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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
It is indeed cool.
Anything by Lou Rawls.
Maybe the coolest well-known chick… But I call your Chrissie Hynde and raise you Johnette Napolitano.
To get very regional, there’s beach music from Myrtle Beach. And the dance was the Shag.
Be Young, Be Foolish, but Be Happy by the Tams.
I loved listening to James Brown, the Godfather of Soul. Pure, pure energy. At least in the beginning and as I remember him. James Brown was from South Carolina, so he was semi-local to where I grew up. There was a radio station at Shaw, a black college in my hometown, where you could listen to great music when I was growing up.
James Brown 1963
James Brown 1966.
But then. We all get old.
James Brown 2005.
We saw the Eagles in person a dozen times, and Don Henley twice; the first time at Merriwether Post Pavilion and the second at Wolf Trap.
Take off, hoser, eh?
I go with Sweet Sweetback’s Badass Song
https://youtu.be/gV094qkmHz8
I like this one a lot. An extra benefit is Mike Love channeling Stonewall Jackson.
Years ago, I worked with (actually supervised) a guy who came into work every day dressed to the nines; suit a perfect fit, cufflinks, pocket square and all. One day I heard ZZ Top on the way in to work and when I saw him I said “Marlow, I just heard Sharp Dressed Man and it fits you perfectly.” He laughed.
Last I heard he was a preacher.
This is awesome. My cultural “education” was such that I knew of this song before I knew of Rush. Had no idea who Geddy Lee was at the time. Haven’t listened to this in probably 35 years, so I learned something new today!
A Metal variant on the the same theme: Peace Sells by Megadeth
Almost every song by Meatloaf qualifies.
I’ll agree that almost every Meatloaf song is high quality, interesting lyrically and musically, etc. But they generally don’t strike me as “cool”. Maybe because Mr. Loaf is always drenched in sweat in the videos, they’re better classified as “hot”. Especially Paradise by the Dashboard Light.
There’s something of a story here too, especially related to the movie The Craft, whose soundtrack it is part of.
George Thorogood. Nuff said.
Harper Valley PTA:
It’s the yodeling that makes it work.
And how can this not make you happy?
Listen to this cool song by Casualties of Cool first. THEN read the lyrics after, in the next comment..
Flight
And so it goes…
A window left open
I find myself drawn,
To the evening.
Oh, throw me out.
I’m already leaving.
Or float me down
To my reaping.
Paint the streets red
With my decision.
Feed the pigeons
With my collision.
I am beyond all this.
I wash my hands of it.
This is my request:
Wish me the best.
This is my request:
Wish me the best.
Now I fall all the way
Now I call the way
I call all the way
Ave Maria.
I wanted to say
How much I miss you now [repeat]
(And so it goes.)
(The window…)
(Oh, throw me out.)
How bad I miss you. [repeat]
(I’m flying…)
(Or float me down)
(To my reaping.)
How bad I miss you.
*****
You got it. This song is a musical suicide note. A gloriously, artistically tragic song.
Obama had nicely creased trousers.
Funny first thing that came to my head was ‘Round Midnight’
Also, Do It Again by Steely Dan comes to mind.
Pete Townsend one of my favorite artists. I admired him from that day onward – and I was a default leftist then – But I recognized there should be a strong dividing line between art and politics. I saw him at the Electric Factory in Philadelphia in 1969. I swear, I could have stood up and touched him. There were about 5-8 hundred people there. The stage was the height of a high school stage and I was sitting on the floor with my knees against it directly below Pete.
I must confess that while I enjoyed the concert, I didn’t realize how huge The Who would become. I almost didn’t go, but my buddy assured me they were a great live band. “Their last hit was I can see for miles and they’re just gonna smash their instruments”, I said. Boy, did my friend turn out to be right LOL!
They had just started their American tour supporting Tommy. Due to some glitch it had not yet been released in the USA . They played most of the songs from Tommy (imagine no one in that audience had heard any of those songs !) plus their other hits.
Coming in a close second – a song I’ve been working up on my violin thanks in part to this gal Baba O’Rielly
This gal knows what she’s talking about!
Oh, and Mark Sandman and Morphine are just FULL of cool:
Yea, I wouldn’t say there’s anything cool about that dismal downer.
Ditto
I’d go with Breakdown-the guitar intro and sultry, almost feminine first verse just said cool to me the first time I heard it.
Yes that’s another! If you haven’t seen it, the documentary on Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (Netflix) is absolutely great. Total running time is about 2 1/2 hours and every minute is riveting.