So we've all had favorite pillows song threads in the past, but they seem to often get out of control with people listing half the band's discography. Besides, it's been a while and many of us like different songs now. Without further ado, what are your top ten favorite pillows songs, period?

1. Tiny Boat (Original) - This may be my favorite song of all time. Everything about the song is perfect. I've heard it hundreds of times and it still charms me with each listen. This song made me fall in love with the ES-335. Oddly enough the solo has never been one of my favorites but the intro and outtro are so incredible good that I can overlook that.

2. One Life (Single Mix) - One Life is the song that, in my opinion, defines the pillows. I went a long time without listening to this song due to the obvious strong connection to a certain anime series, but when I rediscovered what a great song this is, the association seemed like it disappeared. I love this song.

3. Patricia (Album Version) - Another defining song for the pillows, what's left to say? It will never get old to me.

4. Ano Hi to Onaji Sora no Shita de - Somehow I knew this song would be awesome long before I ever heard it, and when the Special CD finally surfaced, sure enough, I was right. The guitar and bass in this song is among the pillows' best.

5. Kanojo wa Kyou - This was the song that took me the longest to love, for some reason. I always liked it until I one day realized that it's really one of the band's best songs, period.

6. Kono Mama Koko de - My favorite song off of what may be my personal favorite pillows album, and another classic.

7. Liberty (Original Version) - As one forumite once said about Liberty, it's one of the sweetest minute-and-a-halfs of music I've ever heard. If they did a full version back in '95 or '96 it would probably be a few spots higher.

8. Swanky Street - Another band defining song with what may be the pillows' best chorus and solo. Swanky Street is a song that sounds gritty and unrefined, retaining the innocence of their early work while discovering their most natural voice as a band.

9. Shiroi Natsu (Album Version) - Much like Patricia, another mood-setting song that brings to mind summer days, appropriately enough. The solo has always hit me as somewhat sour, but the intro and vocal climax create one of the pillows' finest moments to date.

10. Bokura no Haree Suisei (Both Versions) - A song that seems oddly appropriate in the pillows' career in both 1992 and 2004. One of Sawao's most memorable tunes, it perhaps captures the unrefined sound of a young band at its grandest.

Okay, this is gonna be sorta tuff.

1. Something like a romance- My favorite song. Everything is beautiful about it and I fell in love with it the first time I heard it. The lead, vocals, bass, precussion, rhythim and tone of this song (oops forgot the lyrics) makes a tear come to my eye.

2. Akanai tobira no mae de- It was a really tough choice between "Something like a romance" and this. The bass is one of the best things in the song. Simple, but great. These are some of Sawao's best vocals ever. The tone of the guitar makes me almost have an orgasm. >> Great song.

3. NATIVE WORLD- Moar 1993-1995/6 stuff. This song is really different in a way. It's very, I don't know the right word... ambient...? The song creates feelings in me that I don't really understand. (Yeah I know, real cheezy, but it's true)

4. Sitting On a Paper Moon- I love it. It's my favorite song on WI. The lead is real good and Sawao, once again, does great vocals. It's really relaxing, too.

5. HAPPY SLAVE- Man, what a masterpiece. Great song, great beat, too. Excellent lyrics, and a freakin' face-melting solo.

6. Swanky Street- Pretty much the same reason as HAPPY SLAVE, only missing the mark by 0.1% of being #5.

7. ANGEL FISH- Great lead. Great guitar tone. Wonderful vocals.

8. Spiky Goose- This song just plain kicks ass. Period.

9. LIBERTY (Original version)- Pretty much the same reason as Thinliine.

10. Strange Chameleon- Wow. Wow. Beautiful. That's all I need to say.

There you have it. Hope you like my crappy descriptions of why I like the certain songs. Phew, that was hard.

I've always wanted to avoid outright ranking my favorite pillows songs, because it's just mind-staggeringly difficult. Here's my go at it, and I swear I think I'll accidentally put a lesser song up here when I like another one more.

1. Our Halley's Comet (Turn Back) - From "Toriaezu sa..." on, I'm hooked on this song. A godly bassline, an awesome lead, and lyrics that kick major ass compose this masterpiece. This is the song that you listen to as you Gaijin Blast your way through metropolitan Tokyo, knocking buildings over and being the all-around chick magnet.

2. One Life (Album) - It was the song that got me into the pillows, and there's something special about this song that I can't quite shake. I personally say One Life blows Hybrid Rainbow out of the water.

3. Nowhere (Album AND Acoustic, acoustic with slight edge) - Can you really go wrong with these two? The album version is simply amazing, but the vocals in the acoustic version are godly, yet hindered by the fact that not the full song is sung.

4. Tsuyogari - I absolutely love this song, but since it's not technically their song, it's substitutable/on par with: Ice Pick (Acoustic) That's the one that actually got me to like the original. The emotion tied into it is absolutely amazing, and I actually prefer Ice Pick slowed down.

5. Girls Don't Cry - Near perfect the way instruments and vocals harmonize.

6. Sonna Fuu ni Sugoshitai - We all recognize its greatness and bow in humble reverence.

7. Sha-la-la-lla - This song... Wow, just wow.

8. Girlfriend (Both versions) - Really, 6, 7, and 8 all tie for 6th place in my book.

9. Swanky Street - This song is stunning, and with almost all of the songs in my top ten, I just can't describe them because they're so damned awesome.

10. Noboronai Taiyou - It's just awesome, awesome, awesome, and it was hard as hell trying to sum up my top ten. I still went over.

Honorable Mentions: Kizuato no Sasayaki.., Fool on the Planet, Monochrome Lovers, Funny Bunny, Sleepy Head, Stand up and Go, as well as Sukitoru Tooi Tegami.

1. one life - 'nuff said.
2. funny bunny - nice, mellow song. i love the melody, lead guitar part, tone of the drums. for some reason i don't love the bass line.
*looks up discography*
3. back seat dog - great melody. why weren't the pillows on the top of the charts back then?
4. subhuman - i can't even describe the feeling i get from this song. i love the lyrics.
5. okujou ni obotte - great melody and guitar part.
6. shiroi natsu to midori no jitensha akai kami to kuroi gitaa - more feelings i can't describe with mere words.
7. rush - great melody. rocks pretty nice.
8. swanky street - godly. good guitar solo. could be my favorite when it comes to lyrics.
9. ano hi to onaji sora no shita de - love the melody and lead guitar part.
10. kono mama koko de - nice and mellow. BEAUTIFUL HARMONY.
11...what?... strange chameleon - i hated this song for so long. i swear i had to have heard it 100 times before i liked it. now i love it.

more:
babiron tenshi no uta
over amp
kanojo wa shisuta
blues drive monster
vain dog
spiky goose

songs i don't really care for but i don't know why:
tiny boat
girlfriend
patricia
i guess i could add to this list but...

1. Swanky Street - This song is amazing. My favorite of all time and it cheers me up everytime I listen to it.

2. Kanojo wa Kyou

3. Girls Don't Cry

4. My Girl (nonfiction ver.)

5. Blues Drive Monster

6. One Life

7. Strange Chameleon

8. Our Haley's Comet

9. Hybrid Rainbow

10. Nowhere

Yeah I'm not too fond of their older stuff...go figure.

1. Black Sheep- this song has such emotion, words fail, in my opinion, at describing it. It's a mellow sadness, a happy and yet, a distint feeling of sorrow. I have such a strong connection to this song, it is as though I have it bound to me.

2.One Life- A sole purpose, a love, is the drive that fuels the wanderer.

3.4. Scarecrow- even though people say the themes are the same, an inspirational song about a journey, I don't think so.
This song represents perserverance. A scarecrow who no one accepts, his only friend is the moon and his trusty fiddle. Even though he is denied acceptance, he continues on.

4. Nowhere-this song describes the Paradise Seeker mentality, surely, there is always somewhere better than here. Nowhere.

5. Fool on the Planet-in an ever-changing world, I often feel like I'm watching some ceaseless film, and watching as people fade in and out of the screen. I made a promise I know is unrealistic.

Even if everything else does, I won't change.

6. To be continued.

it used to be easy for me to pick a top 10, but then i find a new favorite with almost every new album.

hybrid rainbow
beautiful morning with you
paper triangle
MONSTER CC
funny bunny
bokura no HAREE suisei (turn back version =P)
last dinosaur
sono mirai wa ima
one life
ROBOTMAN

This is in no particular oder...

1. Beautiful Picture- The song just gives off a sad emotion. Even when i didn't understand this song I completely felt what he was trying to say.

2. Borderline Case- "I wanna be you good friend, what do you think?" Always gets me. The robot voice saying it don't hurt either.

3. Smile- When the go into the second part of the song I just wanna start kicking shit with those kick ass guitar riffs!

4. Thank you, My Twlight- He say these words at the end of the song I can feel the raw emotion the he's giving off.

5. Please Mr.Lostman- Always liked this song, love the guitar part before going into the chorus.

6. Beautiful Morning With You- The whole structure of the song is awesome and the lyrics are beautiful too.

7. Backseat Dog- Feel like that everytime I play this song. Just a secondary character in someones life.

8. One Life- This song just owns hard. Complety was inspired by this song and I'm grateful for it.

9. Daydream Wonder- I remember trying to get into their pre 1997 stuff and this was the first song I instantly liked and fell in love with.

10. Black Sheep- Just plain love this depressing song.

Shiroi Natsu to Midori no Jitensha, Akai Kami to Kuroi Gitaa - I felt that the mood and emotion of the song was great. It had simplistic guitars which made the song sound warm, like summer. Also, Jun did a great job with the bass, I loved it. I felt that the solo was great because it fit the song. It was kept simple, soft, and short, like how summer appears to be.

Daydream Wonder - This song is tickles my ears every time I hear it. It's such a nice easygoing song to listen to. It's soft vocals and melody gets complemented well with Manabe's lead. I always seem to bob my head with Shin's drums.

Bokura no Haree Suisei - Before I warmed up to the pillows older stuff, this was one of the songs I did like, but I like Turn Back's version better. Manabe does a great job, it's just awesome. The bass it's great, I really do like it when I can distinctively hear the bass.

Strange Chameleon - Boku wa Strange Chameleon. I don't think I need to say more.

Kono Yono Hade Made - I love the emotion of the song. The guitars are awesome to listen to. I don't know what else, I just love it.

Carnival - One of the first songs that got me liking the pillows. The moment I heard it I thought it was great. The intro is great and I love the bridge.

Subhuman - When I first heard this song I was like, "This can't be Sawao, I can actually understand this English!", but it was instantly a favorite. The guitars, the melody, the lyrics, everything is great. Also, the bass work is another awesome aspect to the song.

Hybrid Rainbow - It's literally like an updated rocked out version of a Beatles song. It sounds great and Manabe continues to create awesomeness out of his guitar.

Tiny Boat - Intro is great. I like to just sit back and listen to this song because it's another easy listener. Also, bass!

March of the God - I liked this the moment I heard it. Another song with great rhythm, lead, and bass guitars, with amazing drumming. I liked the way they had the calling between the left and right side speakers.

For me, I'm kinda weird with the songs I like.

Smile - This, to me, has to be their best song. The emotions I feel when listening to all three parts of the song leave me speechless, and the release I feel at the end of the song makes me feel like I'm being lifted away. Plus, watching Overburn play it on youtube was fucking incredible and inspired me to start playing again.

One Life - This is the first song I truley loved by the Pillows. Truely a great song.

I Think I Can - Although it's associated with a particular anime, this song is just awesome imo. Makes me wish I could play it on my guitar decently.

Funny Bunny - Nice simple song with a pleasing melody. Good balance in all instrumental parts. Was my favorite song for a bit.

Bran-New Longsong - Very mellow song with better lyrics than most of their songs. Very heartfelt it seemed.

Fool on a Planet - Such a great song. This song makes me feel serene and yet at the chorus makes me feel like I wanna pour out all my energy to the world.

Strange Chameleon - Just a beautiful song.

Nonfiction - A fun song to listen to.

The Pleasure Song - For some reason, at the moment, I can't stop listening to it. Maybe as time passes by my opinion will change, but for the time being I really like this song a lot.

Rush - This song really pumps me up. nuff said.

1. Sad sad kiddie

2. Juliet

3. White Ash

4. No self control

5. Wake up, frenzy!

6. Paper triangle

7. Bran-new lovesong

8. Midnight down

9. Borderline case

10. Runners high



honorable mention: Let's see, if that's true or not

My favs in no particular order.

1) Pantomime (cool as hell)
2) Tonight (just awesome)
3) Okuyjo ni Nobotte (don't know why)
4) Strange Chameleon (obvious favorite)
5) Blues Drive Monster (great example of a great song that doesn't need a solo)
6) Patricia (Best song on Little Busters, tied with Blues Drive Monster)
7) sonna fuu ni sugoshitai (awesome song, awesome bass)
8 ) I know you (I just enjoy it a lot)
9) Century creepers (great song, though solo's not so great on the album)
10) tiny boat (this rocks my boat)

This is an extremely difficult list. Trying to find 10 good songs in a collection of really good songs is hard. I guess I chose these songs because they're good songs while standing out.

1. Shiroi Natsu - And I pretty much decided it was my favorite from the moment I first heard it. As Kyle said, that vocal climax, that intro, Shin's rhythm change in the beginning. Man.

2. Koi no Spy ni ki o Tsukero - Man, this song alone makes me love [i]KOOL SPICE[/i] just slightly more than [i]Living Field[/i], because that whole jazz-rock thing they were going for? Yeah, well they do that in this song, but they do it PERFECTLY. The energy in the chorus is unparalleled.

3. Akanai Tobira no Mae de - Because [i]KOOL SPICE[/i] is basically the best album ever, and features the pillows' most beautiful closer and also most successful reggae-inspired tune (sorry, Native World, though you are just barely second). As someone said before me, Sawao's vocals are amazing on this song.

4. That House - Heavily instrumental in making [i]Little Busters[/i] my favorite pillows album. The usual adjectives apply to this one: "beautiful," "sad," "perfect." But I'd also like to mention how perfectly this song is [i]produced[/i]. It sounds positively ghostly.

5. Okujou ni Obotte - That IMMENSE bridge predicts the direction taken on [i]Lostman[/i] by a rough mile, which isn't to say the rest of the song doesn't totally kick ass. It's one of the few pillows songs that doesn't hinge absolutely on the verse-chorus-verse structure - there's a definite build going throughout, and it just explodes at the end.

6. ROBOTMAN - The saddest song in the fucking world. The fact that it sounds sort of happy makes it sadder. Sawao may never write a melody this good again, but that's okay, because I don't think I could handle another one of these.

7. Smile - Dear Sawao: More multi-part songs.

8. Please Mr. Lostman - Man, that album just ends with a bang, doesn't it? My heart jumped out of my chest when I saw them performing this on the 916 DVD.

9. Bokura no Halley Suisei - For all the reasons listed above. I prefer the [i]White Incarnation[/i] version because I like the murky-ass production.

10. Blues Drive Monster - After hearing "Ride on Shooting Star" and desperately wanting more, my friend Mike made me a mix of pillows songs, putting this at track 2. Thus, this is the first pillows song to completely and utterly BLOW MY MIND, especially in its composition. From the bizarre and wonderful "morning/power station" aside to the buildup to the fucking chorus, man, THAT FUCKING CHORUS, and you just don't have to breathe anymore after that, jesus christ.

This changes frequently, but I'll do a list off-hand here...

1. Fool on the Planet
2. Funny Bunny
3. Last Dinosaur
4. Kim Deal
5. Please Mr. Lostman
6. Something Like a Romance
7. Trip Dancer
8. Happy Bivouac
9. Beautiful Picture
10. She is Perfect

Just a list of 10 absolute favorites... somewhat random in order.

I don't want to do a hugeass writeup, but I'll kind of do what Jomei did and list the top ten that I think of atm, though there's too many great songs to have a secure top 10.

1. Swanky Street
2. Something Like a Romance
3. Strange Chameleon
4. Kim Deal
5. Century Creepers
6. koi no Spy ni ki wo tsukero!
7. Paper Moon ni koshikakete
8. Carnival
9. tashikame ni yukou
10. shiroi natsu

edit: also in no particular order, and i'm already frustrated because there's three songs that popped into my head that i want to add, lol.