https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/are-songs-timeless/ Guitar Noise Discussion Board en-US Thu, 04 Jun 2026 10:29:26 +0000 wpForo 60 https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/are-songs-timeless/paged/2/#post-230327 Wed, 21 Feb 2007 22:21:17 +0000
But a song?

Now that's a really tough question to answer. What does it have to do to be considered silence? Like, right now, billions of people around the world listen to Silent Night every Christmas season. What if someday only millions do? Is it still considered timeless? What if eventually that millions turns into hundreds? Is it still timeless becasue 567 people in the world listen to it? I don't know. I think so, I mean. There will be a phase someday in life where this music isn't played very often. Think about it, times will change. But people still will listen to it. And eventually, again, there will be another phase where it's 'popular' again.

As for a band like...Pink Floyd. We don't know. I mean, my dad's generation loved it. My generation loves it. Will my kids generation love it? We'll have to wait and see.]]> Opinions and Polls Kevin72790 https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/are-songs-timeless/paged/2/#post-230327 https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/are-songs-timeless/paged/2/#post-230280 Wed, 21 Feb 2007 19:00:24 +0000 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/4354028.stm and the song is "Hang up" you can her it here.

Really I don't know if the term 'lick' is only reserved for other uses. Sorry.
Unless, ofcourse, you define 'timeless' as 'whatever I like'. Which is fine with me but might cause some confusion. :D Probably, but remember, I don't like Abba! :mrgreen:

I'm only trying to generalize so we can also add the next sentence: If I don't like a song, it will never be timeless. :wink:]]> Opinions and Polls Nuno https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/are-songs-timeless/paged/2/#post-230280 https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/are-songs-timeless/paged/2/#post-230263 Wed, 21 Feb 2007 18:11:10 +0000
But I do think for a piece of music to be considered timeless it one has to be around for a minimum of say 50 - 100 years and it has to be known to people of all ages both musical and non musical.

Someone mentioned Bohemian rapsody by Queen and although I am a Queen fan at this point I don't think that could be called timeless. For one it hasn't been around long enough and I'm not sure if there are that many people that really know it.

ABBA would never make it on any criteria, but songs like Greensleeves, etc would.]]> Opinions and Polls cnev https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/are-songs-timeless/paged/2/#post-230263 https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/are-songs-timeless/paged/2/#post-230257 Wed, 21 Feb 2007 17:57:53 +0000
as was mentioned earlier.....'Greensleaves' was probably the first pop song ever written....it travelled via the minstrels far and wide...i've even seen old manuscript with a TAB very similar to our own :shock:

just to add....I personally think 'music' as a whole is timeless...its only when lyrics are added that things change :idea:

Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody.....a perfect timeless example IMHO]]> Opinions and Polls ballybiker https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/are-songs-timeless/paged/2/#post-230257 https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/are-songs-timeless/paged/2/#post-230250 Wed, 21 Feb 2007 17:31:15 +0000 of course, there are records that will always sound like remnents of an era, but if you can get past the crackling and dust, you discover life.]]> Opinions and Polls Anonymous https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/are-songs-timeless/paged/2/#post-230250 https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/are-songs-timeless/paged/2/#post-230220 Wed, 21 Feb 2007 15:23:07 +0000
On the other hand, probably young people do not buy a Beethoven symphony or a Bach choral composition. Or maybe they do. I don't know the madonna song, but I seriously doubt it is a 'abba lick', considering that I never heared a single melody by them that hadn't been done a billion times before. So unless it's sampled (and be honest, who hasn't been sampled these days?, that don't mean nothing) it's just a melody that Abba used as well. As for age: young people generally buy neither. However, as people grow old they seem to turn to different types of music, or learn to appreciate more, but that doesn't go for Abba. They have to rely on their original fanbase formost.

Over here Beatles songs are often performed. Which is probably hwy there are so many beatles-lessons here, and beatles song requests. Same goes for Hendrix (every month there is someone new trying Little Wing or purple Haze), Stairway to heaven has been played so much that it's illegal in most music stores to even mention the name.

Abba was just an earlier version of the Spice girls, well produced pop songs for those into ESF kinda pop/dance. These people do not last because there's always a new version of what they did. Timeless music doesn't depend on good or bad, we call that 'good or bad music'. Timeless music has quite a lot to do with 'timeless', which ofcourse mean that genres that are very much linked to time, and even seem to require the setting to really make things happen, cannot be timeless.

Unless, ofcourse, you define 'timeless' as 'whatever I like'. Which is fine with me but might cause some confusion. :D]]> Opinions and Polls Ignar Hillström https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/are-songs-timeless/paged/2/#post-230220 https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/are-songs-timeless/paged/2/#post-230209 Wed, 21 Feb 2007 12:21:13 +0000 only song buskers know is Here Comes the Sun... and I don't mean the only Beatles song they know either :shock:

There's a stand-up comedian called Steve Punt (I don't know if anyone outside the UK knows him) who did a sketch to that effect, and it's all true :wink:]]> Opinions and Polls Misanthrope https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/are-songs-timeless/paged/2/#post-230209 https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/are-songs-timeless/paged/2/#post-230203 Wed, 21 Feb 2007 08:53:14 +0000 Beatles songs? Quite often, actually.
The last time I was in a pub, the band played a couple.
At the farmers' market this summer, there was a guy playing "Yesterday" on a pan flute. :shock:
And almost every busker I see has a few Beatles songs in their repertoire.]]> Opinions and Polls kent_eh https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/are-songs-timeless/paged/2/#post-230203 https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/are-songs-timeless/paged/2/#post-230043 Tue, 20 Feb 2007 22:56:03 +0000
Second, the question is "are songs timeless?" Madonna included a very famous Abba's lick in one of her latest songs.

On the other hand, probably young people do not buy a Beethoven symphony or a Bach choral composition. Or maybe they do.

IMHO it doesn't depends on the type of music, classical, rock or whatever. It does on good music or bad music. Complementing the previous Sleutelbos question: How often do you see people perform Beatles songs? Here at GN, there are a lot of young people and they usually speak about Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Led Zep... All these bands were playing before Abba did (or contemporary).

Good thread! 8)]]> Opinions and Polls Nuno https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/are-songs-timeless/paged/2/#post-230043 https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/are-songs-timeless/paged/2/#post-230041 Tue, 20 Feb 2007 22:50:38 +0000 But if I had to nominate someone from the 20th century I thought was timeless. In the sense that people will be copping his licks and phrasings for a long time to come (whether they know it or not): Louis Armstrong.
Louis 'taught the world to swing' is how someone put it. And that's been called jazz and jump and rock 'n' roll over the years as different stylistic elements go in and out of favour, but the underpinnings are all there in Louis' stuff.
Least that's what I hear. :wink:

Edit: hard to argue with Greensleeves!]]> Opinions and Polls boxboy https://guitarnoise.forum/opinions-and-polls/are-songs-timeless/paged/2/#post-230041