Songs that are Pure Genius

[lottielady]

Mine:

Downtown Train by Tom Waits
These Days by Jackson Browne ( he wrote this when he was 17, ffs!)
How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore by Prince (nuff said)

Which songs knock you sideways?

Cranes in the Sky - Solange
Way Over Yonder - Carole King
Play in the Sunshine - Prince
Paperback Writer - The Beatles

Prefab Sprout, aka Paddy Mac, the Tyneside Gershwin:

Cars & Girls
We Let The Stars Go
Bonny
etc

Majestic Cover Versions:

Everything but the Girl - The Only Living Boy In New York and Time After Time
Sixpence None The Richer - There She Goes
Saint Etienne - Who Do You Think You Are

And the dead prophet, Nick Drake:

Cello Song
Northern Sky
Place To Be

Oh and: Shipbuilding - Elvis Costello

So much Bowie, but for today - Moonage Daydream

True Colors by Candi Lauper
Marlene on the Wall by Suzanne Vega
Landslide by Fleetwood Mac
On A Bus to St Cloud - Mary Chaplin Carpenter

Chapin, not Chaplin

I love love love Where the wild roses grow by Nick Cave ft Kylie minogue.

The beautiful south - would never have said I was a fan or bought any of their albums but I like quite a few of their songs - don’t marry her, everybody’s talking, a little time. They’re quite clever.

There’s also a song by Lisa Loeb from the early 90s called I miss you.

Sign Of The Times Prince

Set The Fire To The Third Bar Snow Patrol

(Or Dark Roman Wine)

A Town Called Malice Jam

Some Fantastic Place Squeeze

Alison Elvis Costello

Night Swimming REM

The man who sold the Moon

And Tom Waits I hope I Won’t Fall In Love With You.

Leonard Cohen I’m Your Man

And pretty much everything else of his

Joe Walsh - Life’s been good.

“I go to parties sometimes until four.
It’s hard to leave when you can’t find the door”

So many amazing songs! Thank you OP and @CoperCabana !

George Michael - Cowboys and Angels

Aw, thanks, CoperCabana that’s a great playlist

The Hu Band, Wolf Totem. Mongolian folk metal with the most over-the-top lyrics imaginable. Look them up on YouTube.

Aha - Take On Me
Divine Comedy - The Pop Singer's Fear Of The Pollen Count
Smiths - How Soon Is Now
Sigur Ros - Staralfur
LSD - Thunderclouds

ChardonnaysPrettySister you are a woman after my own heart - I love love love Leonard Cohen.

Pretty much anything by Nick Cave but especially Are You The One That I’ve Been Waiting For.

And I love the Divine Comedy too - Neil Hannon is a lyrical genius. Everybody Knows (Except You) never fails to make me smile.

Soul Asylum - Runaway train
Amy Winehouse - Back to Black

Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk - Rufus Wainwright

Genius songs?
You’ve got to have ...
Pulp, Common People
Blur, Charmless Man
The Jam, That’s entertainment (could easily have chosen any of The Jam, Eton Rifles, Going Underground ...)
The Clash, Rock the Casbah
The Kinks, Lola
Squeeze, Labelled with love
The Specials, A message to you Rudy
Dexy’s, Geno
Sam Cooke, Bring it on home
Otis Redding, Dock of the bay
Beatles, Lady Madonna

Love the mentions for Squeeze here. MDifford and Tilbrook are such underated song writers. Difford crafts 5 minute stories. As pp have said Labelled With Love and Up The Junction.
I love this as an opening line:
'There's a stain on my notebook where your coffee cup was ...'

Another song I'd like to add is Dignity Deacon Blue. There's a man on our landlocked allotments I like to think it is about

Michael McDonald- I keep forgetting.