Previous thread on this subject:
Beeswing by Richard Thompson:
Oh she was a rare thing, fine as a bee’s wing
And I miss her more than ever words could say
If I could just taste all of her wildness now
If I could hold her in my arms today
Well I wouldn’t want her any other way
I’m Still in Love With You by Steve Earle. On The Mountain–the album he recorded with the (hardcore Bluegrass) Del McCoury Band. Iris Dement sang harmony for this little piece of heartbreak.
Richard & Linda Thompson recorded For Shame of Doing Wrong on the wonderful Pour Down Like Silver.
The already mentioned *She Thinks I Still Care * by George Jones is the classic in this category.
And First Boy I Loved by Judy Collins was originally *First Girl I Loved * by The Incredible String Band. (The fact that it was recorded so many years ago–either version–just ups the melancholy nostalgia quotient.)
A marvelous, rather heartbreaking song…
‘‘I’d Be Better Off (In a Pine Box)’’ by Doug Stone
*always thought that someday,
We might get back together.
I just thought you needed time to spread your wings and fly.
But when I saw the lovin’ way,
You held onto each other,
It was all that I could do, not to break right down and cry.
I’d be better off in a pine box,
On a slow train back to Georgia,
Or in the grey walls of a prison doing time.
I think I’d rather die,
And go to hell and face the devil,
Than to lie here with you and him together on my mind.*
And, to insert a little modern flair into this long list of oldies, Alanis Morisette’s ‘‘Flinch’’
*What are you my god? you touch me like you are my god
What are you my twin? you affect me like you are my twin
How long can a girl be tortured by you?
How long before my dignity is reclaimed?
And how long can a girl be haunted by you?
Soon Ill grow up and I wont even flinch at your name
Soon Ill grow up and I wont even flinch at your name*
Tom Paxton’s hauntingly beautiful About The Children
You’re looking really lovely
And that dress is really you.
The necklace I remember
But the bracelet must be new.
But that’s another day
I clear my throat and say
About the children.
Nanci Griffith does a really pretty song entitled “Once In a Very Blue Moon” about receiving a letter from an old lover:
*I found your letter in my mailbox today
You were just checkin’ if I was okay
And if I miss you, well, you know what they say …
just once … in a very blue moon…
…There’s a blue moon shinin’
when I am reminded of all we’ve been through
Such a blue moon … shinin’
Does it ever shine down on you?*
Can’t find video of Nanci performing the song, but here’s audio of someone doing a nice job with it.
Spike Jones’ version was a parody of someone else’s song. In the version I have, Jones’ band plays the whole song twice: first the straight version, then the Peter Lorre version. The straight version certainly fits the OP.
Oh yeah, and then there’s the Hank Williams classic “I Can’t Help It (If I’m Still in Love With You)”
Here’s Hank performing it in a nice duet with Anita Carter (June Carter Cash’s sister)
Martha by Tom Waits:
*"I am so much older now
you’re much older, too
how’s your husband, how’s your kids?
You know that I got married too.
Lucky that we found someone to make us feel secure
'Cause we were all so young and foolish
now we are mature
And those were days of roses
poetry and prose and Martha all I had was you and all you had was me
There was no tomorrow
we packed away our sorrows and we saved them for a rainy day."*
Questioningly by The Ramones:
*"Questioningly
her eyes looked at me
and then she spoke, ‘Aren’t you someone
I used to know, and weren’t we lovers
a long time ago?’…
When I’m going home
whiskey bottle, movie on TV
memories make me cry
and I’m alone, just me
just me
questioningly."*
Richard Thompson’s “Tear Stained Letter”
It was three in the morning when she took me apart
She wrecked the furniture, she wrecked my heart
She danced on my head like Arthur Murray
The scars ain’t never going to mend in a hurry
Just when I thought I could learn to forget her
Right through the door come a tear-stained letter
Oh, oh, oh love love
Cry, cry if it makes you feel better
Set it all down in a tear-stained letter
Oh, oh, oh love love love
Cry, cry if it makes you feel better
Set it all down in a tear-stained letter
Pete Townsend, Slit Skirts
The incense burned away
and the stench began to rise.
Lovers, now estranged,
avoided catching each others’ eyes.
Girls who lost their children
cursed the men who fit the coil
And men not fit for marriage took their refuge in the oil
No one respects the flame
quite like the fool who’s badly burned
From all this you’d imagine that there must be something learned
Slit skirts, Jeanie never wears those slit skirts
I don’t ever wear no ripped shirts
Can’t pretend that growing older never hurts.
And I know that when she thinks of me,
she thinks of me as “him”,
But, unlike me, she don’t work off her frustration in the gym.
Recriminations fester
and the past can never change
A woman’s expectations run from both ends of the range
Once she woke with untamed lover’s
face between her legs;
Now he’s cooled and stifled
and it’s she who has to beg.
An oldie from the early 60s: “Hello Stranger” by Barbara Lewis (and remade by a few others, notably Yvonne Elliman in the 70s)
*Hello stranger
It seems so good to see you back again
how long has it been?
seems like a mighty long time
*
<snip>
If you’re not gonna stay
Please don’t tease me
like you did before
because I still love you so
although
it seems like a mightly long time
Lee Ann Womack:
I May Hate Myself in the Morning (But I’m Gonna Love You Tonight)
"CBGB’s" by Syd Straw:
Hey
Remember me?
We met ten years ago
at CBGB’s
on New Year’s Eve
…
Hey
remember when
you took me to the movies
to see Soylent Green?
I can’t believe it was such a long time ago
So much has happened
I hear you had twins
…
I was married for a while
It ended in tragedy
Oh well
Enough about me
Right now my optimist prime, earworm, wistful Love song is Peter Björn and John’s- Young Folks, ridin’ to the top of the pops on a bullet. It’s about falling in Love, not strictly an Old Flame. Nice, Happy, song.
If you want old flame from them, try Far Away, By My Side.
Young Folks is genius! Isn’t the whistled melody just a couple of notes and some flats away from that Americanized, chopsocky, stereotypical ditty? Na Na na NUHN NUHN NUHN NUHN na?
Exactly what I came in here to post!
Great to see somebody on here that also thinks Stars are excellent. Anytime you want to swap music to listen to tips, drop me an email.
“Not Alone Anymore” by Roy Orbison (as part of the Traveling Wilburys).
And I second “Your Wildest Dreams” by the Moody Blues.