Comments on: Needs more accordion.

Question: Needs more accordion.

adverb — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 05:31:38 -0800

What are some good pop/rock songs that feature an accordion? I'm not looking for any polka/cajun/zydeco-influenced sounds, but more traditional rock tunes - think "The Last Beat of My Heart" by Siouxsie and the Banshees or even "What it Takes" by Aerosmith - where it's just another backing instrument.

By: Jaltcoh

Jaltcoh — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 05:50:01 -0800

A lot of songs by the Arcade Fire -- a good example is "No Cars Go."

Nirvana's version of "Jesus Don't Want Me for a Sunbeam" (from Unplugged).

more

By: MonkeyToes

MonkeyToes — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 05:50:31 -0800

This list will give you a good start.

By: swordfishtrombones

swordfishtrombones — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 05:58:54 -0800

Counting Crows - Long December

By: essexjan

essexjan — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 06:05:08 -0800

Constant Craving by kd lang.

By: Gungho

Gungho — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 06:06:32 -0800

They Might Be Giants feature it in many of their songs. This page has a list.

By: ludwig_van

ludwig_van — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 06:08:38 -0800

Lots of Decemberists songs - Leslie Ann Levine, for one.

By: hawthorne

hawthorne — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 06:17:38 -0800

Lots of Weddings Parties Anything.

By: hydrophonic

hydrophonic — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 06:27:20 -0800

Neutral Milk Hotel - The King of Carrot Flowers Pt 1

By: quodlibet

quodlibet — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 06:29:33 -0800

I'm pretty sure the Benjy Davis Project uses an accordion in some of their music, but I can't think what song off hand.

By: fish tick

fish tick — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 06:43:24 -0800

Lots of John Cougar Mellencamp tunes used accordion.

By: Sailormom

Sailormom — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 06:51:02 -0800

The Felice Brothers.

By: sully75

sully75 — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 06:56:10 -0800

All of Paul Simon's Graceland has insanely good accordion playing.

I think Rickie Lee Jone's Pop Pop has a lot of accordion...it's sort of vaguely or less vaguely jazz.

By: megatherium

megatherium — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 06:59:45 -0800

The Cowboy Junkies often include a plaintive accordion as accompaniment. (Everything about the Junkies is plaintive.)

By: JohnnyGunn

JohnnyGunn — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 07:10:07 -0800

Bruce Hornsby plays the accordion a lot.

By: jdfan

jdfan — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 07:23:08 -0800

Poi Dog Pondering

By: sineala

sineala — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 07:31:34 -0800

Moxy Fruvous used a fair amount of accordion. The only song coming to mind right now is "Bargainville," but I'm sure there are others.

By: JohnnyGunn

JohnnyGunn — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 07:32:47 -0800

jdfan: Thank you, thank you. I have been trying to remember the name of the band I saw at Ravinia in the northern Chicago suburbs circa 1997. They were terrific. It was Poi Dog Pondering. What was so great, was that they played a Saturday night. But, on that Saturday morning, they played a free kids show. I went with my 3 and 2 years olds and with a bunch of fathers with like aged kids. Everyone loved it especially the kids. I distinctly recall an accordion being played and my daughter asking, "what's that?" The evening show rocked.

By: JuiceBoxHero

JuiceBoxHero — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 07:53:12 -0800

A poppy example in French is Tu Es Foutu by In Grid. It was quite popular when I was in Europe a few years ago.

By: humblepigeon

humblepigeon — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 08:01:49 -0800

They Might be Giants. If you cut open my head you'd hear this song playing all the time (this version too).

The Pogues, although I appreciate we're stepping into slightly polka territory here.

By: Lemurrhea

Lemurrhea — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 08:02:15 -0800

I saw Po' Girl (warning: autoplay) last summer and they had an accordion. Although their "Home to You" album doesn't seem to use it very much.

By: BiffSlamkovich

BiffSlamkovich — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 08:02:18 -0800

Kinda surprised I don't see The Who's "Squeeze Box" listed yet. It's about an accordion (or is it...).

By: omnidrew

omnidrew — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 08:18:38 -0800

Brave Combo

By: captainsohler

captainsohler — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 08:31:47 -0800

The new Dylan has a goodly amount

By: humblepigeon

humblepigeon — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 08:49:15 -0800

Fairground Attraction.

Folky, rather than rocky. Definitely worth a listen IMHO.

By: milquetoast

milquetoast — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 13:04:59 -0800

A few songs from the World/ Inferno Friendship Society would fall into this category. Your Younger Man comes to mind.

By: julthumbscrew

julthumbscrew — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 19:12:13 -0800

And there's always World/Inferno Friendship Society member Franz Nicolay's day job - The Hold Steady. Probably not quite as accordion-heavy, but rather rockin'.

By: N2O1138

N2O1138 — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 01:06:39 -0800

I don't think it's exactly what you're looking for (definitely more metal than classic rock), but Turisas features a pretty prominent accordion.

If I remember correctly, the last link is somewhat NSFW due to language in the pre-song banter.

By: idiopath

idiopath — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 01:24:50 -0800

Road To Nowhere, and Radio Head (which some band named themselves after), both by Talking Heads.

By: anthom

anthom — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 06:54:56 -0800

In addition to A Long December, Counting Crows put out a live album (Across a Wire) where one disc was all acoustic, with a lot of the songs featuring accordion (like this version of Mr. Jones).