Simply Beautiful Songs

Some of my suggestions:

Circle of Life -- Elton John

Can You Feel the Love Tonight? -- Elton John

The Rose -- Bette Midler

Songbird -- Fleetwood Mac

Imagine -- John Lennon

The Power of Love -- Celine Dion

My Heart Will Go On -- Celine Dion

 

The Josh Groban version is amazing.

(the only version I could find involves Johnny Weir skating to it.)

Cannot do this song anymore since I sang it at my grandfather's funeral. Those ASPCA commercials with this in the background make me bawl. This song + cute kittens? Please pass the tissues.

Also, I can't believe we've made it this far with no mention of "Vienna" by Billy Joel.

Reflecting Light by Sam Phillips (those who watch Gilmore Girls, it's the song that Luke and Lorelai dance to at Liz's wedding in S4.)

I'm a fan of "Something" by the Beatles as well.

And, of course, you can't have a "Simply Beautiful Songs" without having something by Sinatra...my favorite is "It Had to Be You."

 

I'm normally not paying attention to my TV, but I scramble for the remote as soon as I hear the first few notes of that commercial. Breaks my heart to watch even 5 seconds of it.

 

I think Machine Head is the only person to mention Neil Young so far, so I'll add one:

Helpless:

 

I think I got sidetracked earlier when I was gonna post this:

In My Hour Of Darkness, Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris:

 

Blue Sky -- Allman Brothers
Moonlight Mile -- Rolling Stones
Raggedy Ann -- Mindy Smith
Jackson -- Lucinda Williams
Rainy Night in Georgia -- Brook Benton
My Hometown -- Springsteen
Lucky Man -- ELP
Ten Years Gone -- Led Zeppelin
California Dreamin' -- Mamas and Papas
Battle of Evermore -- Led Zeppelin

 

I don't cry, but I was in the city for that, and I was actually standing in front of World of Mirth, the toy store co-owned by the beautiful wife in the song that was displaying all the flowers and candles and shit, which made its way into the song. Chilling, chilling stuff. And while I vaguely remember having a conversation with the woman the one time I wandered into her store, the full heft of this didn't really hit me until the song came out. What a beautiful, yet soul-crushing, song

 

Laid by James.

This bed is on fire with passion and love...

 

Ditto.

 

I have a soft spot for simple instrumentation.

Waiting on an Angel, Ben Harper - When I first heard this, I expected the singer to be much older than he is. It's a credit to him, because it's got a weight to it that I don't associate with younger artists

Dead Man's Will, Iron and Wine - there's a prettier acapella version of this on the Friday Night Lights television soundtrack, but this clip gets the gist of it

I Miss You, Incubus (acoustic) - simple, gorgeous and achingly sad. Lyrics that everyone can relate to and can interpret in their own way

Cry If You Want To, Holly Cole Trio - Jazz trio, so it's a little different every time you hear it. Singer has a very interesting style that took me a while to get used to, but I think it suits the song well

And from Broadway, Bring Him Home from Les Miserables, this one performed by Colm Wilkenson - a prayer during battle. Parodied often, but that's because the original is so damn good.

Your Hand in Mine, or anything by Explosions in the Sky

 

Cool thread. I limited my list to one song per artist (and still went wayyyyy overboard):

"Call and Answer" - Barenaked Ladies

"Lost Cause" - Beck

"The Ballad Of El Goodo" - Big Star

"To The End" - Blur

"Caroline Goodbye" - Colin Blunstone

"The Temptation Of Adam" - Josh Ritter

"It's Over" - Level 42

"Paper Boats" - Nada Surf

"Can You Tell" - Ra Ra Riot

"Let's Pretend" - The Raspberries

"Poses" - Rufus Wainwright

"Melody Of You" - Sixpence None The Richer

"Open Book" - Tahiti 80

"Why Does It Always Rain On Me?" - Travis

"Hung Up On A Dream" - The Zombies

Some more, either well known or without a video:

"God Only Knows" - Beach Boys
"I Will" - The Beatles
"And I Love Her" - The Beatles
"How Deep Is Your Love" - Bee Gees
"The Luckiest" - Ben Folds
"No Woman No Cry" - Bob Marley
"Drive" - The Cars
"Green Eyes" - Coldplay
"Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" - Elton John
"Got To Be There" - Michael Jackson
"Streetlights" - Josh Rouse
"Slide Away" - Oasis
"Fake Plastic Trees" - Radiohead
"There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" - The Smiths
"For Once In My Life" - Stevie Wonder
"You've Got Her in Your Pocket" - White Stripes

 

"ATL" by Butch Walker. Every time he tries to remake "Joan," he just ends up doing it better.

(It's a crappy cut)

"Fax Machine" by Astronautilus.

"Rocky Raccoon" by The Beatles.

"Stealing Babies" by Our Lady Peace featuring Elvin Jones. It's complex as a whole, but it's basically three simple songs in one.