The six best songs ever released on Decca Records
While we still have major record labels that continue to dominate the music industry, they’re no longer the only way for musicians to garner a fan base.
The music industry is more accessible than it has ever been but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s profitable or something where you can easily get a career. However, if you are an indie artist, it’s never been simpler to record and release your own music, which is also a lot more achievable and cost-effective, hence why so many small artists are setting up their own labels to release music on and have full control over.
It’s not unlikely that in the near future, major labels won’t have the same amount of pull that they used to within music, but that doesn’t mean they will stop being a massive part of it, merely that their role within the industry might change. Sure, opinions are divided surrounding those global conglomerates, given how much power they wield, but there is no escaping that these huge organisations are responsible for putting out some of the best tunes ever pressed on wax.
Today, we turn our attention to one of these in the form of Decca Records, which was originally set up in 1929 and has been responsible for some of the best songs released in the past century. So, what are they? It’s no surprise that there are far too many to mention, but these are some undeniable classics across the board.
The best songs released on Decca Records:
Tom Jones – ‘Delilah’
Starting off with a bit of bias, but who cares, it’s my list.
‘Delilah’ was my dad’s go-to karaoke song, and it’s pretty impossible for me to hear it without it putting a smile on my face. You have no idea how many pubs were cleared out thanks to his gravelly voice butchering the work of Tom Jones, and yet, despite dad’s horrendous renditions, the quality of the song still shines through.
Realistically, that’s how you should be able to tell apart a good song from a bad one: if my dad was able to sing it on karaoke and still make it listenable, that’s when you’ve got a really great track on your hands. Tom Jones’ voice is the star of the show, as is the case with most of his songs, but the catchy chorus, haunting music and longing lyrics ensure that this remains a real classic.
Nina Simone – ‘What More Can I Say?’
Nina Simone is the greatest singer in the world, so do me a favour and don’t debate me on this. It’s not just the quality of her vocals, which are already good enough to put her above the majority of performers on the planet, but it’s the emotion she was able to embed into absolutely everything that she released. You’ve never felt closer to pain, joy, heartbreak, turmoil, and laughter through music than you feel with the work of Simone.
To truly appreciate her range, you need to enjoy a lot of her discography, but one of the best examples of how she could show emotion alongside moving vocals is in the track ‘What More Can I Say?’ Her performance throughout is subtle and sweet-sounding, but then in the final minute we hear her let loose to vocally release a combination of love, pain and longing. I get goosebumps every time I hear that track, and it remains one of the greatest that Simone ever put out, which is saying something.
The Who – ‘Behind Blue Eyes’
When people think of The Who, they think of the rock-heavy aesthetic you get on songs like ‘My Generation’, ‘Baba O’Riley’ and ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’, which is all fair enough, as those are the kind of songs that cemented them as one of the greatest rock bands of all time, but it takes a track like ‘Behind Blue Eyes’ to remind you just how wonderfully versatile these concept rockers were.
The whole song is stripped back and sweet, with rock music only going full throttle towards the tune’s finale, and despite the song sounding so sweet and vulnerable, the central character isn’t exactly one to look up to. Townshend realised how much of a juxtaposition there was when his wife commented on how much she loved the track.
“I went downstairs to the kitchen to get some tea, and my wife said, ‘That song’s beautiful’,” he recalled, “I said, ‘Oh dear, is it?’ It’s about a guy who’s treacherous and lies and cheats, then he gets his comeuppance.”
Fizz – ‘Hell of a Ride’
While the majority of the songs on this list are from legendary artists close to, if not already retired, you have to give credit to record labels that don’t sponge off their previous successes and instead champion new artists. Fizz were a modern age supergroup made up of Dodie, Orla Gartland, Greta Isaac and Martin Luke Brown, who came together to make music which was a combination of pop, rock, psychedelia and whatever you call licking a battery
It was incredibly fun to listen to but also laced with quality, as while Fizz championed accessibility through silliness, there was no escaping how well these already acclaimed artists joined forces to make something new. Their whole album, The Secret To Life, is worth a listen, but an undeniably standout track is their offering with ‘Hell of a Ride’.
The Rolling Stones – ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’
Let’s be real, we’re not going to have a list where there is an opportunity to include The Rolling Stones and not include them, such that the primary question we face is which song we include, rather than whether or not we actually put one in. After plenty of pondering, it made sense to just go for one of their most popular and recognisable offerings, the classic ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’.
“People get very blasé about their big hit,” said Mick Jagger when discussing how much of a hit the song was, “It was the song that really made The Rolling Stones, changed us from just another band into a huge, monster band. You always need one song. We weren’t American, and America was a big thing, and we always wanted to make it here. It was very impressive the way that song and the popularity of the band became a worldwide thing.”
The Beatles – ‘Come Together’
Once again, it’s not a case of whether we should include The Beatles but a case of which song we settle on. This haphazard bundle of lyrics mixed over simple and yet wildly effective instrumentation is arguably one of The Beatles’ best songs and certainly one of the best songs to come out of Decca Records. Don’t try to make sense of it though as the beauty lies in its overwhelming confusion, with what was supposed to be a campaign song for Tim Leary ended up being one of the greatest anomalies in music.
“The thing was created in the studio. It’s gobbledygook,” said John Lennon, “’Come Together’ was an expression that Tim Leary had come up with for (perhaps for the governorship of California against Reagan), and he asked me to write a campaign song. I tried, and I tried, but I couldn’t come up with one. But I came up with this, ‘Come Together’, which would’ve been no good to him, you couldn’t have a campaign song like that, right?”
