Musical non-faves

[aadler]

I don’t know what brought it to mind, but out of nowhere I remembered once asking two or three people (at least one of whom was a musician), “What song makes you automatically turn off the radio when you hear it starting?”

I can only recall one answer; for the musician, it was ‘Wildfire’ by Michael Martin Murphey. (Mine was ‘the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald’ by Gordon Lightfoot.) What I do remember was that all the answers supported the common thread.

Everyone’s least-favorite song wasn’t bad; it was one that should have been good (and was definitely good enough to become a hit).

Look at my own example. ‘Edmund Fitzgerald’ should have been one I liked a lot. Great songwriter, one whose other work I’ve much enjoyed. Based on a striking historical event. Compelling rhythm, like iron echoing on ice. But oh, my God, it just went on and on, droning and endless and inescapable, it was like having a screwdriver pounded into my skull by quarter-inch taps from a hammer.

So who else has one you want to name?