Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 14 Dec 11 - 07:41 AM

And coming in a very close second is Richard Shindell's "Cancion Sencilla". As with "Ne Me Quitte Pas", it's unneccessary to understand the language, it utterly exudes the deepest love.

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 14 Dec 11 - 07:12 AM

Equal First AFAIC are:-
"Ne Me Quitte Pas" - Flossie Malavialle's version
"The Call and The Answer" (Phil & June Colclough) - Bill Whaley & Dave Fletcher's version.

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: Banjiman
Date: 14 Dec 11 - 06:57 AM

Folk - Annachie Gordon

Non-folk Ring On The Sill - Cowboy Junkies

Subject: Lyr Add: NE ME QUITTE PAS
From: BK Lick
Date: 14 Dec 11 - 04:20 AM

Here's a pretty fair translation:

Ne me quitte pas
Il faut oublier
Tout peut s'oublier
Qui s'enfuit déja
Oublier le temps
Des malentendus
Et le temps perdu
A savoir comment
Oublier ces heures
Qui tuaient parfois
A coups de pourquoi
Le coeur de bonheur
Ne me quitte pas (4X)

Moi je t'offrirai
Des perles de pluie
Venues de pays
Ou il ne pleut pas
Je creuserai la terre
Jusqu'apres ma mort
Pour couvrir ton corps
D'or et de lumiere
Je ferai un domaine
Ou l'amour sera roi
Ou l'amour sera loi
Ou tu seras reine
Ne me quitte pas (4X)

Ne me quitte pas
Je t'inventerai
Des mots insensés
Que tu comprendras
Je te parlerai
De ces amants-la
Qui ont vu deux fois
Leurs coeurs s'embraser
Je te raconterai
L'histoire de ce roi
Mort de n'avoir pas
Pu te rencontrer
Ne me quitte pas (4X)

On a vu souvent
Rejaillir le feu
D'un ancien volcan
Qu'on croyait trop vieux
Il est paraît-il
Des terres brulées
Donnant plus de blé
Qu'un meilleur avril
Et quand vient le soir
Pour qu'un ciel flamboie
Le rouge et le noir
Ne s'épousent-ils pas
Ne me quitte pas (4X)

Ne me quitte pas
Je ne vais plus pleurer
Je ne vais plus parler
Je me cacherai la
A te regarder
Danser et sourire
Et a t'écouter
Chanter et puis rire
Laisse-moi devenir
L'ombre de ton ombre
L'ombre de ta main
L'ombre de ton chien
Ne me quitte pas (4X)

Don't leave me
Let's forget
For all can be forgotten
Which is gone by already
Forget the time
Of misunderstandings
And the time lost
Finding out how
To forget those hours
Which sometimes killed
By blows of why
The heart of happiness
Don't leave me (4X)

I will give you
Pearls of rain
Come from countries
Where it never rains
I will dig up the earth
Even in death
To cover your body
With gold and with light
I will make a kingdom
Where love shall be king
Where love shall be law
Where you shall be queen
Don't leave me (4X)

Don't leave me
I shall invent for you
Senseless words
Which you will understand
I shall tell you
About those lovers
Who saw twice
Their hearts go up in flames
I shall tell you
The story of this king
Dead for not having
Succeeded in finding you
Don't leave me (4X)

One has often seen
Burst anew the fire
Of an old volcano
Believed to be spent
There are, it is said,
Scorched lands
Yielding more wheat
Than the best of April
And when evening comes
To make the sky flare up
The red and the black,
Do they not wed?
Don't leave me (4X)

Don't leave me.
I won't cry any more
I won't talk any more
I'll hide over there
Watching you
Dance and smile
And listening to you
Sing and laugh
Let me become
The shadow of your shade
The shadow of your hand
The shadow of your dog
Don't leave me. (4X)

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: BK Lick
Date: 14 Dec 11 - 04:10 AM

Hard to believe no one's mentioned Jacques Brel's "Ne Me Quitte Pas" -- perhaps because most Americans
are familiar only with the wretched Rod McKuen version. Watch this video and this video and prepare to shed some tears.
Wikipedia tells us tells us:

The lyrics [...] are sung to a theme borrowed from the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6 by the composer Franz Liszt.
Ne me quitte pas was written after Brel's mistress "Zizou" (Suzanne Gabriello) threw him out of her life.
Zizou was pregnant with Brel's child, but Brel refused to acknowledge he fathered the child. Zizou later had an
abortion as a result of Brel's actions. It is considered by some as "Brel's ultimate classic."

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: KathWestra
Date: 12 Dec 11 - 08:21 PM

Ettrick, as sung and recorded by Archie Fisher, completely undoes me every time I hear it. A world of love in three short verses.

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: fat B****rd
Date: 12 Dec 11 - 11:52 AM

"The way you look tonight" and "Some other time" by Tony Bennett.

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 12 Dec 11 - 11:26 AM

Stan Rogers "45 Years" is a great love song but I am more moved by "Lies".
My subjective list:
#1 I Love You Because You're You (Leon Payne)
#2 A Daisy A Day (Judd Strunk)
#3 Maggie (as sung by Foster & Allen)
#4 The Dutchman (as sung by Liam Clancy)
#5 Lies (Stan Rogers)

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: saulgoldie
Date: 12 Dec 11 - 10:34 AM

Funny how this thread should come up. I was just listening to a John Denver CD that I rediscovered. And on it was "Lady, My Sweet Lady." Schmaltzy, perhaps. But it really "sang" to me.

Lots of other great mentions here. Another one that I like a lot is "Roseville Fair."

Guess love is one of our most important feelings and pursuits. BTW, could anyone give me the lyrics and chords to "One In A Million?" I couldn't decipher either from the video. Thx.

Saul

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: GUEST,Colin Holt
Date: 12 Dec 11 - 06:33 AM

"It didn't Matter Anyway" By Hatfield and the north

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: Joe_F
Date: 11 Dec 11 - 09:22 PM

My Old Dutch:

We've been together now for forty year,
And it don't seem a day too much,
And there's not a lady living in the land
As I'd swap for my dear old dutch.

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: Pete MacGregor
Date: 11 Dec 11 - 06:04 PM

Dove sono

Subject: Lyr Add: WHERE'VE YOU BEEN
From: deepdoc1
Date: 11 Dec 11 - 05:51 PM

As I get older, songs like this and Tim O'Brien's "Like I Used To Do" speak a stronger message about knowing a lifelong love than about finding new love.

WHERE'VE YOU BEEN

Claire had all but given up
When she and Edwin fell in love
She touched his face and shook her head
In disbelief, she sighed and said,
"In many dreams I've held you near
Now, at last, you're really here."

"Where've you been?
I've looked for you forever and a day
Where've you been?
I'm just not myself when you're away."

He asked her for her hand for life
And she became a salesman's wife
He was home each night by eight
But one stormy evening, he was late
Her frightened tears fell to the floor
Until his key turned in the door.

"Where've you been?
I've looked for you forever and a day
Where've you been?
I'm just not myself when you're away."

They'd never spent a night apart
For sixty years she heard him snore
Now they're in a hospital
In separate beds on different floors

Claire soon lost her memory
Forgot the names of family
She never spoke a word again
Then one day, they wheeled him in
He held her hand and stroked her hair
In a fragile voice she said,

"Where've you been?
I've looked for you forever and a day
Where've you been?
I'm just not myself when you're away.
No, I'm just not myself when you're away."

Jon Vezner; Don Henry (c) 1989

Subject: Lyr Add: THE KIND OF LOVE YOU NEVER RECOVER FROM
From: Amos
Date: 11 Dec 11 - 05:23 PM

Christine Lavin
"THE KIND OF LOVE YOU NEVER RECOVER FROM"

I know a couple; she sits in a rocking chair
Working puzzles; he watches TV upstairs.
She's got a secret she has never let out;
A man she thinks he never knew about.

She hasn't seen him in thirty years.
The mention of his name doesn't bring on tears.
If you ask her, "Are there any regrets?"
She'll tell you, "No," but she never forgets.

It was the kind of love you never recover from.
Even though she found another one
To take his place,
She never will escape the truth.

At times like this when the moon is right,
When the air is foggy like it is tonight,
She'll think about what might have been
If she had just held on to him.

I know a man who has done it all;
He has sailed the oceans; climbed the mountains of Nepal.
He lives high upon the avenue
With a beautiful wife, lovely children, too.

But there's a woman he still dreams about;
Certain things he has learned to live without.
If you ask him, "Are there any regrets?"
He'll tell you, "No," but he never forgets.

It was the kind of love you never recover from.
Even though he found another one
To take her place,
He never will escape the truth.

At times like this when the moon is right,
When the air is foggy like it is tonight,
He'll think about what might have been
If he had not let her slip away from him.

I read about a woman who said she never regretted anything she'd ever done.
Such arrogant words always seem to be spoken by those who then die young.

So here am I looking at you.
Oh, tell me, what are we gonna do?
Am I destined to be your regret?
Are you that one I'll never forget?

Years from now, will we curse the day
You let me let you walk away?
Isn't this too dear a price to pay
For the freedom of going separate ways?

This is the kind of love you never recover from.
Don't tell me that I'm gonna find another one
To take your place,
I never will escape the truth.

At times like this when the moon is right,
When the air is foggy like it is tonight,
I'll think how sweet life could be
If you would stay with me, oh stay with me.

This is the kind of love you never recover from.
Don't tell me that I'm gonna find another one
To take your place,
And try to face the truth.

Let me hold you close tonight.
The fog has lifted, the moon is so bright.
Think how sweet life could be
If you would stay with me, oh, stay with me.

This is the kind of love you never recover from.
This is the kind of love you never recover from.

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: Taconicus
Date: 11 Dec 11 - 03:11 PM

Does it have to be romantic love? I Still Can't Say Goodbye is very moving.

For romantic love songs, I think you need at least two categories: songs where one or both of the lovers die, and songs where they both live. Death always makes it more moving.

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: kendall
Date: 11 Dec 11 - 02:32 PM

Circle of friends by David Mallett

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: Max Johnson
Date: 11 Dec 11 - 12:51 PM

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.

Say a Little Prayer.

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: kendall
Date: 11 Dec 11 - 12:04 PM

Not much action here.

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: kendall
Date: 11 Dec 11 - 04:54 AM

Fond Affection. This one used to break my heart after a serious break up.


The world is so wide I can not pass over,
The sea so deep I can not wade,
I'll just go hire me a little boat man,
To row me across the stormy tide.

I'll give you back your ring and letters,
And the picture I love so well,
And henceforth we will meet as strangers,
But, I will never say farewell.

There's only three things that I could wish for,
That is my coffin, shroud and grave,
And when I'm dead please don't weep o'er me,
Or kiss the lips you once betrayed.

The world is so wide I can not pass over,
The sea so deep I can not wade,
I'll just go hire me a little boatman,
To row me across the stormy tide....

I like those unresolved endings. sniff.

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: Arkie
Date: 10 Dec 11 - 10:24 AM

Beth Nielsen Chapman is an excellent writer and singer and deserving of much wider recognition. She has a lot of really good songs to her credit.

A few more suggestions.

Sweetest Waste of Time - Kasey Chambers
Master Kilby - Gordon Bok
Roseville Fair - Bill Staines

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: kendall
Date: 10 Dec 11 - 09:18 AM

By the way, my poem, Lost Love, is about the boat I captained back in the early 60's.

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Dec 11 - 09:07 AM

" I Find Your Love " & " There's Still My Joy " as sung by Beth Nielsen Chapman

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: GUEST,Steamin' Willie
Date: 15 Nov 10 - 05:54 AM

I wandered by a brookside.

(And variations on a theme, but the version Eva Cassidy released was wonderful.)

A past girlfriend and I once argued over this question. She liked Don McClean's "And I love you so." Whereas I was musing over Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay."

Another day, a different song in my case. (Harvey Andrews's "The gift of a brand new day" springs to mind too.)

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 15 Nov 10 - 03:28 AM

Desi C, Raglan Road by FRANK Kavanagh ? Patrick must be spinning in his grave.

Dave H

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: GUEST,Runkster
Date: 14 Nov 10 - 09:57 AM

Mostly a lurker here, but no love for Chapin's "Corry's Comin'"?

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: Commander Crabbe
Date: 14 Nov 10 - 09:54 AM

Ralph McTell's "Summer Lightning"

CC

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 14 Nov 10 - 09:00 AM

'I Just Seem To Keep On Loving You' Bruce Murdoch

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: BobKnight
Date: 14 Nov 10 - 08:59 AM

My song, "I Saw Her On The Bus," is now on youtube.

www.youtube.com/bobknightfolk

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: maeve
Date: 14 Nov 10 - 08:36 AM

Stewie, 'Mourning Dove' is lovely. Of course so are all the other Steve Sellers songs I've heard!

Maeve

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: Taconicus
Date: 14 Nov 10 - 07:54 AM

Beyond any doubt, the most moving love song has got to be "Embraceable Ewe."
Who can forget the haunting first verse and chorus...

I met my love in the meadow
She was with her Ma.
I had her there in the clover
Her mother just said, "Baaaaa!"

Some men like the ladies
Some men like the boys
My love's warm and beautiful
And makes the baaa'in noise.

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: Stewie
Date: 14 Nov 10 - 07:20 AM

'Mourning Dove' by Steven Sellors. lyrics here.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: GUEST,Desi C
Date: 14 Nov 10 - 07:14 AM

As an Irish singer my favourites would be Tommy Makem's Gentle Annie written for his wife Annie, no pain or sorry just a lovely poetic love letter to his wife
The Rose of Tralee, because of the great true love story behind the song
And Raglan road by Frank Kavanagh, because I believe it's not about a woman at all, but an Irish fable to the country he loved but didn't love him enough in return

Apart from Irish songs, Ewan McColl's The First Time is beautiful and again a true love story behind it

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: GUEST,kendall
Date: 14 Nov 10 - 07:07 AM

Ashes on the sea. (Utah Phillips)

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: GUEST,chinmusic
Date: 14 Nov 10 - 06:34 AM

I'll go with Richard Thompson's, The Dimming of the Day.

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 14 Nov 10 - 06:17 AM

Yes, indeed, Dave, I certainly know Journeyman well, having reviewed it for The Times!
I take these points; but still I think Ewan should get some credit in this context, no?



~Michael~

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 14 Nov 10 - 04:12 AM

Michael, I think Brooklynjay is crediting the performer not the author , incidently in his book Journeyman, Ewan credits Roberta Flack with providing him with some real money for the first time in his life [ it went to number one in the US charts ]

Dave H

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 14 Nov 10 - 01:22 AM

This is a Folk site; so I find a certain irony in the attribution just above of a song by one of most leading-ever folkies, Ewan MacColl ~The 1st Time Ever...~, to Roberta Flack. I know her performance of it in a film is what most brought it to wide attention & popularity, but still...

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: robomatic
Date: 13 Nov 10 - 09:46 PM

If they asked me I could write a book
If they asked me, I could write a book;
About the way you walk, and whisper;
And look.
I could write a preface;
On how we met;
That the world will never forget.

And the simple;
Secret of the plot;
Is just to tell them;
That I love you, alot.
Then the world discovers;
As my book ends;
How to make two lovers of friends.

from "Pal Joey" by Rodgers and Hart

a beautiful song from a cynical show

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: BrooklynJay
Date: 13 Nov 10 - 09:08 PM

Several already mentioned would definitely be on my list:

Dink's Song (I like Glenn Yarbrough's version)
The Song of Old Lovers (Judy Collins)
Kathy's Song
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (Roberta Flack)
Unchained Melody

To these I'll add:

For Emily... (sung by Art Garfunkel)
Maggie (De Dannan; I believe it's in the DT)
The Wind Beneath My Wings (Bette Midler)

The last three will always remind me of my dearest love, my late wife.

Subject: Lyr Add: ACROSS THE MILES AND OVER THE YEARS
From: Amos
Date: 13 Nov 10 - 08:00 PM

An unpolished DYlan does Love Minus Zero (the earlier link is now broken) while Donovan looks on jealous.


ANd although I have many favorites (including My Love is Like the Red Red Rose done by Seamus ) here's a little known one I really like:

                      ACROSS THE MILES AND OVER THE YEARS


From the hills of the Highlands
To the deep Yalu valleys,
And the spice caravans,
That we rode long ago;
From the high Delphic temple,
To the bullet-stained trenches
To the bright cusp of morning
On the far polar snow

Over ages of failure
Over triumphs undimming
From the gutters of Paris
To the castles of Rome
On the far Berber hilltops,
And the wild Indian Ocean
I have heard you forever,
Always calling me home.

Cho:

       Across the miles and over the years,
       I hear you call:
       "When will you come home?
       When will you come home?"
       Over
       And over.

From the ancient beginnings
On a forgotten planet
To far hills where Arcturus
Brings the light of the dawn
From a lifetime of wonder
To the dead steaming jungle
One sure note has continued
Always, calling me on.

Cho:

       Across the miles and over the years,
       I hear you call:
       "When will you come home?
       When will you come home?"
       Over
       And over.

Bridge:

    I need no journey other than simply finding you
    The wildest place or time cannot undo me
    A single thread of knowing you are true
    Will always renew me

From the galaxy's center
To a small sleepy planet
Where the song of the ocean
Meets the dreams of the dew
Over light years and aeons
Over battles and dying
Still your voice sweetly calls me,
Always strong, always new

Cho:

       Across the miles and over the years,
       I hear you call:
       "When will you come home?
       When will you come home?"
       Over
    And over.

Coda:

      Over,
    And over
    Again.

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: kendall
Date: 13 Nov 10 - 07:22 PM

Old Love

Three years we lived as one,
I, the Master, she the Mistress,
She did my bidding, answered my call-
Enveloped me in the long nights
Gave my days purpose.
A being apart-yet part of my being.
I met her as a boy, left her as a man.

Time passes....calendars turn
Ten years, twenty, twenty five.
We met once more,
She is bedraggled, unkempt, uncared for
A bag lady, the smell of age about her.
I remain in her presence for a few minutes
And, as I turn to leave,
I know she doesn't remember me.

Subject: RE: Ae Fond Kiss - Eddi Reader Version
From: Gwynno
Date: 13 Nov 10 - 06:32 PM

I've been working on the chords for this and this is what came up with
(in the order of the stanzas)

C G (with B bass) Am Am(G bass)
F Dm C
F Dm C AM
C G (B bass) F G C

Any comments??

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 24 Sep 09 - 12:49 PM

Leonard Cohen..Dance Me The End of Love, Dylan..Wedding Song..Kate MacGarrigle..Heart like A Wheel

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: RoyH (Burl)
Date: 24 Sep 09 - 08:26 AM

My darling and I have been together for fifty two years. As we grow older every day grows sweeter and more precious. With our ages in mind the words of 'Silver Threads among the Gold' seem so appropriate they bring me to tears. Since we are in the autumn of our lives 'September Song' does the same.

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: RobbieWilson
Date: 23 Sep 09 - 10:33 AM

I would have to go with those who pick Burns from the old songs but my favourites are " My love is like a red red rose" and Bonny Doone", for live and past love respectively.

Talking of John Anderson my Jo, Eric Bogle's "Belle of Broughton"is my favourite song of love enduring into old age, perhaps because it resonates so well with my own Grandparents.

And, as for modern love songs, can you imagine someone writing "the first time ever I saw Your face" for you?

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: topical tom
Date: 22 Sep 09 - 12:16 PM

"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" written by Ewan MacColl for Peggy Seeger.

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: Joe Nicholson
Date: 22 Sep 09 - 10:52 AM

Just the way you look tonight

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: maeve
Date: 22 Sep 09 - 06:29 AM

Thank you, Kendall, frogprince, and Uncle DaveO. Kendall posted "Roses and Amber" for me. I didn't think there would be any interest, so I appreciate your encouragement.

maeve

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: giles earle
Date: 22 Sep 09 - 02:22 AM

Whether it's absolutely my favourite love-song depends on how I'm feeling, but one song that never fails to move me deeply is by Ivor Gurney, to a poem by Yeats:

One that is ever kind said yesterday:
"Your well beloved's hair has threads of grey,
And little shadows come about her eyes;
Time can but make it easier to be wise,
Though now it's hard, till trouble is at an end;
And so be patient, be wise and patient, friend."
But heart, there is no comfort, not a grain;
Time can but make her beauty over again,
Because of that great nobleness of hers;
The fire that stirs about her, when she stirs
Burns but more clearly. O she had not these ways,
When all the wild Summer was in her gaze.
O heart! O heart! if she'd but turn her head,
You'd know the folly of being comforted.

Subject: RE: Most Moving Love Song - folk or non-folk
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 21 Sep 09 - 06:28 PM

Kendall (and Anonymous), I have one thing to say:

Wow!

Dave Oesterreich