GUEST, Gerrry wrote I never had any trouble listening to Tam Lin until someone on the radio (I think it was Phyl Lobl) explained that the bit about holding on to Tam Lin even when the fairy queen turns him into red hot iron and such is about what we have to do in our relationships with those we love even when they are acting their most unloveable. Now it's hard for me to listen to that part of the song without breaking up, and I wouldn't try singing it.

My DH and I named our land "Tam Lin" before we had met, before we bought it, because even on the phone we knew we had found the one whom we would hold on to and never let go, no matter what. We play the contra tune "Tam Lin" but have never attempted adding the ballad to our repertoire, for the tear ducts factor!

Songs I can't get through that I DO sometimes try to perform:
"Morningtown Ride" by Malvina Reynolds (nostalgia for my babies, I think)
"All that I am" by John Simmons
"Blessed Quietness" beloved of my late beloved, Byron
and yep, "Be thou my vision", because of Byron, again.