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Clinton Impson

James Lind

Music Appreciation

11/19/22

Twenty songs I believe are worth preserving by Clinton Impson

I know I am certainly no music critic some might even question my taste in music at

times. Other people’s opinions in no way diminish my love for music. My tastes are varied, and

they seem to run a gambit of genres. But one thing that is for sure is that I love good writing

and I admire a good musician. I will wholeheartedly admit I have very little musical talent I

cannot play an Instrument, nor can I read music. I do not believe that those things are a

requirement to appreciate and love music. From the first time I can remember music has

always been a part of my life. I would strongly suspect that this is true for many people. Music

surrounds us whether on tv and media or live music or the music in our head it is always with

us.

I will go out on a limb and say in my opinion not all music is good. Or at least some is

better than others. This leaves a huge gap of what is great music. This is a completely subjective

concept but for this paper I have been asked to judge what twenty songs I believe need to be

preserved. I have not taken this task lightly. Narrowing these songs down for me has been

extremely difficult because I love so many songs. Ultimately my decision came to a few factors.

First and foremost, does the song have significant meaning to me. Secondly is the song
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melodious and well written. To me this means the writing is well done and the music is

complimentary and well performed. I believe not only is a musical instrument a violin or a

trombone for instance It can also be the human voice. I believe in the songs I have chosen all of

these elements, and more are on display.

Let’s start with three songs that are three of the finest written songs in this list. Ramblin

man by Hank Williams copperhead road by Steve Earle and bridge over troubled water by Paul

Simon. Now at first glance these songs would seem to have very little in common but I would

beg to differ. All three of these songs are sheer poetry from good musicians who wrote

beautifully. In ramblin man Hank Williams Performs with just his voice and a guitar. But with

that song he is able to invoke the feeling of loneliness that the feeling of wanderlust causes. He

expresses with the changing timbres of his voice a concept that is hard to grasp a need to

wander. In copperhead road singer songwriter Steve Earle is able to capture what it is like to be

a Vietnam veteran struggling to sell marijuana. With the hard country rhythms supplied by his

band the dukes this song is incredible both on album and live. And finally Paul Simons bridge

over troubled water is an incredible song about sacrifice and love and realizing dreams. Paul

uses the piano to help create some really strong emotions. All three of these songs have

touched me in different ways I have loved and sacrificed. I have been a drug addicted outlaw

that was disgruntled with his government. And I have experienced wanderlust so strong I

wanted to leave everything behind.

Next, I want to take a look at some songs that I believe are made for great voices. These

are songs that seemed to be perfectly suited to the artists that created them. Adele’s rolling in

the deep Ella Fitzgerald’s rendition of summertime Louie Armstrong’s version of mack the knife
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and Allison Krauss’s steel rails. In keeping with the idea that the human voice can be an

instrument these are songs that have created in me a respect for how the artist was able to use

rhythm and tone and inflection to tell a story. Whether it is Louis Armstrong’s gravelly voice

singing about a mafia hitman in the 20s. Or the shear power of Adele and Ella crooning about

lost love and a season the voice makes the song. In Allison Krauss’s steel rails we see a girl who

is looking into both the past and the future at the same time Allison creates this idea by using

timing and her considerable talent on the fiddle to set a tone of optimism in a lonely box car.

This is what makes a song great.

I have always felt a strong connection to my Celtic roots and no two songs exemplify

that any better than four stone walls by capercaillie or David’s jig by Natalie Mcmasters though

they are on different ends of the spectrum in Celtic music both are incredible in their own right.

Karen Matheson sings about how important a home can be to a displaced person. How four

stone walls represents more than just a place to live. Those walls can represent security and

well being family a home. In Natalie McMasters David’s jig we have an example of a master at

her craft. Many people consider Natalie McMasters to be the world’s greatest living fiddle

player. And she displays this magnificently in David’s jig. A jig is a type of Gaelic dance song and

it is usually played fast. Natalie sticks with that but she breaks up the jig with different rythyms.

And distinct variations in the song.

Two of my favorite blues songs are Lightnin Hopkins awful dreams and joe Bonamassa’s

black lung heartache. What greatest song list would be complete without representing the

blues. And these two songs do that and more. Awful dreams is a song about exactly what it says

one mans really bad dreams and how they express themselves to him. Lightnin Hopkins plays
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this song with himself on guitar and another musician on snare drum. The song is a very

traditional blues style tune, but Mr. Hopkins is one of the all-time great guitarists of all time he

is able to perfectly express the meaning of the song. He uses simple blues melodies performed

with perfect timing and a mastery of his instrument. In contrast Joe Bonamassa’s black lung

heartache is not what some might consider traditional blues. It has a faster tempo but it is a

cool song about a good man feeling bad, but joe Bonamassa is a guitar virtuoso I love both of

these songs from two masters of the same instrument.

The next songs I want to talk about on my list are ones I call my guilty pleasures. These

songs are like good sex they feel good but they make you feel a little dirty after your done

listening to them. So here are my guilty pleasures black sabbath’s war pigs ,the eagles witchy

woman, the new riders of the purple sages wish you could have seen me running, Marshall

tucker bands fire on the mountain and Amy winehouses back to black. Whether it is the shear

pleasure of listening to Tony Iommi, s guitar riffs and Ozzy at the beginning of his career war

pigs is a rough rowdy song with a hard antiwar message. For this same reason I love fire on the

mountain it reminds me of a rougher harder time in life. Witchy woman and back to black share

a sexual overtone to them. Amy personifies a dirty girl and with lyrics in witchy woman like she

drove herself to madness with a silver spoon. Theres just this very sexual element to these

songs. I have always loved the new riders just because they are kind of a goofy country band

and wish you could have seen me running is a genuinely great love song.

My last category of songs is what I affectionately call tear jerkers. These are songs that

bring a tear to my eye every time I hear them. Hank Williams, I saw the light, bad company’s

seagull whiskey Myer’s broken window serenade and Frank Sinatra’s my way. These are songs
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that have significant meaning to me at different stages in my life. For instance Bad co.’s seagull

helped get me through a break up with my first real girlfriend. Hanks I saw the light represents

some real hard truths I have had to face in my walk with God. Whiskey Myers broken window

serenade is about drug abuse and death it reminds me of my own addiction and my wife who I

lost to that same addiction. And Frank Sinatra’s my way Is because I have always seemed to do

things the hard way.

I love each and every song on this list. I wish I could have chosen about a million more

songs to put on my list. I believe these songs need to be preserved because I love them and that

matters. My opinion matters because I have been asked to do a very hard task and I believe I

have accomplished that to the best of my ability.