Good songs with no vocals

Instrumental. Y’all got some good stuff to throw out there?

I’ve never been into Pat Methenys shit at all but “James” I got from YouTuber Rick Beato. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_SCInQ20d2…

George Benson “Breezin” https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Je3Pe3gWU0…

David Bowie “Speed of life” https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=luHJqKBfVb…

51 comments

  • Studme53
    7 months ago
    The Who have a couple spectacular instrumental overtures on Quadrophenia - 4 Overtures and The Rock.
    Tommy has some great instrumentals as well.

    I also love the incredible acoustic guitar on Salamander but Jethro Tull, but that has a couple of lyric lines in it that are kind of afterthoughts
  • motorhead
    7 months ago
    I’m dating myself, but I don’t think anything can come close to the great instrumentals of the 60’s

    Green Onions - Booker T and the MG’s
    Telstar - the Tornadoes
    Apache - the Shadows
    Walk Don’t Run - the Ventures
    Wipe Out - the Surfaris
    Pipeline - The Chantay’s
    Time is Tight - Booker T
    Taste of Honey - Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass
  • Hank Moody
    7 months ago
    From my HS days — YYZ by Rush.
  • Meshuggah
    7 months ago
    Metallica - Orion
    Flotsam & Jetsam - The Jones
  • IWantHerOnMe
    7 months ago
    Summer Madness Kool and the Gang
  • EastCoaster
    7 months ago
    ^^^ @motorhead -- Dating yourself? You and me both. Great list of classic instrumentals.

    One of my all-time faves is "Birdland" by Weather Report from 1977. The fretless bass is just incredible. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Fm10whc…

    Joe Zawinul – Yamaha grand piano, ARP 2600 and Oberheim polyphonic synthesizer, melodica, vocals
    Wayne Shorter – soprano and tenor saxophones
    Jaco Pastorius – fretless bass, mandocello, vocals
    Manolo Badrena – tambourine
    Alex Acuña – drums
  • skibum609
    7 months ago
    It's a long instrumental, but does have one line in it: one of these days, pink floyd. David Gilmour just fucking kills it on peddle steel guitar. Classical gas, Mason Williams. Popcorn, hot butter. The first electronic hit song.
  • rattdog
    7 months ago
    sparks-the who
    to live is to die-metallica
    joe satriani-up in the sky
    edgar winter-frankenstein
    eric johnson-srv
    srv-scuttle buttin
    srv-little wing
  • twentyfive
    7 months ago
    How quickly we forget “Dueling Banjos “ from the soundtrack of the movie “Deliverance”
  • crosscheck
    7 months ago
    La Villa Strangiato - Rush (especially the live version from Exit: Stage Left)
    Orion - Metallica
    Classical Gas - Mason Williams
    Frankenstein - Edgar Winter Group
    Fire on High - Electric Light Orchestra
  • NCParrothead
    7 months ago
    I would go with a couple of songs used for TV shows:
    Hawaii 5-0
    Miami Vice
  • motorhead
    7 months ago
    Thanks to everyone who mentioned Classical Gas. I loved that instrumental and it’s such a stretch from the stuff I like from Ozzy and Lemmy - just shows how music is universal and all genres are to be appreciated
  • shadowcat
    7 months ago
    I love fucking to Bolero by Ravel.
  • Huntsman
    7 months ago
    There are a few lyrics but Magnum Opus by Kansas is basically one big jam.
  • datinman
    7 months ago
    Yes - The Fish. On the album Yessongs.

    It has some vocalization by Anderson at the end, but no distinct lyrics per say. I saw Chris Squire absolutely burn it up on bass at a live show in the 70's.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPC7NEW-…
  • azdd
    7 months ago
    Peter Frampton has an awesome instrumental album titled Fingerprints. There is an excellent instrumental cover of Black Hole Sun. My favorite cut on the album is Blooze, which I have incorporated into an OTC session soundtrack on multiple occasions. Great album!
  • azdd
    7 months ago
    Thought of a few more gems:
    Freeway Jam - Jeff Beck, live version with Jan Hammer
    Anything off of Blow By Blow - Jeff Beck
    Surfin with the Alien - Joe Satriani
    Lenny - Stevie Ray Vaughan
  • azdd
    7 months ago
    How could I forget - The Dixie Dregsand the incendiary guitar work of Steve Morse! Almost all instrumental, favorite cuts include Cruise Control, Free Fall, Dig the Ditch, Take it off the Top, Punk Sandwich, The Bash, Road Expense, Twiggs Approved, Kat Food, and many more!
  • crosscheck
    7 months ago
    A few more I thought of:

    Discipline - King Crimson
    Mr. Scary - Dokken
    Apologies to Pearly - ZZ Top
    Eruption - Van Halen
    Elton John - Funeral for a Friend
    Steely Dan - East St. Louis Toodle Oo
  • rockie
    7 months ago
    Always There - Ronnie Laws
  • mogul1985
    7 months ago
    @IWantHerOnMe: Summer Madness Kool and the Gang

    I was thinking EXACTLY the same thing! Summer Madness is one of the most sampled R&B tracks.
  • mogul1985
    7 months ago
    @shadowcat - Bolero by Ravel.

    Great choice!
  • mogul1985
    7 months ago
    "Barcelona Nights", "Santa Fe", Ottmar Liebart
    "Take Five" - Dave Brubeck
    "Walk Away" - Thomas Newman (at the end of "Meet Joe Black")
    "Romancing The Stone" Alan Silvestri
    "Moonlight Serenade" Glenn Miller
  • rattdog
    7 months ago
    just remembered. not quite sure how i overlooked it as the movie poster is hanging on my bedroom door.

    theme to the good, the bad and the ugly-ennio morricone
  • ancientlurker
    7 months ago
    Tom Principato has an entire album of instrumentals called Not One Word. And another excellent track, not on that album, "Return of the Voodoo Thing".
    "Europa" - Santana
    "Soul Sacrifice" - Santana
    "Maggot Brain" - Funkadelic
  • shadowcat
    7 months ago
    Lluvia de primavera - Raul DI Blasio
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR9ex2iT…
  • WiseToo
    7 months ago
    "Switched-On Bach" - Wendy Carlos (performed by Carlos and Benjamin Folkman on a Moog synthesizer).
    "Sing, Sing, Sing" - Gene Krupa
  • mogul1985
    7 months ago
    "Sing Sing Sing" Gene Krupa - drums - Big Band! Excellent.
  • ATACdawg
    7 months ago
    Brandenburg Concertos, J.S. Bach
    On Bach Organ Favorites by E. Power Biggs

    Water Music Suite, G.F. Handel

    And God Created Great Whales, Alan Hovanhess
    - very cool, symphonic accompaniment to recorded humpback whale vocalizations

    ...and I also like Bolero by Ravel
  • 59
    7 months ago
    Jessica - Allman Brothers
    Foreplay - Boston
  • skibum609
    7 months ago
    Fire on High - Electric Light Orchestra. back in the day when boxing was huge on cbs tv, the end of this song was the theme song.
  • skibum609
    7 months ago
    My bad, as any back in the day Bruins fan knows, the Bruin's theme song was called "nutty" The Ventures.
  • BigJuan
    7 months ago
    Commodores - machine gun
  • minnow
    7 months ago
    Music To Watch Girls By- Bob Crewe Generation
    Rise - Herb Alpert
    Feels So Good - Chuck Mangione

    All 3 just seem appropriate for the strip club experience.
  • Jascoi
    7 months ago
    oh this is a great list!
    I got some catching up to do.
    I'll toss in " love is blue" by Paul Marriott.
  • Jascoi
    7 months ago
    Paul Mauriat. dang spell check.
  • ATACdawg
    7 months ago
    Pretty much anything with Carlos Santana guitar solos!
  • magicrat
    7 months ago
    Tequila!
  • twentyfive
    7 months ago
    But can you really call music without lyrics a song?
  • skibum609
    7 months ago
    ^A Capella is words without music so why not music without words? I would point out that classical music has been around for centuries and has no words.
  • shadowcat
    7 months ago
    Maybe rap would sound better without lyrics.
  • twentyfive
    7 months ago
    From Wikipedia

    ‘What is classified as a song’

    A song is a piece of music which contains lyrics and words. Songs may be made by songwriters. Other songs are folk songs, which are songs created by people long ago that have been sung as tradition.

    Without lyrics it is called music
  • Studme53
    7 months ago
    25 is right - technically a “song” has words by definition.
  • rattdog
    7 months ago
    this makes sense then.

    take for example van halen's eruption. i always in the back of my mind felt that was never really a song. hell some could even argue that it might not even be music and think of that piece as just merely an excuse to show off technical proficiency.

    but then again where is the line drawn between a musical piece and a song? with lyrics one has to be generally able to sing them along the guidelines of a melody. so with such a song if you remove the lyrics but the melody is still intact is it then no longer defined as a song anymore?
  • Assmanjoe
    7 months ago
    How has no one mentioned “In memory of elizabeth reed” by the allman brothers or the ultimate instrumental “Watermelon man” by herbie hancock
    Spottieottiedopaliscious (instrumental) by outkast and “Get down (instrumental)” by nas. I saw someone mention hip hop being better as instrumentals…try those two.
  • EastCoaster
    7 months ago
    ^ Kudos to Assmanjoe for

    1) mentioning “In memory of elizabeth reed” and

    2) correctly pointing out that in popular music (define that however you want), versions of musical compositions that do not include singing are called "instrumentals."

    There are definitely quite a few outstanding instrumentals posted in this discussion, a few of which actually have lyrics that are sung in some versions.
  • Jascoi
    7 months ago
    I heard this one on the local elevator music station. Love Theme from St. Elmo's fire.. David Foster
  • stripperlover777
    6 months ago
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  • stripperlover777
    6 months ago
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  • stripperlover777
    6 months ago
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    Luveee Their Songs. Song "Indulgence", "The End", "Twenty 11" + Some Others. We'll See If This YouTube Link Works (Press+Hold+Highlight-Then Open With The Prompt):
    https://youtu.be/Cn_Z0vK-DbA?si=--m0O5K0…
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