Songs You Think Are Absolutely Beautiful

[Amlyn]

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

[jannieC]

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.

[tilthefirefades]

Originally Posted by GypsySorcerer

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...

how could i forget this one!!! 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

[Zombie]

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.

[Zombie]

Originally Posted by tilthefirefades

how could i forget this one!!! 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

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

[CelticGypsy]

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

[bucklind17]

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

[Nico]

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

[Lindsfan]

Originally Posted by Nico

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 SinatraDon'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 )

[Lindsfan]

Originally Posted by mylittledemon

Why - Annie Lennox
Most of the Time - Bob Dylan
Fields of Gold - Sting
Sara - Fleetwood Mac

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 love that one too

[Lindsfan]

Originally Posted by Amlyn

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:

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

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

This thread is cool, bringing back so many memories

[Lindsfan]

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...

[chriskisn]

Originally Posted by Nico

The Boxer ~ Simon & Garfunkel

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

[chriskisn]

Originally Posted by jannieC

The Rose- Bette Midler (another perfect song, IMO)

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

[Richard B]

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