Melancholy Music, Maybe. Part II
We’re still talking about/listening to great melancholy songs. One thing that quickly struck me as I began assembling this second part of the list was the number of native Texans (or, at least, songwriters with strong ties to Texas). Why? Who knows…
Which Kris Kristofferson song to choose? The man’s written a bunch of ‘em. Of course, looking back on his acting career, I’d be melancholy, too. How about “Sunday Morning Coming Down”?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYvkhDMU5Mg
Rodney Crowell is one of our best living songwriters. Like Kristofferson, he’s most comfortable singing about loss and love and a fragile kind of hope that never quite gives way to despair – “Ashes by Now.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvVSLIXFJWM
Featured on that last video is Emmylou Harris. Crowell used to be her band leader. He wrote “Ashes by Now” and the heartbreakingly lovely “Till I Again Control Again.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMR4ZU1noI4
Some songs are so old that their roots are lost in the mists of time. “Texas Rangers” is a re-written version of an ancient English ballad, filled with intriguing anachronisms. Michael Martin Murphey sings it like it was meant to be sung, a cappella, with just a hint of drone in the background.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-dYzh_ZA8A
Roseanne Cash released a number of wonderful albums, mostly produced by her husband (and native Texan) Rodney Crowell. Even her happy songs sound a little wistful. “Seven Year Ache” is one of my favorites. Her dad, Johnny Cash, knew his way around a melancholy song, too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrUs_FWqj9s
Townes Van Zandt was a tortured genius, tormented and demon-wracked. And he wrote some of the most achingly beautiful songs of melancholy ever recorded, including “Tecumseh Valley.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rq5GsZHd0Y
Another Texan, equally acclaimed and – fortunately for music-lovers everywhere – still with us, Guy Clark has an extraordinary catalogue of original and soul-searching songs. Which one to choose? How about the quiet desperate sadness of “Desperados Waiting for a Train”?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbB5TRLF9mo
I’ll be forever grateful for Mike Korpi and Walt Wilkins for introducing me to Itasca native Sam Baker, the heir to Townes and Guy. Nearly killed by a “Shining Path” bomb in Peru, Sam taught himself to play guitar left-handed and has proceeded to write some of the most haunting songs in the English language in recent years, including “Waves” and “Baseball.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivJva71KaL0
Though not from Texas, John Prine is the only person with three songs on my list, “Angel from Montgomery,” “Sam Stone” and “Paradise.” He’d be considered one of our greatest living songwriters if he never wrote anything but these three. Fortunately, he’s written many, many more equally dour, sardonic, utterly beguiling masterpieces as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVZmSEpuJtg
Speaking of “Angel from Montgomery,” I first saw Bonnie Raitt back in the early ‘80s and have been a fan ever since. But I’m not sure she ever recorded a more beautifully dejected song than “I Can’t Make You Love Me.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nW9Cu6GYqxo
One more American singer/songwriter of note – Tom Rush has been doing this sort of thing a very long time. He’s probably best-known for his leaving home song, “No Regrets,” but I’ve always loved the sad and lovely “Merrimack County.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yS6pMotQma0
Emotionally and stylistically, the Irish seem to have the most in common with Texans, at least when it comes to music. Perhaps because so many Texans are of Irish descent. Or, as G.K. Chesterton once wrote, “For the great Gaels of Ireland/Are the men that God made mad/For all their wars are merry/And all their songs are sad.” Sounds like most Texas songwriters to me!
Regardless, I’d have to say that Maura O’Connell’s version of Tom Waits’ “Broken Bicycles” is one of the most serenely melancholy songs I’ve ever heard. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a Youtube video of her performing the song, so here’s Wait’s original:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eF-HAAUY45c
This one could just as easily ended up in my list of over-exposed songs of melancholy, but Sinead O’Connor’s version of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” holds up over repeated listenings and viewings. The stark, honest simplicity of the performance, coupled with the longing and loss in the words, are nearly unparalleled when it comes to MTV-styled videos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUiTQvT0W_0
Not surprising, there are a number of artists from the U.K. on my list. (Of course, my Irish friends would say that they’re melancholy because of the Brits!)
Here’s one that you may not remember: Dream Academy, “Life in a Northern Town.” When the music of ‘80s was good, it was very good. And when it was bad, well … This is one of the good ‘uns.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O17MA58P-QY
Dave Mason used to be one of my favorite artists, both when he was with Traffic and as a solo performer. He was/is also an under-rated songwriter. “Shouldn’t Have Took More Than You Gave” is Mason at his melancholic best.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xj2h0LSTY3U
My two favorite songs by the Stones are their bleakest and most melancholy, “No Expectations” and “Wild Horses.” “Wild Horses” is about addiction. Though I’d always known and liked the song, I didn’t really get “No Expectations” until MSNBC played it under a montage of scenes of the aftermath of Katrina. The lyrics are chillingly descriptive – and the somber music matches the mood.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rIqBeMZAMc
I surprised that only a handful of the many, many great soul/R&B songs I love can be classified as melancholy. Here are three of them:
The Temptations’ “Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)” has an added layer of regret over and above the lyrics and music – this is the last song with the original lineup, before egos and health issues tore the group apart.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5Z9-QCmZyw
I never get tired of hearing Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes sing “If You Don’t Love Me by Now.” Teddy Pendergrass at his prime. An aching, stop/start melody line. And sublimely resigned harmonies. Perfect.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxOZ6gifTjA
And one of my earliest all-time faves: Brook Benton’s moody, mystical, just on the edge of despair reading of “Rainy Night in Georgia.” Some of the most melancholy guitar licks ever pressed to wax. I can remember being a teen-ager and driving around the Piney Woods of East Texas listening to this song as if it were yesterday. It transports me every time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDRbF80NKDU
Finally, the four melancholy songs that still hit me at a visceral level whenever I hear them. They are here because they embody the best, most insightful lyrics and most utterly haunting melodies of a truly great song of melancholy and loss. These are bittersweet, autumnal songs of regret … but always leavened with a hint of hope.
I’m not sure I can narrow down the music of Loreena McKennitt to just two songs – all of them are infused with a gorgeous Celtic fatalism and transcendent beauty. “Lady of Shalott” and “The Bonny Swans” are just two of many …
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsNJuhBfbPg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MU_Tn-HxULM
The forever underrated Beth Nielsen Chapman (who happens to have been born in Harlingen, Texas), has written hits for a lot of other artists. But nothing, to my ears, as heart-wrenchingly beautiful as “Sand and Water,” written after the loss of her husband to cancer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_G6lIpWQXhw
And finally, I don’t know this song always devastates me. It just does. It’s like a fatal attraction. It sends me careening in melancholy every time I hear it, but I keep going back: Simply Red, “Holding Back the Years.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG07WSu7Q9w
And, as before, I’d welcome/cherish YOUR favorite melancholy songs!