by Andy Prieboy

This used to be the Democratic victory song.

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Elizabeth Cotten's granddaughter, Brenda Evans, totally nails it.

Here sung by Gerard Souzay:

It ends: "For we pass away, as the wave passes: The wave to the sea, we to the grave." There is a recording of it by Barbra Streisand. She never should have touched it.

And the Souzay performance is my favorite. When I listen to it I think of the images of the Old World that was soon to pass away with World War One.

There is a version by Alison Nicholls and Philippe Honore that you may have heard; it uses harp and violin, strictly an instrumental. I tried to find it on you tube for you, but no luck. It is a lovely piece.

This has just become my favorite new "group" to listen to. Absolutely love them, thanks.

If you are feeling vulnerable, stay away from it until you feel better. That's my recommendation.

I cannot listen to this without crying. Here is a lovely video from the movie.

about 'Lester the Lobster' who got eaten. I would make myself cry. Over and over again I sang it. Over and over again I cried. I was in the front seat between my mom and my dad and felt safe enough to let her rip on my feelings about the maritime provinces and their penchant for eating lobsters.

That is the only song that consistently makes me tear up.

(Disclaimer: Do NOT listen to both of these if you are in an emotionally vulnerable place.)

I'd forgotten about that one.

It is a very good sad song

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and the story behind the song is extremely sad as well.

Made sadder by the fact that the beautiful young man who wrote and sang this song took his own life in 1974.

"This is the book I never read; these are the words I never said..." Gets to me every time.

It's a song that people sing along to a happy tune, and it's only later that they realize that the lyrics are written from the pov of an abused child.

My name is Luka
I live on the second floor
I live upstairs from you
Yes I think you've seen me before
If you hear something late at night
Some kind of trouble, some kind of fight
Just don't ask me what it was
Just don't ask me what it was
Just don't ask me what it was
I think it's because I'm clumsy
I try not to talk too loud
Maybe it's because I'm crazy
I try not to act too proud
They only hit until you cry
After that you don't ask why
You just don't argue anymore
You just don't argue anymore
You just don't argue anymore
Yes I think I'm okay
I walked into the door again
If you ask that's what I'll say
And it's not your business anyway
I guess I'd like to be alone
With nothing broken, nothing thrown
Just don't ask me how I am
Just don't ask me how I am
Just don't…

..apartment house....She said he seemed "different" from the other kids, like he "might have been' an abused child....but she went on to say that he probably was not.

I loved watching that music video on MTV back in the late '80s.

get's me every time

as far from being "sad" as you can get, called "Hold On Tight"

One of my all-time favorite songs.

I love Hank Williams songs.

If you're actually dead.......

Of that perturbing canon, I vote for "I'll Be Home for Christmas"

but also a great Christmas song.

is Another Lonely Christmas, by Prince.

'Cause baby, you promised me
Baby you promised me you'd never leave
Then you died on the twenty-fifth day of December

I was never a Prince fan.

Probably the best rock & roll Christmas song is:
"Season's Freakings" by Bunnygrunt
(I wish I could post the music video here)

[link:

I'm just starting to get into Kottke. And I love Holly's original, but it's way too peppy and upbeat to be all that sad.

That's when my brother gave me his Armadillo album for Christmas. I totally freaked. Like Moses talking to his burning bush or Mohammed being tapped on the shoulder by Allah. The great revelation. I was 19.

I went to see a concert Mahavishnu Orchestra concert in Philadelphia in 1972 opened by Kottke. Everyone else there was there to see John McLaughlin and his pals--everyone except me, that is. I went to see Kottke, and he didn't disappoint. I was more hooked than ever. I couldn't believe those guitars he was playing. I also couldn't believe that one man was making one guitar produce all that sound.

Fast forward to 1977. I had joined the outfit I still work for in 1975, and they had me out in L.A. for something or other in February, 1977, and in the meantime, I had found out what those guitars were that Kottke was playing (had seen hm a few more times, too). At the time, the guy who built Kottke's guitars had his studio in Escondido, California. I begged some time off, and rented a car to drive down there. I had no idea where to look, but figured, correctly, that Escondido, which means "hidden" in Spanish, couldn't be too big. Sure enough, I found the studio of Božo Podunavac (BAW-zho Paw-doo-NAH-vats), who was a Serbian violin maker who had invented a special way to build 12 string guitars that sounded like no others. I bought one on the spot, ordered another as well as matching 6 string. By now, luckily, I was making a salary that let me afford them. Barely. $2600 for a guitar was a fortune back then. I had him build me few more over the years, the last being a matching pair (6 and 12) with my initials inlaid on the fretboard in 2000. In all those years, Božo's English never got any better (my Serbian did, but not much). Still a prince of a nice guy. Got to be closing in on 90 by now. Kottke himself is now over 70, but is still touring. His style has changed a little over time, but still unmistakably Leo Kottke. NOBODY has his touch, his cadence, his musical personality. He is still a one-of-a-kind.

I self-taught myself to play some of his material, composed some myself, toured German folk festivals a little in my spare time in the late seventies, which is about the last time I HAD any spare time. But as for trying to match Kottke's effortless virtuosity--well on a scale of 1 to 100, I think I'm still in fractions. My ONE best moment was not getting encores at the folk festivals, but when I was playing alone for a friend in Bennington, Vermont, of all places, in a tiny church after hours when we thought no one was there except the two of us. This was before an album came out with Kottke's picture on it. Some guy who had been listening in the shadows came out and asked if I wasn't Leo Kottke, by any chance. Now THAT was about the highest compliment anyone could EVER have paid me!

Another little side note on Kottke: I was at a little "meeting of the minds" conference that takes place over New Year's every year in Charleston, SC. I took out my twelve string after all the seminars were over and started playing some. A guy we all knew came up listened for a while, and then asked to see my guitar, and started to play a Kottke tune on it. He wasn't as good as I was, but he was clearly a guitar player, and had been playing for many years. It was Howard Dean.

I played classical guitars for a few years when I was in high school (early 90s), but dropped it when college and working life got in the way. Over the last couple years, I've picked up the guitar (and banjo) again, this time focusing on the folk/bluegrass/country blues side of picking.

I've always liked music and guitars, but it's really only been over the last couple of years that I've really listened much to the non-pop acoustic wizards of the 50s-70s. Doc Watson, John Fahey, Bert Jansch, Davy Graham, Norman Blake, Kottke, etc. So much great music that is really underappreciated, even by people that are into guitar music.

"in the ghetto"


(Way to many mommas crying these days)

Apart, by the Cure

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Again, by Archive

I've got a little black book with my poems in
I've got a bag with a toothbrush and a comb in
When I'm a good dog they sometimes throw me a bone in
I got elastic bands keeping my shoes on
Got those swollen hand blues.
Got thirteen channels of shit on the T.V. to choose from
I've got electric light
And I've got second sight
I've got amazing powers of observation
And that is how I know
When I try to get through
On the telephone to you
There'll be nobody home
I've got the obligatory Hendrix perm
And I've got the inevitable pinhole burns
All down the front of my favourite satin shirt
I've got nicotine stains on my fingers
I've got a silver spoon on a chain
I've got a grand piano to prop up my mortal remains
I've got wild staring eyes
I've got a strong urge to fly
But I've got nowhere to fly to
Ooooh Babe when I pick up the phone
There's still nobody home
I've got a pair of Gohills boots
And I've got fading roots.

in the movie she sings it when she's about at her worst, dog gone, everyone ignoring her.

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"A TRIBUTE TO BLACKLISTED LYRICIST YIP HARBURG: THE MAN WHO PUT THE RAINBOW IN THE WIZARD OF OZ"

Democracy Now's Amy Goodman interviews Ernie Harburg, Yip Harburg's son and biographer.

Great Interview!

(Watch it here)
http://www.democracynow.org/2016/11/25/a_tribute_to_blacklisted_lyricist_yip

Between "Another Lonely Christmas," by Prince- mentioned in my post upthread, and "He Stopped Loving Her Today," by George Jones.

Kept some letters by his bed
Dated nineteen sixty-two
He had underlined in red
Every single "I love you"
I went to see him just today
Oh, but I didn't see no tears
All dressed up to go away
First time I'd seen him smile in years

He stopped loving her today
They placed a wreath upon his door
And soon they'll carry him away
He stopped loving her today

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Anyone who likes her should rent "Cadillac Records"..the story of Leonard Chess, founder of Chess Records, where Etta James made her early recordings.
The actress who played Etta James was outstanding, as was the entire film.
I highly recommend it!

I'll have to put this on my movie list for this weekend.

It's one of the best movies I've ever seen.

It's the final few moments of the movie "Crash".

Smog, album: Doctor Came At Dawn, song: All Your Women Things, sad and weird.

Ryan Adams, album: Easy Tiger song: Rip Off

Tears for Fears, Album: Raoul and the Kings of Spain song: Sketches of Pain

That dude had an open conduit to the place that sad songs come from.

Watch as he makes a tough old blacksmith cry with "Waiting Around to Die."

Love this thread.

I don't know how to post music videos unfortunately.

Last edited Sat Dec 3, 2016, 12:42 PM - Edit history (1)

Linda Ronstadt "Long, Long Time"
Don McLean "Starry, Starry Night"
Simply Red "Holding Back the Years"
Lennon "Imagine"
"September Song"
Commodores "Night Shift"

I know, I know, it's over-used to the point of being hackneyed.

But, I was experiencing a personal tragedy about 6 years ago, when I went to see a live performance of it, and it nearly destroyed me.

I still can't listen without crying.

]

I like Bette's version but there are others, John Prine...


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....written by Curtis Mayfield. The pain of an invisible 5 year old.