wow - didn't expect so many great responses, and so many excellent songs. Thanks so much for all of your sharing - and because we're all musicians, or incredible music lovers to say the least, I find your suggestions so much more in line with my personal taste.

At some point I hope to listen to all of them all the way through and comment on each, like Floyd did - but that would take several hours, and my attention span is short. But until then, thanks again for all your shares. Lots of great new music and artists.

Here's another that was a big hit, and also a great song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5MAg_yWsq8

I always wonder what musical tricks or sonic (instrumentation, etc) tricks help the music sound like a particular idiom. For songs about the sea , sailing, fishing - some of the above clearly go for that, while others stay true to their own genre but the words are what make that song fit the category. Can anyone articulate what musical tricks and sounds used, for those songs where the music sounds like the category (fishing, sailing), are used ?

For example, in Downeaster Alexa, Billy Joel (in my top 5 of greatest pop/singer/songwriters of all time) uses some of these tricks:
1.) an accordion, which is often found in traditional ship songs
2.) a very rhythmic, repetitive drum beat
3.) extremely melodic with very simple chord changes, often 1-5, which
4.) a musical bridge with seagull sounds and violins - violins are also much part of traditional music played on the waters, and seagull sounds that are maybe synth and slide guitar on the high electric strings.
and the "Yea-Oh" - is something similar to sailors yelling (ship ahoy - there she blows")
5.) lyrics and vocabulary - try and count the number of ocean/fishing words are in that song - probably has the most of all - Trawlerman has a lot too. I haven't listened to the others yet to see which also fit have a huge number of words that fit the theme.


I thought about another similar thread - with "Greatest Ballads" - though that cateogory is really broad, but I'm sure everyone has 5 or 6 songs that come to mind first when asked "what are some songs that have a really great story underneath them"

Last edited by Joe V; 07/17/20 07:31 AM.