Let's talk about BALLADS

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

The giveaway CD for Thursday's Poptimism will be an ALL-BALLAD special. I'm taking here about the modern usage of the word to mean 'slow song', rather than the older 'story song'.

Ballads seem to get short shrift from Poptimists - criticisms of pop or R&B albums, for instance, often turn on a "too many ballads" claim. The list of NOW poll winners here is short on them too (Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time", Portishead's "Glory Box", maybe a couple of others).

What are some of your favourite ballads? Do you have trouble enjoying slow pop songs? Why do you think that is, if so? Do some genres suit 'ballads' better than others? (Some of the people who complain about R&B ballads might be Low or Will Oldham fans, for instance!) When does a song stop being a ballad? And so on - plenty to talk about, I'm sure.

I do want ballad recommendations, however the giveaway CD has already been made and is GREBT, a chronological journey through balladry from the 50s to last week.

Comments

If it was a slow dance in junior high school, it's a ballad

[koganbot]

Some good ballads:

The Animals "House of the Rising Sun"
Bobby Bare "Detroit City"
James Brown "I Lost Someone"
James Brown "Prisoner of Love" (version on Live at the Apollo Vol. 2)
Mariah Carey "Can't Let Go" (esp. the live version on Unplugged)
The Carpenters "Superstar"
Kelly Clarkson "Because of You"
Skeeter Davis "The End of the World"
Hilary Duff "Fly"
Eminem "Stan"
Fleetwood Mac "Gold Dust Woman"
Gloria Estefan & the Miami Sound Machine "I Can't Stay Away From You"
LeAnn Rimes "No Way Out"
Rosie & the Originals "Angel Baby"
The Shangri-Las "I Can Never Go Home Anymore"
The Shangri-Las "Out in the Streets"
The Shangri-Las "Remember (Walking in the Sand)"
Ashlee Simpson "Undiscovered"
Irma Thomas "Ruler of My Heart"
The Wailers "And I Love Her"
The Wailers "Ruddie Boy"

My criterion was "Is it a slow dance," except I disqualified the Velvet Undergroud's "Heroin" because the idea of people dancing cheek-to-cheek to it totally disturbs me. (But why then did I retain "Stan"?) "The Ballad of Hollis Brown" is not a slow dance. Not sure about "Gold Dust Woman," and I left off "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" because it's not a romantic dance. (I found a clip of it from something like Soul Train, and the dancers were clearly baffled; it was slow but not a slow dance, so no one was close and smoochy.)

I generally don't like ballads much, but when I do love one, I love it extremely.

Re: If it was a slow dance in junior high school, it's a ballad

[koganbot]

Kelly Clarkson's "Hear Me" is another one whose ballad credentials I'm unsure about. It can only be a slow dance, but it doesn't feel like one. Not a slow romantic dance. Maybe you should try it and see what the dancers do.