Thursday, September 29, 2005

Soulful instrument

I recently discovered that alot of my favorite songs of all time have a common thread - the Hammond organ. Now, these are not like gospel music, where organ is the main instrument you hear. Either there's a really cool organ solo, or there's just an undercurrent underneath all the other instruments.

Some of the early songs I like with organ are:
The song that started it all for me, my very favorite Beatles song of all time -
I'm Looking Through You (it's on Rubber Soul)
Time of the Season - the Zombies
Never My Love - The Association
Been Too Long on the Road - Bread

Some more recent ones (I'm glad the Hammond hasn't faded into obscurity)
Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot - Sting (ok - I'll admit this one is pretty gospel-like)
Wouldn't Mama Be Proud - Elliot Smith
Speedway at Nazareth - Mark Knopfler
Come On Home - Indigo Girls

Maybe there's a correlation between being raised listening to hymns every Sunday and liking organ in popular songs. I just know that even though the addition of the instrument is very subtle, these songs seem richer and fuller because of that addition. And above all more soulful.

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