I'll start with two of my all time favorites

Smokey Robinson - Sweet Harmony

His first solo effort and tribute to the Miracles. Probably my all time favorite song by anyone.

http://www.youtube.com/wa...4IBIfFK7UA

And then this better known track

Hall and Oates - She's Gone

http://www.youtube.com/wa...0YX6Jgq7Ng

The guitars - the vocals - the strings - pure magic

Toto - Africa / probably one of the most beautiful melodies and lyrics ever produced

Michael Jackson - Human Nature / Ironically enough written by a guy from Toto. It's up there with "Africa" as one of the most beautiful songs ever written.

Yes - "Leave It" / so unusual for the times, yet perfectly fits in the time it was released.

Hall & Oates - "Sarah Smile" / soul-pop perfection

And I'm beyond your peripheral vision

So you might want to turn your head

Someday you might find you are hungry

Eating most of the words that you, said

Umm, I could post a lot of songs here by the last two. And probably way too many others, as well.

Funny you should mention Sara Smile.

Check out what I just found. Smokey and Daryl performing together on a program called Daryl's house. One of the tunes is Sara Smile.

http://www.youtube.com/us...NXuuNyRL3g

Cerebus said:

Umm, I could post a lot of songs here by the last two. And probably way too many others, as well.

Cool.

Last Goodbye is one of all my all time favorite tunes as well. That bridge, "Did you say, no this can't happen to me"= chills every time

Love me some Astral Weeks too. My fav Van Morrison is defintiely Into the Mystic.

I'll check out the Ani tune and get back to you.

yup...

Fenwick said:

Cerebus said:

Umm, I could post a lot of songs here by the last two. And probably way too many others, as well.

Cool.

Last Goodbye is one of all my all time favorite tunes as well. That bridge, "Did you say, no this can't happen to me"= chills every time

Love me some Astral Weeks too. My fav Van Morrison is defintiely Into the Mystic.

I'll check out the Ani tune and get back to you.

Last Goodbye, for me, conveys what Jeff did best - leave you slack-jawed and drained from the emotional intensity of his music. It's a love song, about a break-up. After all these years it's still really easy to see why he had such a hard time creating an album he felt measured up to Grace. It's just so damn good.

The first six Van Morrison albums - Astral Weeks, His Band and His Street Choir, Moondance, Tupelo Honey, Saint Dominic's Preview, Hard Nose To The Highway - are all masterful. Each of them contains songs that I would personally consider perfect. The rest of his career is a lot of ups and downs, but I still appreciate all of it. And he still drops the occasional mind-blowing album as he nears 65. Incredible songwriter who probably won't be fully appreciated until he's long gone.

Ani is too personal and important to me for me to blather on about her. I hope you like the song.

[Edited 7/12/10 21:33pm]

Stevie Wonder - "You & I"

Billie Holiday - "God Bless The Chid"

Sly & The Family Stone - "Africa Talks to You 'The Asphalt Jungle'"

Quincy Jones FT. Bernard Ighner - "Everything Must Change"

Shuggie Otis - "Island Letter"

Patrice Rushen - "Remind Me"

Dionne Warwick - "Love Song'

Prince - "Power Fantastic"(The one with the trumpet intro)

Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band - "Hard Times"

Enchantment - "Gloria"

Among many others. I wouldn't change a SINGLE error about those songs or how they were sung.

There are a few on here that I do not know and am excited to explore.

These ones I know and love:

Marvin - All the way Around

All the Stevie songs are magic - My all time favorite Stevie song is Jesus Children of America probably followed by Big Brother

Billie Holiday =

George Harrison - Give Me Love - I'd have probably voted for All Things Must Pass or Beware of Darkness but you can't go wrong with George either.

Bob Marley "No Woman No Cry"

Jimi Hendrix "Machine Gun"

more that I can't think of now...

Friends and Neighbors by Ronnie Laws

Kid About It by Elvis Costello

Surrender by Swing Out Sister

Love Changes by Mother's Finest

The Fez by Steely Dan

Home by Depeche Mode

Looking Through The Windows by J5

When Somebody Loves You Back by Teddy Pendergrass

When You've Got What It Takes by The Carpenters (b-side)

We Are One (live 1986) by Maze featuring Frankie Beverly

MotorBootyAffair said:

Love Changes by Mother's Finest

I KNEW I forgot something

Skip Scarborough wrote thee PERFECT song for Joyce Kennedy's voice.

Time After Time - Cyndi Lauper

The Closer I Get To You - Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway

Adore - Prince

Rock With You - Michael Jackson

If Only You Knew - Patti LaBelle

Goin' Thru Changes - Ledisi

Anytime, Anyplace - Janet Jackson

Keep Yo Head Up - Tupac

One Sweet Day - Mariah Carey

Ribbon In The Sky - Stevie Wonder

Here and Now - Luther Vandross

I Have Nothing - Whitney Houston

How Can I Ease The Pain - Lisa Fischer

Off the top of my head.

I suppose you might consider this perfect for obvious reasons, but I absloutly LOVE the song itself. The lyrics coupled with her whispery singing puts a dramatic affect that stays with you for a long while.

Can you feel what I'm saying - Minnie Riperton

Inside my love - Minnie Riperton

Here we go - Minnie Riperton

Return to forever - Minnie Riperton

Memory Lane - Minnie Riperton

Earth Song - Michael Jackson

Lady in my life - Michael Jackson

I can't help it - Michael Jackson

One Day In Your Life - Michael Jackson

Liberian Girl - Michael Jackson

Who Is It - Michael Jackson

Leave Me Alone - Michael Jackson

Maybe Tomorrow - Jackson 5

Who's Loving You- Jackson 5

Push Me Away - Jacksons

Lemon Crush - Prince

Batdance - Prince

Mountains - Prince

The Dance- Prince

Adore- Prince

Shockadelica - Prince

Pink Cashmere- Prince

When Doves Cry - Prince

Christopher Tracy's Parade -Prince

Life Can Be So Nice- Prince

The Future - Prince

Automatic - Prince

The Beautiful Ones- Prince

Something In The Water - Prince

Sign 'O The Times - Prince

Pop Life - Prince

I Wonder U - Prince

New Postition - Prince

Computer Blue - Prince

Moments In Love- ?

Pieces Of A Dream - We've already said goodbye

Teena Marie - Out On A Limb

Teena Marie - Portuguese Love

Teena Marie - DeJa Vu

Sade - Soilder Of Love

Sade - Give It Up

Sade - Couldn't Love You More

Sade - Is it a crime?

Sade - Jezebel

Sade - Never as good as the first time

Sade - Like A Tattoo

Sade - Haunt Me

Christion - Full of Smoke

Christion - Tonight

Christion - Soon

Elton John - Tiny Dancer

INXS - Need You Tonight

INXS - Standing

REM - Losing My Religion

Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Breaking The Girl

Ooh, this love is so - Al B. Sure

Sincerely Jane - Janelle Monae

Where Have All The Cowboys Gone - Paula Cole

If it isn't love - New Edition

She's like the wind - Patrick Swayze

Living All Alone- Phyllis Hyman

When I give my love this time - Phyllis Hyman

When it's raining cats and dogs - PM Dawn

To Love Me More - PM Dawn

About Nothing - PM Dawn

In The Air Tonight - Phil Collins

Sign Your Name - Terrence Trent D'arby

Mary Jane's Last Dance - Tom Petty

Kiss From A Rose - Seal

Blowing Kisses In The Wind- Paula Abdul

Noon Rendezvous - Sheila E.

Love Don't Live Here Anymore - Rose Royce

Wicked Game - Cris Isack

Tender Love - Force MD's

I Call Your Name - Switch

River Deep Mountain High - Tina Turner

Criminal - Fiona Apple

D'yer Maker - Sheryl Crow

All I wanna do -Sheryl Crow

One More Try - George Michael

Everything She Wants - Wham

Days Gone By - ??? This is not my beautiful house...

Here Comes The Rain Again - Eurythmics

Sweet Dreams - Eurythmics

[Edited 7/15/10 16:48pm]

When I think of a perfect song this one always comes to my mind:

- David Frank had the touch on keys/percussion and Mic Murphy's blend of rock/soul vocals were a perfect fit

-Love the melody/vocal arrangement.

-that bass that bass that bass

-Who on earth didn't air drum to this song? lol

[Edited 7/15/10 17:57pm]

[Edited 7/15/10 18:09pm]

ernestsewell said:

Toto - Africa / probably one of the most beautiful melodies and lyrics ever produced

Michael Jackson - Human Nature / Ironically enough written by a guy from Toto. It's up there with "Africa" as one of the most beautiful songs ever written.

Yes - "Leave It" / so unusual for the times, yet perfectly fits in the time it was released.

Hall & Oates - "Sarah Smile" / soul-pop perfection

Ugh, big Yes fan but never liked "leave it". Irritating song LOL.

Harlepolis said:

I suppose you might consider this perfect for obvious reasons, but I absloutly LOVE the song itself. The lyrics coupled with her whispery singing puts a dramatic affect that stays with you for a long while.

This is a really interesting one. There's a bit of a back story behind it that's probably more well known than most on here than me. But apparently Kate pretty much hated what he did to her song as it supposedly took away a lot of the mood/somberness (if that's a word).

I rather love what Prince did to it and think both versions are fantastic.

Cerebus said:

Fenwick said:

Cool.

Last Goodbye is one of all my all time favorite tunes as well. That bridge, "Did you say, no this can't happen to me"= chills every time

Love me some Astral Weeks too. My fav Van Morrison is defintiely Into the Mystic.

I'll check out the Ani tune and get back to you.

Last Goodbye, for me, conveys what Jeff did best - leave you slack-jawed and drained from the emotional intensity of his music. It's a love song, about a break-up. After all these years it's still really easy to see why he had such a hard time creating an album he felt measured up to Grace. It's just so damn good.

The first six Van Morrison albums - Astral Weeks, His Band and His Street Choir, Moondance, Tupelo Honey, Saint Dominic's Preview, Hard Nose To The Highway - are all masterful. Each of them contains songs that I would personally consider perfect. The rest of his career is a lot of ups and downs, but I still appreciate all of it. And he still drops the occasional mind-blowing album as he nears 65. Incredible songwriter who probably won't be fully appreciated until he's long gone.

Ani is too personal and important to me for me to blather on about her. I hope you like the song.

Hey my friend - the Ani song appears to be a grower for me. It doesn't knock my socks off but it is a very enjoyable song. I'll have to check her out a bit more.

I totally agree with your assesment of Jeff's album and him as an artist. It's such a shame we were left with the fragments of Sketches for me Sweetheart. But there were some songs on there that were brilliant. For that matter, Everybody Here Wants You could just as easily be on this list of perfect songs.

Van Morrison is #1 on my artists to check out in the near future. It's just I literally have 50 CDs right now that I haven't even opened. I'm still trynig to gt through the Complete Motown Singles series.

Serious said:

When I think of a perfect song this one always comes to my mind:

You know - when I first had this album for some reason this was one of the songs I felt was a bit ho hum. BUt over time it REALLY grew on me. And now it is one of my favorites too.

He really lets it rip at the end.

It's a real tough one, but I'd probably place To Know Someone Deeply or Goodbye Diane as my favorite Sananda song. Of course that answer will change by noon today...

Interstate Love Song = X 42,000

I see two Elvis Costello songs on here which is great. I would have never imagined Kid About It or So Like Candy making a list like this. Very cool.

If I was going to put an Elvis song on here, I would literally have to fight off about 50 different songs. But I guess I'll start with Country Darkness and/or You Little Fool.

I see I have some Minnie Riperton to check out now too....

[Edited 7/16/10 4:44am]

Wild Cherry - Play That Funky Music

Parliament - Funkadelic - Bring The Funk

The Commodores - Brick House

[Edited 7/16/10 9:21am]