Favorite Song: How do you even pick one?

[Haruki-kun]

I have at multiple times in the past claimed to have a favorite song: usually whatever song I had just discovered and was listening to a lot. But last night for some reason the question came up and the final result was that I have no idea what my favorite song is.

I recall at some point I said Music of the Night from the Phantom of the Opera was my favorite one, Simple and Clean by Utada Hikaru, and a whole bunch of Disney songs, but none of them are really songs that I would immediately pick if asked "what is your favorite song?"

It occurs to me that I don't so much have a favorite song as a bunch of songs that are my favorites. Yet, when you ask people "what is your favorite food?" many times the answer is "This is my favorite food, I could eat it forever." This is not the case with any favorite song: I can't listen to the same 3-4 minute piece for the rest of my life no matter how much I like it. I'll grow bored of it within the hour.

All of that being said, I am not a very musical person. I'm one of those people who struggles when asked "What kind of music do you like?" because whatever kind of music I like, I don't know what its genre is called.

So what about you guys? If asked "What's your favorite song?", can you name THE song? Or do you struggle?

[BWR]

It's impossible to find just one favorite song. Even a top 10 list is impossible. Top 50 is a bit more manageable, even considering the exact composition would vary from day to day.

[Shinken]

For most of my life, my favorite song has been Penguins & Polar Bears by Millencolin. Now it's Impossible Dream from Man of La Mancha. A top 10 would be impossible, though.

[Thrudd]

I have at multiple times in the past claimed to have a favorite song: usually whatever song I had just discovered and was listening to a lot. But last night for some reason the question came up and the final result was that I have no idea what my favorite song is.

I recall at some point I said Music of the Night from the Phantom of the Opera was my favorite one, Simple and Clean by Utada Hikaru, and a whole bunch of Disney songs, but none of them are really songs that I would immediately pick if asked "what is your favorite song?"

It occurs to me that I don't so much have a favorite song as a bunch of songs that are my favorites. Yet, when you ask people "what is your favorite food?" many times the answer is "This is my favorite food, I could eat it forever." This is not the case with any favorite song: I can't listen to the same 3-4 minute piece for the rest of my life no matter how much I like it. I'll grow bored of it within the hour.

All of that being said, I am not a very musical person. I'm one of those people who struggles when asked "What kind of music do you like?" because whatever kind of music I like, I don't know what its genre is called.

So what about you guys? If asked "What's your favorite song?", can you name THE song? Or do you struggle?

There is so much music that I like, I can't do it. The best I can do is my favorite song of the moment. Or narrow it down to a favorite song of a particular genre. Even that changes depending on the day.

[Haruki-kun]

I guess music is a lot about the mood you're in.

I thought about grabbing my playlists and doing a Dorkly (http://www.dorkly.com/)-style elimination, but that would take forever. :smalltongue:

[DomaDoma]

I've used this username for maybe nine years now, and while Final Fantasy VI doesn't have as much staying power as I thought it did, Donna Donna, the Yiddish folk song popularized by Joan Baez, has always had more than enough to make up for it. So I get to empirically determine my favorite song, lucky me.

[Leviting]

My favorite song for a while now has been Asylum by Disturbed, though White Knuckles by Five Finger Death Punch is a close second. Beyond that point, I really am not sure, it depends on my mood.

[Shadow of the Sun]

If someone asks my favourite song, I can only answer in the sense of 'at the moment'. For example, my favourite song right now is Papaoutai by Stromae.

A few weeks ago, it was I Already Forgot Everything You Said by The Dig.

[Mystic Muse]

Hell Frozen Rain is my current favorite song. Has been for quite a while.

[JoshL]

I like too many things, that's for sure. There's not a style of music out there that I don't enjoy at least some of, and I'll listen to anything at least twice. I get very enthusiastic, but there's lots of awesome music to be enthusiastic about. So realistically, one favorite song? Hell, I'd have trouble coming up with a top 50.

But that said, the song Insanity by (Oingo) Boingo came out in 1994. I listened, and re-listened every day for about a year. I don't listen to it every day now, but at least once a week. I think I could say if I had to pick one song, that'd be it.

[jesley]

My favourite song is Remember the name by Font Mirror. Very motivating song.

[Oddman80]

Train Song by Tom Waits

It strikes something deep within my soul. Hearing it has a similar effect that reciting the serenity prayer is supposed to have. It may just be the Schadenfreude of hearing someone so descriptively hitting bottom, or maybe its the implication of what happens after one does... But every time I hear the song, I feel my troubles melt away.

[Feytalist]

Because you're constantly exposed to new music (well, I am anyway), the concept of a favourite song becomes highly nebulous. Impossible to answer, except in a "right this very now" kind-of way.

That said, according to my music tracker thingy, my most-played song is still Every Day is Exactly the Same by Nine Inch Nails, followed very closely by Fields of the Nephilim's The Watchman and Laugh, I Nearly Died by The Rolling Stones. So those three are probably most likely to rank high on any favourite song lists I would compile. Were I the sort to do that.