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penpusherA song that makes you sad is obviously different from a song you don't like. And there are times when you want or even need to hear a song that makes you sad. Or you're already sad and you need to hear sad music.
For whatever reason, there are times when we really do want a song that makes us sad, and there are many to choose from, as is the case for most every one of these categories.
I have selected a song that I feel fits the bill for many reasons. It's by a recording artist known for telling "story songs," a musician that isn't just singing about feelings and emotions that are universal, but are in fact very specific tales that become universal in their specificity.
The singer I'm referencing is Harry Chapin, and he was a one man innovator when it came to radio station playlist music. See, back in the day, AM stations were more concerned with having enough time for commercials during their hour long segments and for that reason, songs played on most pop stations tended to run between 2 minutes and three and a half minutes. Four minutes would surely have been pushing it.
But Harry created a story song that demanded six minutes and forty-four seconds of airtime. Titled simply "Taxi," it told the story of a man and woman who knew each other in school, flirted, then went two very separate ways, she to an acting career, and him to a job as a cabbie in San Francisco and how they discovered their past and present as he drove her to her mansion.
As sad as that may sound, I don't find "Taxi" sad at all; to me, that song is very life-affirming and in its way, positive. Harry, later on, did a sequel song to "Taxi" which he titled "Sequel." I only mention it because you should never bother listening to it. The original song neither needed a sequel nor deserved the one it got. I guess it could qualify as making me sad, but it makes me more disappointed in a cloying attempt to rectify the ending of the original with the only purpose an attempt at a reconciliation.
No, the song of Harry's that does make me sad is another of his story songs, another long one, by Radio Playlist standards, and actually has something to do with radio itself.
The reason why I find multiple reasons to be sad about this song are the extenuating circumstances of Harry's real life. It's the story of a divorced, middle-aged DJ who finally found a place on the dial to call his home and again, a story of an attempt to make good with the ex. The chorus lyric reads: "The bright 'good morning' voice who's heard but never seen/feeling all of forty-five, going on fifteen." And that saddens me because, of course, Harry Chapin died in a car accident on the Long Island Expressway before he even turned forty.
This song evokes what the "glory days" of radio were all about, with the background jingle singers vocalizing the station call letters, the tales of the wandering radio personalities that do different formats in different markets until they get the one they really want. In a very big way, all of that is gone because radio isn't how people listen to music any more. And part of me is slightly sad about that.
Before I get any sadder, let's just give the song its due.
My choice for Day 4 is - Harry Chapin - "WOLD"
For whatever reason, there are times when we really do want a song that makes us sad, and there are many to choose from, as is the case for most every one of these categories.
I have selected a song that I feel fits the bill for many reasons. It's by a recording artist known for telling "story songs," a musician that isn't just singing about feelings and emotions that are universal, but are in fact very specific tales that become universal in their specificity.
The singer I'm referencing is Harry Chapin, and he was a one man innovator when it came to radio station playlist music. See, back in the day, AM stations were more concerned with having enough time for commercials during their hour long segments and for that reason, songs played on most pop stations tended to run between 2 minutes and three and a half minutes. Four minutes would surely have been pushing it.
But Harry created a story song that demanded six minutes and forty-four seconds of airtime. Titled simply "Taxi," it told the story of a man and woman who knew each other in school, flirted, then went two very separate ways, she to an acting career, and him to a job as a cabbie in San Francisco and how they discovered their past and present as he drove her to her mansion.
As sad as that may sound, I don't find "Taxi" sad at all; to me, that song is very life-affirming and in its way, positive. Harry, later on, did a sequel song to "Taxi" which he titled "Sequel." I only mention it because you should never bother listening to it. The original song neither needed a sequel nor deserved the one it got. I guess it could qualify as making me sad, but it makes me more disappointed in a cloying attempt to rectify the ending of the original with the only purpose an attempt at a reconciliation.
No, the song of Harry's that does make me sad is another of his story songs, another long one, by Radio Playlist standards, and actually has something to do with radio itself.
The reason why I find multiple reasons to be sad about this song are the extenuating circumstances of Harry's real life. It's the story of a divorced, middle-aged DJ who finally found a place on the dial to call his home and again, a story of an attempt to make good with the ex. The chorus lyric reads: "The bright 'good morning' voice who's heard but never seen/feeling all of forty-five, going on fifteen." And that saddens me because, of course, Harry Chapin died in a car accident on the Long Island Expressway before he even turned forty.
This song evokes what the "glory days" of radio were all about, with the background jingle singers vocalizing the station call letters, the tales of the wandering radio personalities that do different formats in different markets until they get the one they really want. In a very big way, all of that is gone because radio isn't how people listen to music any more. And part of me is slightly sad about that.
Before I get any sadder, let's just give the song its due.
My choice for Day 4 is - Harry Chapin - "WOLD"
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Date: 2018-01-06 01:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-01-06 10:27 pm (UTC)