GREAT SONGS on the charts

I'm not sure if they are currently on the charts or what charts but somewhat recent albums that have rightfully gotton some attention:

Nora Jones: Come Away With Me Radiohead: Hail to the Thief Coldplay: A Rush of Blood to the Head White Stripes: Elephant

Several of songs I'd be willing to defend as great on these albums. But sadly, I think most of the great songs linger well below the awareness of the charts. We do seem to be left with a lowest-common-denominator on most fronts... sad.

My general opinion is that a lot of what gets airplay gets it because RIAA has marketed it that way. RIAA determines what will 'sell', what people must buy, and how much money to charge for it. Bands are under contract to produce certain kinds of music, are often formed by talent scouts that independently bring people together (like a 'corporate' version of a band) for a particular sound or genre, and the 'professional songwriters' determine what it is that the bands record.

In short, RIAA markets whatever they think they can shove down our throats, and charges $17.99 per CD for it.

Amidst that, there are still a few REALLY good artists out there producing things that are truly great or truly original. And there's a lot of 'mediocre schlock' that fills up the rest of the 'bandwidth' on the

Well, this turned out a lot longer than I planned.

I don't listen to radio much but a few songs of recent years stand out to me. Before I tell you the songs, let me see my idea of 'great' may not be anyone else's idea of great. And I thing songs are great for different reasons.

I thought 'Three Wooden Crosses' written by Michael Douglas Johnson and Kim Williams and recorded by Randy Travis was a great song. It's no secret I like basic country music and this was pretty straight forward. I also liked the Christian aspect as well. But the thing I liked most about the song is something that has always existed in country music but has been missing in recent years

Don't often say this, but I agree with every word you said there

Interesting. I sort of like 'Three wooden,' a good lyric, but in my opinion not a great song. Mr. Jackson's 'World' (although I'm sure not intentional) sounds so much like a song from the 80's 'I've been to paradise' that it borders on copyright infringement if you ask me. The Toby song 'Red white' I don't like at all and even consider it a rather mundane song. The other one mentioned 'Have you forgotten' is in my opinion, one of the worst songs I've ever heard..lol, Attempting to rhyme 'forgotten' and 'Bin laden' is such a stretch, that I cringe every time I hear it. I'm not a big fan of 'Patriotic' songs at all. Don't get me wrong, if any of those songs have helped anyone emotionally, namely our troops then job well done, but I can't help thinking these writers and artists cashed in on an opportunity.. I may be wrong but I can't help thinking that. The fact I don't like three of the four songs mentioned doesn't in any way mean I think others should feel the same way.

Songwriting & Music Business Info: http://www.sethjackson.net

I don't know if I'd classify it as a Great Song, but I'm pretty impressed with the writing in the Dierks Bentley song, 'What Was I Thinking'.

- Seth Jackson

Songwriting & Music Business Info: http://www.sethjackson.net

Hey, we agree!

That's one of those songs that to me has no good melody, nothing special yet it always makes me hum along.

True, the melody is nothing special, but the lyric has some great imagery.

- Seth Jackson

Songwriting & Music Business Info: http://www.sethjackson.net

I was a little troubled by some of the lyrics in Have You Forgotten because they seemed to be there for effect. I liked the Bin Laden / Forgotten rhymes but thought the mention of Bin Laden wasn't wise because it dated the song.

I think when the song was written we hadn't gone into Iraq and I always thought it was about Afghanistan. That may be because it mentions Bin Laden who was linked to the Taliban in Afghanistan or it may have been because I heard/read that Worley wrote the song after talking to troops in Afghanistan. I can't remember. I think it was actually about Afghanistan rather than Iraq.

Like I said, there are some things in the song that turn me off and I'm not sure I'd call it great, but it stands out in my mind I guess because of the