A Life in 3 minutes

[Sherwood]

Many of my favourite songs, I realised, capture the essence of a life or a major life event in their lyrics.

For many of those songs, the music beautifully reflects the emotion of the story.

Is this the same for other members, and, if so, which songs?

[Sherwood]

For me, one of the masters of this art is Richard Thompson. Just listen to Vincent Black Lightning 1952, Beeswing, Dimming of the Day.

[Pete The Cat]

My favourite songs (i.e. melodies and lyrics) tend to be melancholy and date back to my childhood when I was being exposed to music. Yesterday, Both Sides Now, The Carnival Is Over, Those Were the Days...you get the drift. It probably wouldn't take much for me to be reduced to tears by any of them.

I think there must be some sort of subconscious psychological defence mechanism at work, since as I grew up my general listening lurched towards aggressive and hedonistic music, almost as a way of avoiding being moved by and vulnerable to the emotional drowning that I could experience from songs like those above.

No lives in 3 minutes here, but a real appreciation for a songwriter's ability to do that with 3 minutes of sound.

[Macca]

Not one song (although almost any of the songs on it could be a candidate) and maybe an obvious choice but I would say Joni Mitchell's album 'Blue.'

Due to the stark and bare revelations in the album, when it was first played for Kris Kristofferson he is reported to have commented, "Joni! Keep something to yourself!"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_(Joni_Mitchell_album)

[struth]

the late john garfield blues would be a candidate..

Midnight fell on Franklin Street
And the lamppost bulbs were broke
For the life of me, I could not see
But I heard a brand new joke
Two men were standing upon a bridge
One jumped and screamed you lose
And just left the odd man holding
Those late John Garfield blues

An old man sleeps with his conscience at night
Young kids sleep with their dreams
While the mentally ill sit perfectly still
And live through life's in-betweens

[Sherwood]

I'm a big fan of John Prine. He certainly could tell a story. Loved his humorous stuff too. His In Spite of Ourselves album is brilliant.

[struth]

I'm a big fan of John Prine. He certainly could tell a story. Loved his humorous stuff too. His In Spite of Ourselves album is brilliant.

yeah, his 'illegal smile' is superb too. audience always sing it lol

When I woke up this morning, things were lookin' bad
Seem like total silence was the only friend I had
Bowl of oatmeal tried to stare me down, and won
And it was twelve o'clock before I realized
I was havin' no fun
Ah, but fortunately I have the key to escape reality
And you may see me tonight with an illegal smile
It don't cost very much, but it lasts a long while
Won't you please tell the man I didn't kill anyone
No, I'm just tryin' to have me some fun

[Sherwood]

Of course, there is Bob Dylan. Too many nuggets to mention but Hurricane, Senor, and the Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll spring to mind.

[Sherwood]

I don't think that the significance of some of the songs was apparent for many years.


Not one song (although almost any of the songs on it could be a candidate) and maybe an obvious choice but I would say Joni Mitchell's album 'Blue.'

Due to the stark and bare revelations in the album, when it was first played for Kris Kristofferson he is reported to have commented, "Joni! Keep something to yourself!"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_(Joni_Mitchell_album)

[Sherwood]

There are some songs that really get to me. Let Them In by John Gorka is one. I first heard it when he performed it at a gig in Washington DC. The effect on the audience was remarkable.

The fact that Arlington National Cemetery was just down the road may have heightened the emotion in the room.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AoLosZCAPk



My favourite songs (i.e. melodies and lyrics) tend to be melancholy and date back to my childhood when I was being exposed to music. Yesterday, Both Sides Now, The Carnival Is Over, Those Were the Days...you get the drift. It probably wouldn't take much for me to be reduced to tears by any of them.

I think there must be some sort of subconscious psychological defence mechanism at work, since as I grew up my general listening lurched towards aggressive and hedonistic music, almost as a way of avoiding being moved by and vulnerable to the emotional drowning that I could experience from songs like those above.

No lives in 3 minutes here, but a real appreciation for a songwriter's ability to do that with 3 minutes of sound.

[Macca]

I don't think that the significance of some of the songs was apparent for many years.

I'm not an emotional sort of person but the older I get the more powerful that record is to me. I can't listen to it casually anymore.

Maybe they are some more obvious choices but the songs 'Solid Air' (John Martyn) and 'Baker Street' (Gerry Rafferty) probably fit your criteria:

You've been taking your time
And you've been living on solid air
You've been walking the line
And You've been living on solid air
Don't know what's going wrong inside
And I can tell you that it's hard to hide when you're living on
Solid air.
You've been painting it blue
And you've been looking through solid air
You've been seeing it through
And you've been looking through solid air
Don't know what's going wrong in your mind,
And I can tell you don't like what you find,
When you're moving through solid air


Winding your way down on Baker Street
Light in your head and dead on your feet
Well, another crazy day
You'll drink the night away
And forget about everything
This city desert makes you feel so cold
It's got so many people, but it's got no soul
And it's taken you so long
To find out you were wrong
When you thought it held everything
You used to think that it was so easy
You used to say that it was so easy
But you're trying, you're trying now
Another year and then you'd be happy
Just one more year and then you'd be happy
But you're crying, you're crying now

[Pete The Cat]

The thread has had me thinking a bit...

I love Andrew Gold's Lonely Boy, which covers just shy of 20 years in 4m 24s...

He was born on a summer day, 1951
And with a slap of a hand, he had landed as an only son
His mother and father said what a lovely boy
We'll teach him what we learned, ah yes just what we learned
We'll dress him up warmly and we'll send him to school
It'll teach him how to fight to be nobody's fool
Oh, what a lonely boy
Oh, what a lonely boy
Oh, what a lonely boy
In the summer of '53 his mother brought him a sister
And she told him we must attend to her needs
She's so much younger than you
Well he ran down the hall and he cried
Oh how could his parents have lied
When they said he was an only son
He thought he was the only one
Oh, what a lonely boy
Oh, what a lonely boy
Oh, what a lonely boy
Goodbye mama, goodbye to you
Goodbye papa, I'm pushing on through
He left home on a winter day 1969
And he hoped to find all the love
He had lost in that earlier time
Well his sister grew up and she married a man
He gave her a son, ah yes a lovely son
They dressed him up warmly, they sent him to school
It taught him how to fight to be nobody's fool
Oh, what a lonely boy
Oh, what a lonely boy
Oh, what a lonely boy

Pete

[Sherwood]

I bought his album All This and Heaven Too when it came out in 1978. Great catchy (brain worm) songs. Sad that he died so (relatively) young.

[Barry]

This is a great thread, to which I'll add my choices:

'She's Leaving Home' by the Beatles

I have never heard a song whose lyrics so eloquently and poignantly expresses the alienation and distance that can sometimes occur between parents and their late teenage offspring. Even reading the lyrics brings tears to my eyes. No party is truly guilty – though guilt is felt. The feeling of ingratitude and betrayal perceived by the parents, though not understanding that the ‘sacrifices they made’ had lead to a stifling and lonely environment for their daughter. If only they had sat down together and talked about it.



Wednesday morning at five o'clock
as the day begins
Silently closing her bedroom door
Leaving the note that she hoped would say more
She goes downstairs to the kitchen
clutching her handkerchief
Quietly turning the back door key
Stepping outside she is free

She (we gave her most of our lives)
is leaving (sacrificed most of our lives)
home (we gave her everything money could buy)
She's leaving home after living alone for
so many years (bye bye)

Father snores as his wife gets into her dressing gown
Picks up the letter that's lying there
Standing alone at the top of the stairs
She breaks down and cries to her husband
Daddy our baby's gone
Why would she treat us so thoughtlessly
How could she do this to me

She (We never thought of ourselves)
is leaving (never a thought for ourselves)
home (we struggled hard all our lives to get by)
She's leaving home after living alone for
so many years (bye bye)

Friday morning at nine o'clock she is far away
Waiting to keep the appointment she made
Meeting a man from the motor trade

She (what did we do that was wrong)
is having (we didn't know it was wrong)
fun (fun is the one thing that money can't buy)
Something inside that was always denied for
so many years (bye bye)
She's leaving home (bye bye)



'Handbags and Gladrags' by Mike D'Abo and sung by Rod Stewart


Ever see a blind man cross the road
Trying to make the other side?
Ever seen a young girl growing old
Trying to make herself a bride?

So what becomes of you, my love?
When they have finally stripped you of The handbags and the gladrags
That your poor old granddad
Had to sweat to buy you, baby

Once I was a young man
And all I thought I had to do was smile
Well, you are still a young girl
And you've borne everything in style

So once you think you're in, you're out
'Cause you don't mean a single thing without
The handbags and the gladrags
That your poor old granddad
Had to sweat to buy you

Sing a song of six-pence for your sake
And drink a bottle full of rye
Four and twenty blackbirds in a cake
And bake 'em all in a pie

They told me you missed school today
So what I suggest you just throw them all away
The handbags and the gladrags
That your poor old granddad
Had to sweat to buy, oh-woah

They told me you missed school today
So what I suggest you just throw them all away
The handbags and the gladrags That your poor old granddad
Had to sweat to buy you


and

'Streets of London' by Ralph McTell


Have you seen the old man
In the closed down market
Kicking up the papers
With his worn out shoes?

In his eyes, you see no pride
Hand held loosely at his side
Yesterday's paper
Telling yesterday's news

So, how can you tell me you're lonely
And say for you that the sun don't shine?
Let me take you by the hand
And lead you through the streets of London
Show you something to make you change your mind

Have you seen the old girl
Who walks the streets of London
Dirt in her hair
And her clothes in rags?

She's no time for talking
She just keeps right on walking
Carrying her home
In two carrier bags

So, how can you tell me you're lonely
And say for you that the sun don't shine?
Let me take you by the hand And lead you through the streets of London
Show you something to make you change your mind

In the all night cafe
At a quarter past eleven
Same old man
Sitting there on his own

Looking at the world
Over the rim of his tea cup
Each tea lasts an hour
And he wanders home alone

So, how can you tell me you're lonely?
Don't say for you that the sun don't shine
Let me take you by the hand
And lead you through the streets of London
Show you something to make you change your mind

Have you seen the old man
Outside the seaman's mission
Memory fading with
The medal ribbons that he wears?

In our winter city
The rain cries a little pity
For one more forgotten hero
And a world that doesn't care

So, how can you tell me you're lonely
And say for you that the sun don't shine?
Let me take you by the hand
And lead you through the streets of London
I'll show you something to make you change your mind

[Sherwood]

Regarding an earlier post I made, here are the lyrics to Let Them In by John Gorka. He wrote the song from a poem he was given.

Let them in, Peter,
They are very tired
Give them couches where the angels sleep
And light those fires
Let them wake whole again
To brand new dawns
Fired with the sun
Not wartime's bloody guns
May their peace be deep
Remember where the broken bodies lie
God knows how young they were
To have to die
God knows how young they were to have to die
Give them things they like
Let them make some noise
Give roadhouse bands, not golden harps
To these our boys
And let them love, Peter
Cause they've had no time
They should have trees and bird songs
And hills to climb
The taste of summer in a ripened pear
And girls sweet as meadow winds
With flowing hair
Tell them how they are missed
And say not to fear
It's gonna be alright
With us down here
Let them in, Peter