Today is a
very rainy and gloomy day in San Francisco. Coincidentally and appropriately, an old chestnut played on the radio this morning -- Harry Chapin's "
Taxi." You know the tune:
"It was raining hard in 'Frisco, I needed one more fare to make my night ..." Despite my naturally happy and optimistic nature, this "sad song" is one of my all-time favorites. And I sometimes seek out a real tear-jerker. Perhaps happy people need sad songs as much as sad people need happy songs, to balance everything out?
Unlike the cheery Elton John number that shares the title of this post, a handful of songs come to mind that pack a melancholy punch:
Rainy Days and Mondays --
The Carpenters. Karen Carpenter's silky voice has the amazing ability to convey such sorrow, and at the same time, leave a sense of hope that everything will be soon be alright. You just know that a sunny Tuesday is coming right up.
Box #10 --
Jim Croce. A midtempo folksy ballad about a "good ole boy from Southern Illinois" who takes off for New York City to seek a music career. After getting both burned by a hooker and a pipe upside his head in a dark alley , he's flat broke, reduced to sleeping in a hotel doorway, in the rain. Yet -- he's still optimistic enough to know he can get back on his feet, if he could only get some money from Mom and Dad.
Ticking --
Elton John. The sparse arrangement -- just piano and vocals (and a brief, spooky synthesizer at the coda) -- gives the song a haunting and lonely feel. A teenage misfit with an overprotective, religious fanatic mother just loses it one day in a Queens bar, screaming for a priest and waving a gun. The NYPD arrive and end up fatally shooting the boy. (Sometimes life imitates art!)
It Never Rains In Southern California --
Albert Hammond. Don't be fooled by the bubbly melody. A man heads out west to be a star, but quickly finds his life a mess. Success stories are sent back home while in reality his life becomes more and more a shambles. He desperately wants to go home, but he's too embarrassed to face up to the lie he's been living.
The Luck Of The Irish --
John Lennon. A folksy protest song about the British occupation of Ireland. Lennon's vocals exude a passionate sadness, tinged with anger. The pain of the loss of generations of Irish independence flows in this song.
Everybody's Talkin' --
Harry Nilsson. Okay, maybe it's the harrowing backdrop of "Midnight Cowboy," but this is one lonely dude. When everybody's talking and you can't hear a word they're saying, you know you're in your own isolated, and terribly lonely, place.
Lay Down Burden --
Brian Wilson. Inspired by the recent death of his brother Carl, this sweet ballad wavers between mourning and celebrating their time together. It's so unusual to weave grief with joy in one song, but then again, this is a Brian Wilson composition.
Taxi --
Harry Chapin. From the opening line, "It was raining hard in 'Frisco," to the final line about a shallow life of taking tips and getting stoned, a mood is set and we're told a story of a once-ambitious man's doleful acquiescence that he'll never be what he could have been.
And you, dear reader?
What song(s) stir your heartstrings? Grab a Kleenex and Comment!
A rainy night in The City did not stop The Tubes from selling out the Red Devil Lounge in a "homecoming" show tonight. That San Francisco spirit of wacky, over-the-top theatrics -- especially Fee Waybill's numerous costume changes throughout the show -- is alive and well with The Tubes as they charge into their fourth decade of musical merriment. After warmup acts Griddle and Magic Christian, The Tubes performed hits such as "She's A Beauty," Talk To Ya Later," "White Punks On Dope," "I Don't Want To Wait Anymore;" covers (Tom Jones' It's Not Unusual" and The Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There"), and some brand new numbers. The only disappointment was not hearing "Sushi Girl."
Imagine there's no heaven,
On December 8, 1980, I was living in Texas and was into country music at the time (think Urban Cowboy mania). My radio alarm clock was set to a country music station. I went to bed early on this Monday night -- no TV, no radio. The next morning, the alarm clock went off and John Lennon songs were playing on my country station. Odd, I thought! I got out of bed and picked up my 
