Ballads?

When I saw Tommy's post, I could not resist posting my own. Leonard (And yes, it's not pronounce Ba-llaud) ...Ballads are sometimes the most insightful songs because they are so contemplative. Idk, maybe it's because I actually grew up listening to mostly ballad-ish music. See Elton John and Simon & Garfunkel ("Sound of Silence" - good song). Seriously. My parents love Elton John and Phil Collins and my dad had this phase where he was learning guitar and he would play ballads like "Bridge Over Troubled Water". Maybe it's because I was so little and I mainly listened to mainstream at the time, but it really made an impression on me I guess. I mean, apparently, Julian Casablancas listened to stuff like The Doors and Phil Collins inspired music. (See Wikipedia) It's translated into my love of The Strokes and alternative music, and of course, Piano driven ballads (yes it is possible). I think I have a pretty loose definition of a ballad, but mostly, ballads are pretty slow, tell some sort of a story-ish and are not very upbeat. My favorite ballads are probably a little outside some of other peoples definitions of a ballad, but I think in general they are pretty good songs and are not too radically different from what is traditionally considered a ballad.

So, some good ballads:

"Whatsername"- Green Day (This is pretty much a ballad....just listen to it. Probably, one of my favorite songs ever if not my favorite song. It has HUNDREDS of plays on my iPod. Seriously.)

"Bridge Over Troubled Water" - Simon & Garfunkel (Eat your heart out, the piano part is so beautiful)

"Dream On" - Aerosmith (Yes, it is a ballad.)

"Home" - Michael Buble (Yeah, shut up. I like this song.)
"Androgynous" - The Replacements (I KNOW you like this song Leonard. And yes, it is a ballad. For sure.)

"Last Day On Earth" - Green Day (One of their few true ballads. Nice classic love song-ish ballad.)

"Sound of Silence" - Simon & Garfunkel (Leonard , listen to this one. I mean it. It is SUCH a good song. To describe it in familiar terms, it sort of reminds of "Shadowplay". It's sort of iffy as a ballad, but still fantastic)

"A Change Is Gonna Come" - Sam Cooke (haha...A Julian Casablancas interview made me listen to this. And I liked it.)