Obsolete Things You Love in a Song

[Psycho Pacifist]

For me personally, often times I'll only like a song for one particular part. For instance, I can name a few Rock Songs I like simply for the opening/closing riff.

Another thing that always gets me, a Piano accompaniment to the majority of generes just always make me love it. It's fairly common but it always stands out the most in a song for me. Whether is somewhat sad, or light and fast. Piano almost always improves a song for me.

So what do you love to see in a song?

 

[CrackFox]

Hmm, I guess a the actual music is more important than the lyrics to me. Like you said, I love piano songs. That's my favourite instrument and the one I think produces the loveliest sounds. An example of a beatiful piano song would be Gary Jules - Mad World or the The Frey - How to Save a Life.

The first song I ever truely loved was a song called Braille by Regina Spektor. The piano playing, accompanied by the sweet voice just resonated with me for years and made me a huge fan of all her work and the piano in general. It was actually that song that impsired me to start learning to play and that was obviously one of the first songs I learned.

I also like it when songs mix up the tone. For instance, the singer goes from shouting, energetic, to calm and almost whipser quiet. I find Regina Spektor particularly great at that in her songs. Lyrics wise, i'm not keen on love songs, they are just too cliche and overdone. Lyrics that make you think and maybe look them up on the internet for theories about the meaning are always good. Again Regina Spektor and bands like They Might Be Giants are good for that. Also a recognisable voice always adds. Someone like Morrisey or Kate Bush with a real unqiue sound to their voice.

 

[Fairy Ice Ricky]

I like when dancier songs bring the hype from the beginning and don't let up. Aubrey O'Day's "Automatic" does this really well in my opinion; Lady Gaga's "Applause" & Rihanna's "We Found Love" are also good examples. I just really hate when a song puts me in a dancing mood... and then all of a sudden it just loses the beat and lose my momentum. It annoys me to no end when this happens in David Guetta's "Night of Your Life".

I also appreciate when male singers have low voices, or when they have low-voiced parts in a song. Calvin Harris's "We'll Be Coming Back" and parts of Naughty Boy's "La La La" are good examples. Sometimes the high notes and stuff just sounds so overdone, and I think it's great when an artist can make you feel an emotion without needing to belt something high near the end of the track. Not every male singer does it well, but when he does do it well, it's glorious.

I also like when lyrics are simple but you can pull out different meanings from them. This is of course subjective and depends on various factors, but it's still something I notice to when that happens for me. (I'm in the camp that thinks Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" is way more complex lyrically than people give it credit for, but that's another topic for another day.) It's why Swedish House Mafia's "Don't You Worry Child" is one of my favorite songs--the lyrics themselves are pretty straight-forward, but you can also pull out so much more from them depending on how you interpret/relate to them. It's also why my favorite lyric of all time is in Lady Gaga's "Government Hooker"--"I'm gonna drink my tears tonight/ I'm gonna drink my tears and cry~". Seriously, just typing those words made me feel something, I just relate to them that much on multiple levels.

 

[dig]

urban field recordings incorporated into a song. Creates an atmosphere you just cant get with instruments.

 

[Aulos]

The main draw to music for me is how it sounds. That probably sounds pretty silly, but I know everyone has their own reasons for liking music, some like listening for complexity in the chord structures and forms, some like listening to the lyrics, and others like listening to it for the tempo/beat.

Thus, for me it really all comes down to instrumentation. If it isn't obvious enough, my favorite type of instruments are brass/woodwind instruments. So music using them really draws me to it... Unless it's the generic rock saxophone solo that you find in artists like Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen (am I thinking of the right artist? Don't really listen to him). I love the saxophone, but sometimes I find the solo work in classic rock bands to be obnoxious. I like songs from bands that have a dedicated brass/saxophone section.

Aside from that, I tend to gravitate toward the instrumentation of general 60s/70s songs or the even less electronic instrumentation of Folk. I particularly find myself loving some of the English folk instrumentation!

Examples of songs I absolutely adore the instrumentation and everything else of (probably the best way I can go about this. xD)

Wishful Sinful - The Doors (a weird song, especially for that band, but the winds are beautiful)
You've Made Me So Very Happy - Blood, Sweat & Tears (Brass Rock, one of my top favorite genres)
Cruel Sister - Pentangle (a beautiful example of English folk)
Rambleway - Shirley & Dolly Collins (More English folk, but this time with a pretty Early Music ensemble accompanying, which I really like!)
And I'll end with some soul, which can really have some great instrumentation:
Too Late To Turn Back Now - Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose
Could It Be I'm Falling In Love - The Spinners

That's the best way I can explain. xD

 

[Cap'n Jack]

I'm of the opinion that the best song is one that just about anyone can play, and that if you can't do something live then you shouldn't do it in the first place. Clever writing and meaningful lyrics are infinitely more important to me than the production of a record or the technical skill of the person playing.

 

[Psycho Pacifist]

I also love when the artist is having fun with it. It's not bad to be focused on vocals, but when they add some pop, just saying "yeah" or something like that.

 

[I Started A Cult]

There's a lot of things that stick out to me, but number one is the vocals. I'm a sucker for lyrics that are well-written, or at least a good vocal delivery.
But as far as instrumentals are concerned, as long as it's an obvious labor of love, I'm bound to fall for it.
I have a soft spot for production that goes on the messy end of things, depending on the type of music.
Also, analogue synthesizers. I fail to see any such thing as improper use of an analogue synth.

 

[Arc Blader]

I am going to enjoy any song involving electric piano or clavinet, no exceptions.