Songs that Move Powerfully

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: GUEST,Paul D.
Date: 04 Feb 13 - 10:16 PM

Deanbo - you said that you have a record of "Father, it's one of your children again". Is there any information on who wrote or sang it? Any chance you could sample the record and post it somewhere? If not, I could help facilitate that. There seem to be a few people online that remember this song. Thanks for the info thus far!

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: GUEST,Deanbo
Date: 21 Dec 12 - 03:08 PM

I have a record I bought in the 1970s

             Father

Father, it's one of your children again
asking that you would hear.
I've only a few simple words to speak
but I guess you might call it a prayer.
First, I want to thank You for this day
for the sun that shines that way,
for the green against the blue.
I wonder what all the people do
who feel greatfull for all this,
and don't know how to thank You.

Father, there's someone dear to me,
I know He's dear to You.
He's called the Lord of the universe,
He is Light, He is life, He is true.
Lord, I want to thank You for Your Son,
for the beautiful things He is,
for the marvelous things He's done.
It takes all my faith to understand
how He who guides the stars
cares to guide me by His hand.

Farther, what are these warm tears
that I feel on my cheek?
I guess they express as my words never could
how I feel as I sit at your feet.
I feel just like a once lost child
who wandered in the dark
not knowing all the while-
That there was someone waiting for me
until I came home to the light of Your smile.

Father, before I go to sleep
I have just one request.
Let me forever be where You are
I'll forget the rest.
I don't need riches or fame
all happiness is mine if I can own Your name.
For living is joy, death will be gain-
to me it's all the same
for Your child I remain, I remain.

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: GUEST,Iain
Date: 15 Jan 06 - 01:51 PM

I remember that one and it is to the tune of the hymn 'What a Friend We Have in Jesus' so I did follow some searches on it but a dead end I am afraid.

The only words I remember are;
Apres la guerre finis
Ecossais soldat partie...

Iain

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: alanabit
Date: 14 Jan 06 - 05:57 AM

There was a WWII song, "When this bloody war is over". Could that be related to the French song? I mention this, because it could be a route to tracking it down.

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: GUEST,Guest Iain
Date: 13 Jan 06 - 09:03 PM

Two songs that always moved me were sung by my father. He was in the 51st Highlanders and after the fall of St Valery they made their way to Cherbourg and caught the last boat from France. The two songs he brought with him;
Apres La Guerre Finis (to the tune of Under the Bridges of Paris)
and
St Valery (don't know if that is the title)

I made the mistake of not learning the words from him and with his passing (to me) the songs are also gone.

Iain

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: GUEST,guest
Date: 13 Dec 05 - 01:31 PM

I am always moved by "The Cliffs of Baccalieu", especially as sung by Anita Best. It's a description of what must have been a pretty common experience in the life of sailors and fishermen, especially in the days before engines. I shiver every time I hear
" with our lee rails 3 feet under
And two hands at the wheel
Sure we hauled her from the rocks at Baccalieu"

My husband, who fished under sail, used to say that there was nothing romantic about it -- just hard work and danger. That song really evokes that reality for me.

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: saulgoldie
Date: 11 Dec 05 - 09:24 AM

Oh, I forgot this one:
There Are No Words/Kitty Donohoe, a 9-11 song.

Subject: Lyr Add: LET THE BAND PLAY DIXIE (Bob Gibson)
From: saulgoldie
Date: 10 Dec 05 - 04:51 PM

Sunny,
Here you go. Lemme know (PM) if you want a sound clip of it to see how it sounds:


        LET THE BAND PLAY DIXIE

C                        Am                   F                G
The news was run from Richmond in that fading April Sun;
C                    Am                               F                       G
That Lee had handed Grant his sword, the war was finally won.
Am
Into the streets the people spilled,
D7
Feeling the excitement build,
            F
And the crowd around the Whitehouse milled,
                                G
Asking is it true, it's finally done?

Inside the White House Lincoln heard them calling out his name.
He sat there wondering what to say to ease their years of pain.
Someone yelled, "Come out the door, tell us what you have in store
For the rebels who've lost the war," so out upon the porch Abe Lincoln came.

He said, "We are gathered not in anger, but in celebration.
Let's be grateful we are once again a single nation.
Let's stand together reassured, now that peace has been secured,
Our nation's illness can be cured, and I suggest the overture for this occasion...
(cho.)
C                
Let the band Play Dixie,
Am                                                  G
Play that tune that holds its head up high and proud,
        F                G                C                 Am
And let our nation once divided, bloodied but unbowed,
F                        G                        C              Am
Take the swords of war and beat them back into a plow."
        F                        G                C                 Am        F/G
On the day that Lee surrendered, Mr. Lincoln told the crowd,
                        C        
"Let the band play Dixie!"

A tired Union soldier hobbled on his only limb,
Filled with bitter memories the war had left with him.
Dragged his wooden leg and cane, his face was set and creased with pain,
He stumbled, fell, and rose again, and he wondered what the future held for him.

He spied a Black child kneeling there in humble gratitude.
He knelt down right beside her to share her thankful mood.
Grateful words were raised in prayer, God in your sweet loving care,
Our broken lives now please repair, let our wounded nation be renewed. And...

cho (with dramatic ending)

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: GUEST,Chanteyranger
Date: 10 Dec 05 - 01:40 PM

What am I, the Doublemint twins? It's enough being one Chanteyranger.

Chanteyranger

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Peter Kasin
Date: 10 Dec 05 - 04:41 AM

There are some traditional songs that have a great emotionaql impact on me when linked to a particular singer. Kate Rusby's singing, and the brilliant arrangements crafted by her and her husband John McCusker give those songs a special emotional pull. Her renditions of "The Unquiet Grave," "Some Tyrant," and "I Wonder What Is keeping My True love Tonight" stand out for me.

Singer/Songwriter Bob Franke's "The Great Storm Is Over," written for a friend's child who was seriously ill and survived, comes to mind.

Silly Wizard's live recording with Andy M. Stewart singing lead on "The Valley of Strathmore."

Bernstein/Sondheim's "Tonight," and "One Hand/One Heart" from West Side Story. It has always been more than a broadway show for me. I love this musical; the collaboration between composer, lyricist, and choreographer that came together so perfectly.

Two songs, though, are at the top of my list for emotional power. "We Shall Overcome," and Robert Burns's "A Man's A Man for A' That" speak to the soul. They are true anthems for humanity. The one performance of A Man's A Man that always moves me, is an arrangement by the Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser for Ed Miller's singing, backed by 150 fiddlers and other instrumentalists, at a concert several years ago. Ed taught Scottish songs at Alasdair's music camp, and sang this at the end of camp concert in Santa Cruz. For me, it set the standard for this song. I'm totally spoiled on it. No other rendition of that song does it for me like this one. Fortunately, the concert was recorded and sent to the campers. I would urge them to do the same arrangement on a commercial recording.

I haven't heard Eric Bogle, either. Something to look forward to.

Chanteyranger

Chanteyranger

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 09 Dec 05 - 01:36 PM

What have they done to the rain.....about nuclear fallout...pretty powerful eh?

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: jacqui.c
Date: 09 Dec 05 - 01:08 PM

He seems to do the States every three years. We were lucky enough to catch him in Maine a few weeks ago and he was great.

He and his accompanist, John Munroe, will stand and talk for ages during interval and after the show, much to the delight of a friend who is a real Bogle fan. I just happened to find out about his tour on the website in time to get there. We drove 100 miles each way but it was well worth it.

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: SunnySister
Date: 08 Dec 05 - 02:52 PM

Thanks Jacqui! I have already checked out his website and darned if he hadn't passed through the bay area without me realizing who he was... urgh! I hope there's a "next time."

Here's his website to any who haven't heard of him like me:
http://ericbogle.net/index.htm

Until then I'll be getting some of his CD's especially looking for the songs shared on this thread.

Again- much appreciated to all of you Mudkittens- I mean Mudcats (sorry, getting a little sentimental there...),

--SunnySister

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: jacqui.c
Date: 08 Dec 05 - 02:01 PM

SunnySister

Eric Bogle is a Scot who emigrated to Australia in 1969. He is a singer songwriter who runs the gamut from some of the saddest songs to some of the funniest.

If you Google his name you'll find his website. I think that he may still be finishing a USA tour and I believe that he is in the UK next year. If you can get any of his albums I'm sure that you won't be disappointed and if you can get to see him perform.......

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: SunnySister
Date: 08 Dec 05 - 01:01 PM

Glad this thread has continued- I've learned of a some songs that I am anxious to hear more of.

I've also heard of a songwriter over and over which makes me incredibly curious: Eric Bogle. Sad to say he's a new artist to me (hopefully not for long!).


Saul, I've never heard of "Let The Band Play Dixie" by Bob Gibson. Would love to see the lyrics if they are easy to share here.

Many thanks everyone for sharing these songs-
SunnySister

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: jacqui.c
Date: 08 Dec 05 - 07:27 AM

Miner's Lullabye - Utah Phillips

It's as if he Knows - Eric Bogle

The Reason For it All - Eric Bogle

First Time Ever I Swa Your Face Ewen MacColl - sung by Roberta Flack

No Man's Land - Eric Bogle

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Terry K
Date: 08 Dec 05 - 03:16 AM

Hank Williams "First Fall of Snow" is probably the most effective for me. The final line, which really is the punch line of the song,

"......cos he didn't know, that we lost our baby, at the first fall of snow"

seems almost to come as a shock every time I hear it - even though I know it from several thousands of listenings.

More recently, what about "Dry Your Eyes, Mate" from Mike Skinner.

I think I must have that special quality too, as most people seem to end up in tears when I sing........

cheers, Terry

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: saulgoldie
Date: 07 Dec 05 - 02:52 PM

Gotta repeat some:

The Band Played Waltzing Matilda
Silent Night
and Silent Night/the news by S & G
Cats in the Cradle
One Tin Soldier
Chistmas in the Trenches

Cranes Over Hiroshima by Fred Small (as sung by Two of a Kind)
Where Have All The Flowers Gone
Hard Times by Stephen Foster
How Can I Keep From Singing
Let The Band Play Dixie by Bob Gibson (which, BTW, I can provide the chords and lyrics). Am I the only one here who knows this song?

Great thread! Thanks for starting it, Mutt.

Saul

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: ard mhacha
Date: 07 Dec 05 - 01:11 PM

The Foggy Dew sung by Luke Kelly. Skibereen, The Croppy Boy, and The Cod Liver Oil song, proved to be moving.

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 07 Dec 05 - 10:21 AM

Interesting that many WW1 songs have been mentioned.
I too would have chosen Home Lads Home, and also perhaps Dancing At Whitsun.
For a poignantly sad song, The Red Headed Anne.
Keith.

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: GUEST,Cats
Date: 07 Dec 05 - 09:15 AM

For me, the chorus of 'Home Lads Home' does it every time. Any song which is the last one sung at the last festival of the year and Rod Shearman's 'Here's to Friends'. In 'Unsung Heroes' I sing 'The Lament for the Oaks' (jon heslop)where mother earth laments the cutting down of her 300 year old oak trees for the navy and says farewell to them as her brothers, children and lovers and you can guarantee that there are tears from quite a few of the audience before I finish that song ~ and it's not just my bad singing! At one performance we had people sobbing before I had even started it as they knew the song. Perhaps we should have Cornwall Songwriters tissues available!!

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Ebbie
Date: 07 Dec 05 - 12:46 AM

Suzanne Thomas singing 'Leaving this Land'. It's about a mother and (grown) daughter having to give up on their parched farm and move away. You get the feeling that if it were just her (the daughter) she'd stay but that she has to leave because her mother needs to get free.

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: leftydee
Date: 06 Dec 05 - 06:57 PM

"Forgiveness" by Luka Bloom gets me every time. So does "Natives" by his brother, Christy Moore.

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: TheBigPinkLad
Date: 06 Dec 05 - 02:27 PM

I'm a callous git, but I almost get rattled when I'm standing in the cold & wet of November 11 and the bugler plays Last Post.

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: alanabit
Date: 06 Dec 05 - 01:48 PM

I enjoyed that. I thought it was sentimental, but without being cringing. Hope it does well.

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Gervase
Date: 06 Dec 05 - 01:20 PM

Daft I know, but I found myself sniffling like a good 'un when I heard the JCB song that's being virally marketed by a band on the Folk'n Deadly label, Nizlopi.
It's a simple, sentimental number, and there's a huge groundswell of support to get it to the No 1 position in the UK music charts this Christmas - and I for one would like to see it there in place of the plastic pap that so often makes it.
It's maybe not to everyone's taste, but the lead singer's dad, Kieran Concannon, does play uillean pipes on it, so there's definitely a folk connection. And I thought it was great.

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Strollin' Johnny
Date: 01 Dec 05 - 07:40 AM

And 'Ghost In This House' (Alison Krauss/Union Station).

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: alanabit
Date: 01 Dec 05 - 02:19 AM

"Even something so seemingly innocuous such as "Rock a bye baby" the nursery rhyme can have an effect when one considers a cradle complete with baby falling out of a tree." I'm sure it can for the unlucky sod, who is walking underneath it at the time!

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Muttley
Date: 01 Dec 05 - 01:33 AM

Couple more that have (and still) get to me on occasion

One Tin Soldier

and

Harry Chapin's "Cat's in the Cradle"

Mutt

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: number 6
Date: 29 Nov 05 - 10:36 PM

"River Man" ... by the late Nick Drake

sIx

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Gorgeous Gary
Date: 19 Nov 05 - 11:22 PM

Fred Small's "Leslie is Different" and "Cranes Over Hiroshima". I first heard "Leslie" sung by the 6-year old daughter of a fellow filker about the time I was getting into the filk community. Melted your heart to hear her. As for "Cranes", a trio called Musical Chairs used to perform it with one member signing. Never a dry eye in the house with that one either.

Also Bob Franke's "Healing In This Night". A number of friends (also from the filk community) had adopted the song as an anthem during a time several of them had lost parents or other relatives and were leaning on each other. A few months later I lost a grandfather while at a convention and wound up crying on their shoulders myself. So the song now recalls my own experience.

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Auggie
Date: 19 Nov 05 - 07:27 PM

Dave's Wife- those were great Iris Dement lyrics.

Add
Michael Smith's   "I Brought My Father With Me"
Janis Ian's       "At Seventeen"
Bruce Cockburn's "No Footprints"

to the list.

Muttley nailed my all time favorite tho- "Mary Did You Know"
The Kathy Mattea version is sooo powerful.

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: danensis
Date: 19 Nov 05 - 05:38 PM

The song recently which had the most impact for me Colvin Quarmby's "House of the Setting Sun".

I also like the Strawbs "Another Day begins" and the Harry Chapin song about the 'cello player. Very often its the context which makes these songs special. "Factory Girl" by Raplh McTell is another one, as is "Prospect Providence" by Cockersdale.

Subject: Lyr Add: MANYURA MANYAH (Matt McGinn)
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Nov 05 - 05:11 PM

This song truly moves powerfully ..

Manyura Manyah
by Matt McGinn

I've heard men complain o' the jobs that they're dain'
When they're hawkin' the coal or diggin' the drain
But whatever they are, there's none that compar'
Wi' a man that's at shovellin' manyura, manyah!
Wi' manyura manyah, wi' manyura manyah!
Wi' manyura, manyura, manyura manyah!

Oh the streets o' the toon were all kivvered aroon
Wi' stuff that was beautiful gowden and broon
It was put there o' course by a big Clydesdale horse
And its name was manyura, manyura manyah!

I ha' followed its track wi' me shovel and sack
And often as no wi' a pain in me back
It was a' for the rent and the beautiful scent
Of manyura, manyura, manyura manyah!

But I'm feelin' so sore for my job's been took o'er
And everything noo is mechanical power
And there's nought left for me but the sweet memory
Of manyura, manyura, manyura manyah!

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 19 Nov 05 - 05:03 PM

Even something so seemingly innocuous such as "Rock a bye baby" the nursery rhyme can have an effect when one considers a cradle complete with baby falling out of a tree.

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Dave'sWife
Date: 19 Nov 05 - 06:11 AM

My mother used to sing 'the prisoner's song' (if I had the wings of an angel) to me when I was small. Sometimes when I hear it in a movie or on soundrtack, it makes me so lonesome I could cry (oh wait, that's another song, right? hehe)

Nevermind that it's a horribly morbid song to sing to a child! Sing it she did!

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Strollin' Johnny
Date: 19 Nov 05 - 03:37 AM

Steve Earle's 'Billy Austin'

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 19 Nov 05 - 12:22 AM

Gee, many powerful songs out there - wish I could sing em' all, such as:
The Jeannie C - Stan Rogers
Watercolor Ponies - Wayne Watson
Broom Of Cowdeknowes - Brendan Nolan
Singing The Spirit Home - Eric Bogle
Christmas Is All In The Heart - Steven Curtis Chapman

Geez, I've been performing songs all of my adult life - this list is too long to continue; having said that, I guess the song that still moves me the most, and I'll stop with it is:

The Notre Dame Victory March - still puts goose-bumps all over me
                               whenever I hear it played. GO IRISH!

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: bobad
Date: 18 Nov 05 - 09:24 PM

Some songs that touch me :

"Strange Fruit" sung by Billie Holiday

"He Was a Friend of Mine" sung by anybody

The piece on Dave van Ronk by Tom Russell on his album "Hotwalker" makes me blubber everytime I listen to it.

Subject: Lyr Add: OUR TOWN (Iris DeMent)
From: GUEST,Dave'sWife w/out cookie
Date: 18 Nov 05 - 09:06 PM

Iris Dement has a wonderful song called "Our town" which seems to be about someone either leaving a town she has lived in all her life or, maybe staying in a town that itself is dying.

My Mom's Hometown is a tiny little thing that has been dying for decades. They closed the catholic church recently because of a priest shortage and they all have to shuffle to a nearby town where they only get a borrowed priest once a week. The Paper Mill has closed and re-opened a few times but died for good about 8 years ago and the various mines in the area closed shortley after I was born. It was once a vibrant small town with a post office, a grocery, a small hotel, The Mill, the mines, some orchards and some other businesses.

All her relatives are there but their kids are moving away. Anyway.. she cires when she listens to Our Town. It has a great fiddle accompianment too.


Our Town lyrics

And you know the sun's settin' fast,
And just like they say, nothing good ever lasts.
Well, go on now and kiss it goodbye,
But hold on to your lover,
'Cause your heart's bound to die.
Go on now and say goodbye to our town, to our town.
Can't you see the sun's settin' down on our town, on our town,
Goodnight.

Up the street beside that red neon light,
That's where I met my baby on one hot summer night.
He was the tender and I ordered a beer,
It's been forty years and I'm still sitting here.

But you know the sun's settin' fast,
And just like they say, nothing good ever lasts.
Well, go on now and kiss it goodbye,
But hold on to your lover,
'Cause your heart's bound to die.
Go on now and say goodbye to our town, to our town.
Can't you see the sun's settin' down on our town, on our town,
Goodnight.

It's here I had my babies and I had my first kiss.
I've walked down Main Street in the cold morning mist.
Over there is where I bought my first car.
It turned over once but then it never went far.

And I can see the sun's settin' fast,
And just like they say, nothing good ever lasts.
Well, go on now and kiss it goodbye,
But hold on to your lover,
'Cause your heart's bound to die.
Go on now and say goodbye to our town, to our town.
Can't you see the sun's settin' down on our town, on our town,
Goodnight.

I buried my Mama and I buried my Pa.
They sleep up the street beside that pretty brick wall.
I bring them flowers about every day,
but I just gotta cry when I think what they'd say.

If they could see how the sun's settin' fast,
And just like they say, nothing good ever lasts.
Well, go on now and kiss it goodbye,
But hold on to your lover,
'Cause your heart's bound to die.
Go on now and say goodbye to our town, to our town.
Can't you see the sun's settin' down on our town, on our town,
Goodnight.


Now I sit on the porch and watch the lightning-bugs fly.
But I can't see too good, I got tears in my eyes.
I'm leaving tomorrow but I don't wanna go.
I love you, my town, you'll always live in my soul.

But I can see the sun's settin' fast,
And just like they say, nothing good ever lasts.
Well, go on, I gotta kiss you goodbye,
But I'll hold to my lover,
'Cause my heart's 'bout to die.
Go on now and say goodbye to my town, to my town.
I can see the sun has gone down on my town, on my town,
Goodnight.
Goodnight.

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 18 Nov 05 - 07:47 PM

The Greenfields of France is a powerful song that rouses all kinds of emotion as does one I used to sing when the troubles in Ireland were at their height...It was called "The Town I Love so Well" and the fourth verse particularly draws a vivid picture of the Brit army 'installed' in Derry.....the whole song speaks of life and truth.
Best wishes, Mike.

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: GUEST,Arne Langsetmo
Date: 18 Nov 05 - 03:36 PM

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Gervase
Date: 18 Nov 05 - 07:28 AM

I find they come and go, the moving songs. Songs like "And the Band Played..." and "The Green Fields of France" used to choke me up, but then I did them to death and their power faded. Similarly, and sadly, with "Home Lads Home"; when I first started singing that it was hard to get through without choking up, but these days it's just another one in the repertoire.
Over the past few years some memorable chokers have been "Didn't I Dance?", "Rosemary's Sister", Maggie Holland's "A Proper Sort of Gardener", Roy Bailey's version of "New Year's Eve", Martyn Wyndham-Read's "Do You Think I Do Not Know?", Coope, Boyes & Simpson's "Only Remembered" and Wak Maar Proper's "Zenzenina" and, of course, many others in singarounds and sessions that seemed almost effortlessly to pluck at the strings of the soul and evoke feelings of wistfulness, loves lost or simply the sheer wonder of life.
And that is great thing about folk - that there are always surprises awaiting around the corner. Every so often I come across a song that, on the page, seems unprepossessing but which when sung with passion by someone in the same room takes on an extraordinary power and raises the hairs on the back of the neck.
Many of the popular tear-jerkers leave me cold, though. Often it's because they seem too obvious and unsubtle in the way they're crafted to appeal to our emotions; as if the writers are trying too hard. More than a few of the songs written about the Great War fall into that trap for me; I can appreciate "Christmas 1914", but it doesn't move me, while "Christmas in the Trenches" merely irritates as a catchpenny attempt to ensnare sentiment, maybe because it's written in the first person and neither John McCutcheon nor John McDermott sounds remotely Liverpudlian!

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Muttley
Date: 18 Nov 05 - 06:48 AM

Another lovely "hymn" - though I'm not certain that the purists will regard it so:

"Mary Did You Know?"

What a wondefully moving song: best version I've heard was by (I think) Kenny Rodgers (I'd have LOVED to have heard what Johnny Cash could've done to lines like the segue / bridge which goes:

"The blind will see, the deaf will hear the dead will
   live a-gain;   
The lame will leap, the dumb will speak the praises of
   the Lamb."

I have to actually alter my voice to get a kind of 'growly / echoey / hollow sound (doesn't adequately describe it - but it's close enough) in order to get through those two lines EVERY TIME !!!

Mutt

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Hawker
Date: 18 Nov 05 - 04:56 AM

I Love, but well with a tear at Christmas 1914 by Cormac McConnell - a superbly written song about that Christmas truce.....

Regards, Lucy

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: GUEST,Dave'sWife wihtout cookie
Date: 18 Nov 05 - 12:59 AM

Muttley - 'Be Not Afraid' is an excellent choice. Evn though songs like that are often chided by purist Cahtolic musicians, I always loved it. That and Gregory Norbet's 'Hosea'

Subject: Lyr Add: OLD COYOTE TOWN (Bob McDill)
From: GUEST,Bernie
Date: 17 Nov 05 - 01:45 PM

OLD COYOTE TOWN
Bob McDill

He's got a US flag on the front porch to remind everyone where he lives.
Upstairs in the attic are papers that prove the old place is finally his.
After 45 years, the grass still won't grow on that rock-hard west Texas ground,
But my old dad still clings to his old coyote town.

    Like horses, the pickups are parked out in front
    Of a café that don't need a name,
    As old men rock and tumbleweeds roll
    Past the boarded-up windows on Main.

Waist-high weeds hide a "for-sale" sign, at the drive-in where my innocence died.
A rusty advertisement hangin' from a nail says, "Popcorn and Pepsi for a dime,"
And down at the depot, where I left for good, sits a hobo with his three-legged hound
Waitin' for a train that no longer comes to this old coyote town.

    And the interstate rumbles like a river of steel,
    To a rhythm that won't ever slow down,
    As cars and trucks and time pass by
    That old coyote town.

Daddy falls asleep in the living room, on the sofa, with the TV on.
Sometimes he waits for a call from me. Sometimes he waits too long,
But I still think of those people and that place that they love.
How much longer will they be around
Till it's "ashes to ashes, dust to dust," for their old coyote town?

Hard to believe this was a top country hit for Don Williams twenty years ago, one of several McDill songs that found their way through the sludge for a brief moment in time. I'm a long way from Texas and tumbleweeds, but that song tells the story of me, my birthplace, and my father as well as if I'd written it myself. It's ten years now since we had to bulldoze the house, and I still can't bear to drive up the lane, much less try to sing the song.

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: GUEST,Arne
Date: 17 Nov 05 - 11:00 AM

Subject: Lyr Add: THE OLD MAN (Phil Coulter)
From: GUEST,Old Folkie
Date: 17 Nov 05 - 08:26 AM

For me, I only sing a song if it means something deep to me - and they number around 60 now - too many to mention individually here. A lot of the time, the words of the song conjure up various images, which probably helps me to put real feeling into them.

Agreeing with many of you, as a Bogle fan, No Man's Land and Band Played Waltzing Matilda, but also 'Shining River' 'cos i grew up near the River Tees and saw how polluted it was in my younger years, from the industry of Teesside.

But I guess the real Tear-Jerker for me is Phil Coulter's 'The Old Man'. My Dad was a country-loving guy who came from the Yorkshire Dales; was a musician who played and sang loads of folk songs, and started me on the trail to the hobby I love so much now.

The words of the song just summed him up, and the usual "if onlys" when he passed away some 14 years ago:

The tears have all been shed now
We've said our last goodbyes
His soul's been blessed, and he's laid to rest
And it's now I feel alone
He was more than just a Father
A teacher, my best friend
He can still be heard in the songs we shared
When we play them on our own

Cho:
I never will forget him
For he made me what I am
Though he may be gone, the memories linger on
I miss him, The Old Man

As a boy he'd take me walking
By mountain, field and stream
He taught me things not known to Kings
Secrets 'tween him and me
Like the colours of the pheasant
As he rises in the dawn
And how to fish and make a wish
Beneath the holly tree

I thought he'd live forever
He seemed so big and strong
But the minutes fly, and the years roll by
For a Father and his Son
And suddenley when it happened
There was so much left unsaid
No second chance, to tell him "Thanks"
For everything he'd done


Rgds

Old Folkie

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: sharyn
Date: 17 Nov 05 - 05:59 AM

I haven't forgotten "Terror Time." I sing it every winter. Yes, it is Ewan MacColl.

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Lancashire Lad
Date: 17 Nov 05 - 04:23 AM

Hi guest Arne.
Yes I know Ewan Mac wrote the song, but it is one of those rare occasions where the cover (ie Roberta Flack) is considerably more moving than the original.

Got to agree with Little Musgrave about A Place Called England. Both Maggie's and June Tabor's versions are great

For those who have a love of folk rock, they may find the following essential too

Sandy Denny - Who knows where the time goes
Strawbs - Hangman and the Papist

Also (backtracking a little). Wasn't it Ewan MacColl who wrote Terror Time? Another oft forgotten gem

Cheers
LL

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Seiri Omaar
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 04:21 PM

Also, Archie Fisher's "Witch of the West-Mer-Lands, and the old warhorse Christmas hymn "Hark! the Harold Angels Sing".

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Little Musgrave
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 03:16 PM

Talking of Ewan MacColl, 'The Joy of Living' is both life-affirming and heartbreaking. For me, it's usually songs about resilience in the face of adversity that do it for me. Maggie Holland's 'Proper sort of Gardener has already been mentioned, but her song 'A Place Called England' is another one I struggle to sing without welling up. My friend Tracey Curtis has written a number of songs which move me, but 'Shellshocked' from her album 'If the Moon could talk' (UNLaBELLED 006) makes me weepy every time I hear it, and I tour with her frequently, and hear it a lot. I can also recommend Robb Johnson's song 'Undefeated'.

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: GUEST,Arne Langsetmo
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 02:13 PM

LL: "First Time Ever..." is written by the inestimable Ewan McColl, IIRC (granted Roberta Flack does a wonderful cover).

Cheers,

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Lancashire Lad
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 01:38 PM

Can I be the first to mention a couple of immensely moving tracks from Mike Harding's Bombers Moon album

1. The title track - Dedicated to the father he never knew, an RAF pilot who died during WW2 on a bombing raid over Germany

2. Accrington Pals - concerning the carnage of trench warfare and the effects in had on small communities throughout the North of England

Another couple of songs that always hit me "right there" are
The First Time Ever I saw your Face ( a perfect love song) - Roberta Flack

McCrimmons Lament - Dick Gaughan (I was floored when I first heard him sing this live)

Cheers
LL

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Janie
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 11:28 AM

"I Shall Be Released" (or is it called "Any Day Now") especially as performed by Bett Midler.

"I Will Arise" this is the old "Regular Baptist" version sung by my grandfather. A friend sang it at my sister's funeral and I sang it at my grandmother's funeral. It will be sung at mine also.

Don, Someone sang "Before They Close the Minstrel Show" at the Getaway (KT maybe?) I had not heard it before. Wonderful, moving song.

Janie

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: sharyn
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 10:10 AM

Muttley,

You asked for hymns that move us. How about "I heard the voice of Jesus say/Come unto me and rest"? Or

"Ah, holy Jesus,
How hast Thou offended
That man to judge Thee
Hath in hate pretended?
By foes derided,
By Thine own rejected,
Ah, most afflicted."

(And it goes on from there)

The last verse of "Lo, How a Rose" always gets to me as well:

"Oh flow'r whose fragrance tender
With sweetness fills the air,
Dispel, in glorious splendor,
The darkness everywhere.
True man, yet very God,
From sin and death now save us
And share our ev'ry load.

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: kendall
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 09:31 AM

The Jeannie C by Stan Rogers.

The Wheelhouse Door (by Sean Gagne I think.)

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: MC Fat
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 08:33 AM

Davie Stewart's 'Beaches of Saint Vallery' Ewan MacColl's 'Jamie Foyers

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: bfdk
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 05:15 AM

Wendy Joseph's "The Year of the Drum"
Matt Armour's "Hills of Caithness"
Eric Bogle's "What Kind of Man is He", "Singing the Spirit Home"
Harvey Andrews' "Sons and Daughters"
Rod Sinclair's "Woodlands" (set to a trad. Danish tune)
Runrig's "The Old Boys"
+ plenty others

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 03:22 AM

"Tears in Heaven"

Best recorded by Paul Anka....

(And I've heard a TON of people RUIN it....)

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Muttley
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 02:54 AM

Catters, you have done us proud.

I concur also: "Tears in Heaven" and "Living Years" two that still choke me up and bring tears, but there are a couple more I forgot to mention (wanting just to get the thought out there):

The first of these is "Scraps of Paper" by Eric Bogle (he does seem to write a lot of songs that tweak the soul, doesn't he? - "And the band played..." & "No Man's Land" are others mentioned)

The second would be the Australian 'pop' song "A Little Ray of Sunshine" is another ~ the reason being that, for 10 years I was 'Padre' (or Pastor) to the Vienam Veterans Motorcycle Club here in Australia - an honour and a privilege for me - and one of the members and his wife had a baby. At 4 months, she was not even rolling over and when investigated it was found she had a degenerative neurological condition. The 'Vet' and his wife asked Trish and I (Trish is my wife) to be Godparents to her as well as help DO the baptism; and when she died only a few short months later, they asked me to do the funeral service for her as well. As Padre I buried quite a few Vets, but that was the HARDEST thing I've EVER had to do. "Little Ray of Sunshine" was played at the chapel as the casket was lowered for cremation.

The third which springs to mind at this time is John Williamson's "Wrinkles" - a beautiful song.

I also appreciated the hymns mentioned: there are a couple that move me to tears: "Be Not Afraid" and "Here I Am Lord". "Amazing Grace" will affect me every time (though I can sing it (while getting emotiona- I can usually finish it) However, allow me to share an Amazing Grace moment: Picture this; It is Sunday morning (about 10:30am, you are parked in a lay-by on a road through the highlands of Scotland, it is blowing a freezing wind and drizzling moderately (A fine Summer's day in Scotland, I here some chortle), At the bottom of the hill below you is a Loch, behind you the crown of the hills are COVERED with purpling heather and JUST as you start filming the piper busking by the souvenir stand dressed in full 'Cameron Highlander' regalia, he seques from the tune he is playing into an incredibly soulful rendition of Amazing Grace - any wonder you can hear me sobbing through the microphone???

Muttley

Please, keep them coming.

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: SunnySister
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 12:55 AM

Man oh Man, Number 6! You and I have some similar tastes in music! Love those songs too.

Freightdawg, I'm right with you on the "Leader of the Band" song. Get's me everytime.

Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven" is another big cry-out-loud song for me, especially when I think what happened to his young son... such an amazing thing to write in the midst of that kind of tragedy.

Hum, maybe I should just write on the songs that DON'T make me cry...

SunnySister, the cry baby :)

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: number 6
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 11:46 PM

There's a lotta songs that move me powerfully, but here's 2 that comes to mind ...

"Tecumseh Valley" by Townes Van Zandt

"Boots of Spanish Leather" by Bob Dylan

sIx

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Peace
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 11:44 PM

Simon and Garfunkle's version of "Silent Night/Four O'clock News"

The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards' "Amazing Grace"

The music score from the movie, "Backdraft". (Terrible movie, but great music. I really seem to love Zimmer's work.)

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: freightdawg
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 11:39 PM

And since we are getting closer to Christmas,

How about:

Happy Xmas (War is Over) by John Lennon?

Silent Night (either instrumental or sung)

O Holy Night

Seems the simplest lyrics are the most moving.

Freightdawg

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Amos
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 11:35 PM

"Last Night, I Had the Strangest Dream"

"All Up and Down Along the Colorado Trail"

Cristine Lavin;'s "The Kind of Love You Never Recover From"

and a few others.

A

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Peace
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 11:34 PM

'A friend of my God-Mother's is a priest. He was part of a singing group that toured mainly in Canada. This song was written and performed by him. It was song with feeling - like a lullaby.

"Lord I want to thank you for this day, for the sun that shines that wasy, for the green against the blue. Lord, I wonder what other people do who are greatful for all this and don't know how to thank you.
I feel just like a once lost child who wondered in the dark not knowing all the while that there was someone waiting for me until I came home to the light of your smile.
Father before I go on my way, I have just one request -let me forever be where you are I'll forget the test. I don't need riches or fame all happiness is mine if I can own your name - for living is joy, death will begin to me it's all the same for you child I remain . . . I remain."'

Found this here.

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: GUEST,Dave'swife w/out her cookie
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 11:27 PM

Well, Istill can't find the dern song I have been referring to in this thread but I DID find a very useful link for those of us who grew up in the Catholic Music Ministry:


Catholic Music Network

You can search by song and artists there. They also have realAudio radio (to the lower lefthand side of the page)

Another song that moves me, and which is not liturgical, is Jane Siberry's 'Love is Everything'.

The lyrics really capture the pain of love gone sadly wrong even after attempts to save it. it's heartbreaking. I first heard it after I made the difficult choice to leave someone I had spent 6 years with and with whom I assumed I'd spend the rest of my life. listening to it now, I still can recall how empty it felt to be unpacking boxes in a new house, having left like a thief in the night to avoid confilct.

Subject: Lyr Add: LES TEMPS DES CATHEDRALES
From: Seiri Omaar
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 10:15 PM

"LES TEMPS DES CATHEDRALES" from the Notre Dame de Paris opera soundtrack.

C'est une histoire qui a pour lieu
Paris la belle en l'an de Dieu
Mil-quatre-cent-quatre-vingt-deux
Histoire d'amour et de désir

Nous les artistes anonymes
De la sculpture ou de la rime
Tenterons de vous la transcrire
Pour les siécles à venir

Il est venu le temps des cathédrales
Le monde est entré
Dans un nouveau millénaire
L'homme a voulu monter vers les étoiles
Ecrire son histoire
Dans le verre ou dans la pierre

Pierre après pierre, jour après jour
De siècle en siècle avec amour
Il a vu s'élever les tours
Qu'il avait bâties de ses mains

Les poètes et les troubadours
Ont chanté des chansons d'amour
Qui promettaient au genre humain
De meilleurs lendemains

Il est venu le temps des cathédrales
Le monde est entré
Dans un nouveau millénaire
L'homme a voulu monter vers les étoiles
Ecrir son histoire
Dans le verre ou dans la pierre

Il est venu le temps des cathédrales
Le monde est entré
Dans un nouveau millénaire
L'homme a voulu monter vers les étoiles
Ecrir son histoire
Dans le verre ou dans la pierre

Il est foutu le temps des cathédrales
La foule des barbares
Est aux portes de la ville
Laissez entrer ces païens, ces vandales
La fin de ce monde
Est prévue pour l'an deux-mille
Est prévue pour l'an deux-mille

This song gave me goosebumps.
Click here for the song

Cheers, Seiri.

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Dave'sWife
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 10:00 PM

I remember some more words from the chorus PEACE:

I feel just like the once lost child
that wanders in the night
not knowing all the while
that there was someone waiting for me
until I came home
to the light of your smile

and that beginning verse has a phrase :

something something about tears..

I guess they express as my words never could

I'm working on searching for this myself

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Dave'sWife
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 09:28 PM

Peace - hmmm. those words are similar to the hymn but not as flowery. i suspect they were re-written from the original source somewhat. many thanks for them though. i'll go look at that link in a moment.

and:


Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Beer - PM
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 01:03 PM

Every Grain of Sand..Bob Dylan



Oh yes. perhaps my favorite Dylan song of all time - it really gets me choked up, especially when I listen to it during prayer. He is paraphrasing Mathew 10:30 as well as several other scriptures. A most excellent choice.

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: GUEST,Arne Langsetmo
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 08:54 PM

Don Firth:

Thanks for the reminder. Lovely tune (and I can't remember for the life of me if I've got it on record somewhere ... I suspect it's on one of the old vinyls I have or a cassete tape, perhaps BTM [or now that Ioread the rest of your post, ET solo]).

And you're talking minstrel shows? I'll raise you:

"Pull Down Lads" (John Tams [and, according to Roger, Roger Watson, but seldom credited AFAIK]). June Tabor does an absolutely haunting [well, she's knwo for that, eh?] version of this.

Couple more:

"Peter Kagan and the Wind" (Gordon Bok)
"51st (Highland) Division's Farewell To Sicily" (Hamish Henderson/Pipe-Major J. Robertson) [Dick Gaughans version is stunning]
"When I'm Gone" (Phil Ochs)
"Jesse's Corrido" (Bruce "Utah" Phillips)
"School Day's Over" (Ewan McColl)

Heh ... let me do my morning show one more time, and I'll play you a list of tearjerkers that'll have you laying a week in your bed, crying your eyes out....

Then there's the finale:

"God's Song" (Randy Newman)

;-)

Cheers,

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: MuddleC
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 07:48 PM

Dark-haired Miriam a.k.a 'Raglan Road' -Patrick Kavanagh
Man with the child in his eyes -Kate Bush
Annie's song -JD
Deep in the darkest night-Maddy Prior
Long Shadows -Maddy Prior
Somewhere along the road -Mady Prior
Grey Funnel line - Cyril Tawney

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: freightdawg
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 07:32 PM

A hearty amen to SunnySister and her story of "The Living Years."

I have often said that I think the most beautiful love song written is "Leader of the Band" by Dan Fogelberg, and it was written for his father. The last verse is:

I thank you for the music,
and your stories of the road;
I thank you for the freedom
When it came my time to go.
I thank you for the kindness,
and the times when you got tough.
And Papa I don't think I said
"I love you" near enough.

(chorus)
The Leader of the Band is tired
and his eyes are growing old.
But his blood runs through my instrument
and his song is in my soul.
My life has been a poor attempt
to imitate the man
I'm just a living legacy
To the leader of the band.

My dad died when I was 28. I cannot hear this song without thinking of him.

Freightdawg

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Beer
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 07:17 PM

There is this song "How Will I Ever Be Simple Again" that was written by Richard Thompson that brings a lump to my throat when I try and sing it. Very beautiful but how sad.

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: frogprince
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 05:09 PM

Another vote for "The Band Played Waltzing Matilda." But for me, there are two I've encountered in the last few years that just leave me choking on tears. One is David Roth's "Manuel Garcia", which I first heard just after losing a beautiful family member too young to cancer. The other is "Touch a Name on the Wall" by Joel Mabus, which I've known for a few years, but which I just heard him perform live for the first time last month.

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Skipjack K8
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 03:56 PM

'Ernie' - instant tears for me, after all these years

Subject: Lyr Add: BEFORE THEY CLOSE THE MINSTREL SHOW
From: Don Firth
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 03:46 PM

Bob Coltman's Before They Close the Minstrel Show.

The poster's peeling underneath
Last summer's morning glory vine
An old white hat and a stump of cigar
And an empty bottle of wine

CHORUS:

Lay me down Carolina, lay me down
Don't want to wake up in the morning no more
Sing me one slow sad song
For this one last old time
Before they close the minstrel show

Banjo's got a broken string
Don't expect I'll get to fix it now
Won't be no more chance to sing
I'm rusty anyhow.   CHO:

Daddy Bones is dead, I guess
You probably don't know or care
And Frank and Arch has gone away
Somewhere, I don't know where.   CHO:

The money and the crowd run out
Before we left the last town
This old show has played its run
And rung the curtain down.   CHO:

Don't know where we go from here
Come to that, I just don't care
Maybe we'll go to a better place
And the minstrel show'll be there.   CHO:

George Austin does a particularly good rendition of this song, with a nicely integrated finger-picking guitar accompaniment similar to what Ed Trickett does with it. I'd heard George sing it a number of times, but when long-time Pacific Northwest folk singer and old friend, Walt Robertson, died of cancer in 1994, George sang it at a memorial songfest afterward, dedicating it to Walt's memory. Then he sang it again, at the memorial song circle following the sudden death of John Dwyer, another mainstay of folk music around here and yet another old friend.

I can't hear that song without getting a bit choked up.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Morticia
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 03:34 PM

Ae Fond Kiss.......Burns, sung at my first husbands funeral.....I can't hear it now without falling apart.
Singing the Spirit Home........Eric Bogle.....cried the first time I heard it, still cry now years later

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 03:10 PM

I'll say it's mostly never the song, but rather it's more the performer... I've heard lousy performers do lousy jobs on great songs, and I've heard GREAT performers work wonders with lousy songs....

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: sharyn
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 03:08 PM

Kendall, I agree with you about "Lonesome Robin" -- it's hard to sing directly about death and the repetition of "one last time" gets to me when I sing it or hear it.

I used not to be able to sing "The Granmore Hare" without crying and I find "Sheath and Knife" and "Banks of Green Willow" hard to sing emotionally (I have lost a sheath and knife the like I'll never see again).

The Bob Franke song that gets to me is "Hard Love."

But if I'm not closed down anything can get to me: "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" "Bringing in the Sheaves." I probably wouldn't cry much at sea shanties, but "Shallow Brown" will do it.

The aforementioned "Hallelujah" doesn't make me sad. it makes me feel high or something.

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Peace
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 02:27 PM

Father it's one of your children again, asking that you were near,
I only have a few simple words to speak, but I guess you might call it a prayer.

First I want to thank you for your son, for the wonderful things he is for the marvelous things he's done.

It takes all my faith to understand how he who guides the stars cares to guide me by his hand.

I want to thank you for this day for the sun that shines that way for the green against the blue

I wonder what all the people do, who feel thankful for all this, but don't know how to thank you...

Father before I go to sleep I have just one request, that I am forever where you are, I'll forget the rest.

I don't need riches or fame, all happiness is mine if I can own your name.

For living is life and death will be gain to me it's all the same for your child I remain


from

http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:vteZrX3sgawJ:www.sp0ngeb0b.com/images/2003%2520Kids%2520Web/wow.htm+%22Father+it%27s+one+of+your+children+again%22&hl=en

Subject: Lyr Add: WORKIN' IN CORNERS (Nanci Griffith)
From: Cyparissa
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 02:21 PM

Man, I have loads of songs like this. One of my favorites is "Workin' in Corners" by Nanci Griffith. It's not exactly tragic, but it has an aching sort of loneliness that I find it all too easy to identify with.

It's a southern road west of New Orleans
I'm fightin' off a cold from these winter rounds
Houston, She's just around the corner
But I think I'll stop off here in Lafayette, Lord, and have me another round

Chorus:
I've been workin' in corners all alone at night
Pullin' down whiskey, keepin' my eyes away from the lights
I'll never be a fool but I will gamble foolishly
I never let go of love till I lost it in my dreams
I don't want to go to sleep 'cause I just might dream

I'm stronger now, there was a man in my hometown
He sang so pretty I'm glad he turned my head around
But I'd forgotten how to play a one night stand
Lord I didn't have a word to say just holdin' a stranger's hand

(Repeat chorus)

These city streets at five in the mornin'
I would've stopped to phone you but I'm almost home
At my back door there's a porch light that's shinin'
I just don't mind livin' here by myself if I leave it on

(Repeat chorus)

I don't want to go to sleep
'Cause I just might dream
Don't want to go to sleep
You know I sure can dream
And I sure can dream
Sure can dream

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: GUEST,Arne Langsetmo
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 01:16 PM

"There Were Roses" (Tommy Sands)
"No Man's Land" (Eric Bogle)
"Kilkelly" (Peter Jones)
"Christman in the Trenches" (John McCutcheon)
"Pastures of Plenty" (Woody Guthrie)
"The Telling Takes Me Home" (Bruce "Utah" Phillips)

And a hearty second some of the others above.

Aw, there's a ton more, I'm sure, that I just don't remember off the top o' my head.

Cheers,

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Beer
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 01:03 PM

Every Grain of Sand..Bob Dylan

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Dave'sWife
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 12:16 PM

Funny you should mention old Shep! there was a pop song from the seventies about a family dog who died called "Shannon". the singer's name was henry gross. Lord help, I can't even get through the opening strains of that song if it comes on the radio. I bawl like a baby thinking about my Belgian Shepherd Bear who I held as she was put down.

Songs about good and loyal dogs dying should be banned. They are a menace to dignity.

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Metchosin
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 12:09 PM

For me I'm not certain about hymns from youth. When I was younger I had no problem singing Amazing Grace and now I can't get through that song, withourt my voice cracking and my nose dripping and I can't can claim to be a Christian.

But then Old Shep does the same thing to me. LOL

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: SINSULL
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 11:48 AM

Sandy Paton's "Maggie" moves me to tears every time.

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Dave'sWife
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 11:21 AM

I honestly cannot recall all the lyrics to this song and my google search came up empty. Perhaps Joe Offer ( a fellow Folkie Catholic) could help me with this, but...

We played a folk hymn called "Father" at the funeral of my sister's 17 yr old boyfriend back in 1979 which forever after became unsingable for us. We'd simply choke up whenever we heard it.

OI know it begins like this:

Father it's one of your children again
asking that you would hear..

After that I don't recall the lyrics clearly except for part of the chorus which goes:

I feel just like the once lost child
who wanders in the night
not knowing all the while
that there was someone waiting for me
etc etc...

It's kinda maudlin, but we were teenagers then.

Gregory Norbert's Weston Priory Hymn, Hosea had the same effect. We sang that at his funeral too. 5 others died with him BTW.

I think hymns from youth have that effect on everyone.

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: SunnySister
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 10:48 AM

Great point, Peace.

I forgot one more song...(please bear with me).

5. Mike and the Mechanic's "The Living Years" written by Mike Rutherford in memory of his father.

From the first moment I heard that song, it touched me powerfully and inspired me time and time again to get on the phone and talk with my father. I always would tear up when I got to the part of the song where the lyrics go:

I wasn't there that morning
When my father passed away
I didn't get to tell him
All the things I had to say.
I think I caught his spirit
Later that same year
I'm sure I heard his echo
In my baby's new born tears
I just wish I could have told him
In the living years


All of the words speak to me although it there that I got emotional. On Christmas Day 2003, I was in London trying all day long to call my father back in the states. I had so much to share with him about my holiday and how I had felt him with me the whole time during that visit. I eventually got through only to hear that that morning my father had passed away from a massive heart attack and died waiting for the coffee to finish brewing.

If it wasn't for this song, I don't think I could share that my father and I only had that last conversation left unsaid, because of this song, I fought my way to not just having a father in my life, past all of the arguments and past hurts- I also had a best friend.

(By the way, I didn't have a baby later that year... just in case you were wondering :)

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Peace
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 10:06 AM

I still love Pete Seeger's rendition of "We Shall Overcome" from the Carnegie Hall album.

Another that speaks to me is "October Winds", and yet another is "Maggie".

They all bring back memories, and maybe that's the key.

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Grimmy
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 10:02 AM

Muttley, there's some dispute about the authorship of 'Ruby Tuesday'. Those in the know reckon it was almost entirely a Brian Jones creation, but it is credited to Jagger and Richards. Whatever, it's still one of my all time favourites.

I would also add 'The Setting' by Ralph McTell. It reminds me of the time I said goodbye to the girl I adored. Like a scene from some naff movie, I watched from the stern of a departing ship as she slowly vanished from the horizon.

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: SunnySister
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 09:58 AM

Thank you all for sharing your choices and some of the stories behind it.

For me the there are many although I'll mention just four here-

1. You Got It by Roy Orbison
   
I had seen the movie "Boys on the Side" and didn't realize that it was a story that had someone living and dying with AIDS. It blind-sided me as my brother was very sick with the virus. I howled and cried at the end of that movie and when I sat next to my brother while he lay in a coma from contracting Bacterial Meningitis, I sang that song to him. I wish I could have given him anything he wanted...

2. Kurt Weill's "September Song"

I had an adopted grandfather who used to play this song and sing it to me to get me used to the idea of time passing by far too soon. He taught me the preciousness of the season's and the beauty of enjoying those we love while we have them here. He died at 90 three years ago and this song makes me smile and cry at the same time.

3. Kristina Olsen's "Cry You a Waterfall" as it also speak about the last year's with my adopted grandfather.

4. Dave Carter's "When I Go" because he did go and die on us and I miss him and the music he could have made more than I can write. Such an amazing man and a loss to the music community.

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 09:37 AM

Working Man by Rita MacNeil and Northwest Passage by Stan Rogers.

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Carol
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 08:35 AM

Somewhere along the Road, Albert's Pretty Flowers,The First Time (that took some getting through at first) and yes, If I Had a Son. However I do manage to sing those but still havn't managed to sing a song my mother said would be good to sing to the 'oldies', she was 80 at the time and died in 2001 and I have her on tape singing it for me.
It's called 'When I Leave the World Behind' by Irving Berlin I think - as I get older it seems more poignant.I even have a copy of the sheet music but still havn't managed to sing it through.

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Sooz
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 08:14 AM

If I had a son (Phil Millichip) because it tells a story very close to home.
A proper sort of gardener (Maggie Holland)
The Band played Waltzing Matilda (Eric Bogle)
I enjoy singing all three, but it took me a while to be able to get through the first one.

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: kendall
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 08:10 AM

Old Gilbert (Slim Dusty)

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: kendall
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 08:07 AM

The Band Played Waltzing Matilda. (Eric Bogle)

It's as if he knows (Eric Bogle)

Lonesome Robin (Bob Coltman)

Phoebe Snow (Utah Phillips)

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Paul Burke
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 04:33 AM

Carol King's Tapestry. Only because it was played at my friend and love Tina's funeral.

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Metchosin
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 03:21 AM

One of the songs that I still can't listen to without being moved to tears, even after all these years, is Rhiannon by Fleetwod Mac.

It was popular around the time and always reminded me of my free spirited friend Wendy who was lost, along with her husband and two others, on their fishing boat somewhere between Prince Rupert and the north end of this Island as they were returning home. Neither they, nor the boat were ever found.

Probably because there was never a trace, when I hear the lines "taken by the wind" and "taken by the sky", it still hammers me as if it was yesterday.

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: mg
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 02:28 AM

the boys of the old brigade
jute mill song
diadem
the town I love so well
sare mairais (sp)

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Gurney
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 02:08 AM

Fanny Blair.
The Band Played Waltzing Matilda.
The Life of a Man.

Subject: RE: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Joe Offer
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 01:58 AM

Bob Franke's Thanksgiving Eve. My friend Jim wanted me to sing a song at his funeral. Just a few days before he died, I told him this is the song I had chosen because I thought it told his story, and I sang it for him:

What can you do with your days But work and hope
Let your dreams bind your work to your play
What can you do with each moment of your life
But love 'till you've loved it away
Love 'till you've loved it away.

While he could still talk, Jim had asked me to watch out for his wife Christina after he died - and if anything romantic developed, that would be wonderful. Christina and I will celebrate our fourth wedding anniversary in January.
And yes, old Jim loved his life so much that he finally loved his life away. I haven't forgotten him.
-Joe-

Subject: Songs that Move Powerfully
From: Muttley
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 01:27 AM

Just reading the thread "Hallelujah" and how that song moves the initiator deeply: Wondering what "Scrambles the Eggs" for other 'Catters?

For me there are several songs but thew two which just bring me to tears and choke me up are "Where Do You Go To My Lovely" by Peter Sarstedt and the second is "Ruby Tuesday" by (dunno - but should: for shame! I hear you all cry)

WHY these two?

Tragic memories: While working as a teacher, a student of mine: wonderful scholar, really hard worker, polite and respectful and a delight to teach just wilted in front of me one hot day and the principal put her to bed (it was a boarding school) with a headache (there had been a lot of 'flu running around the school and about a dozen kids had fallen ill over the previous week). However, this kid had Bacterial Meningitis - not 'flu, and by the next morning, she had died.
And yes, her name was Ruby.

The second was from my time as a Paramedic (a profession I spent 10 years in): We were called to a home for an unconscious baby who turned out to be dead from "Cot Death" (SIDS, if you prefer). This was a lovely young couple, first baby but, quite dead before we arrived.
Her name: Marie-Claire.

I cannot hear or sing these two songs without thinking of these two tragedies.

Who else has memories of things that affect songs they love.