Songs You Think Are Absolutely Beautiful
 

Here are some preliminary entries, off the top of my head:
"Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime" - The Korgis
"Love Child" - Diana Ross
"Into The Night" - Benny Mardones
"Sister Golden Hair" - America
"Don't Give Up" - Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush
"Follow You Follow Me" - Genesis
"Only Love Can Break A Heart" - Gene Pitney (my favourite song on the radio station 1278 AM, which apparently plays the best songs of all time... I prefer 1377 AM though.)
This post is bound to be edited with a whole lot more entries... anyway, let's hear it from everyone else in the meantime!

Well I just HAVE to mention some Stevie songs lol!

Beauty and the Beast
Has Anyone Ever Written Anything for You?
Nightbird
Love is
24 Karot Gold


Others -

Open Arms by Journey

Amanda by Boston (as it ties in to the entire album, which i.m.o. is a work of art...)

Imagine by John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band

By Cindy Lauper:

from ABCDEFG, all the way through to the very last thing she's written so far.

To me everything on Pieces Of You by Jewel is breathtaking, especially Adrian and Don't.

Also It's Gonna Take A Miracle by Laura Nyro & Labelle
Come Back To Me by Janet Jackson
Jesus Christ by Brand New
The Interview by A.F.I.
Name by Goo Goo Dolls
Yellow Butterflies by Meg & Dia
The One That Got Away by Random Thoughts
Not A Second To Waste by A Rocket To The Moon
Your Own Disaster by Taking Back Sunday
and of course Beautiful Child by FM:D

Blue - Joni Mitchell
River - Joni Mitchell
Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley
Fast Car - Tracey Chapman
Jolene - Dolly Parton
This Woman's Work - Kate Bush
The Sound of Silence - Simon & Garfunkel
Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon & Garfunkel
Dante's Prayer - Loreena McKennitt
Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
Hurt - Johnny Cash version
Going to California - Led Zeppelin
Winter - Tori Amos
Adia - Sarah McLachlan (normally not a fan of hers, but this one kills me)

Tons more I'm forgetting...

"Man Out of Time" - Elvis Costello
"Blow Away" - Kate Bush
"High-Flying Bird" - Elton John
"My Back Pages" - Dylan
"I Love You Goodbye" - Thomas Dolby
"Quality Street" - Van Morrison
"We Work the Black Seam" - Sting

Fields Of Gold - Sting and/or Eva Cassidy
I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying - Sting
Pachuca Sunrise - Minus The Bear
Wings Of A Raven - John Stewart
Dreamers On The Rise - John Stewart
Across The Milky Way - John Stewart
Great White Cathedrals - John Stewart
Any Day Now - Ronnie Milsap's version
High Steel And Memories - Keith Whitley

Matt

First classic that comes to mind is "At Last" by Etta James.

Why - Annie Lennox
Most of the Time - Bob Dylan
Fields of Gold - Sting
Sara - Fleetwood Mac
The Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me - Gladys Knight & the Pips
Now My Feet Won't Touch the Ground - Coldplay
Who Wants to Live Forever - Queen
Wintersong - Sarah McLachlan
It's a Motherf**ker - The Eels
Streets of Philadelphia - Bruce Springsteen
Room At the Top - Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
I'll Remember - Madonna
Untitled 4 - Sigur Ros
One - U2
I Can't Make You Love Me - Bonnie Raitt

I absolutely love this list (Well, except for Buckley's Hallelujah, but that's just me)

Something-The Beatles
Here comes the sun-The Beatles
Since I've Been Lovin' you-Led Zep
Going to California-Led Zep
Child in Time-Deep Purple
The Promise You Made-Cock Robin (:D)
Patience-Guns n' Roses
The Sides-Ataxia
Sad Lisa-Cat Stevens
Morning Has Broken-Cat Stevens
Last Love Song-Cat Stevens
Love Song-The Cure
Candle in the Wind-Elton John (clichéééé)
In the Death Car-Iggy Pop
Can you bend your back like this ?-Milla Jovovich
Song to Sing when i'm lonely-John Frusciante
Look on-John Frusciante
Wuthering Heights-Kate Bush
Roslyn-Bon Iver
Wet Sand-Red Hot Chili Peppers
...

And a lot more, but I don't really know what's beautiful, and what's not...
+ Mac songs, of course, I don't need to cite.

Two most beautiful songs I can think of:

"A Little Knowledge" from Cupid & Psyche 85 by Scritti Politti
"Locked" from White Bread, Black Beer by Scritti Politti

Sara - Fleetwood Mac (Hands down the most beautiful song I've ever heard.)
Mandolin Rain - Bruce Hornsby
A Long December - Counting Crows
Crash Into Me - Dave Matthews Band
How to Save a Life - The Fray
Constellations - Jack Johnson
Imagine - John Lennon
Try for the Sun - Lindsey Buckingham
Wonder - Natalie Merchant
In Your Eyes - Peter Gabriel
World on Fire - Sarah McLachlan
The Last Song Ever - Secondhand Serenade

a few...I left out the FM and Stevie ones.

Northern Sky - Nick Drake
It Makes No Difference - The Band
Helpless - Neil Young
Bittersweet Symphony - The Verve
American Baby - Dave Matthews Band
Beautiful is Gone - The Ruse
Stage Fright - The Band
Carry On - Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young

Here's a few of mine, that aren't Stevie or Fleetwood Mac. Sara is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard though.

Moments of Pleasure, This Woman's Work, And So Is Love & Watching You Without Me - Kate Bush
Here Comes The Flood & Mercy Street - Peter Gabriel
Winter - Tori Amos
Siren Song - Bat For Lashes
My Number - Tegan and Sara
Woman In Chains - Tears for Fears
Love is a Losing Game - Amy Winehouse
Call Me On Your Way Home - Ryan Adams
Avalon - Roxy Music

Are we talking lyrics or music or both? I tend to be a sucker for lyrics, and that's what my list is mainly based on.

Beautiful Child - Fleetwood Mac (Stevie Nicks)
Hallelujah - John Cale (much better than the Jeff Buckley version IMO)
Mad World - Gary Jules
Wedding Song - Bob Dylan
She is His Only Need - Wynonna Judd
My! My! Honeycomb - Bonnie Tyler
Diamonds & Rust - Joan Baez
Dragonfly - Fleetwood Mac (Danny Kirwan)
Falling of the Rain - Billy Joel
Songbird - Fleetwood Mac (Christine McVie)
Man of the World - Fleetwood Mac (Peter Green)
Maria De Santiago - Jeremy Spencer
Jessica's Song - Bekka Bramlett
Sixty Years On - Elton John (if you fast forward through the start of the song)
From Little Things Big Things Grow - Kev Carmody (nothing like a good political statement)
Listening to Levon - Marc Cohn
True Companion - Marc Cohn


There are probably others but this is all I can think of right now...

Scanning through my music library, here's some songs that fit this category for me, either musically or lyrically and haven't already been mentioned:

Beautiful in My Eyes - Joshua Kadison
Into the Mystic - Van Morrison
I Have to Say I Love You in a Song - Jim Croce
The Flame - Cheap Trick
Sadness - Enigma
Fear - Sarah McLachlan
I'm on Fire - Bruce Springsteen
Wicked Game - Chris Issak
Fade into You - Mazzy Star
Yellow - Coldplay
Pictures of You - The Cure
Here with Me - Dido
Somewhere Over the Rainbow - Israel Kamakawiwo'ole
Africa - Toto
Landslide - Fleetwood Mac

Why- Annie Lennox (beautiful, almost perfect song)
At 17- Janis Ian
Evergreen- Barbara Streisand
Same Old Lang Syne- Dan Fogelberg
These Are the Days of Our Lives- Queen
Bridge Over Troubled Water- Simon and Garfunkel
All I Know- Art Garfunkel
Morning Has Broken- Cat Stevens
Dog and Butterfly- Heart
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face- Roberta Flack
The Rose- Bette Midler (another perfect song, IMO)
Hallelujah - Leonard Cohen
Memory- from Cats

I could keep going on and on. I love beautiful songs. :o

how could i forget this one!!! :distress: it breaks my heart to listen to it
another one i thought of, as weird as it may be is Goodbye Horses by Q Lazzarus, yes I mean the buffalo bill song haha :D

Ooo, fun.

Let's see. In no particular order, and excluding obvious Mac-related items like Sara and Beautiful Child:

From Dead Can Dance:
"Song of the Sibyl"
"Cantara" and
"Desert Song" all from the amazing Toward the Within.

Eh, screw it - actually, the entirety of Toward the Within. Haha. If I believed in such a thing as the divine in a deity sense, I'd swear up and down that Lisa Gerrard is its mouthpiece. If you've never heard Dead Can Dance before, I urge you to check out those links. I also really love what she did for the movie Man on Fire.

From Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds:

"Oh My Lord" - This is, to me, a perfect song. I'm pretty sure Warren Ellis is the bastard love child of Paganini and Rasputin.

"Into My Arms" and "The Ship Song" (yes, that's John Cale & Chrissie Hynde on the stage there - at one point in that show, they all do "Ship of Fools" together, very cool).

From Tori Amos:

• This version of "Doughnut Song" (with a little bit of "Apollo's Frock" at the beginning) from the 2 Meter Sessions. The wail on the "you can tell me" starting at about 4:48 kills me every time.
  
• "Cooling" with the brambles bridge. She very rarely plays the bridge live, which I think is a damn shame. It's my fav part of the song, and I have a future tattoo planned around it.
  
• This particular live version of Led Zep's "Thank You" .
  
• I also love this mash-up of "Whole Lotta Love" and "Thank You." That **** is HOT. When she starts belting out those "baby, baby, baby"s and "I, I, I"s, I get total goosebumps every time.

From Leonard Cohen:
"Dance Me to the End of Love"

Jeff Buckley's cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" It's just stunning. I love Leonard Cohen with a mad passion, but Buckley's version of his song is so good. I also like John Cale's version, but think Rufus Wainwright ought to knock it the hell off.

From The Sisters of Mercy:
"Some Kind of Stranger"

The gorgeous piece "The Heart Asks Pleasure First" from Michael Nyman's amazing soundtrack for the movie The Piano.

ETA: Forgot some! Fear Factory's "Resurrection" & Opeth's "Harvest" and anything off of The Gathering's Mandylion.

Oh, I like that song, too - I have a really cool remix of it that I listen to all the time.

Sara - FM
Has Anyone Ever Written Anything for You
Landslide - FM
Beauty and the Beast - Stevie

The Bridge - Maurice, Sam and Adam Gibb
Viva La Vida - Coldplay
Never Alone - Barlow Girls
Only One - Alex Band
Tonight - Alex Band
Believing - The Calling/Alex Band
Candle in the Wind - Elton John
Something - Beatles
Imagine - John Lennon
Woman - John Lennon
A Day in the Life - Beatles
Words - Bee Gees
Livin Eyes - Bee Gees

Hardly a complete list, but ones that I'm finding particularly so lately:

"At My Most Beautiful" - R.E.M.
"You and I Undercover" - Steel Train
"Georgia" - Hanson
"The Gambler" - fun.
"Garden" - NeedtoBreathe
"Evangeline Rose" - Marc Broussard
"Manhattan" - Kings of Leon
"Hallelujah" - Justin Timberlake and Matt Morris

some I'm thinking of today...
 

I could never ever compile a complete list of songs I think are beautiful...but I have been listening to the following a lot lately, and I'm really crazy about all of them at the moment...

I Don't Know What It Is ~ Rufus Wainright
Afraid ~ Nico
In my Life ~ Beatles
Hallelujah ~ Jeff Buckley
River Deep, Mountain High ~ Ike & Tina Turner
Be My Baby ~ John Lennon
Goodbye Joe ~ Laura Nyro
God Only Knows ~ Beach Boys
No Secrets ~ Carly Simon
Fire and Rain ~ James Taylor
A Day in the Life~ Beatles
Bleed to Love Her ~ Fleetwood Mac
Why Be Blue ~ Carlene Carter
Storms ~ Fleetwood Mac
Exit Music (For a Film) ~Radiohead
The Boxer ~ Simon & Garfunkel
What a Wonderful World ~ Louis Armstrong
Here Comes the Sun ~ Beatles
Catherine ~ Polly Jean Harvey
Turn It On ~ Lindsey Buckingham
They Can't Take That Away From Me ~ Frank Sinatra
Don't Worry Baby ~ Beach Boys
Someday Baby ~ Bob Dylan
Maybe I'm Amazed ~ Paul McCartney
Well I Wonder ~ The Smiths
Take This Longing ~ Leonard Cohen
Sunday Morning ~ Velvet Underground
Killing Me Softly ~ Roberta Flack
Free as a Bird ~ "Beatles"
La Vie en Rose ~ Edith Piaf
Waterloo Sunset ~ The Kinks
Love Will Tear Us Apart ~ Joy Division
No Surprises ~ Radiohead
One of These Things First ~ Nick Drake
Both Sides Now ~ Joni Mitchell
The Pretender ~ Jackson Browne
Oh My Love ~ John Lennon
Let It Roll (Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp ~ George Harrison
New York State of Mind ~ Billy Joel
Banana Pancakes ~ Jack Johnson
Suzanne ~ Leonard Cohen
Edelweiss ~ Christopher Plummer/daughter from The Sound of Music

Edelweiss and God Only Knows really stood out...I LOVE those songs too...and anything by Frank Sinatra is fine by me. I saw him in 1984 ( my friend and I were the youngest ones there by far - and we were up and dancing to everything :D )

I love that one too :nod:

Haven't heard that in a long time...such a pretty song.

This thread is cool, bringing back so many memories :)

OK, here's my list ( In no particular order ):

End of the Innocence ( Don Henley )
Ain't Even Done With the Night ( John Cougar )
Beautiful In My Eyes ( Joshua Kadison )
Por Una Cabeza ( The Tango Project )
I Got a Name ( Jim Croce )
Fire and Rain ( James Taylor )
Samba Pa Ti ( Santana )
Memory – from “Cats”( Betty Buckey )
What a Wonderful World ( Louis Armstrong )
Street of Dreams ( Lindsey )
Not Too Late ( Lindsey...best version with Little Big Town doing the harmonies)
Cast Away Dreams ( Lindsey )
Save Me a Place – LIVE version only ( Lindsey )
Say Goodbye – LIVE version only ( Lindsey and Stevie )
OK, obviously I could go on and on with Lindsey's songs...
So anyways...Let It Be ( Beatles )
The Long and Winding Road ( Beatles )
Fool On the Hill ( Beatles )
The Last Song ( Elton John )
If You Could Read My Mind ( Gordon Lightfoot )
Songbbird ( Christine )
Moon River ( Andy Williams )
The Boxer ( Simon and Garfunkle )
Bridge Over Troubled Water ( Simon and Garfunkle )
In the Arms of an Angel ( Sara McGlaughlin )
The River ( Bruce Springsteen )
The Way We Were ( Barbara Streisand )
California Dreamin' ( The Mamas and the Papas...or Queen Latifah )
We May Never Pass This Way Again ( Seals and Croft )
She Loves Him Still ( Stevie )
A Dream Goes On Forever ( Todd Rundgren )
That's the Way of the World ( Earth, Wind and Fire )
Easy ( Commodores )
Still ( Commodores )
Angel Eyes ( Jeff Healey )
Loving Arms ( Dobie Gray...or better still Dixie Chicks or Etta James )
Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me ( Gladys Knight )

So many more...

If you ever feel like hearing that song completely murdered then check out the Bob Dylan version where he does a duet with himself. ;)

Yes I forgot this one, although I don't actually have the Bette Midler version I do have it by Bonnie Tyler

So many beautiful songs in this world.
These immediately come to mind for me:

Pale Horses - Moby
You Have Been Loved - Sia
Born At The Right Time - Paul Simon
Spirit Voices - Paul Simon
Gypsy - Fleetwood Mac
Josephine Of The Swamps - Grant-Lee Phillips
Blue Spanish Sky - Chris Isaak
As The World Falls Down - David Bowie
Wrap Your Arms Around Me - Agnetha Faltskög
Orinoco Flow - Enya
Marta's Song - Deep Forest
Dreamboat Annie - Heart
Science of Silence - Richard Ashcroft
Sara - Fleetwood Mac
Where Beauty Lives In Memory - Dolly Parton
Falling Slowly - Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova (from the film, Once)
Please Read The Letter - Robert Plant & Allison Krauss
The Winner Takes It All - ABBA
Going To California - Led Zeppelin
Marrakesh Night Market - Loreena McKennitt
In My Heart - Moby
Carnival - Natalie Merchant
Nightswimming - R.E.M.
Back To The Earth - Rusted Root

I will try not to repost a lot (but I agree with a TON of them). I think these are all beautiful regardless of subject matter :


"If I Should Fall Behind" - Springsteen (the version from Live in NYC)

"Land of Hope and Dreams" - Springsteen

"My City of Ruin" - Springsteen

"Long Walk Home" - Springsteen (live w/ Steve's vocal solo)

"Tomorrow is Today" - Billy Joel

"Shayla" - Blondie

"Joey" - Concrete Blonde

"Shine" - Cyndi Lauper

"Life on Mars?" - Bowie (preferably live backed by solo piano)

"Send in the Clowns" - various - prefer Sinatra

"I'll See You in My Dreams" - various - prefer Joe Brown

"Nessun Dorma" - Pavarotti

"Power of Goodbye" - Madonna

"Dream a Little Dream of Me" - The Mammas and the Pappas

"Only the Lonely" - The Motels

"I Am an Animal" - Pete Townshend

"A Heart to Hang Onto" - Pete Townshend

"Take Me Home" - Phil Collins

"Losing My Touch" - The Rolling Stones (Keith on Vocals)

"Room at the Top" - Tom Petty

"Echo" - Tom Petty

"Miss Sarajevo" - U2 and Pavarotti

"Hasten Down the Wind" - Warren Zevon

The Winner Takes it All always makes me cry when I hear it. Love ABBA! I forgot Gypsy and there are a few Lindsey songs I love that are truely beautiful!!! Too many great songs out in the world:nod:

The Rose - Bette Midler (This one has always stood out to me; probably my pick for the most beautiful song ever.)
Somewhere Over the Rainbow - Israel Kamakawiwo'ole (No disrespect to the wonderful Judy Garland, but this version kills me every time. Kills me I tell you.)
Today - Jefferson Airplane
Comin' Back To Me - Jefferson Airplane ("The summer had inhaled and held its breath too long." One of the greatest opening lines ever.)
God Only Knows - The Beach Boys
All I Want Is You - U2
I Love You - Sarah McLachlan
Moonshadow - Cat Stevens
Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley
Con Te Partiro - Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman
The Beautiful Ones - Prince (though I first fell in love with Mariah Carey's cover *flinches*)
Unforgettable - Natalie and Nat King Cole
More Than This - Roxy Music
The Scientist - Coldplay
Fix You - Coldplay
Collide - Howie Day
Waterloo Sunset - The Kinks
Just The Way You Are - Billy Joel
She's Always A Woman - Billy Joel
Lightning Crashes - Live
In My Life - The Beatles
Tiny Dancer - Elton John (I'm not sure if beautiful is the word for this one, but if not, it's very close)
Your Song - Elton John
A Little Ray of Sunshine - Axiom
Because I Love You - Masters Apprentices (Still not crazy on the chorus, but the verses are exquisite.)
Mr Bojangles - Harry Nilsson
This Woman's Work - Kate Bush
Tenterfield Saddler - Peter Allen
Walking After You - The Foo Fighters
You Belong to Me - Vonda Shephard and Tori Amos get my top votes, but the song is beautiful regardless of who sings it.
And to wrap-up with the FM ones... Crystal; Sara; Landslide; Songbird; Storms; Beautiful Child; Dragonfly

This was such a good idea for a thread. I am finding all sorts of songs I never really listened to before thanks to y'all.

I wanted to add 2 more:

This cover of Tom Waits' "Time" done by Tori Amos makes me cry. I love Waits, but this performance always makes me tear up not only because she does it beautifully but because this was the first episode of Letterman after 9/11. It's so heartfelt that I'm pretty sure Dave's trying not to cry at the end when he hugs her. It's beautiful.

And I'll throw this one in because while this is a spoken word version, there's also a song version. Leonard Cohen's "A Thousand Kisses Deep." I like it done as spoken word much better than the song version, it's fantastic. I got to hear him do this at the show I was lucky enough to attend, and I think I held my breath the whole time. "My mirror twin, my next of kin, I'd know you in my sleep. And who but you would take me in, a thousand kisses deep?"

Thought of a few more:

Romulus - Sufjan Stevens
Man With The Child In His Eyes - Kate Bush
Run - Snow Patrol
Street Spirit - Radiohead
Take a Bow - Madonna
Sky Blue and Black - Jackson Browne

Alone - Heart
Going To California - Led Zeppelin
Maybe I'm Amazed - Paul McCartney
Piece of My Heart - Janis Joplin with Big Brother & the Holding Company
Rules For Living Live - Blondie
Hello Joe - Blondie
End to End - Blondie
Brite Side - Debbie Harry
Rhiannon - FM
Everywhere - FM
Rooms On fire - Stevie Nicks
Under The Sky - Heart
In Walks The Night - Heart
Mistral Wind - Heart
I Love You - Heart
(Okay you get the drift... Anything by Blondie, Fleetwood Mac or Heart :D )
Me and Bobby McGee - Janis Joplin
River - Joni Mitchell
Sand - The Lovemongers
Wild Horses - The Rolling Stones
Hey Jude - The Beatles

The Boss
 

So speaking of beautiful Bruce Springsteen songs, how about "I'm on Fire?" Simple but beautiful at the same time, i.m.o.

Right! It is so moving and sometimes I still get teary eyed when I hear it. ABBA has lots of beautiful songs, but The Winner Takes It All is just truly spectacular.

I agree, I didnt add it b/c a bunch of others had it in their lists and I didn't want to repeat anything because I would have a list the size of texas otherwise

Nice to know I'm not the only person who loves The Curse of Blondie!