Songs You Think Are Absolutely Beautiful

[seekerj]

Gypsy - Fleetwood Mac
Why -Fleetwood Mac
Black - Pearl Jam
Believe -Elton John
Cortez The Killer - Neil Young and Crazy Horse
Anna Begins - Counting Crows
Pretty Maids All In A Row - The Eagles
Moonlight Mile - The Rolling Stones

[ragrsrocalot]

Originally Posted by David

An unusual choice for a beautiful song, but also an unusual choice for a Ravel composition. Have you heard the final section of Ravel's "Ma mere l'oye" ballet music suite? It's called "The Enchanted Garden" (or "The Fairy Garden").

I think it is beautiful and extremely sexy at the same time. It starts off real soft and low, then starts to blend and holds real steady, until the full experience and climax of the song, so fragile and powerful at the same time. I have not heard the other suggestions you mentioned but I will give them a listen. I also really love Carmen.
Those are my two favorite classical pieces.

[Stew_Matthews]

Lots of my favourites have been listed but I'd add -

Caroline No - Brian Wilson/Beach Boys
Come pick me up - Ryan Adams
Don't leave me now - Supertramp
My love is leaving - Steve Winwood
So Amazing - Luther Vandross
Landed - Ben Folds

[gretchen]

There are so many...but here are the songs I can think of:

(in no particular order)

Mirror To My Woman's Mind - Peter Murphy
Marlene Dietrich's Favourite Poem - Peter Murphy
A Strange Kind Of Love - Peter Murphy
English Rose - The Jam
Down In The Seine - The Style Council
Monsoon - Luka Bloom
Gone To Pablo - Luka Bloom
Don't Stop The Dance - Bryan Ferry
Shape Of Things To Come - Love And Money
Just The Way You Are - Billy Joel
Night Flight - Joe Sample
I Just Wanna Stop - Gino Vannelli
Fragile - Sting
Go Insane (Acoustic Version from The Dance) - Linds
Keep Looking - Sade
Tell Her This - Del Amitri
In A Lifetime - Clannad & Bono
No Pretties - Wire Train
Help Me - Joni Mitchell
Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind - Level 42
Lying Still - Level 42
Gypsy - Fleetwood Mac
Breaking Us In Two - Joe Jackson
Driving - Everything But The Girl

[jaycee]

Today's extras are:
"Lovin' You" - Minnie Riperton
"Can We Still Be Friends" - Todd Rundgren
"She's A Rainbow" - The Rolling Stones
"Clocks" - Coldplay
"Heart Of Glass" - Blondie
"Total Control" - The Motels
"Woman In Love" - Barbra Streisand
"Careless Whisper" - George Michael
"Alone Again (Naturally)" - Gilbert O-Sullivan
"Seasons In The Sun" - Jacques Brel
"Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You" - Gerry Goffin and Michael Masser
"As I lay Me Down" - Sophie B. Hawkins
"A Thousand Miles" - Vanessa Carlton
"Smooth Operator" - Sade
"The Way It Is" - Bruce Hornsby
"I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself" - Dusty Springfield
"Baby It's You" - Promises
"Baker Street" - Gerry Rafferty (every time I hear this song it always sounds ever so slightly different to any other time... I've no idea why!)

[LukeA]

Saw a Sade song listed... I've always loved "By Your Side". Can't wait to hear her new album. Wish she wasn't addicted to smack/was more prolific.

Another song I just thought of... Peter Gabriel/"It Is Accomplished"

[Silver Springs]

Why/17 Again/Sylvia - Eurythmics
Has Anyone Every Written Anything For You?/Beauty And The Beast - Stevie Nicks
Everybody Hurts/At My Most Beautiful/Tongue/Camera/Country Feedback - R.E.M.
Journey's End - Annie Lennox
Strange Wierdos/Your Mother And I/Missing You/Dreaming - Loudon Wainwright III
Oh - Dave Matthews Band
Make You Feel My Love - Bob Dylan
Silver Springs/Storms/Beautiful Child - Fleetwood Mac
Catch The Wind - Donovan
Angel - Aerosmith
Not As We/This Grudge/That I Would Be Good - Alanis Morissette
Dimming Of The Day/Nobody's Girl - Bonnie Raitt
A Rose In April/The Lark/Underneath The Stars - Kate Rusby
Black And Blue - Counting Crows
I Wandered By A Brookside - Eva Cassidy
A Case Of You/Little Green - Joni Mitchell
Forgiveness/Ice/Angel - Sarah McLachlan
Go Insane/I'm So Afraid - Lindsey Buckingham (Live version)
Lover's Cross - Melanie
Sigh No More - Mumford And Sons
Who Wants To Live Forever - Queen
Hey Jude - The Beatles
Carbon/Marianne - Tori Amos
Happiness - Grant Lee Buffalo
Naked As We Came - Iron And Wine
They Shoot Horses, Don't They - Racing Cars (My all time favourite)
One - U2 (Pains me to say it as I hate the U2....Yep. It's a Bono thing)
The Drugs Don't Work - The Verve
Puncture Repair - Elbow
Street Spirit (Fade Out)/Fake Plastic Trees - Radiohead

[Ghost_Tracker]

*ahem!* EHGHrgh-hegm! EGGGGH-HEGH-HEEGHMMM!!!
Oh, sorry, I had something caught in my throat.

[jaycee]

Hmm... haven't seen this thread in a while...
(There's probably other artists I could add, but it would take a little more thinking than I'm currently capable of...)
"The Actor" - The Moody Blues
"Never Comes The Day" - The Moody Blues
"Candle Of Life" - The Moody Blues
"Watching And Waiting" - The Moody Blues
"One More Time To Live" - The Moody Blues
"You Can Never Go Home" -The Moody Blues
"My Song" - The Moody Blues
"New Horizons" - The Moody Blues
"Isn't Life Strange" - The Moody Blues
"Remember Me (My Friend)" - Justin Hayward & John Lodge
"Blue Guitar" - Justin Hayward & John Lodge
"Here, There And Everywhere" - The Beatles
"For No One" - The Beatles
"She's Leaving Home" - The Beatles
"A Day In The Life" - The Beatles
"The Fool On The Hill" - The Beatles
"Hello, Goodbye" - The Beatles
"Strawberry Fields Forever" - The Beatles
"All You Need Is Love" - The Beatles

[Nikolaj]

There's a version of Bob Dylan's "I'll Keep It With Mine" that is amazing.
I have no idea who the female singer was, but she changed the lyric a bit, to 'come on, give me your heart, I'll keep it with mine' and it was a dreamy, gorgeous performance- the original Dylan lyric was 'come on, give it to me, I'll keep it with mine'-- but the 'give me your heart' change made it an even more beautiful song.
I wonder if it may have been Sandy Denny, who had recorded it with Dylan's original lyric with Fairport Convention and maybe later re-recorded it, solo, I don't know. It certainly is not the version by Nico!
Suzanna Hoffs did a Stevie-ish take of the song on an album; and while she isn't the singer Stevie Nicks is, the recording seems Stevie-esque to me. It's on youtube, but can't compare to the version I've been trying to find forever.

The out-take of just Janis Joplin playing guitar and singing 'Me and Bobby McGee' on the Legacy 2 cd expanded edition of 'Pearl' has a lot of beauty, sensitivity and nuance that was masked in the released, hit version. It's folk music, without the slurring of the word 'McGee' in the hit version and hearing it feels like a peak into what her soul was, but in an understated way, which makes it the version for me, now .
Others mentioned 'All I Know' by Art Garfunkel, and surely, it's a gorgeous vocal and recording.
For some reason, Neil Young's "Heart of Gold" and "Like A Hurricane' are beyond beautiful to me, as are Linda Ronstadt's covers of Neil's "I Believe In You" and "Look Out For My Love."
Gay as it may be of me to think so, I think Streisand's version of 'Memory' from Cats is a beautiful vocal and recording. When my testosterone side kicks in, and it does, nothing is more beautiful to me than the original 'Layla' by Derek And The Dominoes. When it calms down, Roberta Flack's versions of 'Jesse' and 'Suzanne' are both really beautiful, to me. She takes the beauty in the poetry of Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne" further than in any version of it I've heard. Gosh, many of these songs remind me of my late cousin, she shared a lot of music with me, and was older, and knew more.
Someone mentioned 'Morning Has Broken' by Cat Stevens, who was another favorite of my cousin's, Susa, and though I haven't heard it in more than 20 years, my memory of it is that yes, it was extremely beautiful. As was 'Who Knows Where The Time Goes'-- though I can't say I like Judy Collins a whole lot, my cousin sure did, and it's a beautiful performance and song.
( And it always makes me think of Susa, eyes closed and lungs exhaling heavily and breathily, singing along to 'Who Knows'...)

[cliffdweller]

Slow Show - The National
That's How I Knew This Story Would Break My Heart - Aimee Mann
Can't Find My Way Home - Swans (cover)
Wild is the Wind - Nina Simone
Storms - Fleetwood Mac
Wish You Were Here- Fleetwood Mac
What Would You Do - Edie Brickell
Helpless - CSNY
As I Sat Sadly by Her Side- Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Evangeline - The Angels of Light
Polly Come Home - Robert Plant and Alison Krauss
Alicia Ross - Kathleen Edwards
Watercolor - Virgil Shaw
Jesus Mentioned - Warren Zevon

[cliffdweller]

Originally Posted by gretchen

Mirror To My Woman's Mind - Peter Murphy
Marlene Dietrich's Favourite Poem - Peter Murphy
A Strange Kind Of Love - Peter Murphy

I LOVE Peter Murphy

[gretchen]

^^ He is fantastic. His voice is like deep velvet.
He is the voice of the night.

[chiliD]

Ok, lets get the FMac (or related) tunes outta the way first:

ALBATROSS
LOVE THAT BURNS
OH WELL, PART 2
UNDERWAY
ALTHOUGH THE SUN IS SHINING
SUNNY SIDE OF HEAVEN
WOMAN OF 1000 YEARS
SHOW ME A SMILE
SPARE ME A LITTLE OF YOUR LOVE
SENTIMENTAL LADY
DID YOU EVER LOVE ME?
WHY
COME A LITTLE BIT CLOSER
WARM WAYS
SONGBIRD
WISH YOU WERE HERE
MYSTIFIED
AS LONG AS YOU FOLLOW
DO YOU KNOW?
APOSTLE - Peter Green
THE WORLD IN HER HEART - Jeremy Spencer
SECOND CHAPTER - Danny Kirwan
THE SMILE I LIVE FOR - Christine McVie
HAS ANYONE EVER WRITTEN ANYTHING FOR YOU - Stevie Nicks
ALL MY SORROWS - Lindsey Buckingham
CASSIOPEIA SURRENDER - Mick Fleetwood
INTUITION - Rick Vito
THE BIGGER THE LOVE - Billy Burnette

And, the rest:

WONDERFUL TONIGHT - Eric Clapton
THORN TREE IN THE GARDEN - Derek & The Dominos (Bobby Whitlock)
BORN IN TIME - Bob Dylan
SOMETHING - The Beatles
GOOD NIGHT - The Beatles
I WILL - The Beatles
THE LONG & WINDING ROAD - The Beatles
AND I LOVE HER - The Beatles
WOMAN - John Lennon
FAR EAST MAN - George Harrison
MY LOVE - Paul McCartney
AVALON - Roxy Music
MY ONLY LOVE - Roxy Music
FRAGILE - Sting
DOG & BUTTERFLY - Heart
LOVE ALIVE - Heart
DREAMBOAT ANNIE - Heart
ANGIE - The Rolling Stones
WILD HORSES - The Rolling Stones
WILD MOUNTAIN THYME - The Byrds
GUINNEVERE - David Crosby
GOD ONLY KNOWS - The Beach Boys
CAROLINE, NO - The Beach Boys
I CAN'T MAKE YOU LOVE ME - Bonnie Raitt
SOMEONE TO LAY DOWN BESIDE ME - Linda Ronstadt (Karla Bonoff)
EUROPA - Santana

[Travis]

k.d. lang
love affair