Day 126: I mentioned early in this project that I have always had a special place in my heart for sad songs, especially sad love songs. In all honesty, this is my favorite genre. It is hard to say exactly why this is the case, but I think it has to do with my belief that listening to music is ultimately an emotional experience, and I think that music is one of the best ways to try to make sense of the confused, frustrated, or sad times of our lives. As for the unrequited love song, no band can really hold a candle to the Smiths, and today's track, "There is a Light that Never Goes Out" is a doozy of an example of why that is the case. It is nearly perfect song on a nearly perfect album, 1986's "The Queen is Dead" (which is ultimately, in my mind, the best album ever made). The song tells they story of a person down on their luck riding in a car with someone they have feelings for but can't quite express. In a moment of desperation and despair, the singer contemplates death next to their unrequited love: "to die by your side is such a heavenly way to die." It may be morbid and it may even be ridiculous, but the raw, extreme emotion of it cannot be denied. It is this extremity that makes the song so special. We all have dark thoughts sometimes, but for me when I have been in such a state, knowing that there is a song out there with the honesty to explore such feelings is truly a light that never goes out.
02/04/2015
Day 127: Last fall during my exploration of my days down at old Purdue, I mentioned how I came across the band Vertical Horizon. Today's selection, "Everything You Want" is a clever twist on the unrequited love song, and I have always respected a good twist. The chorus of the song seems to describe a seemingly perfect man, "He's everything you want; He's everything you need.
... He says all the right things, At exactly the right time. But he means nothing to you, and you don't know why." It is the classic story of unrequited affection, viewed from the third person. Ah, but the twist comes at the end when the chorus shifts person and you realize "he" is actually the singer himself, "But I mean nothing to you and I don't know why." All in all, it is alomst everything I would want from a clever pop song and a great unrequited love song.
02/05/2015
Day 128: One band that have not had a chance to mention yet is the Nashville, TN act The Judybats. I ran across their debut album, "Native Sun" in early high school and I kind of thought they were on the verge of something big. But their clean, acoustic sound got a bit swamped by the grunge wave that swept the country a few short months later. They did go on to make four pretty solid album, my favorite of which was their sophomore effort, 1992's "Down in the Shacks Where the Satellite Dishes Grow." The opening track on that album is a Hidden Gem and today's selection, "Our Story." This song tells the story of a love that is fading, but in a beautiful and poetic way that to me has always made the Judybats stand out from the crowd a bit. The song is filled with brilliant lyrics, "We're a strange arrangement; No strings. And the music we make is serpentine, and bittersweet." and "You're a roomful of sorrow; A spoonful of joy." The whole song is about the juxtaposition between loving someone and yet wanting to leave them as well. The harsh reality is that sometimes there is that fine line between love and hate; passion and anger. It is hard, harsh read, but I think it is story worth hearing.
02/06/2015
Day 129: Even though The Smiths are one of my favorite bands of all times, they still manage to sneak up on me every once in a while. I had owned their 1985 album "Meat is Murder" for quite some time and I am sure that I had listened to it dozens of times before I really came to fully appreciate the haunting beauty of today's selection, "Well I Wonder." Morrissey is not exactly known for the subtly of his lyrics, so the understated nature of this track makes it even more effective as a song about unrequited love. The music and lyrics have a simple nature to them, "Well I wonder, do you see me when we pass?... please keep me in mind." The song then builds to one of my favorite of all Smiths lyrics: "Gasping - dying - but somehow still alive this is the final stand of all I am." The whole feel of the song is that of one person who has pinned all of their hopes and dreams on the love of another, but that desired other may not even know that they exist. The poetic tragedy of it all just takes my breathe away.
02/07/2015
Day 130: When I think of sad love songs, Matthew Sweet is certainly not the first artist that comes to mind, but today track, "I Almost Forgot" is a tremendous exception to that idea. The track is a bit of a Hidden Gem on the brilliant 1995 album "100% Fun." The thing that I love about this song is the way that it explores some of the very real and complicated aspects of any relationship. Matthew Sweet asks the very real and frightening question, "If love leaves for a moment, is it gone forever?" and later states, "Whenever you win, you know I'm wishing you'd lose; So you know I love you." Love isn't always easy, and people don't love perfectly. We all have those moments in our relationships where you get that feeling in the pit of your stomach like standing on the edge of a cliff when your foot slips a little and you catch yourself from falling. But, I think the key word in the title of this song is "almost." Although we all go through tough times, I think the lesson here is that love is a fragile thing, and you must work to take care of it, but it is still strong. That, I believe, is a lesson worth remembering.
02/08/2015
Day 131: "Hold on, this is going to hurt like hell." Sarah McLachlan's breakthrough 1994 album "Fumbling Towards Ecstasy" had a lot of great songs on it, but today's track "Hold On" might just be the best one. This song could have easily been placed in the chapter I labeled requiem, but I decided to bring it up here in the chapter on the darker (or tragic) side of love. The story here is of a woman at the bed side of her sick love: "So now you're sleeping peaceful, I lie awake and pray that you'll be strong tomorrow and we'll see another day and we will praise it, and love the light that brings a smile across your face." I little later, things sound a bit more grim, "Oh God the man I love is leaving. Won't you take him when he comes to your door." The story never actually gets resolved as we are left to wonder if the sick man holds on or if his love is left to hold on just to herself. The driving, passionate nature of the song, along with the gut-wrenching lyrics have always made this song a favorite of mine, even if it does hurt like hell.
02/09/2015
Day 132: OK, this chapter has been a little rough, and it's Monday, so how about a little fun while still staying on theme? How about a light-hearted song about being a stalker? Sound good? If so, I think that you should check out today's track "The More You Ignore Me, the Closer I Get" from Morrissey, from the under-rated 1994 album "Vauxhall and I." From the title of the song, you pretty much get the picture of what Morrissey is getting at, and with razor sharp line like "I am now a central part of your mind's landscape whether you care or do not. Yeah, I've made up your mind" this song is simply a classic. The other memory I have of this song is stopping at a record store in East Lansing with Jovon on the day Kurt Cobain died and receiving a stack of bumper stickers with the title of this song. So, you see, it works for tailgaters as well.
02/10/2015
Day 133: Going through hard times is always difficult, but sometimes it can be almost as difficult to have to watch a loved one struggle through hard times. The under-rated singer songwriter Heather Nova tackled this difficult topic on her 1998 album "Siren" with today's track "Heart and Shoulder." The build up and chorus pretty much says it all, "I'm powerless to change your world. I'm powerless to stop the hurt. I'm trying hard to be your tower of strength. I'm trying hard to bring you back to joy. I'll give you my heart, give you my shoulder." Both the song and the message is simply beautiful. When times are tough, sometimes all you can offer is love and a shoulder to cry on. But you know what? That *is* what love is all about.
02/11/2015
Day 134: As we have moved through the first third or so of this project, I have highlighted several unrequited love songs. Way back on Day 41, I mentioned that R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion" was the best unrequited love song not written by Steven Morrissey. Well, in case you were wondering, in my opinion, the best unrequited love song of all time is today's track, The Smiths, "I Know It's Over" from "The Queen is Dead." This song is a flat-out masterpiece that combines the slow burn nature of Johnny Marr's music with some of Morrissey's best lyrics. The yarn he weaves is of a woman marrying a man she doesn't love: "Sad veiled bride, please be happy. Handsome groom, give her room... she needs you more than she loves you." As the song builds, the singer admits, "I know it's over, and it never really began. But in my heart it was so real." Along the way is one of my favorite lyrics of all time, "It's so easy to laugh, It's so easy to hate, It takes guts to be gentle and kind." But the chillingly beautiful cherry on top is the way Morrissey decides to both open and close the song with the line, "Oh Mother, I can feel the soil falling over my head." Unrequited love? Game. Set. Match.
02/12/2015
Day 135: Every once in a while, I see a performance or hear a song on TV (or sometimes still the radio) and I just stop listen, and then pretty much run to iTunes to download the track as soon as the song ends. That was pretty much the case when I saw a performance of today's track "Say Something (I'm Giving Up On You)" from A Great Big World during the most recent season of "So You Think You Can Dance." Much like the Matthew Sweet track from earlier in the week, this song addresses the topic of a love that has all but faded away. The name of the song itself and the initial verse is a final plea, "I'll be the one, if you want me to. Anywhere I would've followed you. Say something, I'm giving up on you." Although in this case, there does not seem to be an "almost." The simple beauty and intensity of this song is breathtaking and I love the live performance (from SYTYCD) with the children's choir singing the backing vocals. Simply brilliant.
02/13/2015
Day 136: As I close this, perhaps my favorite, chapter on the darker side of love, I have but "One" more contribution. That song is the 1991 classic, "One" from U2. Even at face value, this song is one of U2's best and one of the greatest songs of the 90s. That is a given. But, I think that it was many years later that the song took on a much deeper meaning when I learned what the song is actually about, or at least an interpretation that I find very compelling (Wikipedia does not seem to share in the interpretation that I heard). In any event, my understanding is that this song is a story of a young man telling his father that he has AIDS. With lines like, "Did I disappoint you, or leave a bad taste in your mouth? You act like you never had love, and you want me to go without," I think that story makes a lot of sense (certainly better than the song being about German Reuninification). In any event, the song certain evokes feelings of a love that is strained, but in the end there is "One Love. One Blood. One Life... we get to carry each other... One." Love is hard. Love isn't perfect. But love endures.
One. Hmmm. That sure is an interesting number, isn't it? Sometimes bands create lots of great songs and lots of great album. But, sometimes, they only manage One. I think that you may see where I am going with this. Tomorrow, I will start a new chapter on that loneliest of numbers. Starting tomorrow, let's talk about some One-Hit-Wonders!
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