Spanish Eyes was a hit by Al Martino when Jimi was learning the guitar.
http://www.leoslyrics.com/listlyrics...vxc4LvVWhHY%3D
Check out Lyle Lovett's version of God Only Knows from the Brian Wilson Kennedy Center tribute (it's on youtube). Brian says it's the best version done; I'm not so sure. But I challenge anyone to get through that entire tribute with dry eyes. Only downer: G.W. Bush was sharing the honorees' box.
Paul McCartney has said many times that Pet Sounds inspired the Beatles to do their very best work when they were working on Sgt. Pepper.
Spanish Eyes was a hit by Al Martino when Jimi was learning the guitar.
http://www.leoslyrics.com/listlyrics...vxc4LvVWhHY%3D
How about a variation -- best instrumental riff before the opening lines?
Badlands by Springsteen
Gloria by Them
Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes by Edison Lighthouse
Oooh, good choice. In that spirit how about Cult of Personality by Living Colour. In the opposite of that spirit, how Under the Bridge by Red Hot Chili Peppers. And I don't think Miserlou counts (unless "huph hup, hup haaa" counts as lyrics) but I really like that riff before the "song" starts.
So, so you think you can tell
Heaven from Hell,
Blue skys from pain.
Can you tell a green field
From a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?
If I leave here tomorrow
Would you still remember me?
Once upon a time you dressed so fine
You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you?
People'd call, say, "Beware doll, you're bound to fall"
You thought they were all kiddin' you
You used to laugh about
Everybody that was hangin' out
Now you don't talk so loud
Now you don't seem so proud
About having to be scrounging for your next meal.
"Hello darkness, my old friend"
"Yesterday, all my troubles seemed to pass away"
"I'm a believer"
"Big Girls Don't Cry"
"There's a somebody I'm longing to see"
"Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord"
James McMurtry, from Choctaw Bingo. It is an extraordinary song about life in the meth-infested midwest. It lacks much melody, meter, or rhyme, but really works anyway, as the driving nature of the guitar work ties it all together.
(An Austin based singer/songwriter, son of Larry McMurtry of The Last Picture Show and Lonesome Dove fame).
Here's one of my favorites...
In the middle of late last night I was sittin' on a curb
I didn't know what about, but I was feelin' quite disturbed
A street sweeper came whistlin' by, he was bouncin' every step
It seemed strange how good he felt, so I asked him while he swept
He said, "It's my job to be cleaning up this mess
And that's enough reason to go for me
It's my job to be better than the rest
And that makes a day for me."
Now that your picture's in the paper being rhythmically admired
and you can have anyone that you have ever desired,
all you gotta tell me now is why, why, why, why