Most underappreciated song by ...

Simon and/or Garfunkel: "To Emily, wherever I find her" of whatever that song is called.

Elton John: "It's all over, Danny Bailey."
Billy Joel: "You're my home."
John Mellencamp: "Minutes to Memories.'
Gordon Lightfoot: "Affair on 8th Avenue."
Flying Burrito Brothers: "Hot Burrito No. 1."
Graham Parsons: "$1,000 wedding."
Bonnie Raitt: "Your sweet and shiny eyes."
CCR: "Ramble Tamble"
Dave Edmunds: "I knew the bride."
BoDeans: "One Thin Love."

 

I probably should have suggested people provide links. Anyway, I will:

The Beatles:

is one of the most sublimely perfect chamber pop songs I've ever heard. John Lennon admitted it was one of his favorites by Paul McCartney. But it's less than two minutes long and buried on an album (Revolver) full of experimentation.

The Beatles' solo work: I'll always prefer Lennon when he sticks to pop conventions.

is a perfect example off Walls and Bridges, which might be his best solo album after Imagine.

Led Zeppelin:

is probably the best non-epic that Zeppelin ever recorded.

The Who: John Entwistle is hilarious.

might be his most over-the-top opus. It's probably my favorite individual cut from Tommy, which certainly isn't meant to be listened to out of context. The sociopathy comes out so cleanly in Entwistle's voice.

Bruce Springsteen: I'll go a little more obscure here.

is the Boss' most distinct foray into New Wave, and if you don't love Elvis Costello, you may not be crazy about it. I love Costello, and I love this song because of the pulsating energy, great lyrics and uniqueness in Springsteen's catalog.

Bob Dylan: Time Out of Mind may be my favorite Dylan album, which I realize is weird. I think his voice works better in angry blues songs, and the whole album was just that. Lead single "Lovesick" is awesome, but

is one of those songs that sounds straight out of the cannon of classic blues.

Simon and/or Garfunkel:

is such a lovely song. I like it a lot more than "Richard Cory," which became the big hit about a most peculiar man from Sounds of Silence. Paul Simon had a way about very quietly beautiful lyrics.

Elvis Costello:

is one of the best songs ever and the most fully realized song Costello ever recorded.

 

See, I would have considered "Tangerine" to be something that is played quite a bit on the radio... Not of the level of Stairway or Whole Lottle Love, but still quite a bit.

One of my favorite Zeppelin songs without question.

 

Really? It was never released as a single, though I know Led Zeppelin's entire body of work is drawn from (as even "Stairway to Heaven" was not a single). I'll go with

perhaps Led Zeppelin's most beautiful track.

 

Simon and/or Garfunkel: "The Only Living Boy in New York"
Elton John: "Ticking"
Billy Joel: "Summer, Highland Falls"

 

Tangerine definitely qualifies, and would be my pick.

I haven't heard played on the radio much at all. Hell, it probably wouldn't get a ton of play on an all Zeppelin station.


Some other choices:

REM--Flowers of Guatemala
Tom Petty--Dogs on the Run
Stones--Stray Cat Blues

 

I have a hard time with The Beatles, Stones and Zeppelin. It seems like I've heard all their songs a ton and, not counting the Stones later stuff, wasn't alive when they came out so don't have a feel for how big a hit or what kind radio play something like Tangerine got.

But here are some of my picks:

REM -- Be Mine
Foo Fighters -- Summer's End (I think it counts unless Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace is considered the seminal FF album)
Springsteen -- Because the Night. (I know Patti Smith had a big hit with it, but Springsteen recorded it for Darkness on the Edge of Town and then didn't even put it on the album. His version is great though.)
Pearl Jam -- Red Mosquito
Tom Petty -- Walls (No. 3) [a slightly faster version of Walls (Circus)]

 

The Beatles: The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill
Led Zeppelin: Bron-Y-Aur-Stomp
The Who: Picture of Lilly
Paul Simon: Mother and Child Reunion
Pearl Jam: Daughter (probably doesn't count)
Nirvana: Do Re Mi or Verse, Chorus, Verse
Tom Petty: Angel Dream No. 4

 

Given that it was a No. 1 hit and ranks among Pearl Jam's five most recognizable songs, I would agree.

 

Tangerine is a great pick ... little-played song off a rarely played (and vastly underrated) album. There's some great stuff on Led Zep III besides "The Immigrant Song."

Plus, the revolving LP cover art is one of my favorite album covers of all time:

 

I'm not criticizing the pick, it's a great song. I'm a big Zeppelin fan and the classic rock stations that I listened to growing up played it all the time.

Zeppelin is a little tough. I'm pretty sure Stairway was never released as a single. I think only four or five songs were released as singles off the first four albums.

Obviously, Tangerine isn't one of their signature hits. Great song though...

 

It's probably my favorite Led Zeppelin album, though as I brought up before here, the amount of stolen material on the first three albums rankles me. "Since I've Been Loving You" may be both the band's best song ever and its most blatant plagiarism. IV is really when the band stopped drawing so much from forgotten blues tracks.

Still, "Tangerine" is an original. "The Immigrant Song" may be the most known track on III, but I would probably call it one of the worst.

I don't think I've ever heard "Tangerine" on the radio. I'm not sure I had heard "Tangerine" until I bought III about seven years ago. I could see the appeal for radio stations because, as I said, it may be Led Zeppelin's best track under five minutes and certainly is less grating than "The Immigrant Song."