Good to excellent and non-obnoxious violin use in a song thread

Speaking of Jeff Lynne, his group The Idle Race “The Birthday Party” album is another masterpiece. It’s been described as “early ELO”. Same vocal harmonies, orchestration. Just a tiny bit more raw.
 
Passport1 said:
The final minute thirty seconds of this classic is some of the sweetest, most melancholy sounds that ever graced the human ear.
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Interesting...a bit of a look into my past.

Growing up, my grandfather was a bit aloof, he had several wives, and led the life of a pauper. He was actually a "rock star" in his younger days, had a few bands, even held a deal with a semi-major record label. My mother still has one of his original LP's. He was a "buckskinner" at heart, and some of my favorite memories of him were when I would make the nearly 2 hour drive to go hunting with him. He taught me to clean a rabbit with my bare hands. I still have several of his knives and firearms in safe keeping, but my BEST memories are when he would break out his guitar. One of my favorite songs he would play would be this one...he could make that guitar sing, and **** near explode on the percussion parts. I listen to the original, and it pales in comparison to my biased ears to what I remember hearing.

The interesting part is I am a huge violin fan, and I never really noticed there was even a violin in this song until you pointed it out, @Passport1 thank you!
 
I always have a soft spot for this one. Though this is the first time I've ever seen the music video, what an eyesore lol, but that's TMBG for ya.

 
Or this one…. I play the fiddle/violin. It is so hard to not overpower a tune. This guy and band does it perfectl.

 
Do you hunt with your buddies? “My hands around a Belgian made Browning”.

“you marry that girl, you’ve married her family. You dodged a bullet my friend”

 
What jumped to my mind first is the fantastic violin in Broadway Hotel by Al Stewart from the stunning YOTC album.

Hear this wonderful solo starting at the 1min 23sec mark:
... then of course the outro.


 
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Am I missing something? OP asked for songs where the violin was "non-obnoxious" to me that would be songs where a violin (or fiddle) was used in a tasteful manner to enhance the music, not lead it.
Many of the songs posted have the subject stringed instrument as the lead.
When was it used to really bolster the lead (vocals, chorus, etc.), but not take center stage?
 
DriveHard said:
Interesting...a bit of a look into my past.

Growing up, my grandfather was a bit aloof, he had several wives, and led the life of a pauper. He was actually a "rock star" in his younger days, had a few bands, even held a deal with a semi-major record label. My mother still has one of his original LP's. He was a "buckskinner" at heart, and some of my favorite memories of him were when I would make the nearly 2 hour drive to go hunting with him. He taught me to clean a rabbit with my bare hands. I still have several of his knives and firearms in safe keeping, but my BEST memories are when he would break out his guitar. One of my favorite songs he would play would be this one...he could make that guitar sing, and **** near explode on the percussion parts. I listen to the original, and it pales in comparison to my biased ears to what I remember hearing.

The interesting part is I am a huge violin fan, and I never really noticed there was even a violin in this song until you pointed it out, @Passport1 thank you!
Click to expand...
What was your grandfather’s band?
 
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