Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
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
Believe it or not Volare is my second choice as coolest song ever.
I am very happy so many felt inspired to post their “coolest” song!
Some have perceived this as a contest similar to the Ricochet Movie Fight Club (Vince you trained us well!) But it’s not. There were no rules, and definitions of “cool” were not properly delineated to make this a fair contest or even close (somewhat like some of the Movie threads – I kid, I kid!)
Moreover, we do not know when people post their favorite “cool” songs whether their post is meant to add to the previous recommendations, or are meant to trump previous posts – as in you guys don’t know nothin, this song is the coolest song…
What I’ve learned is that everyone has their own interpretation of “cool”, and tastes in music vary. Well, I knew that, but still…
Even though this is not a contest, I’m going to refine my definition which might help.
While there’s no accounting for taste, and we are not talking about ‘good’ or ‘bad’ songs (although honestly most songs that get released on a record are “good” songs – try going to a singer/songwriter convention to discover actual “bad” songs) the following songs do NOT seem “cool to me: Anything by The Beach Boys… ( I did comment that Good Vibrations was one of their “coolest” but within their domain of not-so-cool) but their music is solid.
Any song about romance is uncool. Being cool is not having needs or desires. So Eric Clapton can be cool, you look wonderful tonight isn’t one of them. A fine song nevertheless.
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald is not a cool song. Ballads can’t be cool. To flesh this concept out, consider you are having guests over for an evening dinner party some of whom you might not know, friends of friends. You want to put on a playlist that won’t overpower the dynamics ( so no Close to the Edge, or King Crimson) and you don’t want too much sentiment, or ‘downer’ songs so no Joni Mitchell (who I LOVE in small doses).
Side Note: There’s no representation of the Disco genre so at least we agree that there’s no cool there…
Tom Petty has a LOT of cool songs – it’s his forte – again perfect for semi-background music at your cocktail hour.
Cat’s in the Cradle might just be the un-coolest song posted (sorry Justin)
Smokey Robinson, The Drifters 50’s and 60’s soul music is cool, but it’s sentimental. Cool is detached. Soul that has a strong dance beat (as opposed to an easy groove) doesn’t quite qualify.
Hard Rock songs like from The Who as much as I love them, are too intrusive.
Sinatra is a favorite singer and song-stylist of mine (up until the 60’s) but he’s not cool. Maybe for my fathers generation…
Continued….
The video no shows and no indication of the song.
Hartmann, if you embedded a youtube video, maybe if you click edit and then comment it will show up.
Though, I would say that if you want a playlist that doesn’t overpower . . . well, anything . . . disco is a good choice. It’s bland and homogeneous background noise. Nothing really stands out. Every disco song is beats and claps and self-referential lyrics about disco itself. It’s not cool, but it’s never going to kill the vibe.
Of course, it’s never going to provide the vibe either.
This one was composed and performed after his sudden death in a traffic accident in 1981 by a female relative of the next generation on a television talk show. Beyond that, memory fails. I do not see any candidates on the Internet.
Blues, as much as I like the genre, isn’t cool in the sense I’m talking about either because it’s not detached. It’s about loss and is meant to elicit a kind of sympathy.
Alone Again Naturally isn’t cool either. I hate that song! (No offense)
American Pie is too much of an epic meandering story to be played as a cool song.
Meatloaf RIP is way too overpowering and epic to be cool.
George Thourougood yes or maybe – Harper Valley PTA I though had to be a joke LOL
I liked Petula Clark’s two big hits but sorry, no… the Vogues almost qualifies
Vicky Lawrence can’t be cool, and the song is too sentimental
Any dark song with ponderous poetry can’t qualify. But thanks Mark for turning me onto a new song!
Not a big Bob Seger fan – maybe his songs were overplayed (not that my nominees weren’t) but I can’t say they don’t qualify my parameters.
Morphine …interesting but too dark.
Blood Sweat and Tears – a great band but too intrusive.
Year of the Cat? Nope. It has a vibe it’s close but it’s a little too pompous.
Creedence is a band I never really liked. They can’t qualify because it sounds like they are trying too hard. Maybe I just don’t like the singer’s vocal style.
Elvis? He’s just too ‘present’ also the same with Johnny Cash. Not enough detachment.
But Elvis Costello definitely qualifies…
OOPS, I missed Stayin’ Alive. That’s disco. But good disco. The problem is it’s way too intrusive. And it’s disco.
James Dean? Too heavy on the simple bass and simple beat. A good dance song.
Classic rock like Johnny B Goode is also intrusive and overplayed and cliche. Of course it’s a great song.
Andrea Bocelli cannot be cool. A great singer but…
OK. So many of you will not come to my virtual party whereby I play all the songs I deem “cool”. You’re still invited! They are all great songs! I’m glad we had this conversation and we can continue and feel free to defy my parameters with your favorites. I listened to them all. It’s the least I could do considering I started this. And I discovered some new interesting music. Some I skipped through, others I knew already well.
I’m sure I can be taken to task on some of my perceptions and parameters. Feel free. I might have to backtrack on some because this is not an exact science LOL.
Assuming this thread will continue (and I’ve not killed it by these two comments) I’m posting a few more songs I consider to be cool. Thanks for the participation and please don’t hold my musical sensibilities against me and I will also, in any case.
I freely admit that I struggled with what cool was sought. Volume evidently has something to do with cool. When I turn the volume way down on Thomas Dolby – One Of Our Submarines, it gains on its ability to provide something like I imagine you describe.
I wouldn’t fight to the death over it, but just about anything Delbert McClinton did is cool. He even taught John Lennon some harmonica licks.
I didn’t plan this but I feel compelled to share another cool song that likely no one’s ever heard. I know this guy. If anyone thinks that all the musicians who have amazing talent are famous or well-known, you should get a load of this guy. Well, he’s well-known in New Orleans, I guess because he sits in with just about every band playing there, they are delighted to have him. Even though he’s fine with rehearsals, he probably doesn’t need any and can play with anyone in any role, bandleader, soloist, backup, voice. This man is a musical savant and has been celebrated all across the US and Europe. It must be a burden to have such talent, and I can’t fault him for various excesses when he gets invited to the gypsy camp in Slovenia to jam and gets fed and liquored up into the wee hours on the night. How can someone not develop a drinking problem (or drug problem) when you can go anywhere and instantly be the life of the party. Not to say he has such problems now…
He’s so cool he doesn’t want to be famous. Otherwise he most certainly would be.
I don’t know him that well, but well enough to be invited to his wedding in NOLA ( amazing) along with 250 other people.
I learned quickly how very uninterested he gets when people compliment him. He’s gracious but bored to talk about how great he is. He is so good he has zero need to prove himself or shine, but he’s so good everyone wants him to play. He really is great, but judge for yourself.
He is a violinist who can play any genre, a band leader, a great guitarist as well, and quite a showman when required. As someone who has 1/1000th of his talent ( I also play violin and that’s how I know him) he has always been very nice to me.
Here he is raw. I think he may have written this song. He has written some cool stuff, but even if it’s a cover it’s a very cool song:
I just took cool to mean “cool to me”. I was going to joke about a song about driving a rare sports car off a cliff and muttering an impassive ‘oh’ on the way down, but detached ennui never impressed me.
But if that’s how it has to be…
Way too ‘intrusive’ for my criteria, but more Dr. Sick in action:
Attempting to add to the playlist. My new idea of the song is the one where it starts playing and the conversations around the room begin to pause in natural deference to something better than whatever they were thinking the moment before.
Have to believe this fulfills your criteria, @franco
I really wrote a paragraph about Ramblin’ Man but I figured it was too upbeat to be cool. But we are all having a good time down on the bayou.
Am I the only one who thinks Steely Dan is cool? How could anyone not think Deacon Blues or Home At Last is cool? A nod to Homer in a pop song!
Dr. Sick the showman:
More fiddle mastery:
No I think they are absolutely great! And very cool. I just didn’t get around to them.
Early in this quest, word association had Cool Change, The Little River Band stuck in my head.
That concept of being on the ocean in the breeze led me to Call me the Breeze, the Lynyrd Skynyrd version from 1974 from the album Second Helping. But their rendition requires the volume to be well into the window-rattling range.
But wait, JJ Cale who wrote the song might fit right in just fine.
We might even sneak Eric Clapton (and friends) in with his tribute to JJ Cale and the video is pretty cool too.
After reading Franco’s definition by subtraction of cool, I am reminded of the Monty Python scene of the knight blocking the path, limb after limb getting lobbed off.
Sinatra is the very coolest.
I have a box set of Sinatra CDs Lots of obscure stuff, and I do put it on as background music at parties. So many songs and he’s a great singer. I also have a box set of Judy Garland early stuff which I also play.
But when Sinatra tried to cover – I forget – some modern song in the 70’s it fell flat for me. I think he used the word “groovy” which automatically disqualifies as a cool word. But I can’t argue too vehemently against him. What a great voice and talent!
Somebody on NPR pointed out that his phrasing is unique. Listen to One More For The Road. Then, listen again and try to sing along with his version. You’ll never match his phrasing, coming in too late or too early.
My Way is the coolest. Wrong-headed, but way cool. Regrets, I have a few: I think cool can have angst. Hm. This is the second time this week I want to refer to the song Pimps Don’t Cry.
I think this video is blocked in my location. What song and singer is it?
Toulouse Street, The Doobie Brothers
Colour My World (2002 Remaster) by Chicago