I was going to write something really snide in an attempt
to be funny, but I thought better of it. I really
disagree with this one, however.
Before I get flamed: I never knew my dad, he died before
I was born. This song captures nothing for me. In fact,
I find it funny that Clapton, who for his entire career
was trying to make genuine blues, finally had the kind
of event that would put sould in anybody, and he wrote
the least soulful song he could.
Now you may flame.
Oh, wait, let me throw out a couple of mine:
“Wichita Lineman” - typical man, who tried as hard as he
could to connect to his love by talking about overhead
wire problems. I like Jimmy Webb’s version.
“Sunrise, Sunset” - I know it’s really cheesy, but I’ve
got kids now, and I can’t help but think about what a short
time they’ll be kids.
I was going to write something really snide in an attempt
to be funny, but I thought better of it. I really
disagree with this one, however.
Before I get flamed: I never knew my dad, he died before
I was born. This song captures nothing for me. In fact,
I find it funny that Clapton, who for his entire career
was trying to make genuine blues, finally had the kind
of event that would put soul in anybody, and he wrote
the least soulful song he could.
Now you may flame.
Oh, wait, let me throw out a couple of mine:
“Wichita Lineman” - typical man, who tried as hard as he
could to connect to his love by talking about overhead
wire problems. I like Jimmy Webb’s version.
“Sunrise, Sunset” - I know it’s really cheesy, but I’ve
got kids now, and I can’t help but think about what a short
time they’ll be kids.
*He danced for those at minstrel shows & county fairs,
throughout the south
He spoke with tears of 15 years how his dog and him traveled about.
His dog up and died, up and died, after 20 years he still grieves. *
That song gets me every time.
Come Back Down by Toad the Wet Sprocket
*i’ve come here a thousand times some things never change
“yes i will, anything you say”
i’ve quite this a million times, can’t quite stay away
just one more time…i’ll be ok
but i’m so damn tired
*
As I interpretate (sp?) it: About a man meeting the perfect woman for a brief period but not being good enough for her.
It’s a very powerful and emotional song with just a guitar and a intense voice.
Mother and Child Reunion by Paul Simon and Babe by Styx. “Mother and Child Reunion” I heard when I was suicidally depressed after the death of my son. At the time, the lyrics made sense, and listening to it reminded me not only of my son, but also of being that depressed.
I listened to “Babe” over and over when my son was in the hospital, and I still can’t listen to it.
yeah, we just did this, but it’s worth doing again.
“Vincent Black Lightning”- I don’t cry at that one, it’s too funny. Great song.
"Nortons, and Indians, and Greaveses won't do-
Y'know they don't have a soul like a Vincent '52.."
I thought it was “Mountains”, not Nortons, but I just looked it up.
My Elton John song is “Ticking”, about the inner life of a serial killer. I identify with weirdos. Not just tears but
“You’ve lived too long in silence, Mama said;
Remember Mama said, ticking, ticking-
Crazy boy you’ll only wind up with strange
notions in your head-
Hear it–hear it, ticking, ticking…”
I guess I should clarify. I had typed something about it, but with editing and re-editing, I left it out.
For some reason, I’ve always kind of felt like he’s singing to/about the same girl in Love Song, Boys Don’t Cry, and Pictures Of You.
Silly? Probably. I never claimed that it makes sense, just a vague feeling I get listening to the Cure. Maybe it’s not the same person, but to me the three songs seem connected somehow.
I read in an interview of Robert that “Love Song” was written for his wife, Mary, as a wedding present.
He had also been dating Mary since he was 15 years old, so it’s very likely that many of his songs are about her.
I think “Boys Don’t Cry” is the saddest of the three, because it’s a fairly upbeat, poppy song, but the lyrics are miserable. It sounds as if the speaker is struggling to contain his emotions, trying to make it sound like he doesn’t care, and failing to do so.
Annie-Xmas suggested: *Hank Williams “I’m so Lonesome I Could Cry” and George Strait “He Stopped Loving Her Today.” *
Looks like Annie-Xmas is the only one that listed country songs. I guess most folks who aren’t “into” country music aren’t gonna notice, but country songs are known more for their storytelling lyrics of human experience more than most other types of popular music. So… that having been said, the song that makes me tear up every time is a song called “Where’ve You Been?” by Kathy Mattea.
The song is about Claire, a woman whose lifelong love for her husband is so strong that even after she winds up in a hospital no longer able to recognize those around her, she immediately begins speaking to him (as if no time passed) the moment he is wheeled into her room.
It’s a simple song, but one that aims straight for the heart. That this woman so loved her husband for 60 years, through thick and thin, just makes me cry like a baby.
“Waltzing Matilda” is mentioned a couple times in this thread. Waltzing Matilda is actually “Tom Traubert’s Blues (Four Sheets To The Wind in Copenhagen)” by Tom Waits. It’s on his “Small Change” album, an album so monumentally sad that I’ll have to put it on right now.
“Tom Traubert’s Blues” was a tune that my father first heard three months before he died of cancer. It was immediately his favorite song. He had taste.
In my book, the saddest song I know of is another Tom Waits tune called “Martha” from the “Closing Time” album. You have to be old and lost a hoped-for lover long ago to appreciate it.
