Apart from the mainly-Chinese playlist in the sidebar (commentary here), below are some links to an eclectic selection of All-time Great Songs* on this blog. Besides the songs, the posts are worth reading too—Trust Me, I’m a Doctor.
- Fado das horas sung by a youthful Carminho
- Erbarme Dich (see also Bach roundup)
- You’re my thrill and other gems from Billie Holiday
- Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen and Der Abschied (see also Mahler tag)
- Michel Legrand: You must believe in spring and The windmills of your mind
- Amy Winehouse: Back to black
- Purcell, When I am laid in earth
- Chet ballads, here and here
- Orchestral song-cycles: Wagner, Berg
- Beatles songs: impossible to choose, rejoice in them all!
- Same for The magic of the voice (1 and 2)
- A Swedish psalm
- Moon river, sung by Audrey Hepburn
- moving versions of Somewhere over the rainbow (Judy Garland, Nina Simone, Ariana Grande)
- Eternal source of light divine
- Naturträne by Nina Hagen!!!
- Rameau‘s Tristes apprêts
- Smile (Charlie Chaplin, Nat King Cole, Judy Garland)
- Two guttural vocalists
- Ravel, Shéhérazade (see also Ravel tag)
- Comment te dire adieu
- Aretha: Amazing Grace and I say a little prayer
- Buxtehude, Klaglied
- let me tell you sung by the amazing Barbara Hannigan (see also here)
- Voila sung by Barbara Pravi
- The great Enza Pagliara
- The kilam laments of Kurdish bards
- Karen Dalton with It hurts me too
- Mama Cass and Dream a little dream of me!
* Of course, varied as this selection is (à la McClary; see also here, and here), it isn’t so eclectic as to include Albanian funeral laments, Sardinian tenores, flamenco deep song, Indian dhrupad, Inuit throat-singing, Umm Kulthum, Aboriginal dream songs… (see also Voices of the world). But I can’t resist including
- The ballad of the dictator, sung and played by Nicolae Neacșu (under Musical cultures of East Asia)
- and the plaintive free-tempo songs under Songs of Asia Minor.
And I can’t start adding songs without words, but we just have to include the divine Clara Rockmore’s Vocalise on theremin:
For two celebratory playlists, see Dancing in the streets!!! and A playlist for Emma and Leylah.
For a similarly diverse playlist of trumpeters, see here (indeed, trumpet has its own tag); and for some feminist lists, here (with bonus tracks including Sheridan’s Smith’s amazing cover of Anyone who had a heart) and here. My series on north Indian raga is introduced here.
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