Disgusted with the accelerating rot of my country, I just couldn’t find the arms of Morpheus. So what did I do? I travelled the world looking for love songs.
Found them. Here are the links.
England 2 (because they earned it and it’s also French)
World (aka Hoboken, New Jersey)
PLAYOFF. Yeah Adele is unbelievably great. But put this classic against, well, a long dead American. Who seems more alive?
P.S. And then there’s love beyond sex. Something about life itself. No comment. Just this and never mind the German…
Even grizzled Scots lie down to sleep. Eventually. You’ll see.
Janis was the perfect ending to this post. Another Piece of My Heart has always been my favorite of her songs. Big Brother and the Holding Company, as rough as they were, were the perfect band for her.
And Tom Traubert’s Blues was a nice touch. There is something magical about Waltzing Matilda. I have mixed feelings about Tom Waits. I like a lot of his early stuff but not so much his later material.
Saw him live at the Academy of Music in Philly in the 80s. Inspired. Excepting the Stones, best concert I ever attended.
Ireland’s Clannad and Scotland’s song from Brave both did it for me (and I’m not just sucking up to the respective Laird’s heritages!). Buckley always makes me weep and lifts my soul at the same time. Seriously, this playlist might just get me through this series of trying weeks.
I made it into a Youtube playlist, randomized. Play it on repeat, find love, and don’t sleep yet.
Jeff Buckley’s “Hallelujah” is indeed a marvel. I first heard it as the soundtrack of a photomontage (?) of the early stages of the invasion of Afghanistan. I’ve listened to many covers of Cohen’s song but I have never heard any of them include his final verse: “And even though it all went wrong, I’ll stand before the Lord of song with nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah.” That has always seemed significant to me.