Feeling better, in most ways

[chanaleh]

Quick update before our 10am meeting: I'm feeling progressively healthier. Monday I came in to work late and left early. Tuesday I never came in at all, but lay on the couch trying unsuccessfully to gather my forces. Yesterday, finally, I worked a full day and had dinner with jon_libby and still had enough koach left to haul my laundry down the street at the end of the day.

It's been very weird for me to have No Energy -- physically or psychologically -- for several days running. But that's a rumination for another moment.

There have been several song-related memes going around of late: your six favorite songs, five songs you're currently "into"... I liked kvschwartz's version: "six -- no, make that seven -- Beatles songs that are usually (but certainly not always) among my top 10 favorite Beatles songs" (mine are in comments).

But what I want to know this morning is: What song(s) bespeak yearning to you?
It could be yearning for anything: love, home, meaning, the past, the future, another place. Something within reach, but out of your grasp. Anything missing, anything lost. Or anyone.

Among mine:

'Til Tuesday, "Coming Up Close"

Cat Stevens, "But I Might Die Tonight" (and a bunch of others of course, including most everything on Tea for the Tillerman)

Pink Floyd, "Wish You Were Here"

Crowded House, "Don't Dream It's Over"

Sister Hazel, "All for You"

REO Speedwagon, "Here With Me"

Indigo Girls: Oh, so many. "History of Us", "Love's Recovery", "Ghost", "Love Will Come To You", "Language Or The Kiss", "Mystery".

Into the Woods, "No One Is Alone"

EDIT: And, loosely continuing the theme, dig the LJ Haiku I just got:

LiveJournal Haiku!
Your name:	chanaleh
Your haiku:	tonight but no such luck i kept saying look if g-d himself doesn't see fit
Username:
Created by Grahame

(This snippet was really referencing the Lag B'Omer BBQ, but I find it nicely evocative on its own.)

Comments

[fes42.livejournal.com]

What song bespeaks to you?
Move On, from Sunday in the Park with George. It's about yearning for the past and the future and the desire to let go of both. My favorite version is the Barbara Striesand version, but I am a big dork like that.

[scholargipsy.livejournal.com]

What song(s) bespeak yearning to you?

"Don't Dream It's Over" is one of the saddest songs I know, associating it as I do with a hopeless crush on an older girl who asked me to homecoming my sophomore year and then mysteriously dropped me flat. Typing that right now, I'm aware of how achingly high-school that sentence is. But it is a yearning song.

Otherwise? I used to listen to Melissa Ferrick's "Back in Love" incessantly during the time I was {having my heart broken by/breaking my own heart over} Jude. And Antje Duvekot's song "Long Way" just knocks me on my ass with longing of all sorts, many of which have to do to with the vastness and ineffably sad beauty of the American landscape.

[memerath.livejournal.com]

Anna Nalick, "Breathe"
Al Green, "I'm So Tired Of Being Alone"
We're About 9, "Another Love Song" and almost every song they do
Cowboy Junkies, "Sweet Jane"
Damien Rice, "The Blower's Daughter"
Dar Williams, "Iowa"
Elvis Costello, "All This Useless Beauty"
Hunters & Collectors, "Throw Your Arms Around Me"
...there seem to be a lot of them out there.

[mangosteen]

Songs of yearning:

Billy Joel: "Miami 2064"
Cat Stevens: "Cat's In The Cradle"
Blues Traveler: "Canadian Rose"
Suzanne Vega: "Gypsy"

[crs.livejournal.com]

Canadian Rose isn't bad, but Blues Traveler's "Felicia" one-ups it, I think, for yearning.

[trowa-barton.livejournal.com]

Ah, a Finn Fan.

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

A who what?

[trowa-barton.livejournal.com]

Neil Finn was in Crowded House. He currently tours with is brother as The Finn Brothers. Hence, a fan of Neil Finn or Finn Fan.

[trowa-barton.livejournal.com]

I admit that Sister Hazel was a guilty pleasure of mine.

longing songs

[wren13.livejournal.com]

These used to really hit me when I was away at college (which seemed like forever then, and now seems so long ago).
Take the long way home - Supertramp
Homeward Bound - Simon & Garfunkel
several tunes by Wilson Phillips - Hold On, Dream is still alive, Impulsive
Bring out the map - Indigo Girls

Re: longing songs

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Indigo Girls! There must be several of theirs that belong on this list for me.

[gilana]

So Far Away - Carole King
Don't Let It End - Styx

[thevortex.livejournal.com]

Actually, I was going to say "The Best of Times" by Styx, as well as "Take Me Home" by Phil Collins, "I Believe" by Blessid Union of Souls, and "What About Me" by Moving Pictures.

*high five* for Crowded House!

Huzzah!

The Vortex

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

and "What About Me" by Moving Pictures.

Oh my! There's a song I haven't thought of in years. But it definitely was one of my formative "yearning" songs in 6th grade.

(Which is why this citation catches me by surprise, because... were you even born then, darling? ;-) -- Yes, I know, you are startlingly well versed in '80s pop music, even so.)

[thevortex.livejournal.com]

Yes, I was born before 1982. And, why I know my 80s music has a bit of a story to it, if I have not told you anything about my family (I do not recall if I did or did not tell you about that -- if not, remind me the next time I see you).

Huzzah!

The Vortex

[ckd]

"The Only Living Boy In New York" - either Simon & Garfunkel or the Everything But The Girl cover
"Forgiven, Not Forgotten" - The Corrs
"Yesterday" - The Beatles

Number 1 with a bullet

[netpositive.livejournal.com]

"I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues" by Elton John. I think of it as a hopeful yearning of lovers who are temporarily separated - "don't wish it away / don't look at it like it's forever" - but the feeling of being cut off from an important part of oneself, and reaching out but not quite able to touch it, is very clear.

[melissaagray.livejournal.com]

Dave Matthews Band - "Crash Into Me"
Brooks Meredith - "What Would Happen"
Brian McKnight - "Anytime"
Adams Bryan - "Summer Of 69"

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

pointed here by kalessin

"Undertow," Suzanne Vega
"Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" AND "One," U2 (yeah, obvious)
"Meet Me In The Dark" and "You Can Sleep While I Drive," Melissa Etheridge
and how can you put Indigo Girls on there without "Blood and Fire"?
the Smithereens have a lot to offer, but I'm going to say "Cigarette" or "In A Lonely Place" (bonus Suzanne Vega!)
"How Soon Is Now," the Smiths (again, obvious)
"Lovesong," the Cure

...I could probably keep going, but that should do for now.

[kalessin.livejournal.com]

Hm. All of the above. Plus...

Dire Straits -- Romeo and Juliet, Tunnel of Love, Espresso Love
A Flock of Seagulls -- Wishing (I Had a Photograph of You)

I'm sure more titles will come to me through the day... :-)

[cycon.livejournal.com]

"Corner of the Sky" from Pippin
"Lost in the Wilderness" from Children of Eden

[http://users.livejournal.com/_opus_/]

"1985" by Bowling for Soup
"I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" by The Proclaimers

[navrins]

Apollo 13 soundtrack.

"Stars," from Les Mis. (Which is odd, perhaps, but it's the first one that came to mind.)

"Is anybody there?" from 1776.

Chopin

[mrmorse.livejournal.com]

Off the top of my head, the Preludes in E minor and B minor, and the Prelude in D-flat in a more strident way.

Some of his waltzes and nocturnes as well, but I can't be more specific while I'm at work and away from my CD collection.

Generally, longing and loss are major themes in Chopin's music. If that's what you're looking for, it's hard to go too wrong with him.

[besamim.livejournal.com]

The Beatles -- Oh gosh, there are so many:
"Yesterday"
"You Won't See Me"
"For No One"
"I'm So Tired"
"Julia" (these last two being, I think, Lennon's two best compositions)

The Who -- Not just blistering power chords!
"I Can't Reach You"
"Sunrise" (the most underrated Townshend song)
"The Song Is Over"

Buffalo Springfield, "Broken Arrow" (yearns for an American golden age that arguably never was)

The Police, "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic"

Pink Floyd, "Don't Leave Me Now," "Nobody Home" (a more pathological form of yearning, but yearning nonetheless)

[mycroft.livejournal.com]

Since I mostly listen to music when I'm in a melancholy mood, I could probably write volumes about this, but I will try to be relatively brief. Some of these aren't precisely songs about yearning, but they're songs I listen to when I'm yearning for something. Some of them are personal enough (for various reasons) that even thinking about them is enough to make me cry.

First, some folk music (I could go on and on here):

Edie Carey: With Our Hands, Compromise
Teddy Goldstein: The Love Lot, Divided By Tracks
Sam Shaber: Perfect, Bare
Anne Heaton: Bellyside, Black Notebook
Andrew Kerr: Fading Away, More For Me
Ani DiFranco: Untouchable Face
Antje Duvekot: Streets of Soho
Brian Webb: A Ballad of Her, Hers Alone
Catie Curtis: Start Again
Lisa Loeb: Falling In Love
Lori McKenna: What's One More Time (really the whole album)
...

Showtunes:

Bleu (because the music is very sad, and reminds me of the movie)
Phantom of the Opera: All I Ask of You
Cats: Memory
Chess: (a bunch of stuff)
Flashdance: I'll Be Here Where The Heart Is
Les Miserables: (a bunch of stuff)

And some pop music:

Sarah McLachlan: Ice Cream (really the whole Mirrorball album)
Mr. Mister: Broken Wings
Cyndi Lauper: Time After Time
Alastair Moock (cover): Paradise
Tori Amos: Frog on My Toe
Pat Benatar: Run Between the Raindrops
Dire Straits: Brothers In Arms
Sinead O'Connor: Nothing Compares 2 U
Concrete Blonde (cover): Everybody Knows
Bryan Adams: Summer of '69
Kate Bush: Deeper Understanding
Meat Loaf: I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)
Elton John: I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues
Phil Collins: Take Me Home, Another Day in Paradise
Prince: Purple Rain
Van Halen: Love Walks In

I'm sure I forgot a few things, but really, I'm going to stop thinking about this right now.

[mycroft.livejournal.com]

I guess I'll probably add #7 from Yeomen to the list once I have the recording.

[cmouse.livejournal.com]

I'll add some:

If I Wrote You, Iowa, We learned the sea - Dar Williams
Angels Will Fall - Melissa Etheridge
The Queen and the Soldier - Suzanne Vega
New Frontier, Anna Begins, I wish I was a girl - Counting Crows
Tapestry - Carol King

[griffinick.livejournal.com]

Moody Blues: I Know You're Out There Somewhere
Eric Clapton: Tears in Heaven
Donnie Iris: Ah, Leah!
Pogues: Tuesday Morning

[laurion]

Funny, I just heard a cover of 'Wish You Were Here'.

How about the entire soundtrack from 'A Little Night Music'.
And a few good ones out of 'Chess'

[meranthi.livejournal.com]

The one that popped into my head is the tenor/bass duet from The Pearl Fishers. Though if you get into opera, you have a million to choose from. ;)

[doeeyedbunny.livejournal.com]

Otis Redding: These Arms of Mine
Indigo Girls: Blood and Fire
(both of these are very literal songs about longing)

Crosby, Stills & Nash: Cathedral
Naomi Shemer: Yerushalaim Shel Zahav
Grateful Dead: Black Muddy River
The Decemberists: We Both Go Down Together

[greenlily.livejournal.com]

"No One Is To Blame" (Howard Jones, although the Spur Of The Moment cover does it too 'cause it takes me straight back to some of my best Brandeis memories)

"Possession" (piano version) (Sarah McLachlan)
"Love Will Come To You" (Indigo Girls)
"End Of The Innocence" (Don Henley) (despite the cheezy piano parts)
"Famous Blue Raincoat" (Tori Amos covering Leonard Cohen)
"Coming Back To You" (Trisha Yearwood covering Leonard Cohen)

Classical:
Big chunks of the Dvorak Stabat Mater, even the bits that sound happy. Actually, a lot of settings of the Stabat Mater texts--Rossini and Pergolesi come to mind.
"Cantique de Jean Racine" (Faure)
Sections of "Deh vieni non tardar"

Showtunes:
"Dear Friend" (from She Loves Me)
"Her Face" (from Carnival)
"On The Willows" (from Godspell)
"What More Can I Say" (from Falsettos) (also "Father To Son", come to think of it)

[crazybone.livejournal.com]

Photograph - Def Leppard
So Far Away - Dire Straits
Somebody's Out There- Triumph
No One Ever is to Blame - Howard Jones
Stay - Oingo Boingo
There She Goes - The Las
Just Like Honey - Jesus and Mary Chain

[moria923.livejournal.com]

"Where Is It Written" by Barbra Streisand (from YENTL).

I'm sure I'll think of plenty more later, but this is the one that comes immediately to mind.

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

That's a really good one! I love that soundtrack, my mom had it (on vinyl!) and we used to listen to it all the time when I was in junior high. Long before I was Jewish -- heh. Who could have thought?

The opening passage (spoken) of that song, where in the movie she's putting on her father's tallit that she's not technically supposed/allowed (in their community) to wear... nowadays I use that text as a little meditation before putting on the tallit. Really. It reminds me of the beginning of Psalm 104, which is the central verse that I'm painting on the tallit that I'm (slowly) making for myself.