"6 songs that make people cry and the reasons why"

News about Leonard Cohen and his work, press, radio & TV programs etc.
Post Reply
Sideways
Posts: 840
Joined: Thu Feb 28, 2008 7:40 pm

"6 songs that make people cry and the reasons why"

Post by Sideways »

A list just published by the BBC (B etter B e C ohen). Listen who be at Number 1.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/articles/eeb ... a13bf012cc
yeah, well, errrrm, hum, yeah, ok, I dunno, articulation is not my fing, who cares, SHUT IT YOU MUPPET, blah blah blah
User avatar
LisaLCFan
Posts: 2527
Joined: Sun Apr 26, 2009 9:24 pm
Location: Canada

Re: "6 songs that make people cry and the reasons why"

Post by LisaLCFan »

Intriguing list. My thoughts:

1) It seems rather presumptuous to suggest "why" another person cries when they hear a song or piece of music. It seems to me a rather subjective and very personal thing.

2) I have never heard or read anyone refer to JS Bach's "Goldberg Variations" as a "song," and I hope never to do so again. (The same goes for Satie's piece, and for any other piece of instrumental classical music, unless the composer him/herself, for whatever reason, calls it such.)

3) I do want to cry when I hear Carol King's "You've Got a Friend," but not for the reasons given in that link. I would be thinking more along the lines of, "Oh, god, not this saccharine piece of drivel again!!"

4) I agree with their choice for No. 1 (although not necessarily with their reasons, for again, that is personal!). 8)
User avatar
panjandrum
Posts: 91
Joined: Wed Sep 12, 2007 3:56 pm

Re: "6 songs that make people cry and the reasons why"

Post by panjandrum »

Interesting. And yeah, it's surely presumptuous to claim to know why certain songs move certain people to tears. (Then again, to play devil's advocate; if you've studied psychology, literature, philosophy and the like, you might actually have a reasonable basis on which to form some pretty good educated guesses.)

Regardless, I have to admit that no other songwriters move me to tears, just Leonard. I enjoy and respect other songwriters and have a relatively eclectic taste that spans many genres and eras; but I've just never found anything with the beauty to move me like Leonard's writing does. With Leonard I'm frequently moved to both tears and laughter (often in the same song - often within a few seconds of each other!) Even emotionally charged songs like Strange Fruit, just don't do it. But there are is a lot of Leonard's work that is that moving to me. So I'm happy to see Hallelujah top this list.

There is, as far as can remember, only one exception for me; Runrig's live performance of Loch Lomond from their Once in a Lifetime album.
Post Reply

Return to “News”