Pop songs with French horn

October 4, 2011 1:49 PM

I'm trying to identify pop songs that feature (or at least include) some French horn, like All You Need Is Love, or Lollipop by Mika. Any ideas?
posted by CheeseLouise to Media & Arts (18 answers total)

Belle & Sebastian? Dear Catastrophe Waitress (the album) lists 3 french horn players in the credits.
posted by 2bucksplus at 1:52 PM on October 4, 2011

For No One by the Beatles features the french horn very prominently.
posted by catwash at 1:56 PM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

"Putting the Damage On" (and a few other songs on Boys for Pele) by Tori Amos features some pretty devastating French Horn/brass work by the Black Dyke Mills Band, which also worked with the Beatles and Peter Gabriel, according to their wikipedia entry.
posted by kickingthecrap at 1:57 PM on October 4, 2011

Would Acid Brass count?
posted by mkb at 2:01 PM on October 4, 2011

Bon Iver's new album is chock-full of French horn goodness..
Holocene (live)
posted by obscurator at 2:02 PM on October 4, 2011

The Who used the French horn quite a bit. I don't have time for a better example, but here's "Pictures of Lily."
posted by hydrophonic at 2:07 PM on October 4, 2011

Self-link! Vegas and Vanity
posted by otolith at 2:09 PM on October 4, 2011

Hunters & Collecters.
posted by Sys Rq at 2:10 PM on October 4, 2011

The Beach Boys' "God Only Knows" and (although it's not really featured) the Stones' "You Can't Always Get What You Want".
posted by Specklet at 2:12 PM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

The Beach Boys - God Only Knows, i.e. the melodic line at the beginning.
posted by hellomina at 2:12 PM on October 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

Badly Drawn Boy - The Shining. He starts singing around 1:40.
posted by hellomina at 2:19 PM on October 4, 2011

I'm pretty sure Sufjan has a French horn in the mix somewhere in Age of Adz.
posted by hellomina at 2:29 PM on October 4, 2011

You Can't Always Get What You Want, by the Rolling Stones.
posted by Elly Vortex at 2:36 PM on October 4, 2011

The Art Teacher by Rufus Wainwright, though you need to be specific and look for the 3:51 version from Want Two and not the 4:01 version from Waiting for a Want.
posted by Madamina at 2:38 PM on October 4, 2011

Okay, here's another example from The Who: "Overture" from Tommy. And here's a list of other songs.
posted by hydrophonic at 3:52 PM on October 4, 2011

Pretenders - I Go To Sleep.
posted by ovvl at 8:26 PM on October 4, 2011

Response by poster: Thanks everybody. I appreciate it!
posted by CheeseLouise at 7:26 AM on October 5, 2011

The Who used the French horn quite a bit.

To be precise, according to this biography, the late bass player John Entwistle was "trained in both the piano and the French horn, he was one of the most musically accomplished teenagers ever to play in a skiffle band. Invited by Roger Daltrey to join his band, the Detours, Entwistle accepted, and was joined soon after by Townshend. With the addition of drummer Keith Moon, this band [was] later renamed the High Numbers and finally The Who." Just so you know it wasn't some anonymous studio musician playing on all those tracks in hydrophonic's list.
posted by Rash at 8:29 AM on October 5, 2011