What’s your choice?

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BatjCj88Q1g[/video]

Obviously….

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lK4cX5xGiQ[/video]

but seriously…

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRtW1MAZ32M[/video]

binners +1, obviously..

Probably Auld Lang Syne.

No such thing. Mine varies from day to day…

Usually, the list contains:

Common People – Pulp
Unchained Melody – Righteous Bothers
Jesus of Suburbia – Green Day
Bridge Over Troubled Waters – Simon & Garfunkel
Telegraph Road – Dire Straights
Reach for the Stars – S-Club 7

(Fact).

Comfortably Numb – Pink Floyd

Downtown train by Tom Waits.

These are close:

The Importance of Being Idle – Oasis
One Day Like This – Elbow
Friday I’m In Love – The Cure
Some Candy Talking – JAMC
Pale Blue Eyes – Velvet Underground.

But the winner is There Is A Light That Never Goes Out – The Smiths.

But like Shibboleth says, it varies from day-to-day, hour-to-hour.

New Model Army – Green and Grey
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnL9MNk1cQc[/video]

And a close Second Marrakesh
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH9IyFkWhlQ[/video]

Both give me more Goosebumps than any other track I’ve heard.

cedar room?
one day like this?
still haven’t found what Im looking for?
varies day to day tbh

This

Runs away 😀

Stairway to heaven…………………Rolph Harris cover obviously

Largo al factotum – Rossini (I keep meaning to learn the words)
Poison Oak – Bright Eyes

(honourable mentions to)
Alison – Elvis Costello
Ghost Town – Specials
The Mercy Seat – Nick Cave
Wild Billy’s Circus Story – Bruce Springsteen

(and for MrWoppit:)
Jerusalem – (You can have the Mark STewart version though, if it makes youfeel better)

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkZsSydzQjM&feature=youtube_gdata_player ://[/video]

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEmPWd4TuiU[/video]

Yeah, likewise varies day to day. But it could be any of these…

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IELo75YO8zk[/video]

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY1lxViG3SA[/video]
(I love this specific version, distortion and all… The recording just gives up completely on fidelity and goes for MOAR POWAH)

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bmSxm_KAFs[/video]

Oh and why not. Playstation version and everything.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CK2hx377iU[/video]

My list varies from day to day, but this is always on it. Especially now, on a rainy evening in Agios Nikoloas…..

This
Hey ! Mr Tambourine Man, play a song for me
I’m not sleepy and there is no place I’m going to
Hey ! Mr Tambourine Man, play a song for me
In the jingle jangle morning I’ll come followin’ you.
Though I know that evenin’s empire has returned into sand
Vanished from my hand
Left me blindly here to stand but still not sleeping
My weariness amazes me, I’m branded on my feet
I have no one to meet
And the ancient empty street’s too dead for dreaming.

Hey ! Mr Tambourine Man, play a song for me
I’m not sleepy and there is no place I’m going to
Hey ! Mr Tambourine Man, play a song for me
In the jingle jangle morning I’ll come followin’ you.

Take me on a trip upon your magic swirlin’ ship
My senses have been stripped, my hands can’t feel to grip
My toes too numb to step, wait only for my boot heels
To be wanderin’
I’m ready to go anywhere, I’m ready for to fade
Into my own parade, cast your dancing spell my way
I promise to go under it.

Hey ! Mr Tambourine Man, play a song for me
I’m not sleepy and there is no place I’m going to
Hey ! Mr Tambourine Man, play a song for me
In the jingle jangle morning I’ll come followin’ you.

Though you might hear laughin’, spinnin’ swingin’ madly across the sun
It’s not aimed at anyone, it’s just escapin’ on the run
And but for the sky there are no fences facin’
And if you hear vague traces of skippin’ reels of rhyme
To your tambourine in time, it’s just a ragged clown behind
I wouldn’t pay it any mind, it’s just a shadow you’re
Seein’ that he’s chasing.

Hey ! Mr Tambourine Man, play a song for me
I’m not sleepy and there is no place I’m going to
Hey ! Mr Tambourine Man, play a song for me
In the jingle jangle morning I’ll come followin’ you.

Then take me disappearin’ through the smoke rings of my mind
Down the foggy ruins of time, far past the frozen leaves
The haunted, frightened trees, out to the windy beach
Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow
Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free
Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands
With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves
Let me forget about today until tomorrow.

Hey ! Mr Tambourine Man, play a song for me
I’m not sleepy and there is no place I’m going to
Hey ! Mr Tambourine Man, play a song for me
In the jingle jangle morning I’ll come followin’ you.

or ….

In the time of my confession,
in the hour of my deepest need
When the pool of tears beneath my feet
flood every newborn seed
There’s a dyin’ voice within me
reaching out somewhere,
Toiling in the danger and in
the morals of despair.

Don’t have the inclination to
look back on any mistake,
Like Cain,
I now behold this chain of events
that I must break.
In the fury of the moment
I can see the Master’s hand
In every leaf that trembles,
in every grain of sand.

Oh, the flowers of indulgence
and the weeds of yesteryear,
Like criminals,
they have choked the breath
of conscience and good cheer.
The sun beat down upon the steps
of time to light the way
To ease the pain of idleness
and the memory of decay.

I gaze into the doorway of
temptation’s angry flame
And every time I pass that way
I always hear my name.
Then onward in my journey
I come to understand
That every hair is numbered
like every grain of sand.

I have gone from rags to riches
in the sorrow of the night
In the violence of a summer’s dream,
in the chill of a wintry light,
In the bitter dance of loneliness
fading into space,
In the broken mirror of innocence
on each forgotten face.

I hear the ancient footsteps like
the motion of the sea
Sometimes I turn, there’s someone there,
other times it’s only me.
I am hanging in the balance
of the reality of man
Like every sparrow falling,
like every grain of sand.

Ah. I thought this was about the “Greatest Song Ever Written”, not “what songs do you like?”.
Maybe you could ask the mods to change the thread title for you?

By definition it’s going to be the same, since there’s no objective way to evaluate music.

awww druidh, you big old grump

what’s great anyway ?

Probably “The End” by The Doors, or “Wish You Were Here” by Pink Floyd. Or perhaps Flower of Scotland. 😉

Witchita Lineman
[video]http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4qoymGCDYzU[/video]

Dazed and confused – led zep

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.

Each little flower that opens,
Each little bird that sings,
He made their glowing colours,
He made their tiny wings.

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all

The purple-headed mountain,
The river running by,
The sunset and the morning,
That brightens up the sky;

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all

The cold wind in the winter,
The pleasant summer sun,
The ripe fruits in the garden,
He made them every one;

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all

The tall trees in the greenwood,
The meadows for our play,
The rushes by the water,
To gather every day;

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all

He gave us eyes to see them,
And lips that we might tell
How great is God Almighty,
Who has made all things well.

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.

All things dull and ugly,
All creatures short and squat,
All things rude and nasty,
The Lord God made the lot.
Each little snake that poisons,
Each little wasp that stings,
He made their brutish venom.
He made their horrid wings.

All things sick and cancerous,
All evil great and small,
All things foul and dangerous,
The Lord God made them all.

Each nasty little hornet,
Each beastly little squid–
Who made the spikey urchin?
Who made the sharks? He did!

All things scabbed and ulcerous,
All pox both great and small,
Putrid, foul and gangrenous,
The Lord God made them all.

Amen.

And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England’s mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England’s pleasant pastures seen?
And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among these dark Satanic mills?
Bring me my bow of burning gold:
Bring me my arrows of desire:
Bring me my spear: O clouds unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire.
I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England’s green and pleasant land.

for me it’s currently New England (Billy Bragg’s version not Kirsty MacColl’s)

I’m sure it’ll change tomorrow though.

no one appears to have mentioned Hotel California!

Waterloo Sunset

S Club 7 that’s priceless 🙂

Club Tropicana – Wham

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4e9hcqVVfY[/video]

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHPOzQzk9Qo[/video]

What druidh said.
But, if I had to pick one…

Gimme Shelter

Song, not performance! A great song is still a great song when sung in the shower or by the fire with an acoustic guitar, or by reading the lyrics and following the melody along the sheet music with one finger on the piano. Gimme Shelter is amazing but much of it is in the performance, not the writing. Dazed and Confused, likewise.

Unstoppable force and immovable object,
repel one another when by chance colliding.
The Brownian-Motion within this love potion,
ensures our opinions are always dividing.
I am from Mars my dear;
you hail from Venus.
A meeting star-crossed
like the Sun and the Moon.
Destined to let this cruel world
come between us.
Our last kiss eclipsed by a shadow at noon.

A rose that is built
out of music by moonlight;
petals stained ruby with nightingale blood.
Cast down in disgust
to be crushed by a cart-wheel,
because of mere trivia misunderstood.

We quest for a grail of illusive perfection,
each hoping we’ll find it some glorious day.
Yet gaze with remorse at our jaded reflection,
that looks like The Picture Of Dorian Gray.

[Chorus:]
Siamese Twins who were joined at the heart.
Love’s an affliction without a known remedy.
Blunt-bladed fate
deemed to cleave us apart;
Emotional surgery pays no indemnity.
Some seek release with effete anaesthesia,
others adapt to the role of sworn enemy.
You found nepenthe in cheap, sweet amnesia;
It was far easier losing my memory.

And the nightingale sang:
“Sing love’s lament
with a thorn at your breast.
Impaled by her barb;
cruel and unforgiving.
A million dead poets would gladly attest;
heart-ache’s a keepsake
to remind us we’re living.”

[Chorus:]
Siamese Twins who were joined at the heart.
Love’s an affliction without a known remedy.
Blunt-bladed fate
deemed to cleave us apart;
Emotional surgery pays no indemnity.
Some seek release with effete anaesthesia,
others adapt to the role of sworn enemy.
You found nepenthe in cheap, sweet amnesia;
It was far easier losing my memory.

Mercy, mercy me (the ecology). Marvin Gaye.

Probably as valid now as the day he wrote, what 40 years ago. That takes some beating in my view.

Ah. I thought this was about the “Greatest Song Ever Written”, not “what songs do you like?”.
Maybe you could ask the mods to change the thread title for you?

Cheers Druidh, that’s exactly what I was thinking.
I would’ve thought, ‘Greatest Song Ever Written?’ would mean, ‘which song has sold more copies/do more people like than any other/is played the most etc etc. Half the stuff that’s been mentioned I’ve never heard of (which doesn’t say a lot TBH). There’ll never be a ‘greatest’ Just a, ‘IMO’, which is (IMO), Stairway to Heaven.
For tonight anyway but tomorrow it could be Road to Hell.

This forum is based more on opinion than owt else anyway so it doesn’t really matter.

Jesus Christ Mr Woppit, it might be because I’m tired and emotional and maybe moving country with the family, but that bloody flaming lips song has me lip wobbling and dusty eyed. Absolutely tip f’ing top.

I honestly have no idea but I’ve not heard much better than this:

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQx0Pb6ZPXQ&feature=related[/video]

“the best songwriter in the whole world and I’ll stand on Bob Dylan’s coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that.

Steve Earle