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27 Apr 15 - 04:13 AM (#3704423) Subject: Lyr Add: THE SHORTEST STORY (Harry Chapin) From: The Sandman in my opinion shortest story, is a memorable modern song with excellent lyrics. I heard it performed by Richard Grainger and thought it was acceptable material for a folk club, of course whether it is a folk song is debatable and possibly unimportant, any other people have modern songs that they like. THE SHORTEST STORY Written by Harry Chapin As sung by Harry Chapin on "Greatest Stories Live" (1976)
I am born today; the sun burns a promise in my eye.
It is my seventh day; I taste the hunger and I cry.
It is twenty days today; Mama does not hold me anymore. |
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27 Apr 15 - 04:18 PM (#3704637) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: GUEST,Stim I don't know if there's anything that tops that one. A dead baby song in the first person- brilliant! |
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27 Apr 15 - 04:38 PM (#3704643) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: The Sandman https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJDpQ2VoiFo SHORTEST STORY |
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27 Apr 15 - 05:41 PM (#3704666) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: BillOC A really short song in this genre might be: "For sale, Baby shoes, Never worn," often attributed to Hemingway from the '20s, although variations appear in print as early as 1906. |
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27 Apr 15 - 06:14 PM (#3704674) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: Jack Campin It would be more traditional if there were twin dead babies. |
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27 Apr 15 - 06:24 PM (#3704676) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: GUEST,Stim Thanks for posting the link, Dick. The song has a much different effect when you hear it than when read on the page. Chapin infuses it with a life-affirming energy, and that lifts it above pathetic melodrama-though the chimes at the end are a little heavy-- |
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27 Apr 15 - 06:29 PM (#3704677) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: The Sandman I heard RICHARD GRAINGER play it on acoustic guitar it worked well. |
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27 Apr 15 - 06:49 PM (#3704680) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: GUEST Dear Captain Bird's Eye...RE:Granger WHEN (date) WHERE (geographic location, city, venue) HOW (fellow performer, paying patron, comp ticket, stage hand) |
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27 Apr 15 - 07:05 PM (#3704686) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: Steve Shaw That's just about the grimmest and most negative and depressing few verses it's ever been my misfortune to read. It's memorable all right, for all the wrong reasons. |
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27 Apr 15 - 07:35 PM (#3704692) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: FreddyHeadey @'GUEST' idk where gss might have heard Richard Grainger but here is his gigs list if you want to catch him yourself Richard Grainger gigs |
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27 Apr 15 - 09:07 PM (#3704715) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker Been invited to a family christening next Sunday and I really don't want to go... .. maybe if I email the new parents suggesting this song for the after church party...???😈 |
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27 Apr 15 - 09:57 PM (#3704722) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: Stilly River Sage As a child of a folk singer I grew up with some of the most gruesome and gory songs of any kid in my neighborhood. And we kids loved them all. The more traditional ones like Babes in the Wood (The Copper Family) and a Marais and Miranda song "Siembamba" that was purported to be a lullaby (no idea how old it is), and then there was the modern parody by Tom Lehrer - The Irish Ballad. Another favorite was the traditional The Cruel Mother (Greenwood Siding) (Ian and Sylvia, here) that was so heartbreaking. . . What was the question? |
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27 Apr 15 - 10:12 PM (#3704726) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker .. ok.. time to be serious... When you say modern songs.. will 1972 do..??? here's a song that's memorable for me because it's one of the first 'grown up' songs that deeply affected me when I was 13... Bonnie Charlie Could easily imagine a good folkie singer having a go at it....😎 |
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27 Apr 15 - 11:06 PM (#3704737) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: GUEST,Stim Steve-It is true that the song is a bit on the heavy side--it is, after all, a Harry Chapin song, and he was not a subtle songwriter. He was, however, a really influential activist on hunger related issues, and in addition founding Why Hunger/The World Hunger Year, and donating much of the money he earned to address hunger issues, he petitioned President Jimmy Carter to establish The Presidential Commission on World Hunger(he was one of the original members). He worked as a filmmaker for a number of years, and was profoundly moved by things he had seen while working in Africa. It is quite likely that the song was written about something that he actually saw, because that was true of most of his songs. |
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27 Apr 15 - 11:19 PM (#3704738) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: GUEST,gillymor "Beeswing" |
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27 Apr 15 - 11:28 PM (#3704739) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: Rob Naylor Hmmmm, if 1970s onwards qualify as "modern" songs, that would include too many for me to list! However, a very *personally memorable* song for me would be Tarja Turunen of the symphonic metal band "Nightwish" singing "Kuolema Tekee Taiteilijan" at the band's "End Of An Era" gig in Helsinki, n 2005: Tarja: Kuolema Tekee Taiteilijan I was at that gig. Everyone knew she was leaving the band after this tour, and they've never been the same since. |
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27 Apr 15 - 11:51 PM (#3704742) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: Rob Naylor Gillimor....definitely give you a "plus 1" on Beeswing! |
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28 Apr 15 - 01:27 AM (#3704751) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: GUEST,HiLo For me it would have to be "Hello Earth" by Kate Bush. Absolutely sublime. |
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28 Apr 15 - 08:39 AM (#3704825) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: GUEST,gillymor Waterbound ,not the wonderful old-timey one but a modern day classic, IMO, written by Dirk Powell. I seem to favor the McGoldrick version. |
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28 Apr 15 - 09:11 AM (#3704830) Subject: Lyr Add: APRICOT (Peter Blegvad/John Greaves) From: GUEST,Blandiver (Astray) Wow. That song truly sucks, Dick. (See what I did there?). You want a good song about a baby pondering metaphysical surrealities packed with cunning literary devices then try this. It's catchy too: Apricot - Peter Blegvad / John Greaves Very early I clearly realized the pleasures of seeing and song. I learned to sing at an early year. In the cot I recall my singing about a certain thing I saw. I recall a song in the key of C concerning a thing seen just so. I sang: "A-P-R-I-C-O-T abbreviates Attain Perfect Realization In The Cot." I sang: "Cot contains certain shining irreducible contributions. So does the charnel. So does the ferris wheel gondola." Singing words devised for seeing "through not with eyes" "I am not what I see" "I is another" Words devised to peep into the gone or coming were shunned by me, I referred to a single moment. Early in a clearing I recall my singing songs of my seeing things just so. I sang: "A net, a gem at every node, in each all others shining show -- whole kit and kaboodle lit by an apricot's golden glow." |
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28 Apr 15 - 10:46 AM (#3704862) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: GUEST,Dave the Gnome Dare I ask what genre we are talking about and, if it is folk, what does that include? (Ducking and running) |
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28 Apr 15 - 11:05 AM (#3704867) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: GUEST,gillymor Who cares, Dave. Whaddaya got? |
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28 Apr 15 - 11:09 AM (#3704869) Subject: Lyr Add: DAMNED OLD PINEY MOUNTAINS (Sandy Paton) From: Bill D This one: Damned Old Piney Mountains (It really sounds like 'old' when Craig sang it. I was amazed to hear it was his own. I miss that guy.) Posted in the above thread by Catspaw: Some years ago in the mountains of West Virginia, Craig Johnson met an old logger, once a fiddler, who explained why he could no longer make music. He had lost all four of the fingers on his left hand. Craig listened to his story, sang him the requested "sad old song," and then wrote this outstanding one. As long as we have people like Craig making songs like this (and the next one), we can be assured that what I like to call our Continuing tradition" will do exactly that—continue. Folk-Legacy is proud to act as Craig's publisher. (Sandy Paton) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, sit down, buddy, we'll drink and smoke. Woman, don't you weep for me. My hands can't fiddle and my heart's been broke. You damned old piney mountains. I lost my fingers in the Galax mill. Buddy, sing a sad, old song. My heart got broke in the yew-pine hills. Lord, and my time ain't long. (Similarly:) I started in to logging when I was in my prime, Hitchin' up spruce to the big drag-line. And the skidders started buckin' when the gears come down, Makin' God's own thunder on the new-cul ground. We was fightin' over nothin' and drinkin' too hard, Ridin' up to camp on a flat-wheel car. I was thirty years a-hangin' on the old chain brake. I got laid off and paid off in '58. Now the skidders got sold to the scrap-iron yard. I moved down Virginia when the times got hard. And I lost my fingers to the steel bandsaw. My fiddle just hangs, untuned, on the wall. Now the trees have growed up in the loggin' road And wildflowers bloom where the big Shays blowed. And there's nothin' left for me but to drink and smoke. My hands can't fiddle and my heart's been broke. ©1992 Folk-Legacy Records, Inc. Sharon, Connecticut 06069 Used by permission. |
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28 Apr 15 - 11:27 AM (#3704873) Subject: Lyr Add: DELIVERY DELAYED (Stan Rogers) From: Backwoodsman Stan Rogers' "Delivery Delayed" - superb:- DELIVERY DELAYED Composed by Stan Rogers | © Fogarty's Cove Music How early is "beginning"?, from when is there a soul? Do we discover living, or, somehow, are we told? In sudden pain, in empty cold, in blinding light of day We're given breath, and it takes our breath away How cruel to be unformed fancy, the way in which we come Over-whelmed by feeling and sudden loss of love And what price dark confining pain, the hardest to forgive When all at once, we're called upon to live By a giant hand we're taken from the shelter of the womb That dreaded first horizon, the endless empty room Where communion is lost forever, when a heart first beats alone Still, it remembers, no matter how its grown We grow, but grow apart We live, but more alone The more to see, the more to see To cry aloud that we are free To hide our ancient fear of being alone And how we live in darkness, embracing spiteful cold Refusing any answers, for no man can be told That delivery is delayed until at last we're made aware And first reach for love, to find 'twas always there |
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28 Apr 15 - 11:33 AM (#3704878) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: Steve Shaw There is a difference between dark, mystical and sinister songs, such as Babes In The Wood and The Cruel Mother, and the sick nonsense of the first song posted in this thread. I can take sadness, but on the whole I want my life affirmed and I don't want to be cast irredeemably into despondency and hopelessness, thank you. |
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28 Apr 15 - 12:57 PM (#3704896) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: GUEST,guest Betsy Thank you Steve (Shaw) I fully second your comments above. Thanks again Betsy |
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28 Apr 15 - 01:09 PM (#3704898) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: Steve Shaw Cheers, Betsy. I tend to get disagreed with more than agreed with, so thanks for that! |
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28 Apr 15 - 01:50 PM (#3704907) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: Backwoodsman Me too, Steve and Betsy. Glad it's not just me. |
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28 Apr 15 - 02:46 PM (#3704928) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: Musket I recall a chorus song doing the rounds in the folk clubs of yesteryear, where the moral in the last verse was 'don't stick spears in babies' heads' Mind you, a banjo playing friend of mine always complains when I play before him for playing sad songs, so the last time, I found a Scottish song, (always a good idea) where the first line of the first verse has him dying and the rest of the song reiterating it... Lots of songs fit that by the way.. As Kenny Everett almost said, "all done in the best possible 1954 taste." |
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28 Apr 15 - 03:07 PM (#3704935) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: olddude Harry was a very good friend of mine and not a day goes by that I don't miss him |
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28 Apr 15 - 06:16 PM (#3704963) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: The Sandman I am sorry that someone feels the song is sick nonsense,in my opinion it is a powerful song describing reality,in my opinion it is memorable for all the right reasons, it is certainly not nonsense. thousands of babies die from starvation and malnutrition, that is a fact it is not nonsense. |
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28 Apr 15 - 06:22 PM (#3704964) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: Steve Shaw Enjoy it then. |
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28 Apr 15 - 07:24 PM (#3704987) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: Rob Naylor I was hoping to have my mind opened to some modern memorable songs but nearly everything mentioned so far is at least 40 years old, which I think is stretching the definition of "modern" a bit! |
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28 Apr 15 - 07:45 PM (#3704992) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: Steve Shaw OK then, one of my favourites is "When I'm Gone" by Phil Ochs. Beautiful sentiment, beautiful words and not a scrap of polemic or bitterness in sight. It's about 50 years old now so I suppose it might just qualify. |
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28 Apr 15 - 08:48 PM (#3705011) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: GUEST,punkfolrocker Rob - fat chance hoping a bunch of old folks can remember something as recent as less than 40 years ago... I just woke up after an uncomfortable doze on the sofa in front of the telly and I'm now struggling to remember where the stairs are.... ... oh that's right it's Tuesday, not Thursday.. my head's getting a bit clearer now.. and the wife's name is...??? 😕 |
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28 Apr 15 - 09:03 PM (#3705013) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: Steve Shaw I do that all the time. I've taken to power-napping during the day which helps to sidestep the problem. I can't tell you how many endings I've missed on the telly as the result of nodding off. I stayed up to watch Question Time last Thursday and woke up just as the closing theme music played. :-( |
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28 Apr 15 - 09:16 PM (#3705014) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: GUEST,gillymor Speaking of 40 year old tunes, or thereabouts, The Tattler- Ry Cooder Not so old, Done With Bonaparte- Mark Knopfler |
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28 Apr 15 - 09:39 PM (#3705017) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker 10 years ago I still had an encyclopedic knowledge and recall of past & recent music and pop culture; 5 years ago it was starting to get a bit glitchy.. Now it's nearly all gone.. and I'm not even 60 yet...😬 |
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28 Apr 15 - 09:51 PM (#3705021) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker just remembered... ..funnily enough the memory loss coincides with the Doctor putting me on blood pressure pills and statins...?????? I was a lot brighter and fitter when I was still drinking every weekend !!!???😕 sorry for the thread drift.. but.. well this is a thread about memorable songs... I'm sure it's not the fault of modern songwriters if I can't remember any of them... |
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28 Apr 15 - 09:51 PM (#3705022) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: olddude Fields of gold check out my thread |
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28 Apr 15 - 10:43 PM (#3705036) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: Rob Naylor Another personally memorable one for me. I struggle with working songs out "by ear" and this one was only the 3rd I've managed to work out just by listening to the CD (the first one was Pig's Ear's "Safe Harbour Tonight" and the second Bob Kenward's "Old Country Train"). Carrivick Sisters - Garden Girl I think it was written in 2010, so counts as "modern" in my book. |
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28 Apr 15 - 10:52 PM (#3705039) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker A couple of chocolate digestives and a swig of cola and my brain's not quite so foggy now at quarter to 4 in the morning... ok.. it's a bit or a corny choice, but the songs from the soundtrack of the movie "Once" 2007 are special and deserving of all the accolades...😎 |
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29 Apr 15 - 04:23 AM (#3705103) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: GUEST,M Steve Shaw wrote: "... I can't tell you how many endings I've missed on the telly as the result of nodding off. I stayed up to watch Question Time last Thursday and woke up just as the closing theme music played. :-( " My wife has a very demanding day job. Most evenings she suffers from what we term "nine o'clock narcolepsy". I have been known to tell her to use things like BBC iPlayer when she wakes after 45 minutes sleep and asks me to bring her up-to-date with a police procedural... |
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29 Apr 15 - 04:36 AM (#3705108) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: Tattie Bogle May depend where you live to determine how well--known, and therefore memorable a song is, but in this neck o' the woods, several by each of these writers: Karine Polwart Adam McNaughtan Ian Sinclair Ian McCalman Davy Steele Brian McNeill Matt McGinn (ok, died over 30 yrs ago) to name but a few..... |
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29 Apr 15 - 05:52 AM (#3705120) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: GUEST,Dave the Gnome Lots of stuff by Keith Marsden, Anthony John Clarke, Stan Rogers and John Prine. Coming of the genre (inclusing a cover by Westlife!), "You lift me up", music written by Rolf Løvland and the lyrics by Brendan Graham. |
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29 Apr 15 - 05:59 AM (#3705122) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: GUEST,Dave the Gnome Sorry, C&P from a wrong source, the last song I mentiones is actually called You RAISE me up. Thinking about it, even with the mainstream covers, it still is folky anyway. So, more out of genre but more akin to the OP, Clapton's "Tear in Heaven". |
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29 Apr 15 - 10:31 AM (#3705166) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: GUEST,gillymor Plus one for the Carrivick Sisters, Rob Naylor (and that "snakehead" Bourgeois). Here's a very recent one from Pharis and Jason Romero (brilliant banjo makers, as well). Ballad of Old Bill |
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29 Apr 15 - 10:41 AM (#3705168) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: GUEST,gillymor Here's the title cut from "A Wanderer I'll Stay" by Pharis and Jason Romero. This is the best new CD I've heard in awhile. A Wanderer I'll Stay |
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29 Apr 15 - 06:04 PM (#3705300) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: Bill D The one I mentioned above.. Piney Mountain same by another group |
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29 Apr 15 - 06:09 PM (#3705302) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: Bill D Ummm... that 2nd one with the two girls just doesn't have the tune, the rhythm or the feel... but other than that, it's fine. Damned shame there's no video of Craig doing it. |
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29 Apr 15 - 06:19 PM (#3705306) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: GUEST,moira(flyingcat) for me the lifeboat prayer written by John Hyslop is a memorable modern song as is Sarah Morgan's keep you in peace. both less than 40 years old:) Moira |
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29 Apr 15 - 10:10 PM (#3705358) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: GUEST,Stim Here is my contribution, a very recent song, which all of the young people that I know love to play on their ukulelesIn Five Years Time, by Noah and the Whale. |
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30 Apr 15 - 12:05 AM (#3705372) Subject: RE: memorable modern songs From: Ebbie A memorable modern song? Just about everything Steve Earle has written. |