Sometimes I Cry

I'm not one to cry much. It's not a man thing...not sure what it is. I don't try not to cry.  I think that if I listen to this song enough, I just might, and I would feel better.

Sometimes I Cry

(Buddy Miller, Julie Miller,&  Jim Lauderdale)

Moments when I could swear
It's like you were just here
Somebody wake me up when we get there
So you'd be here why can't you be here
Sometimes I cry sometimes I cry

I stop holding up and my heart gets stuck
And that might take awhile
Sometimes I cry sometimes I cry
Sometimes I just break down and my tears come round
Like water from the sky
Sometimes I cry yea yea

No one knows what might happen
Takes away so much that matters
Images showing up start me thinking
And remembering I'm remembering

Sometimes I cry sometimes I cry
I stop holding up and my heart gets stuck
And that might take awhile
Sometimes I cry talk to you and sigh
Sometimes you still make me laugh
And that helps to pass
All the carrying on
Sometimes I cry yea yea

Can't make the puzzle fit like before
We'll have to discuss that a lot more

Sometimes I cry sometimes I cry
I stop holding up and my heart gets stuck
And that might take awhile
Sometimes I cry
Sometimes I cry
Sometimes I just break down and my tears come round
Like water from the sky
Sometimes I cry yea yea
Sometimes I cry
Sometimes I cry

Tears in Heaven

Eric Clapton recorded "Tears in heaven" about the death of his 4 year old son in 1991.

Tears in Heaven

Eric Clapton and Will Jennings

Would you know my name
If I saw you in heaven?
Would it be the same
If I saw you in heaven?

I must be strong
And carry on,
'Cause I know I don't belong
Here in heaven.

Would you hold my hand
If I saw you in heaven?
Would you help me stand
If I saw you in heaven?

I'll find my way
Through night and day,
'Cause I know I just can't stay
Here in heaven.

Time can bring you down,
Time can bend your knees.
Time can break your heart,
Have you begging please, begging please.

Beyond the door,
There's peace I'm sure,
And I know there'll be no more
Tears in heaven.

Would you know my name
If I saw you in heaven?
Would it be the same
If I saw you in heaven?

I must be strong
And carry on,
'Cause I know I don't belong
Here in heaven.

source: http://www.lyricsondemand.com/

In 1995, Dana Key released "Dear Mr. Clapton" as a sort of response to that song.  Dana died in 2010 at the age of 56.

Dear Mr. Clapton
Dana Key

Dear Mr. Clapton,
I have learned of your loss.
Tears in heaven,
It’s a beautiful song.

I know your bleeding
Won’t cease with my words.
They’re just a cool drink
To help you along.

Through Saturdays with no noise,
Baseballs and untouched toys.
They leave an empty feeling in your soul.

He is in heaven’s care.
There are no tears up there, cuz,
Jesus loves children more than we will ever know.
He loves those children more than we will ever know.

Dear Mr. Clapton,
You are not without hope.
The door to heaven
lies beyond the grave

If you would only
believe as a child,
someday this pain
will be washed away.

Of, memories of holidays,
That small angelic face.
They leave an empty feeling in your soul.

CHORUS

Dear Mr. Clapton,
I have learned of your loss.

Sad Songs...Late for the Sky

Don't really have anything to add to this song.  It speaks for itself.  The end of a relationship.  Ugh.  If I think of anything else to add, I will.

Oddly enough, the car on the album cover is either a '52 or '53 Chevy.  See First Car blog entry.

O.K..... I thought of a comment.  One may make the assumption that I like these sad songs because back in the day,  I enjoyed listening to songs such as this which spoke to a familiar situation, a "let's share our sorrows together" kind of thing.  That may be true to a degree, but there something that makes such a song attractive now. Commenter "blt" alluded to this idea.  The singer/songwriter makes you feel what he is feeling.  And whether you have experienced what he has or not, you understand what he went through.  That kind of connection makes you feel alive.

"Late for the Sky"

Jackson Browne

1974

All the words had all been spoken,
Somehow the feeling still wasn't right
And still we continued on through the night.
Tracing our steps from the beginning,
Until they vanished into the air
Trying to understand how our lives had led us there.
Looking hard into your eyes
There was nobody I'd ever known
Such an empty surprise
To feel so alone.

Now, for me, some words come easy
But I know that they don't mean that much
Compared with the things that are said when lovers touch.
You never knew what I loved in you
I don't know what you loved in me.
Maybe the picture of somebody you were hoping I might be.

Awake again, I can't pretend
That I know I'm alone,
And close to the end
Of the feeling we've known.
How long have I been sleeping?
How long have I been drifting along through the night?
How long have I been dreaming I could make it right,
If I closed my eyes and tried with all my might,
To be the one you need?

Awake again, I can't pretend
That I know I'm alone,
And close to the end
Of the feeling we've known.
How long have I been sleeping?
How long have I been drifting along through the night?
How long have I been running for that morning flight
Through the whispered promises, and the changing light
Of the bed where we both lie,
Late for the sky.

If You Could Read My Mind

Gordon Lightfoot wrote this song in 1969 about the failure of a relationship.   

The line "In a castle dark or fortress strong" was one that always grabbed me. The placement of the adjectives is something you can only do in poetic writing.  Mistakenly, I had always thought he was singing "castle dawn".   Had no idea what a "castle dawn" was, but it conjured an image of a castle looming in an early morning fog - a sorrowful image in my mind - which added to the tone. The mind has a way of hearing what it wants.

The heartbreak Lightfoot experienced is obvious.  Most have experienced some degree of that same pain, which is probably the reason the song was a huge hit.  It is the ability to capture the essence of a common experience and put it to words and music that makes for a great song.  The particulars of this song are probably only known to the author himself.  It isn't important that the listener understand all that.  All we know for certain is that is that he is hurting.  Once in a while, back in the day, it helped to hear someone else say it.

If You Could Read My Mind 
Gordon Lightfoot 

 If you could read my mind, love,
What a tale my thoughts could tell.
Just like an old time movie,
'Bout a ghost from a wishing well.
In a castle dark or a fortress strong,
With chains upon my feet.
You know that ghost is me.
And I will never be set free
As long as I'm a ghost that you can't see. 
                                        
If I could read your mind, love,
What a tale your thoughts could tell.
Just like a paperback novel,
The kind the drugstores sell.
Then you reached the part where the heartaches come,
The hero would be me.
But heroes often fail,
And you won't read that book again
Because the ending's just too hard to take!
                                        
I'd walk away like a movie star
Who gets burned in a three way script.
Enter number two:
A movie queen to play the scene
Of bringing all the good things out in me.
But for now, love, let's be real;
I never thought I could  feel this way
And I've got to say that I just don't get it.
I don't know where we went wrong,
But the feeling's gone
And I just can't get it back. 
                                        
If you could read my mind, love,
What a tale my thoughts could tell.
Just like an old time movie,
'Bout a ghost from a wishing well.
In a castle dark or a fortress strong.
With chains upon my feet.
But stories always end,
And if you read between the lines,
You'd know that I'm just tryin' to understand
The feelin's that you lack.
I never thought I could feel this way
And I've got to say that I just don't get it.
I don't know where we went wrong,
But the feelin's gone
And I just can't get it back!

I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry

I was very young when I saw the movie "Your Cheatin' Heart”.  It came out in 1964, and depicted the life of Hank Williams Sr.  My parents owned the movie soundtrack.  However, this created a confusion which my young mind could not get straight.  On the album cover, there is a picture of the actor who portrayed Williams in the movie, so I assumed Hank looked like George Hamilton.  The songs on the soundtrack were sung by Hank Williams Jr., who actually did sound much like his father.  So the identity of Hank Williams was a blur for me. 

This is no condemnation of my parents, but in hindsight, a 6 year old kid probably had no business listening to Hank Sr. or Hank Jr. sing “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”.  It is terribly troubling - maybe the saddest of all sad songs, not so much just in the words, but in the tone.  But it was immensely popular, perhaps because it speaks of one of the most common of all human conditions - loneliness.

In this song, Hank's loneliness is apparently due to being separated from the woman he loves (“…and as I wonder where you are...").  It would seem that men, by design, or if you are a Darwinist, by instinct, seek to quiet loneliness with a mate.  My own years of loneliness were the worse from the day I first began to crave a spouse until the day The Lord gave me one.  Loneliness would come and go, depending on the current status of that quest.

I think The Lord held off on my search for a mate until He was able to teach me a vital lesson.  Contrary to what may seem logical, loneliness is not meant to be satisfied by a spouse. We are not ordinary creatures seeking to satisfy an instinctual craving to propagate our species.  We may find a mate, but that will not necessarily bring an end to our loneliness. 

We were created to have our loneliness satisfied by God Himself.  It was only after I had just about decided I could live alone, and could trust God to make me content in that state, that He brought along my wife.  And she, no, He, dealt a blow to loneliness.

Hank Williams

I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry

(click here to listen)

Hear that lonesome whippoorwill

He sounds too blue to fly

The midnight train is whining low

I'm so lonesome I could cry

I've never seen a night so long

When time goes crawling by

The moon just went behind the clouds

To hide its face and cry

Did you ever see a robin weep

When leaves began to die?

Like me he's lost the will to live

I'm so lonesome I could cry

The silence of a falling star

Lights up a purple sky

And as I wonder where you are

I'm so lonesome I could cry

First appeared in the February, 2012 edition of the Manna. http://readthemanna.org

"We Just Disagree" by Dave Mason

In my first year of college, a sociology class taught by Henry Nyce created a lot of stir. He had this thing he did for fun where he asked students to bring a favorite song to class. After listening to it, he would tell the student things about themselves based on that song. When I took the class, we unfortunately we never got a chance to do it. However, a friend of mine took the class the year before. She choose this song. I am sorry to say I don't recall what Mr. Nyce had to say, but she wasn't impressed.

Obviously, Mason is talking about a break-up here. But I think he was on to something broader. Too often when we disagree in general, we often feel the need to keep bringing up why our position is correct. There must be a good guy and a bad guy.

The older I get, the more I tend to find that fighting to make my point just isn't worth it. So lets just leave it alone.

Dave Mason

We Just Disagree

Been away, haven't seen you in a while
How've you been, have you changed your style?
And do you think that we've grown up differently?
Don't seem the same, seems you've lost your feel for me

So let's leave it alone 'cause we can't see eye to eye
There ain't no good guy, there ain't no bad guy
There's only you and me and we just disagree
Ooh ooh ooh, oh oh oh

I'm goin' back to a place that's far away, how 'bout you?
Have you got a place to stay?
Why should I care when I'm just trying to get along
We were friends but now it's the end of our love song

So let's leave it alone 'cause we can't see eye to eye
There ain't no good guy, there ain't no bad guy
There's only you and me and we just disagree
Ooh ooh ooh, oh oh oh

So let's leave it alone 'cause we can't see eye to eye
There ain't no good guy, there ain't no bad guy
There's only you and me and we just disagree

Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald

There is something about sad songs that have always intrigued me.  For some reason I am drawn to them.  Perhaps it is my melancholic personality.  This is the first of many posts highlighting such music. It follows the second post, which was posted first, due to a complicated series of events which even I do not fully comprehend.

You can find lists of sad songs on the internet.  I'm not really interested in which songs other people consider sad.  The songs I choose will have had some particular impact on my life.  I will NOT be talking about "Honey", by Bobby Goldsboro, "Shannon" by Henry Gross, or "If" by Bread, so as to keep some hint of respect among the men.  Some songs are so sappy they make you want to puke.  Such songs shall be avoided.  O.K... maybe I will do Shannon.  Good grief, I'm going to cry.

Gordon Lightfoot released this song in 1976, commemorating the sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald on Lake Superior on November 10, 1975.  None of the crew of 29 survived.

I'm a sucker for a song that tells a great story.  Makes you think about how many things have to line up to have a song like this work so well... the story, the music, the tone, the voice, the timing..... In Lightfoot's case, it only happened a few times in his whole career. 

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

by Gordon Lightfoot

(click on link to listen)

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they called Gitchigumi
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy.

With a load of iron ore twenty-six thousand tons more
Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty.
That good ship and crew was a bone to be chewed
When the "Gales of November" came early.

The ship was the pride of the American side
Coming back from some mill in Wisconsin
As the big freighters go, it was bigger than most
With a crew and good captain well seasoned.

Concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms
When they left fully loaded for Cleveland
And later that night when the ship's bell rang
Could it be the north wind they'd been feeling?

The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound
And a wave tumbled over the railing
And every man knew, as the captain did too,
T'was the witch of November come stealing.

The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
When the gales of November came slashin'
When afternoon came it was freezing rain
In the face of a hurricane west wind.  When suppertime came, the old cook came on deck saying
"Fellas, it's too rough to feed ya."
At seven PM the main hatchway caved in, he said
"Fellas, it's been good to know ya."

The captain wired in he had water coming in
And the good ship and crew was in peril.
And later that night when his lights went out of sight
Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Does any one know where the love of God goes
When the waves turn the minutes to hours?
The searchers all say they'd have made Whitefish Bay
If they'd put fifteen more miles behind her.

They might have split up or they might have capsized;
They may have broke deep and took water.
All that remains are the faces and the names
Of the wives and the sons and the daughters.

Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings
In the rooms of her icewater mansion.
Old Michigan steams like a young man's dreams;
The isles and bays are for sportsmen.

And farther below Lake Ontario
Takes in what Lake Erie can send her,
And the iron boats go as the mariners all know
With the gales of November remembered.

In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed,
In the "Maritime Sailors' Cathedral."
The church bell chimed till it rang twenty-nine times
For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald.

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitchigumi
Superior, they say, never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early. 

The Band

Robbie Robertson  wrote "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down", and The Band recorded it in 1969, with Levon Helm singing lead.  The song tells about the days towards the end of the Civil War.  Robertson, interestingly, is Canadian.

The Band, 1968. L-r: Rick Danko, Levon Helm, Richard Manuel, Garth Hudson and Robbie Robertson in the Catskills posing for Music From Big Pink. Photo © Elliott Landy.

Part way through the song (at 1:07 in the video), there is an eerie harmonica being played, just as the lyrics "Virgil, quick, come see, There goes Robert E. Lee!" are being sung.  I had always assumed that "Robert E. Lee" was the name of a train because the harmonica so closely resembles a train passing, and due to the reference to a train in the second line of the song.  Excellent use of the harmonica, I had always thought.

I pointed this out to our girls during one of our music education classes (they get a great education from me in this department).  They agreed with my powers of observation.  Then, out of curiosity, I did some research into the song.  Turns out, "Robert E. Lee" does not refer to a train.  Most likely, it was originally written to refer to General Robert E. Lee.  However, Robertson apparently got the timing of the events out of order, making the passing by of Lee impossible at this point in the song.  Others, recognizing this flaw, changed the lyric to "There goes The Robert E. Lee!"  This refers to a steamboat by that name.

The harmonica sounds nothing like a steamboat whistle.  So I am going to ignore the facts, and go on believing that "There goes Robert E. Lee" actually refers to an imaginary train by that name.  Never let the facts get in the way of a great story.

The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

by The Band

(click link to listen)

Virgil Kane is the name
And I served on the Danville train
'Till Stoneman's cavalry came
And tore up the tracks again

In the winter of '65
We were hungry, just barely alive
By May the 10th, Richmond had fell
It's a time I remember, oh so well

The night they drove old Dixie down
And the bells were ringing
The night they drove old Dixie down
And the people were singing
They went, "Na, na, la, na, na, la"

Back with my wife in Tennessee
When one day she called to me
"Virgil, quick, come see,
There goes Robert E. Lee!"

Now, I don't mind chopping wood
And I don't care if the money's no good
You take what you need
And you leave the rest
But they should never
Have taken the very best

The night they drove old Dixie down
And the bells were ringing
The night they drove old Dixie down
And all the people were singing
They went, "Na, na, la, na, na, la"

Like my father before me
I will work the land
And like my brother above me
Who took a rebel stand

He was just 18, proud and brave
But a Yankee laid him in his grave
I swear by the mud below my feet
You can't raise a Kane back up
When he's in defeat

The night they drove old Dixie down
And the bells were ringing
The night they drove old Dixie down
And all the people were singing
They went, "Na, na, la, na, na, la"

The night they drove old Dixie down
And all the bells were ringing
The night they drove old Dixie down
And the people were singing
They went, "Na, na, la, na, na, la"

Note:  This is the second entry in a group of posts under the topic "Sad Songs".  The first post under that topic is, sadly enough, stuck in editing, and will come later.