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"Songs That Can't Be Written Again"

Posted over 5 years ago
There is a radio station here whose playlist focuses on 60's, 70's & 80's classics. Not a fav of mine as you can imagine, but it was playing in the background earlier today nevertheless. It's tagline is "songs that can't be written again, but which we'll listen to forever" (inaccurate, unofficial translation). So, the tagline airs & right after it, True Faith starts flowing through the speakers. I shut my trap & listen. And you know what? It's true. True Faith can't be written again. It's representative of a whole era, captivating & timeless. It simultaneously makes me want to cry & dance.I'm sure we can come up with many songs of the sort, each on of you might have a different opinion. I'd like to nominate Blue Monday & Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart as well.Also, the mind woks in mysterious ways. Mine wandered off to Hook's side project Monaco & their beautiful What Do You Want From Me..and then for some reason to Reamon's "Tonight":http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=50:dxkcimzhbb59~T, to end up to Sunday Drivers' "On My Mind":http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=50:vs320roar4hx~T.
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Comments (40)

  1. SatisfiedMind614
    SatisfiedMind614 says 'Unchained Melody' - The Righteous Brothers
    Permalink posted 11/01/2006
  2. etcvisitor
    etcvisitor says im actually working on writing "True Faith" again... it is going to be soooooo good.
    Permalink posted 11/01/2006
  3. Joxley
    Joxley says Any of Dylan's protest songs. The Clash - White Riot
    Permalink posted 11/01/2006
  4. Anna
    Anna says Henry = MOG post pooper
    Permalink posted 11/01/2006
  5. BobDobalina
    BobDobalina says I only hope that this video can't be written again. What a visual travesty.
    Permalink posted 11/01/2006
  6. Kid Charming
    Kid Charming says Toni Basil — "Mickey"
    Permalink posted 11/01/2006
  7. Neill
    Neill says At least you mind didn't wander off to Hooky's 'Revenge' Bauhaus - Passion of Lovers
    Permalink posted 11/01/2006
  8. Terry Staunton
    Terry Staunton says Songs are always written again - Noel Gallagher rewrote the first two Oasis albums on the band's next four albums.
    Permalink posted 11/01/2006
  9. Violet Grey
    Violet Grey says I don't believe there is such a thing as a song that can be written again. I think what we're talking about are songs that we, collectively, have given a special status; for whatever reason that may be. Tony Basil's "Mickey" isn't a particularly great song in any sense, but because it came out at the right time (like "I'm Too Sexy", another legendary crap song) we have given it an energy that elevates it to another level. There are a number of different factors that go into making a legendary song, none of which have anything to do with the song itself.
    Permalink posted 11/01/2006
  10. Anna
    Anna says Terry, so did Chris Martin. ;) Violet, true, but to a point. I agree that there is an subjective side to this, same goes when we say that a song is good or bad. But there is also the objective side of it, which I'm sure that musicians would be much better in elaborating on than me. Also, I see how this works. I make my first 80s music related post & some of you are giving me a hard time. Enjoy it then, cause it's the first & the last one I'm making! :P
    Permalink posted 11/01/2006
  11. Terry Staunton
    Terry Staunton says Sam Cooke - A Change Is Gonna Come No one will ever better it, but it's a sentiment that should be re-written or re-emphasied every single day. People often dismiss a piece of music because it's from a period before their own musical timespan, but that's rubbish. Billie Holiday's Strange Fruit is 50 years old, but it deserves to be heard by everyone 49 and under. If they have a natural aversion to it because of its age, then it's up to younger musicians to, pardon me, re-educate receptive ears who have an inherent unspoken 'Year Zero'. Just because someone like Chuck Berry is older than your own grandparents doesn't mean he doesn't have something to say about your life in the here and now.
    Permalink posted 11/01/2006
  12. Lowdown
    Lowdown says Blue-The Jayhawks Sweet Thing-Van Morrison There is by the way, no objective reality Anna.......is there?
    Permalink posted 11/01/2006
  13. Anna
    Anna says I know, Terry. I'm not dismissing music 'cause it's from another time period than mine though. I've listened to as much 60s, 70s, 80s music I could get my hands and ears on & realized that Depeche Mode, New Order, Blondie, U2 & Joy Division (I'm sure I'm forgetting some) aside, I can't relate to it. That doesn't mean that I leave the room screaming when someone recommends an 80s album to me, it means that I am willing to try it, though chances are I'm not gonna like it. It doesn't stop me from giving it a shot. Nor does it mean that I am unaware or unappreciative of what those groups offered us. Lowdown, there is, it's #76 on my multiple realities system :)
    Permalink posted 11/01/2006
  14. Dale
    Dale says Wire - Three Girl Rhumba, though Elastica tried REAL hard.
    Permalink posted 11/01/2006
  15. A Lady
    A Lady says Like the waves, sometimes I´m sad, sometimes I´m happy. At this moment I´m loneless. Each hour is a precious time that never repeat. It´s also imposible that a song could be rewrite today with the same feelins of yesterday.
    Permalink posted 11/01/2006
  16. DUSTdevils
    DUSTdevils says anything by THE FALL...
    Permalink posted 11/01/2006
  17. jessicattivo
    jessicattivo says haha: Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody
    Permalink posted 11/01/2006
  18. Violet Grey
    Violet Grey says Anna, there was a series of specials that aired on HBO about the differance between a blockbuster film and a box office bomb. After so many hours of discussion and talks with directors, producers, writers and actors you knw what they decided? No one knows anything about anything! I beleive that the same thing applies to music. As a musician and a songwriter I have listened to a lot of things wit ha very fine microscope trying to understand how they work. More importantly I have attempted to dissect the process that went into making the songs so that I may understand why certain decisions were made. What I have found is that most great songs are about 10% intent, 25% execution, 30% happy accident and 35% dumb fucking luck. This is not, by the way, a scientific formula. ;)
    Permalink posted 11/01/2006
  19. QueenofHell
    QueenofHell says I don't think it's possible for any song to be written again - be it from any age - or have I missed the point?
    Permalink posted 11/01/2006
  20. leftoverking
    leftoverking says Sometimes i think songs are being re-written over and over again. Are there any original thoughts or ideas anymore? Every song reminds me of another song either melody-wise, or lyric-wise. That's what makes any song or artist stick out in my mind as great, their originality. Any musician on at least a subconcious level is rehashing the ideas of the musicians that influenced him or her in the past. From that vantage point I think songs are being written again all the time.
    Permalink posted 11/01/2006
  21. Anna
    Anna says leftoverking, yes, it's true. What I meant was, that True Faith is legendary (at least to me) and that level of greatness (imho) cannot be repeated. I see Violet, like I said, I wouldn't know about any formula, I'm just a humble listener. I like your formula though. ;) I think we can all at least agree that timelessness can be one of the criteria.
    Permalink posted 11/01/2006
  22. QueenofHell
    QueenofHell says It's a matter of semantics I suppose and it depends how you look at it. leftoverking, that's intertextuality again. I agree with you actually. No author or songwriter can write something without their knowledge of so many texts and songs that have been before, but within their frames of reference. And artists are often accused of plagiarism although it's probably often unintentional. However, the songs are not exactly just 'written again' - because there is a new element - that makes it of that moment in time.
    Permalink posted 11/01/2006
  23. fairportfan
    fairportfan says *Kid Charming says:* Toni Basil — *Mickey* Wonder how many people realise that Toni Basil was like 39 when she did Mickey - she was born in 1943, and began working as a choreographer in '65. She's the choreographer on the Monkees' strange movie *Head* (and Davie's partner in one dance number to *Harry Nilsson*'s 1941). As to "Songs That Can't Be Written Again", i'd have to hold up You Really Got Me (though Ray *did* rewrite it a few times - All Day and All of the Night, frex), but what i mean is that it is a defining moment - there's "BeforeYRGM", and there's "After YRGM". Heart of Glass is another defining moment - arguably the point when New Wave moved from underground to mainstream. *Richard Thompson*'s Wall of Death and 1952 Vincent Black Lightning are songs that, to me, anyway, so perfectly define their types that it would be useless to try to improve on them. And the *Kinks*' Waterloo Sunset is such n astonishingly perfect song, i'm surprised it got written once... (Kate knows that i'd like part of my ashes scattered on the Thames, from Waterloo Bridge, at sunset, if at all possible...)
    Permalink posted 11/01/2006
  24. leftoverking
    leftoverking says I see what you mean QoH. Place in time can impart originality. I undersand Anna that it's a great song. The defenition of a "classic" i guess.
    Permalink posted 11/01/2006
  25. QueenofHell
    QueenofHell says I love Waterloo Sunset. I used to meet my ex boyfriend at Waterloo Station every Friday night. He'd get the train there from Southampton. Every age takes what it needs from music - and produces music according to those needs so in that sense the environs in which the song was created cannnot be recreated and, therefore, the song could not be created again. It's the zeitgeist and this is a philosophical question I feel.
    Permalink posted 11/01/2006
  26. leftoverking
    leftoverking says Ray Davies is one of the greatest songwriters ever!
    Permalink posted 11/01/2006
  27. QueenofHell
    QueenofHell says Yeah - The Kinks were a great band. I ought to listen to more of their stuff. I know only the standard 'best of'.
    Permalink posted 11/01/2006
  28. leftoverking
    leftoverking says I have allmost all of their records up to Low budget. Lots of variety in there from raw rock and roll to mellowdramatic songs with a strong sense of nostalga.
    Permalink posted 11/01/2006
  29. leftoverking
    leftoverking says back to new order songs that can't be re-written (sorry anna)
    Permalink posted 11/01/2006
  30. Terry Staunton
    Terry Staunton says As much as I adore Squeeze, I think about two-thirds of their first few albums were basically re-writes of a solitary song - Paul McCartney's Another Day. Also, the first time I heard The Stroke's Last Nite, it made me want to listen to Tom Petty's American Girl. And don't get me started on Oasis and Whatever, and its similarities to the Neil Innes weepy How Sweet To Be An Idiot. Everything is a rewrite of everything else, be it a four-bar piano flourish in a Elton John ballad, a diminished 12th harmonic refute in a Four Seasons middle-eight, or a Sandy Nelson drum roll in an obscure early 60s surf anthem. The last time I was genuinely surprised by popular music and felt exposed to something I'd never heard before was when the Bristol posse did the business in the early 80s. Massive Attack and Portishead were the last two original groups I heard, everything else has been a rewrite. Suggest anyone you want, I imagine I can think of someone they've borrowed a pen from, to use a slightly awkward metaphor - which, by the way, I stole from someone else! How's that for an ironic illustration of a point? (That stealing thing: I meant the metaphor, not the pen)
    Permalink posted 11/01/2006
  31. Terry Staunton
    Terry Staunton says Uh-oh, typo! I, of course, meant to say early 90s when talking about Massive Attack and Portishead. Also, I think perhaps Anna might not have got the point I was making earlier about the likes of Sam Cooke's A Change Is Gonna Come and Billie Holiday's Strange Fruit. In terms of rewriting popular music, it's essential that songs like the above which have an important and informative message are still heard - if not heard than the lyrical concerns should be re-phrased in a modern setting. Creedence Clearwater Revival made some harsh, yet musically upbeat, points about Vietnam in the late 60s/early 70s, and - whether you like the band or not - Green Day attempted to perform a similar task with regards to Iraq. That's the kind of rewrite I have in mind. CCR's Fortunate Son isn't right for today's soulless squaddie, because in the 21st century there isn't a draft for daddy to help you dodge, but it's still vital that musicians of profile question what is happening to young people of an age where they can be shipped off to fight a war they know little about. My adoration of Elvis Costello is fast becoming common knowledge on MOG, and in 1982 he wrote Shipbuilding as a reaction to the short-lived Falklands conflict. Listening to it today, it's even more pertinent (Iraq again), but perhaps it's time it WAS rewritten. As eloquent as it might be, it's still a song which, to younger ears, is the work of a balding man with glasses on the wrong side of 50. Where are Robbie Williams or Justin Timberlake with their voices of dissent, or at least inquisition? Sad to think in 2006 that we've got to the level of protesting about the dearth of protest singers. Sorry if this is a wee bit too serious - tomorrow I promise knob gags and laboured puns. Yours, with his squirting lapel flower almost dry, Laughin' Tel Staunton
    Permalink posted 11/01/2006
  32. QueenofHell
    QueenofHell says I think 're-write' and 'written again' mean different things in this context.
    Permalink posted 11/01/2006
  33. steph38
    steph38 says I love this conversation. I think that people who make music today have some seriously cool advantages over past eras of music. First, because recording has become so much more accessible and easier to accomplish, impromptu music can turn into a real song, which makes for much more original and interesting stuff. Second, the ability to hear virtually anything and everything makes the influences countless. I have heard some young bands emulating the eighties sound even, and I thought it sounded better than the original. ok, not far to go, and I understand how someone can listen to eighties and appreciate but still not really like it, but some of the younguns are liking it. I hear a lot of influence from a lot of stuff that is very old in the very new. Songs that can't be rewritten: I Will Survive, redone very very nicely by Cake. Gloria's original was my mom's anthem song when I was 12 and she was getting divorced, and mine when Cake redid it... and so did I. haha.
    Permalink posted 11/01/2006
  34. ivylander
    ivylander says You couldn't possibly write "San Francisco (Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair)" again. It's too particular to a certain place, time, set of social circumstances. Not that it's bad....though it kinda is.
    Permalink posted 11/01/2006
  35. ROCKNROLLPIMP1
    ROCKNROLLPIMP1 says THERE IS A SONGWRITING FORMULA capture a moment,an essence in time and connecting with similar people of the same mindset and frame of being.transcendence.ah the space time continuum is lost on most of you earthlings. jeez *I THOUGHT EVERYBODY KNEW AND UNDERSTOOD THIS* well that aside Jackie Brenston - Rocket 88 and if you do not understand THIS.... well,we do not know each other on the spiritual plane that is ROCKNROLL
    Permalink posted 11/01/2006
  36. SamTheButcher
    SamTheButcher says Anna - To think you got this all started with New Order's "True Faith"! :) For me, it's the Replacements' "Bastards of Young" - "No willingness to claim us/You got no war to name us" Poignant as hell. Westerberg can do that when he wants. :)
    Permalink posted 11/01/2006
  37. QueenofHell
    QueenofHell says How about The Village People's 'Go West' which was celebrating the thriving gay scene in San Francisco and The Pet Shop Boy's kinda nostalgic cover version lamenting the end of that scene after the emergence of HIV and AIDs. Is that not a re-re-writing that has some significance and altering the meaning. In a sense the song is written again but with a new meaning after events following the original. Oh and I think The Pet Shop Boys' version of You Were Always On My Mind is the best.
    Permalink posted 11/02/2006
  38. Anna
    Anna says leftoverking, no worries, I enjoy posts gone astray. I derail them all the time. :) Terry, pardon, I have getting lost in translation down to an art. I see your point now. Oh, and "knob gags and laboured puns", I'm holding you to that :) steph38, you raise a very valid point. Sam, I know, I just wanted to celebrate the awesomeness of New Order! :)
    Permalink posted 11/02/2006
  39. wdog
    wdog says Terry, I was just yesterday saying a lot of the same things regarding Neil Young’s “Let’s Impeach The President” Video.. everyone once in a while, a song aligns with the stars and planets in time, and effort to recapture that is unfortunately just doomed to fail.. I agree that Green Day is perhaps the closest to approach finding their mark with the war in Iraq, but ultimately, got lost on the way.. I think any song can be limited by it's context in time - a la "San Francisco" above.. but I think what is great, is when a song is defined by it's moment in time, but is still timeless.. I still get chills listening to "Ohio" and "For What It's Worth".. they were perfect, for their time, can never be written again.. but yet, continue to amaze 30 or 40 years later.
    Permalink posted 11/02/2006
  40. ivylander
    ivylander says Yeah, in the same way that lynchings have fallen out of fashion, but "Strange Fruit" (good call, Mr. Staunton) still creeps me the fuck out.
    Permalink posted 11/02/2006

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