"Pancho and Lefty": "Out of kindness, I suppose" is among the greatest refrains in any song ever written and gets a 5/5 out of that alone. I prefer Emmylou.
The actual Rolling Stone link didn't work well for me just now and IDGARA about their commentary on each song so here's one The Full List: Rolling Stone's Top 500 Songs of All-Time (2021 Updated) - stuarte that simply shows the list. Viewing the list I was immediately struck by all the truly great songs in the bottom 10, then the bottom 100. IOW, what a vast store of riches for every taste there is in the Pop Music Songbook. My only comment on what's there and what isn't is, HTF can there be not one Laura Nyro song?
“Baby Love” - The Supremes form some of my earliest musical memories, thanks to an older sister who frequently played their records when I was little. Is this one of their best? I believe so, but I wouldn’t object if another title like “I Hear a Symphony” takes its place. They had some really strong pop songs.
Pancho and Lefty Good song, but I prefer Emmylou's version. I'm not really surprised Townes' version made the list - he's a very well respected Singer Songwriter, and his version is to my ears more Folk than Country, plus his is the original version and that makes a difference to some people. Ranking so far: 1. Kanye West - Stronger 2. Townes Van Zandt - Pancho and Lefty 2. Supremes - Baby Love
a good song can, but doesn't have to, tell a good story, which "Pancho and Lefty" does, accompanied by a strong melody. odd to see Mr Van Zandt on the list, tho'.
“Pancho and Lefty” - this is a classic for reason. I never heard Emmylou’s version until now. Very nice. Glad to see that a Townes Van Zandt song make the list.
My guess is there must have been a program manager who was an actual fan and they snuck one in there.
Funny how nostalgia is inseparable from a well balanced opinion. I love Pancho & Lefty, but none of these versions I hear hit me in the gut like the version I grew up with, sung by Ron Mosier in my dad's band growing up. Even if I try to take off those rose colored glasses, none of these singers here hit the "out of kindness I suppose" with much weight, especially Emmylou. Otherwise, as a song certainly deserving of inclusion here, but one of those times it is more song than rendition.
Townes Van Zandt, “Pancho and Lefty” Nice song but this doesn't do much for me. I like the earnest low-key delivery and arrangement. Reminds me a little of Wichita Lineman, which I love.
"Pancho And Lefty" 3/5 - Van Zandt's version is nice, but I was raised on the Willie/Merle version. That cover is so cinematic, and Merle's very late entrance into the song (after wondering if he is actually going to appear) is a singular country music moment for me. Willie/Merle is probably in my top 200 songs of all time across all music genres.
I have to admit I don't know the original version by Townes Van Zandt. And as a rule I'm not commenting on tracks I haven't heard before (so only discovering in the thread). I do have the covers by Emmylou and Willie & Merle. Of those two I prefer the melancholy of Emmylou's voice as well as the use of pedal steel guitar (I think) on it. With these covers I can hear that Townes created a bit of a (country) standard with this song, which might explain its inclusion in the list.
I know the Willie/Merle version as well as further versions by Emmylou and Jason Isbell, but have never heard the original until now. His version isn't bad but I may be in the minority but Willie and Merle perfected the song
to the side, willie also performed this with bob dylan, which performance is probably on youtube the "greatness" of the song in part is evidenced by the quantity and quality of its covers
Nice thread. That's the first time I've heard the Kanye West track, indeed that's the first time I've knowingly heard anything by Kanye at all. Not my thing, really but well enough done. 2/5 The Supremes - Baby Love This sort of sickly, syrupy nonsense is why I don't much like Motown. 1/5 Townes Van Zandt - Pancho & Lefty I'm not the world's biggest TVZ fan but I think this is a fantastic song and I lobe the lazy, drawling performance we get from Townes, although my favourite version is by The Poozies, from their 1995 album Dansoozies, and featuring the great Sally Barker on lead vocals. Regardless, Townes gets 5/5
Thanks to everyone above who mentioned Emmylou's cover of "Pancho and Lefty" which I just listened to for the first time - her voice sounds lovely on it. For many years I only knew of Willie & Merle's version so maybe that factors into why I prefer it to the original, which is more than solid in it's own right. I dig the mariachi horns and seem to appreciate Van Zandt's voice and songwriting more as I get older. 7/10
The only TVZ album you need is Live at the Old Quarter. His actual albums are over produced. This one has more feeling. Also laugh at the air conditioner not working on a hot Houston night back in 1973
I've never heard Poncho and Lefty before, by anyone, nor even heard of it. To me it's not terribly distinguishable from what I might consider generic country-rock, and reading the lyrics, there's not much of a tale there either, although they're certainly a few notches above eye-rollingly dreadful. Prolonged exposure to the sort of country-drawled vocals exhibited here would surely put me on the verge of being driven up the wall; this is probably the song's biggest drawback. However, the pedal steel, horn and string arrangements are undeniably tasteful; this is its biggest asset. All in all, I'd probably have to rank it somewhat above average, but it's nowhere near the sort of material I would seek out for repeated listening.
#497. Lizzo, “Truth Hurts" (2017) Written by Eric Frederic, Amina Patrice, Bogle-Barriteau, Melissa Jefferson, Steven Cheungjesse Saint John Wikipedia says: "Truth Hurts" is a song released by American singer and rapper Lizzo. It was originally released on September 19, 2017, by Nice Life Recording Company and Atlantic Records, but then re-released as a radio single in 2019. It was written by Lizzo, Jesse Saint John, Steven Cheung (better known as Tele), and Ricky Reed, the latter two having co-produced the track. Though it did not chart at the time of its release, it later became a viral sleeper hit in 2019 after gaining popularity on the TikTok video sharing app and being used on the Netflix movie Someone Great. The song was included as a bonus track on the deluxe version of Lizzo's third studio album Cuz I Love You (2019) and reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Lizzo's first song to do so. It spent seven weeks at number one, becoming the longest-leading solo song by a female rapper. The accompanying music video stars Lizzo playing a bride that marries herself. Despite being released in 2017, the song was eligible for the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards in 2020, being nominated for three awards, including Record of the Year and Song of the Year, winning the remaining award for Best Pop Solo Performance. The song has been certified seven times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Lizzo - "Truth Hurts" Lizzo is easily one of my favorite new artists doing mainstream pop (/dance pop/ hip hop/ r&b etc.) stuff--even with a relatively small discography so far, I've already put her in my third tier (top 500), and especially the album that this comes from, her latest, Cuz I Love You, was one of my favorite albums of 2019, and it would be in my top 100 for the 2010s. Would this particular song make my top 500 list? No. There are at least a few songs from Cuz I Love You that I'd rank above it, including the title cut, not to mention Lizzo's other output, but it's still a great tune.
497: Lizzo - Truth Hurts Again a new performer to me. I'm nobody's idea of a rap/r&b afficionado but while this one pootles by harmlessly enough, there doesn't seem to be enough going on here to get into anybody's top 500, let alone America's premier music journals. 2/5
As you'd expect from a song in this genre with some chart success, there have been a number of remixes. Here's one of my favorites, the CID remix:
It’s a breezy summertime pop song, with a good amount of humor in it, which is something I think is going to be sorely lacking in this list. But, as fun as it is it doesn’t really knock my socks off.
To me it's one of the most common misconceptions about TvZ that his albums are overproduced or badly produced. One can perhaps take issue with Jack Clement's production of his first album (he himself acknowledged he had no idea how to treat the material) but ultimately I like the baroque quality of the album. It's already addressed with his next albums where they strip back the arrangements (including his self-titled album which rerecorded some songs from his debut). And all his 70s albums are fantastic, and he often had a surprisingly high quality set of studio musicians that were drafted in. I'd almost go so far as to say that the high regard that Live at the Old Quarter is (rightfully) held often does a disservice to the rest of his catalogue. It's a great career overview, but it sets the expectations that this is the kind of musician he was - and I wouldn't even say it is his best live recording (I prefer Rearviewmirror, which breathes much more life into his songs).
"Truth Hurts" This was originally a stand-alone single in 2017; though everyone involved was convinced it was great, it did so poorly at first that Lizzo almost decided to quit the business (her first solo release came out in 2013). It took two years for the song to finally find an audience, and once it did, it couldn't be stopped. About 10 years earlier, something similar had happened with "Hey There Delilah" by Plain White T's -- it finally hit #1 after two years of bouncing around. --- One of the joys in my immediate pre-pandemic life was my weekly, and sometimes more frequent, trips to local establishments that hosted karaoke nights. I've been introduced to, or gained a new appreciation for, many songs through listening to other people attempt them -- sometimes well, more frequently OK, and once in a while on the level of an American Idol/X Factor/America's Got Talent bad audition. I first heard "Truth Hurts" when a couple women in their 20s got up to the karaoke mike and rapped it. I started hearing it performed more regularly after that, and I was finally inspired to check out the original version. The song is cheeky, with lots of great lines; the first one I noticed was "New man on the Minnesota Vikings," but others are good, too. It's an almost stream-of-consciousness rap that, I have read, was the opposite; it took a while to come together. But you know what elevates this above the generic beats, which ruin so much other modern hip-hop but I didn't even notice until I'd heard "Truth Hurts" a few times? That off-key, off-kilter, repeated piano sample. Before any lyric, it's the first thing I noticed about the song. And that's what sets it apart. I'm still trying to decide whether to include it on a future volume of A Few of My Favorite Things.
