Simply Beautiful Songs

Scott Walker - Duchess

Left Banke - Pretty Ballerina

Kinks - Little Women

Beach Boys - Surf's Up

Cat Stevens - Trouble

The Hollies - Jesus Was a Crossmaker

Sonic Youth - Diamond Sea

Fairport Convention - Ballad of Easy Rider

Gram Parsons and Emmylou Parsons - A Song For You

Mountain - Theme For an Imaginary Western

 

Outstanding! The live version on the Irish Tour '74 album (which I believe is now out of print) is especially soulful.

Also:

Box of Rain/Grateful Dead
Brokedown Palace/Grateful Dead
Today/Jefferson Airplane
Julia/Beatles
In My Life/Beatles
Behind Blue Eyes/Who
Little Wing/Hendrix
Summertime/Big Brother and the Holding Co.
Wish You Were Here/Pink Floyd

There are plenty more, but that'll do for now.

 

Breaking the Girl by Red Hot Chili Peppers

 

Tamacun by Rodrigo y Gabriella

 

Buena Funk by Peter White.

 

Jeez, going through this thread just now, I had a couple dozen, most of which were picked off by you able participants. By Page 6, it was like a roto draft... hoping no one would mention my remaining picks in the last few posts. This is the best of what was left.

Annie's Song, John Denver
Perhaps Love, Denver and Domingo
Leaving on a Jet Plane, Denver
Both Sides Now, Joni Mitchell
She's Leaving Home, The Beatles
Jealous Guy, Lennon
Play Me, Neil Diamond
You Don't Bring Me Flowers, Diamond/Streisand
Josephine, Chris Rea

Among the already-mentioned, God Only Knows and In My Life stand apart to me.

 

Some good choices on here, and some questionable: Mazzy Star's Fade in to You, Gary Jules' Mad World, and U2's All I Want is You are some very solid choices on this list.

This one might be questionable, and I haven't seen it on here yet, but Gary Wright's Dreamweaver makes the cut for me on beautiful songs. Honestly, I think that the way that song was used in one of my favorite movies, The People vs. Larry Flynt, is the reason why. You hear it when Althea poses for Hustler midway through the movie, and in the final credits after the Supreme Court makes their decision and Larry sits in his bed watching home movies of Althea. Just beautiful and haunting at the end of that flick.

 

Overkill by Men at Work

 

Israel Kamakiwiwo'ole's Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

 

Rainy Night in Georgia - Tony Joe White

 

Can't believe I forgot to mention Van's "Into the Mystic"

and unless I've read too fast, I can't believe we've gone 8 pages without mention of this one:
"I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" - Hank Williams

But here are a two more worthy of mention:
Southside Johnny & the Jukes' cover of "Walk Away Renee" -

"Light Don't Shine" - Southside Johnny & the Jukes

 

I Cheat The Hangman - The Doobie Brothers