YOU ARE HERE: zharth.net / Zharth's Music Log / Week 89 (The Crying Game)
(Originally finalized on August 14, 2024)
Preface: Among the most common subjects in popular music, you'll undoubtedly find both love... and loss (to which my Heartbreakers theme can attest). I surveyed a lot of songs about crying for my funeral playlist, so it seems appropriate to center a theme around the subject. Although many of these songs specifically reference heartbreak and failed relationships, the sentiment and phrasing used can often still seem quite relatable no matter the reason for your sadness.
As an aside, although the eponymous track (also covered by Boy George) will not be featured on this theme (too soft pop, not enough rock), I found the 1992 film The Crying Game (which was pretty progressive for its day) fairly intriguing, as someone with some experience with gender non-conformity.
Monday: Peter Green - Cryin' Won't Bring You Back [Little Dreamer, 1980]
Comments: From the followup to Peter Green's "comeback" album - after forming Fleetwood Mac with John Mayall's rhythm section in the late '60s, and then dropping off the radar for nearly a decade after succumbing to acid-induced psychosis - here's an earworm of a song (written by Peter's brother Michael) with an endearingly hopeless refrain. Although by all accounts Peter would never again be the sparkling genius he once was, the comparably lackluster quality of his singing only reinforces the melancholy feeling of this song. "I'm tryin', but cryin' won't bring you back."
Tuesday: The Rolling Stones - Out Of Tears [Voodoo Lounge, 1994]
Comments: On this subject, Ozzy Osbourne's smash hit No More Tears would have been the more mainstream choice, but when you're mourning, sometimes it's the unexpected details that your mind latches onto. Voodoo Lounge is an album well outside The Rolling Stones' prime era (being the mid-'90s and all), and this soft ballad isn't the kind of gritty rocker you'd expect from "the greatest rock and roll band in the world". But the lyrics evoke a relatable sadness that Mick Jagger's voice convincingly sells, and I like the idea of coming to the point where you've cried so much... you're not over it, but you just lack the energy to keep grieving. "I won't cry when you say goodbye; I'm out of tears."
Wednesday: Neil Young - Hold Back The Tears [American Stars 'N' Bars, 1977]
Comments: As I said, you can't always predict which songs you're going to respond to when you're faced with circumstances outside of your everyday experience. This song is more firmly entrenched within Neil's country-fried oeuvre (complete with pedal steel guitar and violin) than I normally like to listen to, but there's truth and a hopefulness in the refrain that I find soothing. Grief is a focus on what's been lost, but there's always something left behind for you to face - when you're ready. "Hold back the tears, and keep on trying. Just around the next corner may be waiting your true love."
Thursday: Stevie Ray Vaughan - The Sky Is Crying [The Sky Is Crying, 1991]
Comments: This might well be the most cliche song on this list (and it's a wonder I haven't used it yet, although I narrowly passed it up for my Rain Mix theme), but I'll be damned if its popularity isn't well-deserved. Courtesy of Elmore James, The Sky Is Crying is a standard that everybody who's ever played in a blues band has covered. However, not only did Stevie Ray Vaughan record the definitive version, it's one of his best recordings. Cut back in 1985, it's a wonder it wasn't released until after his tragic death in a helicopter crash five years later. Like Jimi Hendrix before him, another of history's greatest guitarists was taken from the world too soon. "The sky's been cryin', yeah - can you see the tears roll down my nose?"
Friday: Ten Years After - I Can't Keep From Crying Sometimes [Live at the Fillmore East, recorded 1970]
Comments: Originally featured on their self-titled debut album, this song - based on an arrangement by keyboardist Al Kooper (then with the band The Blues Project) of an old gospel blues previously recorded by Blind Willie Johnson - received new life on stage, stretching out to nearly twenty minutes and involving long instrumental portions (as singer/guitarist Alvin Lee tunes down - and then back up - his low e string during the course of his solo) with recognizable licks from other songs thrown in just for the hell of it. It wouldn't be the last blues standard the band would make their own; but it is one of their best. "My heart is filled with sadness, and my eyes are filled with tears."
Saturday: Uriah Heep - Tears In My Eyes [Look At Yourself, 1971]
Comments: I regret not getting into Uriah Heep earlier, but sadly, aside from one or two songs, the radio does not do the band justice - and, like Ten Years After (though leaning a little heavier on prog and less on the blues), they are a fantastic blend of talented musicians with a heap of good rock songs just lying there mostly forgotten. This one isn't even the best of them in my estimation, but when I decided to do a theme about tears and crying, I knew I had to include it - as I really like the chorus. Anyway, it gives you a good taste of the high energy instrumentation you can expect from the band. "With tears in my eyes, I'm no longer pretendin' you're mine."
Sunday: Janis Joplin - Cry Baby [Pearl, 1971]
Comments: I used a live version of this song for my Valentine's Day theme way back when, so technically this song is still available - which is good, because it's one of my favorite songs about crying. And it's interesting to hear the story from the woman's perspective for a change. All these other songs are men crying about the women they've lost (with conspicuously little indication of what they did to lose them), but here you've got a woman waiting at home while the man runs around, taking her for granted, not realizing how good he's got it until she's gone. If that doesn't make you sit back and take stock of what you have, then I don't know what will. "I know you've got more tears to shed. So, come on and cry, cry, baby."
Honorable Mention: Eric Clapton - Tears In Heaven [Unplugged, 1992]
Comments: Relegated to an honorable mention, because I'm actually lukewarm about it, but this is one of Clapton's biggest hits, with cross-genre appeal. Maybe it's because I've been lucky enough so far not to have experienced grief on as deep a level as losing your own four-year-old son to a tragic accident, but the references to heaven feel like idealistic platitudes (to this dyed-in-the-wool atheist), conjuring up unfavorable allusions to cringey "in loving memory" bumper stickers (e.g., "your wings were ready, but we were not"). Perhaps I'm just a soulless fiend. Regardless, it provides a convenient segue to next week's theme! "Beyond the door, there's peace I'm sure. And I know there'll be no more... tears in heaven."