crowd of 20-30 people.
One day, in my audience was none other than Don Henley, watching, laughing and applauding at the end. I know it was him because he was to play there that night and it looked just like him. It was mid-day and none of the elderly gamblers recognized him, of course.
Even though I was a fan, I was never able to see him live for various reasons (money was one).
But all this prelude to be able to say, “Don Henley? I never saw him perform, but he has seen me perform !”
Sometimes I am hit with the sudden realization that Ricochet is too aristocratic for me.
I didn’t imagine this thread would get so much traction, but like Vince’s Movie threads, some things might have to get disqualified. Casablanca and Princess Bride are invalid answers, and maybe for this thread I should have disqualified all of Jazz, and blind singers. But, carry on!
I’m trying not to look down on you…
(One of the lines I used back then)
A long while ago, we had a thread about the popular bands/performers that you just don’t care for. My two tops in that subject were Boston and Lou Reed.
Not to derail the thread (yet, here goes), have you seen the video going around of the guy who solved three Rubik’s Cubes while juggling them? Here’s a link to the video: https://youtu.be/njKW8t0aAF8
Finishes in like 4.5 minutes.
Not a bad song. Ignoring your kids and then later lamenting they don’t have time for you isn’t cool.
That song, even if you believe it or whatever, was always ruined for me by the thought of how those guys looked while performing it.
Meanwhile, I’ll throw my wrench into the “songs that tell a story” thread with this:
Better version:
I think because I first heard it at an impressionable time of my life, I’m somewhat fond of it. But I also know that (much like The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald) it has a fair number of haters, so I was kind of trolling Drew to see if he was in that camp.
And let’s not forget…
And…
Plus…
I never heard that song! I definitely like it!
Chrissy Hynde, arguably the coolest chick in rock. Not my favorite of hers but it’s got the cool vibe more than the others.
The problem now is my kids ignore me.
Well, this is the coolest.
Juliana Hatfield was an early favorite of mine. (Saw her live shows a few times in Phoenix, too.) Maybe try out a couple of her albums.
This appears to be the complete playlist for the album “Become What You Are,” which that song is from.
Not entirely sure what he’s singing about, but it seems to fit the spirit of the times, especially the second verse:
8th grade lunch sock hop in the gym. Memories.