My Brain is Apparently Taking a Vacation Day

Posted on June 24, 2013    Posted by      179 Comments

And I’m not going to argue with it about the fact.

So, to keep you amused, a question for you to answer and discuss in the comment thread:

Name a favorite “deep cut” from a band you like. A “deep cut” meaning a track that was never a single or radio/video hit and wouldn’t generally be known to people who are not already huge fans of that particular band.

This is in my head today because earlier in the morning I was discussing this particular track from Electric Light Orchestra, which is apparently obscure enough at the moment that you can’t even find chords for it online, which is pretty weird for a band as well-known as ELO was in its day. Nevertheless:

So that’s my deep cut for the day. What’s yours? If you want to include a link to it (youtube or elsewhere) in your comment, that would be groovy. Rickrolls will, of course, be looked askance upon. Dig deep!

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179 Comments on “My Brain is Apparently Taking a Vacation Day”

  3. Wow. How tricky of you to get us to think on a Monday! :)

    I cannot think of anything…except maybe “The Came Back”.

  6. “Every Time I See Your Face” by Live, from the album Birds of Pray. Can’t find a link just now, but suffice it to say I am still absolutely baffled as to why that wasn’t released as a single.

    That’s my personal favorite Live “deep cut,” though I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention “Pillar of Davidson” from Throwing Copper.

  9. Natural Science by Rush. That song still gives me chills 30 years after I first heard it.

  11. That was never even a single? Tricky. Well, there are a few Warren Zevon songs that qualify; I’ll choose “If You Won’t Leave Me, I’ll Find Somebody Who Will” (no video available).

  14. It’s hard for me to figure out how to tell whether something was ever a radio hit or whatever. The obvious easy candidate is Echoes, by Pink Floyd, which was the single-song second half of Meddle. And I’m just assuming it wasn’t a single or a radio hit because it’s 23 minutes long. EMI appears not to want anyone putting it on the Internet, though. It’s the thing I listen to if my internal coherence isn’t working and I need to reset my sense of self.

  18. “All She Said” by Toad the Wet Sprocket, originally the B-side from their well-known single “All I Want”. Although really Toad is the best band ever and most of their songs rock (One of my favorites being “Desire” off of Coil, which is one of their more obscure ones as well). All She Said: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSBknUolwbc

  21. I have an advantage here…virtually any Nightwish song is going to be unknown to people who aren’t Nightwish fans. But this one is both lesser-known (i.e. not a single) and epic: “Ghost Love Score,” from the Once album. Here’s a live version of the song, featuring Nightwish’s interim lead vocalist, Floor Jansen (of After Forever and ReVamp):

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3brcfttchzA

    As a side bonus, here’s an international “collaboration cover” of the song, featuring a keyboardist, violinist, and choir from Brazil, a Norwegian bassist, a Canadian guitarist, and a French vocalist:

  22. Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict.

    Because… Pink Floyd. I was going to grab a Judas Priest deep cut but I’m not seeing a trend there (“Run of the Mill” if you must know)

  26. Dethklok has a track where the drummer, Pickles, took over vocals for the lead singer Nathan Explosion. It is a very different Dethklok song, but still has that Dethklok DNA underneath. The song is called “Kill You” and is pretty awesome.

  28. Old stuff here. For Rush, I’d go with “Freeze (Part IV of Fear)” from Vapor Trails. Opens with uncharacteristically driving, dissonant guitars, ends with one of the most epic choral refrains they’ve ever done. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nqk7xOgWHJ0

    For Genesis, “One from the Vine” from Wind and Wuthering. For Yes, I’ll go with “The Gates of Delirium” from Relayer, which at 21 minutes is half the album, but can’t actually make a good radio track. For The Church, I’d pick “Tranquility” from Hologram of Baal. I’m sure there are zillion others I could come up with if I took the time.

  33. Hey, great one.

    Don McLean, The Pride Parade: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZolrgptRJA

    Cathy Chamberlain (and the Rag and Roll Revue), Cement Dry: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9JUrZ3Ui10 While you’re at it, find everything else she ever recorded (there’s not much, but she’s still alive; just one of those artists that walked away after giving it a try, as far as i can tell).

    Phil Ochs. Yeah. Great protest song writer, far better as a polemicist than Dylan or any of the others. Yep, phenomenal art song writer later on, fully on par with Leonard Cohen. But also adapter of some classic poems into folk forms, so here’s two:
    For those of you that like bloody highwayman ballads along the lines of Whisky in the Jar…. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9fWjzYiRUE
    And for those of you who just love yet another sea chanty … http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RC9pGOKv02U

  35. Some good stuff up there already. Here’s my old guy picks:

    Def Leppard – “Switch 625 (Instrumental)”
    Dire Straits – “The Man’s Too Strong”
    Eagles – “Pretty Maids All in a Row”
    ELO – “Mr. Blue Sky”
    The Kings – “Switchin’ to Glide”
    Manhattan Transfer – “Birdland”
    The Moody Blues – “Gypsy (of a Strange and Distant Time)”
    Night Ranger – “Reason to Be”
    Poe – “Wild”
    Queen – “Headlong”
    Tom Petty – “One Story Town”
    Triumph – “Writing on the Wall”
    Zucchero & Mana – “Baila Morena”

    Actually, that’d make a pretty good mix-tape. Might have to change the order up a little…

  39. Since I just learned that “Love Circles” was a single, I’ll go with B-side “Splitting Into Three” from Squeeze.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMGZvtIk2Z4

    And from one of my other favorites, Genesis, I’ll offer the instrumental combo “Unquiet Slumber For The Sleepers….”/”….In That Quiet Earth”:

  40. Deep cut, hey ….

    Moody Blues “Gypsy”. This is from 1970 and they still had Mike Pinder and his Mellotron. The ‘Tron was a pretty amazing instrument in that day and gave, IMHO, the best version of the song.

  42. My very favourite Wolfstone song is the title track of their 1993 EP, “Burning Horizons”. Everybody who knows Wolfstone knows “Battle”, the *second* track … but plaintive, thoughtful “Burning Horizons” got buried, and didn’t even make it to the “Pick of the Litter” compilation.

  44. Neko Case, “If You Knew”

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-2my_0p7nE

    But there’s so many Neko Case tracks that should get radio play that don’t, it’s difficult to pick one. I could make a huge case for Hold On, Hold On … in ALL it’s wonderful versions … being a radio single. She seems to prefer to keep it for concert play. And Behind The House. And The Needle has Landed…

  50. Dominated Love Slave by Green Day.

    True story: A friend of mine was upset that she wouldn’t be able to see them when they were scheduled to play in Chicago. Her mother tried to console her by saying that there would probably be another concert next year. My friend admitted to her mother that she probably wouldn’t like the band anymore after a year.

  51. Another one by ELO that is similar to the one you posted is “Twilight” from the “Time” album. Yours would have fit in nicely there on that album.

    Have to give another vote for “39” by Queen. Just an awesome song, and when you understand what it’s about it’s even better. The line “Your mother’s eyes/from your eyes/cry to me” gets me every time.

    Another one from the Moody Blues is “Never Comes the Day” from back in 1969.

    Finally, “Waiting in the Weeds” off of the Eagles last album, “Long Road Out of Eden.” The best sadly nostalgic song about lost love to come down the pike in a long, long time. Love him or hate him, Don Henley has a way with words.

  52. I’ve been beaten to ’39 by Queen. I’m going to cheat a little with ‘Soul To Squeeze’ by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, it was a single/video but doesn’t appear on any of their albums as it was part of the Coneheads soundtrack. It is still a track that is only usually recognised by serious fans though.

    A track I used to love listening to when going to sleep was ‘The Burning Down’ by King’s X from Gretchen Goes To Nebraska.

  55. I think either “Light Up” or “Put me On” by Styx. I think the former did receive some air play (and who’da thunk Styx would have a song glorifying pot smoking… the mind boggles…. NOT!), so probably the latter, which is a pretty cool and rockin’ song, IMHO. Of course, I wasn’t listening to the radio when that album came out, but I think only “Crystal Ball” was a really big hit on it. Then again, some of my favorite Styx songs are deep cuts – “Eddie” and “Boat on the River” from Cornerstone are other good examples. To me, they are just other cool Styx songs, since I was too young to enjoy Styx’s heyday…

  56. Two consecutive tracks from XTC’s Nonsuch, if you please:
    “Rook”
    “Omnibus”

  57. Another Pink Floyd fan here. Although much of their later stuff is considered rubbish, I still like ‘Terminal Frost’ and ‘Learning to Fly’.

    ‘Lucifer’ from the Alan Parsons Project album Eve. If you have a radio show, it makes great bumper music.

  58. Mustafa by Queen, which is on Jazz.

    There’s just something about the track that I love and I will play it over and over when I dig out that album.

    … which I do not do often enough, since I usually listen to New Order or Nine Inch Nails, but this is worth having another listen to.

  59. … and of course I immediately mis-spelt the song title. It’s actually “Mustapha”.

  61. “Helpless Automaton” by Men At Work — from their huge “Business As Usual” album, but written and sung by Greg Ham, rather than Colin Hay, so it sounds like something from a completely different band:

  63. Charlie don’t Surf – The Clash’s Sandinista.

    Robert Duvall agrees.

  66. Radioactive Sandwich’s Electrostep Remix of Kelly Sweet’s “Sirens” is pretty good:
    https://soundcloud.com/radioactive-sandwich/kelly-sweet-sirens-radioactive?in=radioactive-sandwich/sets/kelly-sweet-vs-radioactive
    I put this on a CD for my daughter with their other remixes of her songs and she hasn’t taken it out of the CD player in the car yet…

    For obvious reasons, “Journey of the Sorcerer” by The Eagles.

    Sting’s version of “LIttle Wing” on …Nothing Like the Sun

    Khetzal’s “Djaningar”: http://youtu.be/uMnC4z41hZY

    Grammatik’s “Illusion of Choice”: http://youtu.be/NzArlTkwCN8

    For retro 80’s electropop sound: Information Society’s “Run Away”: http://youtu.be/NzArlTkwCN8

  67. What I thought of immediately was ’39, and I’m sticking with it, even though it’s not at all an original choice among this crowd. I should also say that it doesn’t surprise me that it’s popular amongst the denizens of Scalzi’s comment threads. Great song.

  69. “5ive Gears in Reverse” by Elvis Costello, off “Get Happy.” Why? Because you can’t help but get happy to this Motown-infused Hammond B3-pumping, wry-lyric short song. And because it was off one of the first LPs I ever bought.

  71. Damn. This is kind of hard. Nearly my entire musical lexicon revolves around “deep cuts,” because I’m that kind of music nerd. I could name deep cuts from a metric fuckton of bands that I really dig.

    Screw it. I’ll name five. That should work.

    Metallica – The Outlaw Torn. Okay, haters, I know it’s a track from Load. It’s still one of the few gems from that album, and it’s freakin’ awesome.

    Rush – Bravado. Definitely one of my top three favorite 90s era Rush tunes.

    Dream Theater – Afterlife. I know plenty of people shit on When Dream and Day Unite. This song is one HUGE reason not to. And the live version from the Score album is bloody AMAZING.

    Frank Zappa – Watermelon in Easter Hay. One of the most amazing guitar instrumental pieces, period. THE reason to own the Joe’s Garage album.

    And, because if you don’t like this song, I’m pretty sure you don’t have a soul, and I think it’s a good bet most people here would agree with me….’39 by Queen. Holy SHIT is that an amazing tune.

  77. Wow – talk about stirring up memories! – I’ve gotta add 2 more:
    “Just One Victory” by Todd Rundgren (can’t believe this wasn’t a single!)
    “The Man in the Jar” by the Sensational Alex Harvey Band (yes, I’m from Cleveland :-)

  78. @Joseph Paul: AWESOME song, dude. If for no other reason than the BBC used it as the intro to every episode of the Hitchhiker’s Guide radio series. :)

  79. Good to see a lot of people digging ’39, but as a variation on the Queen theme, I’d have to go for Ogre Battle from Queen II. Epic.

  80. Seems like just about anything by Nick Lowe would qualify, as he’s never gotten a lot of radio or video play. But I keep coming back to “The Rose of England.”

  81. Canary in a Coalmine by The Police always get me up and moving (you can’t call what I do dancing). I’ve no idea why this wasn’t a Greatest Hit.

  82. The Golden Floor by Snow Patrol. This has to be my favourite song by them and I it discovered on an author’s playlist for one of her novels.

  83. Oh John.
    My guilty pleasure – shame that I like it movie is Xanadu.

    I like the ‘Dancin” West Side Story The Tubes punks verses big band swing sing and dance off.

  86. “Last Day of Summer” by Skillet. Beautiful song that was cut from their third album and only released on a random charity album that almost no one has heard of, turns out to be nearly my favorite song they have done.

  87. There’s no such thing as an obscure Radiohead song, but “Myxomatosis” is one of my favorites, and it’s never gotten any sort of special attention.

  88. Agreed about 39, but my choice would be The Prophet’s Song, from the same album. OTOH, Seaside Rendezvouz stil gets stuck in my head from time to time, so what do I know?

  89. My absolute favorite deep cut is by the Goo Goo Dolls, and — wait! Where are you going! I promise it is worth your punk rock-lovin’ time! It’s called “Up Yours!” It’s from the ’80s! IT’S REALLY GOOD I PROMISE.

  90. I’ve also got to go with Rush, but The Fountain of Lamneth III: No One at the Bridge from Caress of Steel. Amazing guitar solo, and a lovely song.

  91. “Are Everything” by Heaven 17:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2LGXAUaU64
    Only a b-side for decades before being added as a CD bonus track. Random acoustic guitar strum makes the whole song.
    The a-side’s great, too, about a guy seeing his relationship in terms of a business merger: “I’m offering you the post of wife.”
    Their best 80s greed song was probably “My Key to the World,” possibly the first song that’s a cautionary tale about overextending yourself on your credit card:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7hdust7RbY
    “I want a better life, and I’d like to buy one if I could!”
    Also possibly the only song to have “Liquidity don’t bother me” in the chorus.

  92. As far as I know, only one song by Bel Canto was every released as a single in the US (Rumour – which is a perfectly good song) but this track from an earlier album is one of my fav’s:

    Shimmering, Warm and Bright
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWWj8nIvAfc

    In direct contrast to that would be One of These Days, by Pink Floyd
    (live version) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTrNQCYh70Y

    And I totally second Echoes as well as Charlie Don’t Surf

    The Police, Masoko Tanga https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOXcka7Yo84

    Just to name a very small few.

  94. Genesis – “Undertow” from And Then There Were Three
    Yes – Tales From Topographic Oceans (yes, the whole bloody thing)
    Jethro Tull – “Slow Marching Band” and “Seal Driver” from Broadsword and the Beast
    James McMurtry – “Song for a Deckhand’s Daughter” from Too Long in the Wasteland

  98. Applause for the choice of ELP’s “Pirates,” which I got to hear live on the “Black Moon” tour. Complete with cannon. It was just as awesome as I’d hoped it would be.

    But my deep cut choice is “One Slip,” by Pink Floyd. It’s not my favorite track from Momentary Lapse (although it is, in a sense, the title track) — that would be Sorrow by a mile — but it’s probably my second-favorite.

  99. “Temptation Greets You Like Your Naughty Friend” by the Arctic Monkeys. Excellent B-side to the “Brianstorm” single. And how can you not love that title?

  100. Billy Joel, “Summer, Highland Falls” from the “Turnstiles” album.

    I’d second whoever said, “The Man’s Too Strong” from Dire Straits, although I think that I’d go with “Brothers In Arms,” unless it was released as a single thus making it ineligible.

    “The Core” from “Slowhand” by Eric Clapton, and the titular “Madman Across the Water” by Elton John.

    Marc Cohn, “The Things We’ve Handed Down,” from “The Rainy Season.”

  101. Screw it, you want deep, I’ll give you a whole album that’s deep

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpko7c3hte0

    The Raven got a little bit of air play, but none of the other cuts came close.
    I think you would enjoy The fall the house of Usher. It has some great mandolin music.

    Great for Halloween background music.

  102. Another mindbender: this group had a monster hit a few years later with “Cry”:

  103. Although I’ve mentioned it before on the Bujold mailing list, I suspect more than a few readers of Whatever have read the Vorkosigan series as well, and will get the references. In one of her earliest novellas, “Borders of Infinity”, Lois has Miles organizing a POW camp prison break by posing as a “spiritual adviser”, and couching his plans in religious metaphor. Those of us “in the know” would understand that when “Brother” Miles says that “All will be uplifted”, he’s not talking about heaven, but seats on the escape shuttles. What does this have to do with today’s topic?

    Well, my deep cut is the Indigo Girls’ song “Secure Yourself”, which I’ve always thought of in my mind as “Brother Miles’ Hymn”, because nearly all of the lyrics can be parsed as Miles using his metaphorical language to describe the events in the novella.

    Plus, I like the close harmonies:

  107. “Go Back Home” by Stephen Stills, includes one of Clap[ton’s best-ever guitar solos.

    “Song of the Wind” by Santana. Better than anything ever played on ‘classic rock’ (gag) stations.

  108. “Starless” by King Crimson (3rd lineup).
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9IQnDRYIYU

    You could say it was a deep cut even for the band – originally called “Starless and Bible Black” and intended to be the title track of the 1973 album of the same name, it was dropped, reworked and shorter-named to “Starless” for 1974’s Red, according to Wikipedia, after which King Crimson disbanded for seven years. To me it sums up the first five years of Crimson.

  109. Hah! I know the song, as much because I like ELO as because I uh. May have watched Xanadu more times than most people should. Couple of my favorites: Judgement Day – Steve Winwood, or Tears – Rush :)

  111. Ultravox, Mr X. That is all. But only because someone has already mentioned 39. Oh, and ******* in Heaven by Fatboy Slim. Imagine a radio-safe version of that! :)

  117. @Don Whiteside – you malign some of us in the US! DiVinyls “Pleasure and Pain” does not belong on this list only because it was released as a single here and some of us do remember it!

  118. “Tired of Sex”, by Weezer. It once got stuck in my head for eighteen straight hours (REALLY good bassline).

    “Corpus Christi Carol (For Roy)”, by Jeff Buckley. It really shows off what a tenor with good falsetto can do.

  120. Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream

    Audio at the link isn’t great — the original actually has some bass — but it’ll give you the idea.

    Aretha Franklin, You’re a Sweet Sweet Man

    Green Day, She

    Don’t know if that last one is really as obscure as these are supposed to be, but it’s not one of the songs you hear all the time and for my money it’s the best song about young love that has ever been recorded.

  124. For my favorite group, The Crystal Method (with such hits as Name of the Game and Born Too Slow) has a lesser known song called “Weapons of Mass Distortion”.

    http://youtu.be/V69tdkl5l7M?t=15s

    Similarly, while most of Evanescence’s recognition was for Fallen and other works past that, their prior album Origin had an instrumental track called Eternal that is a very deep cut:

  125. Wow, tons and tons of Rush up above already. My favorite Rush deep cut (I had to check because Rush released a lot of songs as singles that many people have forgotten were singles) is Witch Hunt from Moving Pictures. I like the way it shifts between eerie atmospherics in the verses and the slow, grandiose theme that sort of serves as the song’s chorus. And it has one of my favorite lyric verses Neil Peart wrote during that era of the band:

    Quick to judge, quick to anger
    Slow to understand
    Ignorance and prejudice
    And fear walk hand in hand

    Here’s a live performance from 2007 that is at least as good and arguably better than the album version: http://youtu.be/5XYMi9wzjjA

  126. So many to choose from….but these two came to mind first:

    “The Blue Sky,” by a-ha

    “Tea in the Sahara,” by The Police

  127. Here’s a couple. Jethro Tull’s The Story of the Hare Who Lost His Spectacles. Very strange, even for a Tull song.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-wT6fkDg8k

    And Billy Joel’s original version of Shameless, from his ’89 release, Storm Front. Long before some cowboy singer came along and ruined it.

  128. I have a few:

    Ani DiFranco – “Out of Habit” or “Both Hands”

    U2 – “The Sweetest Thing” (it got some minor play in the late 90s, but it was a B-side that never made it to the radio in the 80s – so I feel justified in fudging a little)

    Rolling Stones – “She Smiled Sweetly”

  129. “Mother’s Lament” arranged by Cream. It’s apparently a traditional tune, stuck onto the back of the “Disraeli Gears” album. My father used to sing it to me at bathtime, which made me giggle:

    http://youtu.be/ZX06inW2hK4

    My mom’s “My baby slipped down the drain!” tune of choice was called “Emmaline,” but it’s so obscure that I can’t find it at all. “Oh my goodness, oh my soul! There goes Emmaline down that hole! Emmaline, Emmaline. Pooooor Emmaline. Glub.” Wish I knew more about the song.

  130. Eurythmics.

    In “1984”. From Wikipedia: Two versions of the film were released, one featuring Eurythmics’ music, and the “director’s cut”, which replaced most of Eurythmics’ music by the orchestral score.

    Doubleplusgood

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t7MVXKzYYg

    Rather apropos in these times.

  133. “Home” by Nine Inch Nails. It’s a bonus track on the non-US releases of the album With Teeth, and has become one of my favorite NIN songs. Also, perhaps not ironically, it’s located in the middle of the “Deep Cuts” playlist that Trent Reznor himself curated.

  136. As always, interesting food for thought.

    Bowie’s “Teenage Wildlife” is a major favorite — off of Scary Monsters.

    Aimee Mann’s The Forgotten Arm has “Video” and “Little Bombs”

    Elvis Costello’s King of America has “Suit of Lights”

    Probably one of my favorite’s is Glen Philips, ‘Drive By” off Abulum.

    I realize that these are niche-y. But…so I am I.

  137. Metallica- Dyer’s Eve. It’s almost like the band knew they had gone as far as they could with thrash metal, and made this the last song off of …And Justice For All as kind of their “Drop mic, walk offstage” moment before they transitioned to their 90s sound with the Black Album.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6kb5fvv6_A

    Yes- Parallels. One of the heavier songs they ever did, due almost entirely to CHURCH ORGAN. It just gets such a huge sound that I love.

  138. Ass _Ponys_ from Grim: ‘No Dope No cigarettes.’
    Doesn’t seem to be e-vailable.
    Perhaps they are one of the groups that got sued for having a name. Or Perhaps not.
    (I seem to recall a DJ saying something like ‘And that’s the last time we can play this.
    There are lawsuits about mumble mumble and mumble.)
    http://www.lyrics.az/ass-ponys/grim/no-dope-no-cigarettes.html for the lyrics.

    About getting sued. Book. The Art of Joseph Michal Linsner Uh, page 59.
    Here for a thumbnail of it http://www.1zoom.net/big2/23/126101-avallonist.jpg

  139. “Texarkana,” “Half a World Away,” “Untitled 11th Song,” “Hairshirt,” “Binky the Doormat” and a whole raft of others by REM.

    The entire album “Mosquitos” by Stan Ridgeway — New Wave Noir.

  140. Another obscure ELO track is Drum Dreams, whcih also appeared in the film Xanadu but wasn’t included on the soundtrack album (it did appear as a B-side on a single). It was basically an extended drum solo for ELO’s drummer, Bev Bevan. Here it is on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7w5k28-pN3c

  141. Night Swimming by REM though I’m not sure it was never a single. That’s what I got.

  142. Almost everything I listen to could be called deep track; it’s definitely too obscure to hit radio. And I often don’t know what, if anything was planned to be radio released.
    Streamline -VNV Nation (because future pop inspired by Norman Bel Geddes’ _Horizons_ deserves to be heard.) http://youtu.be/ISMyCIsrxPc
    Sentinel – also VNV. I am in love with the counter-melody and keep hoping for an orchestral remix. http://youtu.be/EUdYhkgPfcc
    Otherness – Assemblage 23 (because I like koans with my techno.) http://youtu.be/azr7c5a_x9c
    Spark – A23 http://youtu.be/DqAqaAcCI4M (and a full serving of hope…)
    We Don’t Go to God’s House Anymore – Chumbawamba (not so much for the song, which is pretty darn nifty and Fun With Theology, but for the tone poem at the end of the album version.)
    Chambermaid – Emilie Autumn (because fairy tale grrl power violin punk *should* be a genre.) http://youtu.be/ZHVKXlSPq0g

  145. Okay, this is reasonably obscure even for Australian stuff (which means you folks in the US have two chances of finding it, and one of ’em’s Buckleys).

    “For Your Ears Only” from Difficult Loves by Weddings Parties Anything.
    “Hug My Back” from The Big Don’t Argue by Weddings Parties Anything
    “Keep Talking To Me” from King Tide by Weddings Parties Anything
    “Walkerville” from Riveresque by Weddings Parties Anything

    and a bonus track:

    “Home and Broken Hearted” from Cold Chisel by Cold Chisel.

  148. Hmm, just noticed my Al Stewart youTube url above has a Rudeness embedded within – appropriate enough as Al Stewart’s “Love Chronicles” from his 1969 album of the same name is credited with a first use of the f-word “in popular commercial music” according to Wikipedia, including printed in the sleeve lyric, where it rhymes with plucking.

  150. Hmmm. Millionaire’s Waltz by Queen. Love, love love the bass line… Much harder song to play than you would think.

  151. “Fighting Man” by Gillan – By no means the best track the band ever recorded but worth it for the vocals on the last minute and a half

    – if you believed that Mr Gillan’s vocal range peaked on Deep Purple’s “Child in Time” you may want to cut along to 05.37 in the video…..

  152. Santana, “Migra,” from the album “Supernatural”. Incredible example of the sort of Latin rock he’s known for…

  156. I always found songs on the B side of the cassette more interesting than the stuff on the radio. The one that came to mind first is “We Are” by Vertical Horizon. Love that song.

    This is why I like buying an entire album as opposed to a single. Because more often than not I’ll love the non-released stuff better than the popular over-played songs.

  159. Lots of good stuff here.
    I should note that there’s a bunch of stuff I listen to all the time that never got a single, but they don’t count as a deep cut because most lightweight fans know of it. For instance, Gang of Four’s “Natural’s Not In It” or Police’s “Tea In the Sahara.”

    I have a long list:

    The Police – I Burn For You (from the movie Brimstone & Treacle. MUST be The Police version; the Sting-only one isn’t as spooky)
    http://youtu.be/NQtIRrmhvBw

    Also The Police – Landlord
    http://youtu.be/rPNQyyLglSQ

    Depeche Mode – Two Minute Warning
    http://youtu.be/YQERdMMlgfo

    Blondie – Accidents Never Happen
    http://youtu.be/qs5Zm2fFxjU

    Gang of Four – We Live As We Dream Alone (the version from Return the Gift)
    http://youtu.be/-dmaTtjTkHU

    Also Gang of Four – Better Him Than Me
    http://youtu.be/POifQWB0ttg

    And while this doesn’t really count, since there’s an official video…
    Gotye – Bronte (WARNING: hardcore tearjerker… I don’t advise wathcing if you’ve lost a pet)
    http://youtu.be/le34ygtODfI

    To @CZEdwards above – I’m particularly fond of Assemblage 23’s remix of Hypofixx’s “Shattered from the Inside”:
    http://www.amazon.com/Assemblage-23-Remix/dp/B000QOEF56

    To @drmeow above – Shoulder to the Wheel is my fave of theirs. For others who might be interested: http://youtu.be/RcZDL6dQA0M

  160. I’ve always loved “The Chauffeur” by Duran Duran. It’s slow and soft and atmospheric. They were also good about recording songs on the b-sides of their remixes that were never put on the regular albums, so I would nominate their version of “Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)”, “Secret Oktober,” and “We Need You.”

  161. Hi,

    All About Eve. What Kind Of Fool. Was a single that was supposed to break them so I guess it doesn’t qualify.. but: there’s an obscurish version called the Autumn Rhapsody .. it has Dave Gilmore on guitar and an orchestra. I use it to test speakers.. and always hear something new. Lush as it comes. this is the youtube copy i found .. http://tinyurl.com/nmqmxpa but the audio is quite poor. It’s on the Winter words compilation if you find yourself needing it..

  163. John Mellencamp – “Theo & Weird Henry” from his criminally overlooked Big Daddy album. This may be the best song about small town friendship ever written.

    Barenaked Ladies – “Blame it on Me” from the Gordon album, if only for the lyric “You think you’re so smart, but I’ve seen you naked / I’ll probably see you naked again…”

    R.E.M. – “Low Desert” from New Adventures in Hi-Fi. And “Hope” from Up.

    T-Bone Burnett’s “Killswitch” from The Criminal Under My Own Hat.

    Lyle Lovett – “Baltimore” from Joshua Judges Ruth. I want this sung at my funeral someday.

    Digital Underground – “Packet Man” – A hilarious cautionary tale rrom the amazing Sex Packets album.

  165. Hmm – would “Upon this tidal wave of young blood” by Clap Your hands Say Yeah count?

  167. Maybe not “deep cut”, but inspired by yours – may I present “Xanadu” from the film. It was a bomb in 1980. And I paid full price to see it 7 different times when it was in the theater. Yes, I’m both old, and apparently tasteless. http://youtu.be/Tsr4Onkkitc

  169. Florence + The Machine’s Howl from the album Lungs. When it comes on my mp3 player I turn the volume up to 11. I can’t understand why it wasn’t a single, except possibly that for the full effect you’re better off with headphones than speakers.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_uYs7YOZKc

    Tracks one and two from Del Amitri’s Twisted album are fantastic, and again, can’t understand why they weren’t singles. Well, maybe Food For Songs is a bit dour even for The Dels, but still… (For anyone who doesn’t know Del Amitri, they are masters at fitting depressing lyrics to upbeat sounding melodies. Usually.)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rixp4i4jnCQ

  170. “Push Comes To Shove”, Van Halen, Fair Warning

    Sophisticated, melancholy, introspective, and a beautiful, beautiful lyrical guitar solo. It’s like a whole noir romance novel in 3:49.

  171. Watching Me Watching You – Jethro Tull

    Brilliant, evocative, paranoid lyrics that tell a brilliant story… giving you just enough information that you want to know how the story ends.

  172. “The Sentinel” by Judas Priest, or anything by Nightwish or Within Temptation, since American rock stations are afraid to play anything that isn’t American Top Forty of some era.

  173. @erbo…

    Love me some “Ghost Love Score”… always makes me feel like I’m a pirate on the high seas, or on some old navy warship way back when.

  174. I’m 33, and this may be the first time I’ve looked at a thing on the internet and thought, “wow, maybe I’m not so old.” Love the music listed here, but the pre-1990 selection bias is really strong. So, focusing on post-1995…

    Soul Coughing, “Maybe I’ll Come Down” — http://youtu.be/sbUcupo43rk

    Not a super popular band, but if you only know “Super Bon Bon” from the radio you may be pleasantly surprised. “I dreamed a great parade shooting all the guns in Brooklyn…”

    Jay-Z/Beatles/Danger Mouse, “What More Can I Say” — http://youtu.be/O3VVykEt37c

    Beatles heresy, I know, but the track lends an urgency to Hov’s lyrics that the original lacks. This isn’t standard hip-hop self-aggrandizement. This is about obsessive competitiveness. He *has* to be the best.

    And for the 80’s children, Florence + the Machine, “Addicted to Love” — http://youtu.be/ycrhIpd4ZWU

    Choosing a song by Florence is almost unfair. The consistent quality of her oeuvre is the highest of any artist I can think of. Sort of like trying to think of a Tom Waits song that *isn’t* a deep cut.

  177. Don’t know if anyone’s still reading this or if the song counts as a deep cut since it is from a reasonably well-known album. But I can’t pass up a chance to talk up “Shadow Stabbing” by CAKE, particularly on an author’s blog: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6cb4Q0-nGY

    It definitely doesn’t seem to have sunk into the culture to the same degree as songs like “Short Skirt Long Jacket” or “The Distance” but the opening lines are always inspiring to me as a writer.

  178. Not only a deep cut, but a *SECRET* deep cut. Tacked on at the end of “As Bad As This” by Styx.. Go here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTrSOQFUS9c and fast forward to about 3:50 and listen to “Plexiglas Toilet” which is a humorous ditty that sounds like an impromptu jam session that was included on the track but was never listed on the discography.

    The timestamp varies, on my iTunes track it is 3:44, but right around there is where you will find it.

    Enjoy!

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