We have a thread on best album. I want to discuss great songs. A great song is one in which the artist puts their soul and everything in it. Examples include but are not limited to:

"Ode to Joy" by Ludwig van Beethoven

"You're So Vain" by Carly Simon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6UAYGxiRwU

"Tears in Heaven" by Eric Clapton

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxPj3GAYYZ0

"Fast Car" by Tracy Chapman

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTIB10eQnA0

"Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely" by Backstreet Boys

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBt8fN7mJNg

Jeanette Isabelle

YES!!!! Ode to Joy - best music ever penned !!!

Hard to beat Beethoven, but among the songs of my lifetime, I'd have to say that "Amelia" by Joni Mitchell is great for the pictures she paints in your mind with the lyrics.
In the various YouTubes of Joni performing this song, it's never quite the same, but all good...
Joni Mitchell- Amelia live 1983
Amelia (cut from Joni Mitchell's Shadows & Light DVD if I'm not mistaken).
Amelia, audio track from Joni Mitchell's Hejira album.

These are some of my favorites. I can't play the first two - most things with the name "Liszt" attached to them are for very accomplished pianists (even ones that look/sound like they should be easy - not true!) But the others I very much enjoy playing.

Liszt - Un Sospiro, played by Valentina Lisitsa (one of my favorite pianists):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDALaf-_65k

Schubert/Liszt - Ave Maria:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCucnn-95nY

Schubert - Impromptu #3:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_z9oSn-eIM

Debussy - Claire de Lune:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufNZNOHtQ3o

Of course, the first movement of this Beethoven one - Moonlight Sonata:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsOUcikyGRk

An incredible performance, the way Valentina Lisitsa handles the keys is amazing.

Jeanette Isabelle

You guys are talking Beethoven. Here is a short list of some less well-known, but wonderful classical music:

Piazzolla, Oblivion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKGEpCAciTo

Borodin, String Quartet No. 2, Movement 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTPrcBAq28Q

Kabalevsky, Violin Concerto in C Major -- a listenable atonal work
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onIjUnLFmeM

I'm not the biggest classic music lover; I mentioned Beethoven because he goes deep with "Ode to Joy."

Jeanette Isabelle

Not everything I listen to is classical piano.

I've always liked this song. It's catchy and makes me happy. Here being playing on an instrument I've always wanted to learn. Someday, ... someday ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9_Pl-U9R4s&list=RD6mbqfzl9TMY&index=27

And another inspiring traditional song, on a different instrument that I also want to learn someday:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy3h6--fMBA

Here's a really nice transcription of, OK, yeah, well, it's another classical piece (but not performed on piano this time). Pachelbel - Canon in D:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXC9tuumjiA

"Amazing Grace" is on my list of great songs.

Jeanette Isabelle

When performed as it should this English folk song, which as been traced at least as far back as 1670, carries a lot of emotion. For this rendition listen to how the musicians capture the emotion, not necessarily the woman singing it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsDpGRZNRgE

This is another great song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_eAzaTquN8

This is not a great song; it accomplishes what it sets out to do, that is it invites the audience to feel what Joy is going through in the lowest moment of her life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69qqb2kj35U

Jeanette Isabelle