Powerful Songs That Make You Uneasy? (closed)

Subject: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: RichM
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 10:26 AM

POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY? ...that is, you LIKE them but they arouse strong emotion in you or in listeners...

In another thread ( Origins of 'Strange Fruit') Tinker said something that struck me.
He quoted Pete Seeger: "I've sung(Strange Fruit) from time to time. You have to be careful to surround it with some other songs: it's so powerful it brings an audience to a dead stop."

Once , during my own songwriter phase, I wrote a song about the powerful effect of unreciprocated love. It was strong and bitter, but I thought it was a good song.
However,I stopped playing it AFTER each of two close friends approached me separately and asked if it was about his recent ended relationship. It wasn't but it gave me some insight into the power of music.
I haven't sung the song since.

My question to you is: What similarly powerful songs have brought out strong emotions in you?
Which ones do you sing?
Are there any you won't sing because they do affect you strongly?

Rich

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: Midchuck
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 10:42 AM

Stan Rogers' The House of Orange will get you beaten up in any Irish bar in the US.

Or was that not exactly what you had in mind?

Peter.

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: SINSULL
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 10:47 AM

InObu's "Amadou" left me feeling completely helpless. A terrible loss and more than likely it will happen again.

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: RichM
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 10:56 AM

Yes, Peter, that's the kind of song I mean. House of Orange arouses strong emotion in some listeners.

Rich

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: Bagpuss
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 11:09 AM

"He Fades Away" sung by June Tabor always chokes me a little when I sing it.

Bagpuss

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: Kim C
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 11:20 AM

Annie Laurie... because just before the Confederate charge at the Battle of Franklin in 1864, one of their bands was playing this song. We still play it, but I can't sing it without thinking it was the last song some of those boys ever heard. We can barely introduce this song anymore without getting choked up, so we just start playing.

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From:
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 11:22 AM

I usually don't post, but this just brought to mind a list.

I definitely agree with Tabor's "He Fades Away." I don't know how you can sing it let alone listen. But, in my opinion, Tabor is one of the most powerful singers around. For example, I cannot listen to her "Green FIelds of France" without tearing up, but I can listen to others.

"Cold Missouri Waters" of late by Cry Cry Cry had me standing at a listening station in the bookstore for nearly an hour.

"Any Mick'll DO" by Brian McNeill which I had the great priviledge to hear LIVE at the Arlington Highland games, is fabulous. Of course, McNeill is one of my new favorite musicians---"Muir and the Master Builder", "Prince of Darkness" are two more of his more powerful songs.

"On the Other Side" which is the second song on the Janis Ian comeback CD also makes my hair stand on end.

That's it for me. Sorry for going on so long.

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: Troll
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 11:25 AM

" All Quiet Along The Potomac" or "The Kennesaw Line" does it for me."Papirosen" is another although you need to understand Yiddish to REALLY get it.

troll

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From:
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 11:26 AM

Okay I have to add just one more.

Right here and now--I confess that I have filked.

If you're a fan of Jim Henson, you should hear Tom Smith's song "A boy and his frog" about the relationship between Henson and Kermit.

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: Katcina
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 11:38 AM

The most recent I can think of is Joan Osborne's "What If God...". It aroused much controversy and was mightily comdemned by those that didn't take the time to actually listen to the words of the song. It has been a personal favorite of mine since the first time I heard it. I pay close attention to the words being sung.

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: wdyat12
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 11:47 AM

A more contemporary song that does it for me everytime I hear it is Ohio by CSNY. The song brings back all the anger and frustration I felt while working for the student strike after the Kent State masacre.

wdyat12

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 11:57 AM

Ooooo - too many to mention. All the deep meaningful lyrics of the pop charts I guess.

Hot Love by T-Rex (She ain't no witch and I love the way she twitch ahaha..) must be up there. So deep and meningful that they go above most people...

Same for Agadoo, Chirpy-chirpy cheep cheep and anything by the Bay City Rollers..

They all send shivers down my spine anyway. And I could never sing them.....

DtG

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: Mr Red
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 12:05 PM

Jay Turner - & Kath Mundy - the title is unimportant - the subject is about poverty in a central american region where mothers choose to limit the size of the family by culling. A powereful fitting arrangement but you just cannot be unmoved. The title - erm sorry - I just got lost in the moment when I heard it - and was too skint to buy the CD. (No reddies ha)

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: Kim C
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 12:16 PM

I forgot to mention Christmas in the Trenches. It's not one that we perform but it gets me every time.

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: nutty
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 12:19 PM

Numerous Eric Bogle songs - that man has such a way with words but particularly " Martin don't go out tonight" and "They told all the fine young men"

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: SINSULL
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 12:26 PM

"The Band Played Waltzing Mathilda". War is such a fucking waste!

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: annamill
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 12:44 PM

Any song about war. I must have very strong motherly instincts. For some strange reason, I just can't stand to hear about the death of young men for no apparent reason. Maybe I'm just overly sensitive.

SARCASM...

Love, annamill

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: Melani
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 12:50 PM

"Mothers, Daughters, Wives" by Judy Small.

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: catspaw49
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 12:56 PM

Many have already been mentioned oddly enough, but the two that hit me hardest come from separate ends of the folk spectrum. "Bob Dylan's Dream" is virtually undoable for me. How did a kid so young ever know and be able to put into words the feelings you have of looking at youth from middle age? At the other end is an old chestnut as it were, "When You and I Were Young." Lovely song and a wonderful sentiment......

Spaw

Subject: Uneasy? Never! ;-)
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 01:06 PM

House of Orange... what a great song... I play it every chance I get... especially when I get requests for 'rebel' songs!! Terrorism is such a fucking waste!!

Cold Missouri Waters may have been record by Cry Cry Cry, but to set the record straight, it's a James Keelaghan song... lots of the songs he's written are that powerful... Captain Torrez, Kiri's Piano, Rebecca's Lament, just to name a few...

Stephen Fearing, Corryanna, or Turn Out The Lights, or The Life

Garnet Rogers has a bunch!! Row Of Small Trees, At A High Window, Small Victory, All That Is, 11:11, Phone Booth, NIGHT DRIVE!!!

Mary Chapin Carpenters This Shirt, gets me every time... especially the bit about that frigg'n cat!! LOL!

that's just what I can think of right now...

;-)

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 01:07 PM

Grit Laskin's song "In the Blood" (from his Borealis album "A few simple Words")

Brilliantly written in a 17th century ballad style. Tells a story so full of conflict that it's hard to listen to. The story happened a few years ago when an African man knowingly infected many Canadian women with the HIV virus. A few of these women are still alive, as are the people THEY infected. I've never heard a song that brought more of my emotions to the surface. Hope to never hear it again.

Rick

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: Mark Clark
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 01:07 PM

"Song Of My Hands" is such a song. Wherever I've sung it or heard it sung, it also "...brings an audience to a dead stop."

      - Mark

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: Mark Clark
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 01:10 PM

"Song Of My Hands" is such a song. Wherever I've sung it or heard it sung, it also "...brings an audience to a dead stop."

      - Mark

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: Grab
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 01:25 PM

"Come out you Black and Tans". It's a cheerful, rousing song, but I'm damned if I'm going to sing along to a song celebrating racial hatred.

"Woman in the wall" by Beautiful South is another odd one. It sounds so cheerful, except it's not.

"One" by U2 - I can't play it, but it gets me every time I hear it. If anyone does work out an acoustic version of that, I'd love to know.

Grab.

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: Metchosin
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 01:26 PM

Bruce Cockburn's If I Had A Rocket Launcher. Doesn't make me uneasy, but I believe it made enough US radio stations uncomfortable that it received little airplay. It's OK to sing about trees falling in north and south America on your beautifully bound Brazillian rosewood guitar Bruce, but US intervention in central American politics ..uh uh.....or it could have been just the words "son of a bitch".

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: Metchosin
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 01:27 PM

Hollis Brown is also a bloody hard listen.

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: Bill D
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 02:37 PM

"Enola Gay" by Bruce Phillips..also "Yuba City" and several others

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 02:48 PM

Silent all these years by Tori Amos does it for me every time, also Eric Bogle's Singing the Spirit Home...

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 02:49 PM

sorry guys, that was me.....cookie's gone and got et,somehow

Morticia

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: Amergin
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 03:04 PM

Peter, Paul, and Mary covered this song some years ago about homosexuality and AIDS called Home Is Where the Heart Is...

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: SINSULL
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 03:48 PM

BillD
Bert and I were listening to Utah Phillips doing Enola Gay. First came shivers then a sheepish look at each other of "Gee that was fun". So simple; so devestating.

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: harpmolly
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 03:53 PM

I have to agree with KimC about "Christmas In The Trenches" and with Grab about "One" (U2's "Running To Stand Still" has the same effect on me.)

To these I would add;

"There Were Roses," Tommy Sands

"The Story of Isaac" Leonard Cohen

"The Wind That Shakes the Barley" as sung by Lisa Gerrard, a cappella

"The Last Leviathan"...can't remember the author, but Solas sings it on their new CD (and it was incredible in concert too).

Lots and lots more, too.

Moll

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: Jim Krause
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 03:56 PM

I can't bear to hear John M^cCutcheon sing Christmas in the Trenches. Not because it is a bad song, but because it is so emotional, I can hardly keep from crying. I don't think I will ever learn it.
Jim

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: Megan L
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 04:02 PM

Matt Miggin's 'Ibrox Disaster' I very rarely manage to get right through it, i start rembering friends

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From:
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 04:06 PM

I would have to agree that Christmas in the Trenches is very powerful...so is Faded Coat of Blue and Balinderry and There Were Roses...

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: harpmolly
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 04:18 PM

Hmmmm, I'm noticing a trend here...

(gee, only took me 36 posts to figure that one out ;))

M

P.S. Peace on earth and good will to men is all very well and good, but then what the hell would we all sing about?

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: cujimmy
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 04:41 PM

Eric Bogle wrote "The Leaving of Nancy", about his mother who was crying as she was waving goodbye to him from the railway station platform as his train moved off on the day he emigrated to Australia from Scotland. I only moved a few hundred miles down to London in 1985 but my mum didn't stop crying for days and I have faithfully phoned her every Sunday since. And so every time I sing that song the tears start welling up and I have to stop - compose myself - then carry on, well done Eric, I bet there are hundreds of people who react similarly to that song for similar reasons.

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: Matt_R
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 06:12 PM

Grab...I do an acoustic version of "One" by U2. That song always gets me worked up to. I can't remember how many times I've cried listening to it. It's even more powerful to sing it.

Other powerful ones:

What's This Life For --Creed
Faceless Man --Creed
The Town I Loved So Well
Nothing Else Matters --Metallica
Bui-Doi --from "Miss Saigon"
Let's All Make Believe --Oasis
Storm In The Heartland --Billy Ray Cyrus
Dance On The Wind --Maddy Prior
A' Ghrian -- Shaun Casey

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: GUEST,Carol's Friend Don
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 06:32 PM

"The Partisan" by Leonard Cohen. If you don't have the balls to fight, they will take yours when they come for you...

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 06:47 PM

The Whitsun Dances. Especially that first couplet in the fourth verse:

Down from their green farmlands and from their loved ones
Marched husbands and brothers and fathers and sons.

(Incidentally, I don't agree with Grab that Come out you Black and Tans celebrates racial hatred. I wouldn't be likely to sing it, but for other reasons. The quarrel with England hasn't ever been about race, it's been about nationality, and that's not the same thing.)

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: Matt_R
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 07:00 PM

Oh yes, and "Nothing But The Same Old Story" by Paul Brady

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: MarkS
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 10:51 PM

The all time winner has to be Stan Rogers, "Harris and the Mare." This will make you question a whole lot of assumptions.
MarkS

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 11:20 PM

"Lies" by Stan Rogers. "Stones In The Road" and "This Shirt" by Mary Chapin Carpenter (and several others by her as well). "Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" when sung by Dylan on the 2nd album. "My Country Tis of Thy People You're Dying" by Buffy Sainte-Marie and also "Moonshot" by Buffy. "Christmas In The Trenches".

Plus one or two of my own, till I got used to them...

"Bob Dylan's Dream" is an amazing song, but doesn't make me uneasy exactly...I have sung it many times. Good choice, Spaw.

- LH

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: savindwales
Date: 20 Feb 01 - 11:58 PM

i favor another stan rodgers tune. "mary ellen carter".i always think i should beleive in something stronger and larger than myself when i hear it. always have to go out and do something. savindwales

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 21 Feb 01 - 01:47 AM

'The Jeanne C' by Stan Rogers as well...

;-)

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: Metchosin
Date: 21 Feb 01 - 01:52 AM

insomnia Clinton?

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: Metchosin
Date: 21 Feb 01 - 02:31 AM

Old Main Drag - The Pogues

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 21 Feb 01 - 02:48 AM

Nope Metch... these are the hours I keep... sorta vampirespacefolky hours... sleep late and stay up later!

;-)

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: Amergin
Date: 21 Feb 01 - 03:00 AM

Poisoning Pigeons In The Park always brings back fond memories....

Subject: RE: POWERFUL SONGS THAT MAKE YOU UNEASY?
From: Sarah the flute
Date: 21 Feb 01 - 03:40 AM

Anything and everything by Dick Gaughan and referring to the earlier Muppet Show quote and at the other end of the spectrum there was a wonderful version of "if I could store time in a bottle"

Sarah