Part 4/Four of the Number Songs Project
A dozen great tunes featuring the word "Four" in the title. Come add your picks to the reader playlist!
Thanks to those of you who contributed to the bonus “reader-shared” playlist in my previous post. I’ve added a few more songs to the Spotify playlist, recently suggested in the latest comments.
Today, we’re featuring songs with the word “four” in the title. There were certainly fewer options this time around than for two and three, but many more than there were for zero. Again, no “4” songs were allowed.
As always, I welcome your selections of songs I overlooked, which I will add to the growing public playlist soon. You can access that playlist here.
If you missed the first three parts of this project, links to the posts are at the bottom of this page.
Now, without further ado, the four songs!
1. Four Sticks - Led Zeppelin
Is this my favorite Led Zeppelin track from the band’s best-selling fourth album, IV?
Well, it isn’t any of the wildly overplayed trio of “Black Dog,” “Rock and Roll,” or “Stairway to Heaven.” As much as I love the pounding 5/4 rhythm of “Four Sticks,” I have to say that I turn to the album's last two tracks, “Going to California” and “When the Levee Breaks,” more than any of the others.
Of all the Zeppelin albums, though, this is the one I turn to the least. Give me Presence or Physical Graffiti any day.
Is “Four Sticks” named after the number of drum sticks John Bonham used to play the song? I’m not going to look it up, but I’m really hoping the answer is yes.
2. Four Wheel Drive — Bachman-Turner Overdrive
This isn’t the most widely-known tune from Bachman-Turner Overdrive, but it's one of their most rocking.
“Four Wheel Drive” definitely feels like a road song. The type of tune you blast from your Blaupunkt stereo with all the windows rolled down as you drive through the winding mountainous roads. Do they still make Blaupunkt stereos? Quick research shows they were sold in 2009 to Aurelius AG in Germany.
3. Four Horsemen — The Clash
I tried to find a live version of this classic from The Clash, but after watching a few different concerts on YouTube, I kept gravitating back to the album version.
I’m not a bible-boy, so I can’t comment on the whole Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse from The Book of Revelation aspect. I assume Joe and Mick utilized smartly spot-on metaphors and biblical references, mirroring the ills of the world in 1979.
I respond to the song’s energy more than the lyrics, which is the case for most songs, I will admit.
4. The Four Horsemen — Metallica
I am including this live version of Metallica’s “The Four Horsemen” just to show how hard the band still rocked in 2019. The song is from the band’s first album, Kill ‘Em All, back in 1983.
When it was released, it was smack dab in the heart of my heavy metal years, and when I heard it, I became obsessed with Metallica. I’m not so much into them anymore, but I appreciate their longevity and would include Master of Puppets in any top 50 albums of all time list.
5. The Four Winds — Aesop Rock
One of the most innovative rappers of all time (IMHO), Long Island-based Aesop Rock has quadruple the vocabulary of most English-speaking humans. Or maybe it’s just quadruple my vocabulary. I feel both simultaneously smarter and dumber when I listen to any of his songs.
Aesop doesn’t shy away from the big issues, and he often explores themes of spirituality. Here’s what I found at genius.com regarding what “The Four Winds” is about.
“The wind, or breath, is often used as a metaphor for Ch'i, or Qi, in the Far East. This is a fitting choice for the final track of the album (also titled The Four Winds), which is itself about both Aesop's spiritual journey to the center, as well as his physical journeying to various countries like Peru, Vietnam, and Cambodia.”
6. Four Kinds of Horses — Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel’s wildly ambitious 2023 album (double album, really), i/o, didn’t get the massive accolades I think it deserved. Or maybe it did. What do I know, I live in a bubble. I suppose the fact that Gabriel released the songs piecemeal before gathering them in album (CD, streaming) format may have lessened the impact of, in my opinion, his best music in more than four decades.
Yes, I said it. Sure, it’s a lot to take in all at once, especially compared to the relatively easy-on-the-ears So (1986), which had several hits and was an economical 42 minutes long. But i/o’s ambitions reward the listener over multiple listens and (re)confirm Peter Gabriel’s sonic brilliance.
i/o was released with a bright-side mix and a dark-side mix. I included both versions above so you can decide if you like one more than the other.
7. Four Winds — Bright Eyes
I would have included the official video for Bright Eyes’ “Four Winds” from their excellent 2007 album, Cassadega, but it adds too many extra sound effects to the song, which I find distracting. You can click the words “official video” above to see for yourself if you like.
I was a fanboy for Conor Oberst and his (initially) solo project Bright Eyes from the very beginning, which amazingly was in 1995 when he was 15 years old. Even more amazing is the fact that Conor had released music with four different bands before going solo — The Faint, Commander Venus, The Magentas, and Park Ave. So, essentially ages 12-15. Way to make me feel even more like a sloth, Conor!
Now, Oberst is an elder statesman of sorts, having played with a wide assortment of who ’s-who from the alternative rock and folk world. One of my favorite of his side projects was/is Better Oblivion Community Center, with Phoebe Bridgers. Their 2019 self-titled album is wonderful. I hope they continue to make music together.
I just learned that Bright Eyes will be releasing a new album later this year (Five Dice, All Threes). Based on that title, I’m hoping for a self-titled song that I can use next month — if he can get it out before August 30.
8. Four Seasons In One Day — Crowded House
There are a lot of velvety-voiced brother duos in rock history (you know them, I don’t have to list), but near the top, I would put Neil and Tim Finn. Though Crowded House was Neil’s baby first, with the band’s 3rd album, Woodface, older bro Tim would join the pop hitmakers. A reverse scenario from when Neil joined Split Enz, which Tim had co-founded in the ‘70s.
The brothers are still performing together, both as part of Crowded House and also as the Finn Brothers.
I wrote an earworm post on a different Crowded House song (Fall At Your Feet) in the fall of 2022, which you can read at the link below.
9. Vivaldi: The Four Seasons “Spring: 1 Allegro” — Itzhak Perlman and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra
I’m as far from a connoisseur of Classical music as you can get, but I know Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. I’m sharing the first movement of the 12-part violin concerti, “Spring: 1 Allegro (in E major),” which is the most recognizable. It is performed by Itzhak Perlman and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
10. Four Women — Nina Simone
I’m sure I had heard a few songs by Nina Simone prior to seeing the 2004 Richard Linklater film, Before Sunset. But that film, the second in the Before trilogy starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, was the first time I remember “hearing” Nina Simone. The way Simone’s “Just in Time” (Live – Montreux Jazz Festival 1968) guides and narrates the film’s final scene is truly sublime. (clip below.)
Viewing the 2015 documentary What Happened, Miss Simone? was another key moment in terms of educating me on Nina Simone’s life and what an extraordinary talent she was.
“Four Women” is a powerful song about four different African American women from the time of slavery to the 1960s. To learn more about this track, click here.
11. Four Cornered Room — War
I wrote about War a few months ago in my piece about their hit song, “Low Rider” (from their 1975 album Why Can’t We Be Friends?) But if I had to pick a favorite album, I would have to go with their 1972 classic The World is a Ghetto. It’s got just six songs, but each one packs a wallop.
“Four Cornered Room” sets the tone for side two, grooving unhurriedly, incorporating elements of soul, blues, psychedelic rock, and spoken word. It’s not as epic as the title track that follows, but Lonnie Jordan’s vocals alone make this a standout.
12. Four Wheel Drive — C.W. McCall
C.W. McCall is most famous for his 1975 hit novelty country road song, “Convoy.” But a one-hit-wonder he was not. Or maybe he was, I don’t know. I will admit that I discovered “Four Wheel Drive” in my internet search for "four” songs. It’s the only track in the playlist I don’t own.
I get such a kick out of the combination of the song’s high-octane banjo and witty spoken-word vocals. I especially love the way McCall pronounces the magical herb “mar-e-ja-wanna.”
It’s a fun, silly, perfect way to end this playlist.
As always, leave a comment and let me know what “four” songs I left out.
I did start with 20 songs, so I’m expecting a few that I cut out to make the bonus list.
Next month I’m gonna personally give you all a High-Five!
Until we meet again,
Steve
Links to parts “0,” “2,” and “3” below.
"Group Four" by Massive Attack.
What a great list! Aesop Rock AND Nina Simone on the same list is a thing of magic.