Ten songs on my MP3 player

[Auriaprottu]

I'm not going to list them, name them or anything. Just listen. If you know the artists and titles, fine, no problem sharing, but what I'm interested in is that you hear them, period. The video is not important- In fact, I'd appreciate it if you paid no attention at all to the video. Just listen.

I'm pulling them from Youtube, so wait until I'm done...

etnekCkJR9c

K0JpoU-l-xg

RChR5DKgY_Y

[Auriaprottu]

41UIiEH53QY

k49Rd1kUWW8

PLiMy4NaSKc

[Auriaprottu]

HcPIvyf7cp8

QShSmpI0r9k

sNSygqogpls

[Auriaprottu]

NBvnaK2nJTo

025bZe0KPvs

[Auriaprottu]

Okay, that's eleven, not ten. But what I want is for you to listen to these tunes and tell me whether or not you think they're similar in any way (other than that they're all 60s-70s- I know that), and if so, how. But I don't want you to use any musical terms. I'm trying to find something out here, and it may take a few more threads like this, but I'll eventually get to the bottom of it.

Listen, take your time, think, type.

Thanks to all who decide to participate.

[bojendyk]

Is the answer that they're 11 songs that I hate?

No, I'm kidding. I like a few of them.

Most of the songs seem to share a couple of characteristics: a basis in late-era Beatles (specifically, Paul McCartney, which isn't surprising, considering that he responsible for a few tracks) at their most bombastic and one foot in the 70s cocaine music camp (e.g., Steely Dan, Queen, Fleetwood Mac--anything involving layers of instrumentation and airless studio precision). (Note: I like the Mac.)

The exceptions are "Sunshine," a great, simple, popping little song; the George Harrison song; and "Moonshadow," a very pretty and simple song that I could imagine singing to my 21-month-old son.

So I guess I can't yet put my finger on what attribute all of these songs share.

[Crimen y Castigo]

Aside from "The Things We Do for Love" and "Runaway" which are more or less straight 'relationship' songs (and maybe "Hello Goodbye" falls into this category, since there is a first person protagonist and second person object), all the others seem to be a cross between existentialist-lite musings on the condition of life and the Buddhist-lite musings on the interconnectedness of us all.

In other words, as you said, it's the late 60s and early 70s -- and that was one of the main songwriting tropes of the day.

Just a thought.

[Iceblink]

Well, I was looking for similarities in sound, and the only thing I noticed was that they all had male singers who sang in voices that were pretty high, at least higher than their speaking voices... Cat Stevens sometimes sang a little lower, but this seemed to be a higher register than many of his other songs... oops... used a musical term... but you know what I mean.

That's not what you were looking for, but I have no idea what you were looking for.

[nancyb]

After listening to the first three songs, I thought the theme was performers I'd seen live. Until I hit Supertramp, I thought it might be songs that tried to represent a day in a person's life. Then I lost interest in figuring out the theme and just listened to the tunes.

[royalstilton]

Discussing music without using any musical terms is very difficult, especially when trying to sort out similarities among a specific group of songs presented as having a common "note". To me, what made some of them alike was related to rhythm and syncopation. There's a feel here that has to do with the da-dah-tuh-dah more than what key they're in or the vocal register.

A couple of tunes don't quite connect on that level. One is Moonshadow, becuz it's more jagged rhythmically. The other is the Beatle's Hello/Goodbye.

Another thing is that all the songs are quite tuneful. The melodies are pretty hummable.

And finally, most of the songs feature some kind of acoustic guitar doing a chunka-chunka strum. Either that or a tamborine.

Sorry to use music talk, but it is music, after all.

[Auriaprottu]

Im hoping to keep the thread going with more responses. I'm grateful for the attention this has received, especially considering that some posters haven't heard everything I listed. I suspect that most of you who have posted have, tho.


I'm learning some things about these songs that I never gave any thought. I have grouped most of them together over the years, in cassette form, and I know why I did it, but I haven't heard much from any of you yet that completely reflected my reasoning.

The reason I didn't really want musical terms is because we're all pretty much on the same page there. It's cool if you want to use them, I guess, but I'm more interested in whether I see/hear tham the same way as others. That's why I'm trying to get outside the musical terminology. I also don't want to lead anyone to my conclusions.

Keep it up! Thanks again.

[nancyb]

And finally, most of the songs feature some kind of acoustic guitar doing a chunka-chunka strum. Either that or a tamborine.



At first I thought the theme would be an acoustic lead in. Some songs, I admit, I didn't listen to all the way through (It's Magic), so I may have missed the acoustic constant.

[Moishe]

Wow! I haven't listened or heard most of those songs in years. Having listened to contemporary jazz almost exclusively over the past years I now pay more attention to lyrics than I ever have. The elements I pulled were that the songs were more or less all positive in a selfless way. Does that make sense to you because I may have lost myself:D

[Iceblink]

da-dah-tuh-dah

chunka-chunka.

Sorry to use music talk

Are these actual musical terms that people use?

[nancyb]

So, what's the answer?

[royalstilton]

So, what's the answer?
that is such an excellent question...