1001 Songs Challenge #966: Someone Great (2007)

On 11 February 2019 I set myself the challenge of reading 1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die by Robert Dimery (ed.) and following the book’s advice to the letter. I’ve previously read 1001 Films… and started 1001 Albums… but felt 1001 Songs… would be a sensible place to start for what I have in mind here.

My challenge is to read about one song per day and listen to it (YouTube and Spotify, I need you tonight!) before sharing my own thoughts. Some songs I will love, others I’ll hate, and I’m sure there will be those that leave me perplexed but listen to them I shall.

I’ll also try, and most likely fail, to pinpoint the best song from the 1001 on offer but I’m nothing if not foolhardy. Instead of one song, I’m predicting I’ll have about 100 favourites by the end and may have to resort to a Top 10 so far to maintain any semblance of sanity.

So long as I post every day (including Christmas) then this challenge should come to an end on Wednesday 8 November 2021. Staying with the Barney Stinson theme I am hoping that the whole experience will prove to be… legendary!

 

LCD Soundsystem – Someone Great (2007)

 

 

We bring an end to what has been a brief journey through 2007. We’re leaving the UK and London today, dear reader, and returning to the US and to New York. Formed in 2002 by James Murphy, who also was a co-founder of DFA Records, LCD Soundsystem are a rock band that incorporate elements of dance and electronic music into their repertoire. We join the group in 2007 with the release of their second album – Sound of Silver – and from there 1001 Songs have gone with the track – Someone Great. 

With the title of this song you might think we are dealing with a love song and in some respects we are. The lyrics evoke a heart-rending tale of grief. The narrator reflects on the lives of those we share our own existence with, be it friends, family, colleagues, lovers etc. With each individual we share moments, sometimes good, sometimes bad, but in the end the eventual outcome is always the same. Many pass away before we do and in their wake is left the memories and possessions once quintessential to them. The song talks of one such person who has passed away and how the narrator saw it coming, so perhaps this individual they now mourn was ill. The song conveys the raw pain and anguish of hearing someone has died and then going through the grieving process, trying to rebuild one’s life without them. Rarely an easy task.

I was not familiar with LCD Soundsystem and when I heard their name I did not expect to be listening to a rock band. The music here seemed heavily driven by a synthesiser or electronic music, but the song’s message comes through strongly. Reading through the lyrics, this one has a universal meaning, for all of us will face grief and the loss of someone we love in our lifetimes. It’s one of the sad realities that is life and existence and this song does not hold back in conveying that.

 

Favourite songs so far:

The Animals – House of the Rising Sun (1964)

Simon & Garfunkel – The Sounds of Silence (1965)

The Beatles – A Day in the Life (1967)

The Doors – The End (1967)

Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here (1975)

Meat Loaf – Bat Out of Hell (1977)

Tracy Chapman – Fast Car (1988)

U2 – One (1991)

Radiohead – Paranoid Android (1997)

Snow Patrol – Run