Conspiracies, and, Perfect Songs?

[kitchen_kink]

So my temp assignment at the loverly law firm ended, and here I am, on a Monday morning at eight (yes, 8) am, taking part in the same temp agency's Guaranteed Work Program.

The suck is that you show up at 8 am. The bonus is that you kinda hang out, do what you want (thus this journal entry), go out on assignment if they get one for you, and get paid.

Yeah, I can do that.

So as I sit here listening to the Beatles and Dylan pipe through the office, I have a query: What, to you, constitutes a perfect song? My criteria are pretty stiff; though I haven't fully defined them yet, I do know that I've found only three songs (if that) that qualify. What they tend to have in common:

1) They're short
2) They do not have fade-out endings
3) They have poignancy; that is, they skilfully raise emotion in a way that isn't sentimental or cheap

My three that make it? "Eleanor Rigby," by the Beatles; "Ave Verum Corpus" by W. A. Mozart, and "Bookends" by Simon and Garfunkel. (And that last one barely makes the cut, since it very nearly dips into sentimentality.)

To give you an idea of both my taste and my stringent needs for perfection: "Slip Sliding Away" by Paul Simon, despite being an amazing song, falls short because of its inferior fourth verse ("God only knows..."). Simon himself has written that if he had been braver, he would've kept it to just the three (the man, the woman, and the child). "Washing of the Water" by Peter Gabriel moves me terribly, but it spills all over the place with gospelish emoting.

What's your opinion? For me, I think what a perfect song needs most is economy, true emotion, and restraint; as Chekhov said about writing emotion in fiction: keep it cold. "Eleanor Rigby" is probably the saddest song there is, yet there isn't a drop of sentimentality. Tight, buttoned-up violins. Two characters. Three short story-poems for verses. "Ah, look at all the lonely people." Done. Perfection.

Thoughts?

Comments

[veek.livejournal.com]

It's more complex than this, but the song has to be singable (therefore in my range), and consistently alter my mood from whatever it is at the moment into the mood of the song. Whether that happens to be up or down shouldn't matter. Poignant, important lyrics and something *interesting* musically, which may be simple or complex but must be masterful.

Jeff Buckley's cover of Cohen's "Halleluiah" (sic?) comes to mind quickly. Wish I'd known this man before he died.

[wurmwyd.livejournal.com]

Hi There!

I think MY perfect song has to be just the opposite. It has to start out slow, and build to a feverish, psychotic, bacchanalia of loudness. It also helps if the song has deep, mythological overtones. It should tell a story, something creepy and mysterious, that sets your mind going.

Stairway to Heaven: The first few measures sound like a Renaissance Festival Pastoral piece, but then it just builds to an absolute headbanging banshee wail. "...and as we wind on down the road...etc." References to the Piper and the May Queen put this song in the Fae realm of Arcadia.

The End, by the Doors: While the tempo doesn't build too much, the song goes from despondent and sad to oedipal and homicidal. Also gives me the impression of some sort of Satanic sacrificial rite. (possibly influenced by the use of this song in Apocalpse Now)

Fade to Black: Starts out slow and deliberate, builds to heavy metal noise. Not much mythology, But Metallica includes a lot of Lovecraftian overtones in other songs.

Thunder Road, by Springsteen: Again, starts out as a down-home, easy folk song, then builds to: "Well, I got this guitar, and I learned how to make it talk...". There are no real Gods or mythological creatures hiding out in this song, but the ghosts in the eyes of all the boys you sent away haunt this lonely beach road in the skeleton hulks of burned out Chevrolets. Creepy!...Spooky! ... Eerie! ... cool!

All Along the Watchtower, by Hendrix: Ooo! growling Wild Cats! Two riders approaching! Jokers and Theives!! Lostsa mythology, and the song sorta vaguely rises in tempo, although you really can't say that Hendrix starts this little ditty on anything even resembling ...slow.

The Day the Music Died: PERFECT song! From slow to quick, and then back to slow again just a little bit before the end. It takes the entire 50s - 70s of music history, and crafts a mythological tapestry of the entire era. "No angel born in Hell, could break that Satan's spell, and as the flames climbed high into the night, to light the sacrficial rite, I saw Satan laughing with delight..."

Hotel California: Again, more evil, Satanic mythological overtones, and a nice slow build. Eventually ends on a horrific note. "You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave..."

Songs like "November Rain" by GnR, and "Dream On" by Aerosmith come close, but just don't have that creepy, evil, mythological feeling. Bat Out of Hell might fit the "perfect" catagory, but I think the tempo is pretty uniform throughout.

[dda.livejournal.com]

The End, by the Doors: While the tempo doesn't build too much, the song goes from despondent and sad to oedipal and homicidal. Also gives me the impression of some sort of Satanic sacrificial rite. (possibly influenced by the use of this song in Apocalpse Now)

Just an amazing song! I'm told it is really about a divorce...Crystal Ship and Turn out the Light come to mind as well.

For the Deadheads out there, Terrapin Station, Stella Blue, and Row Jimmy sort of fit the bill. You will never hear them on the radio and really should hear them live.

[rezendi.livejournal.com]

For me there's a category of perfect songs which are not poignant, not even particularly emotional, just plain fun. You know the type: driving in a car with a few friends, when the first few bars kick in, everybody shouts "Turn it up!"

I got two turntables and a microphone...