Aimee, I'm a new subscriber. I'm really glad you added "Air" by Bach. Most beautiful melody I've ever heard. However, you missed on Boz Scaggs dear. His song "We're All Alone" should be his one contribution to this list. There is also a couple Hawaiian songs that should get honorable mention but I'll stop here.
Look What You’ve Done To Me, I Can’t Make you Love Me, Starry Night, Song For No One, In A Sentimental Mood, What A Wonderful World, Theme From Cinema Paradiso, Somewhere In Time, Stardust, Exist For Love (Aurora), It Makes No Difference, Smile, The Summer Knows, God Only Knows, You And I, Hallelujah, Hideaway
What a gift Aimee. I'm 78 and am am enjoying the ultimate project on my bucket list -- learning to play the piano. I do this just to enjoy myself- not performing for others. I have been looking for more great sheet music to download to my pdf collection. Thanks Aimee.
I will have to chime in with "The long and Winding Road." Not just because it's my favorite but the chord changes are very interesting. Listen to the version on "Naked...". This is the way Paul meant for it to be recorded.
@@MBedell-VA On the basis of The Beatles in general and not just Paul, I think "Tell Me Why" has a fantastic melody. Also, "The Long And Winding Road" is such a beautiful song, especially stripped down to the more acoustic side on the Naked version.
Life On Mars to me is like musical Escher. Always going up and up and tantalising by finding somewhere new to go instead of the expected resolution. Thanks for another great video Aimee
To me the most beautiful melody ever is "God Only Knows" the Beach Boys. Several Beatles songs would also be up there. "Yesterday" would be a good candidate. I was happy you included the Rachmaninov melody. His 2nd Piano Concerto is my favorite piece of music ever written, especially that middle section.
Cinema Paradiso Love Theme by Ennio Morricone’s son Andrea. Here there and everywhere by The Beatles. Overjoyed by Stevie Wonder. Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro Mascagni.
My nan used to play Moonlight Serenade on her piano. I was just an 5 year old and I would sit and just listen mesmerised. A lovely memory - which beautiful melodies can certainly bring back.
Rick Wakeman played piano for David Bowie on Life on Mars. Bowie gave him complete freedom to play whatever and however he wanted on the recording. Going home, he said he thought he'd just played on the best song he'd ever done. When Bowie died, Wakeman performed an arrangement of the song and put it up on RU-vid - actuyally, there are numerous performances. Still have the LP from when it came out
Yeah, and like Peter Gabriel, whose music I love, he paid them next to nothing, and granted NO royalties to the people who ACTUALLY made the songs. Ugh.
@Dale Monaghan Yep, i remember Wakeman describing that. He said that the progressions that Bowie had given him were not where he expected the chords to go but that he was particularly impressed how well it worked.
@@Stahlgewitter that was the life of a session musician back then. You went in, you did the session, you got paid for it, that was that. No additional royalities or rights to anything. Thats the way the industry worked. Im not saying it was right, as it led to all manner of lawsuits later down the line, one of the most famous ones being Whiter Shade of Pale, but.... thats the way the industry was.
Fun fact: when Ravel wrote Pavane pour une infante defunte (Pavane for a dead princess), he wasn't thinking of any princess in particular--he said he just thought the words worked.
If you do a second video, you've got to include a Sting melody. I can think of no more beautiful melody than "Fields of Gold". Even without the lyrics, it'll bring you to tears.
It is a delight to see so many of one's own "private" favorites pop up on this list. I'm kinda a "greatest hits" opera fan. I, also, was thinking about this for our great melodies conversation. But, actually, this song seems to me more about harmony than melody. Whatever. Love it, love, it love it!
Puccini’s Nessum Dorma always makes me tear-up, whenever I hear it. It is so incredibly moving. And when I sing it, I actually feel the coming of the dawn, and the “Victory” the young suitor is feeling!
In the middle of a Les Mis production right now as rehearsal pianist / keyboard 1 ... the music is just amazing, glad to see Bring Him Home, so amazing .even on its own, and in the context of the entire show even more powerful
RU-vid algorithm keeps listing your stuff. Lol I can't help but click. You are so sweet... Sentimentale, sensible(sensitive), romantique. MERCI vos grand travails. Tu es un ange.. (you're an angel)
The Beatles, ‘If I Fell,’ is one of the/their best. With the help of your viewers comments Aimee, you could probably do one of these ‘Best Melody’s’ for each month of the year. 🎶🧐 This was nice, edumucational, and enjoyable😊.
Wonderful list, Aimee! I would add: Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Harold Arlen Would be impossible to pick one, but something by Morricone. Cinema Paradiso, Gabriel's Oboe, Once Upon a Time in the West, The Ecstasy of Gold. I would also include something from a folk tradition, such as Ireland, Turkey, Bulgaria, India, Japan, or Iran/Persia. I'm no expert on these traditions, but here are a few: The traditional Irish tune, Down By the Sally Gardens. Kalimankou Denkou (traditional from Bulgaria. Check out the version by the Bulgarian National Women's Choir). Or heck, even Amazing Grace. Yeah, many of these melodies lack the sophistication of many of your examples (except the Persian and Indian ones), but they've stood the test of time. Finally, I don't think you can have a comprehensive list of melodies without including something from Brazil. My choice would either by Flora (Gilberto Gil) or Non-Stop To Brazil (Luiz Bonfá).
What a lovely video. Thanks Aimee. I really needed that this eve... and I loved hearing a jazz musician choose a Neil Young melody. I'm a fan of both and don't feel they have to be mutually exclusive. His simplicity when he hits has created some quite brilliant beautiful melodies. I'm so there with you on many of those... "Life On Mars" oh yes! I'd like to just throw the theme for Black Orpheus / Manha de Carnaval into the musical ring of beautiful melodies. Always does it for me!
Great list, here's a few of my favorites: Radiohead- Fake Plastic Trees, Debussy-Clair de Lune, The Beatles-Yesterday, Neil Young- The Needle And The Damage Done, Richard Wagner-Tristan und Isolde, Prelude, Al Greene or Bee Gees-How Can You Mend A Broken Heart & Pavarotti-Vesti La Giubba.
Moonlight on snow (by rock band the Verlaines) and once upon a dream (from Disney’s Snow White ) both come to mind. Also song called Spread a little happiness (which sting once sang) by the way, Sting came up with a few like moon over bourbon street, consider me gone and fortress in your heart to name some.
Mozart's Piano Concerto #21, 2nd Movement. I first encountered this masterpiece in the film Elvira Madigan. I also think Bo Widerberg's film is the most beautiful ever shot. The characters, the costumes, and the setting, all support the beauty of tragic love, just as Mozart's melody reaches deep into our collective psyche to find truth through music.
I love the part in Rach's 2nd, 3d movement. They come back to it three times. I forgot the term for that. Refrain? "Full moon and empty arms" is a song they made from it.
I think one component of any great melody is the harmony shifting underneath certain notes to re-contextualise it from tense to resolved. By no means the only thing but it's something i love
There are a few editing bugs. Please forgive me. It was a crazy week! Also! Here are the songs that didn’t quite make the cut. HONORABLE MENTIONS: You and I, Hideaway, Wichita Lineman, Love Look What You’ve Done To Me, I Can’t Make you Love Me, Starry Night, Song For No One Beatles, In A Sentimental Mood, What A Wonderful World, Theme From Cinema Paradiso, Somewhere In Time, Stardust, Exist For Love (Aurora), It Makes No Difference, Smile, The Summer Knows, God Only Knows, Hallelujah, Skylark Also, many people have mentioned that the Bach is the same as the Procol Harom. Though they are similar, that is not the case.
Stars - From Les Mis The Impossible Dream - From Man of La Mancha In Dreams - Roy Orbison Joanna - From Sweeny Todd Somewhere - From West Side Story Bend Down the Branches - Tom Waits Go the Distance - From Disney's Hercules New York Minute - Don Henley Time of No Reply - Nick Drake Eternal Flame - The Bangles House of the Rising Sun Lush Life - Billy Strayhorn Both Sides Now - Joni Mitchell End of the World - Skeeter Davis No One's Gonna Love You - Band of Horses/Cee Lo Green The heart asks pleasure first - Michael Nyman Walking in the Air - From The Snowman Close to You - The Carpenters Climb Every Mountain - From Sound of Music Santa Fe - From RENT Don't Give Up - Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush In a Sentimental Mood - Duke Ellington Here, There and Everywhere - Paul McCartney Under Pressure - Queen & Bowie Wave - Antonio Carlos Jobim The Lonely Shepherd - George Zamphir Anne - John Frusciante A Rose For Emily - The Zombies All In One Day - Ultravox The Destruction of Laputa - From Castle in the Sky Gabriel's Oboe - From The Mission Sonny's Dream - Ron Hynes Lump Sum - Bon Iver Father and Son - Cat Stevens Waltz #2 - Shostakovich Waltz #2 - Elliott Smith Waltz for Zizi - From Cowboy Bebop Elizabeth - The Airborne Toxic Event Romeo & Juliet - Dire Straits Landslide - Fleetwood Mac Ripples - Genesis Dialogue Pt 1 & 2 - Chicago Age of Aquarius - From Hair Always on My Mind - Woody Nelson Right Where I Belong - Richard Marx Don't Speak - No Doubt O Siem - Susan Aglukark Don't Forget Me - Harry Nilsson You Raise Me Up - Josh Groban Dust in the Wind - Kansas Changes - Stars Bring Me Down - Lenka California Dreamin' - The Mamas and The Papas Kiss From a Rose - Seal Fake Plastic Trees - Radiohead Don't Know Why - Norah Jones Mrs. Robinson - Simon & Garfunkel Sirens - Pearl Jam What are the Chances? - Duran Duran Brian Wilson - Barenaked Ladies Angels - Robbie Williams Killing Me Softly With His Song - Roberta Flack Fields of Gold - Sting As Tears Go By - The Rolling Stones More than this - Roxy Music Wonderful Woman - The Smiths Bye Bye Badman - The Stone Roses
Since this list mentioned As Tears Go By -- certainly a lovely tune -- I must mention Buffy Sainte-Marie's Until It's Time for You to Go. For some strange reason those two tunes are linked in my mind. Off topic, but I can't resist also nodding to Buffy's wonderful line in that song, "This love of mine, had no beginning, it has no end; I was an oak, now I'm a willow, now I can bend."
Your taste is impeccable! (but maybe I say that because it's so much like mine...). A couple other entries: Paul Simon - American Tune, Bookends, Bridge Over Troubled Waters. Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Neil Young - After the Gold Rush.
You are my new favourite artist. Such a perfect touch and your voice is beyond perfect. I feel like I have never heard these songs before. And I know almost of them. Bethena has been one of my favourite melodies since I was a boy. Bless you. Oh, and Waltz For Debbie by Bill Evans sung by Johnny Hartman. Untouchable.
Watched it all... loved your renditions and comments - and THEN. CAME. NESSUN DORMA! Goose bumps every time! Gotta be the most moving piece of music ever written! Thank you, Amy!
Great video Aimee. I’d have to really think hard to decide my favorite best melodies. Bridge over troubled water comes to mind. You had me at Whiter Shade of Pale. ❤️
I'm late finding this. The music that brings me to tears almost every time is John Williams' score for the goodbye scene at the end of E.T. It's beautifully emotional, then ending with the joy of the rainbow behind the ship, makes it my #1 practically perfect piece of music.
Amazing, moving choice -- returning to performance after years of absence due to her severe health condition, Celine Dion chose to sing this Edith Piaf song from the Eiffel Tower at the opening of the 2024 Olympics!
Here's a few of my picks in no particular order. Norwegian Wood, You Must Believe in Spring, Theme from Love Story, Bach's Sicilano and Jesu, Man of Joy's Desiring, Scarborough Fair, Danny Boy, Golden Slumbers, Bridge Over Troubled Water, An American Tune.
Aimee, your playing was exquisite. I love how you emphasize the MELODIES I had forgotten how beautiful is John Williams’ Theme from Schindler’s List. Could almost stop right there. But if I could select two more: Van Heusen’s Here’s That Rainy Day, and McCartney’s Here, There and Everywhere. Both have the surprising chord jump at the very beginning, G major to Bb major.
I, too, am a big fan of John Williams (in general) and Schindler's List, in particular. A similar movie/TV theme that I am mad for is the main title from Band of Brothers. In Schindler's, I hear an optimistic reflection on endurance and triumph through unspeakable horror; in Brothers I hear the soundtrack to a fantastical dream that interrupted young lives and changed them forever, that would come to define their lives for many of them. On their deaths beds sixty or so years later they would be thinking about their buddies and the war.
Some good ones here for sure. Some from my list would definitely include: Almost anything from West Side Story (Tonight and Somewhere in particular) - Bernstein Rhapsody in Blue - Gershwin Je Te Veux - Erik Satie Stella By Starlight (From the "The Uninvited") - Victor Young Appalachian Spring - Aaron Copland Opening of Piano Concerto No. 1 - Tchaikovsky It's Been a Long, Long Time - Harry James God Only Knows - Beach Boys This Will Be Our Year - The Zombies Fire and Rain - James Taylor I Got a Name - Jim Croce Maybe I'm Amazed - Paul McCartney Underground - Cody Fry
Have you ever heard "Tonight" played by Stan Kenton & Orchestra? IMHO a great chart! And for Rhapsody in Blue, are you thinking of the 1927 recording made by Gershwin & Whiteman? It certainly has some interesting moments which are not usually played the same in modern performances and recordings. So far as Beach Boys, I'm more partial to Good Vibrations. Some great sounding tunes on your list. And if you like Harry James, have you listened to his Sheffield Lab recordings? Incredible sound!
Texas girl at the funeral of her father by Randy Newman, words and melody are both poetry. Gabriel's oboe, Ennio Morricone for the movie The Mission. The melody hurts, there is pain, longing and comfort. To me, it puts Morricone besides Erbarme Dich, Bach. Music that heals.
My picks would be: Philip Glass - Mad Rush björk - pagan poetry Velvet Underground - Heroin John Lennon - Imagine David Bowie - Ashes to Ashes Mike Oldfield - On horseback
I need to mention "Til There Was You" from My Fair Lady. I agree that Stevie Wonder has written some of the most beautiful melodies, along with Holland/Dozier/Holland and Smokey Robinson for Motown.
Amy, I really enjoyed this video. And when you played as #1 Moonlight Serenade I let out a scream. You are too young to remember that song and so am I but my Mom used to play it all the time and I just love it. It does give me goose bumbs and tears come to my eyes. The harmony in that piece is so wonderful. Thank you, thank you, thank you. And Nessen Dorma at the beginning! Wonderful.
I'm glad too. You're not the only one! In fact I left the theater only knowing it was by Neil Young and wanted to get the sheet music, but no one I talked to knew the name of the song, and I forgot about it until now!
What a beautiful list Aimee. Your musicality definitely lives in your heart ! In the classical realm , F Chopin has so many awesome passages present in his nocturnes , concertos and sonatas that are often not mentioned. Ravel’s Pavanne .. is also one of my favorites 😊. Thank you for this gift of treasures !
I was thinking about the LAYLA CODA and you played it. Wonderful! I have been playing it for about 40 years now . . . on guitar! and I recently added it to a trilogy including two other all time classic melodies and that completely changed the way I played it. All Is Fair In Love is a perfect choice too. Keep doing it.
I'm surprised not to find at least one composition by John Barry: the theme from Out of Africa, or from You Only Live twice, or Somewhere in Time are just wonderful (actually any of John Barry's compositions) give me the shivers every time I put them on my turntable. They are timeless and ethereal. Thank you I do enjoy your videos a lot.
Sixpence: Kiss me/Crash test dummies:mmmm/Cranberries:linger/Kacy Musgraves:slowburn/Sarah McLachlan:Adia RHCP:Under the Bridge/Norah Jones come away with me/don't know why (just a few of my favorites)🤘🤘🤘👍👍👍
I was so glad to see a Gershwin melody in there. I'm a huge Gershwin fan, have been for decades. His melodies are exquisite, and Porgy and Bess is a masterpiece. From that work I would especially recommend the beautiful duet "Bess, You Is My Woman Now" and the powerful lament "My Man's Gone Now." Both can move you to tears.
"They exist in the ether", yess!! I've been saying this for 10 years and I'm an amateur. A great melody has something totally self-sufficient about it, and when someone grabs it, it's an act of revelation.
Plato described ‘Forms’. He considered these were ‘perfect’ examples of entities e.g. melodies. These Forms frequented an ethereal realm. And, in my humble opinion, your choices were spot on!
I just watched this for the second time. I watched it last 5 months ago. I'm not familiar with many of these melodies. Pretty all my musical exposure for 70 years has been "pop" music and many of those you selected were somewhat outside of the pop genre, I'd say. Any way, I very much enjoyed this.
