Entertainment For Lively Minds
Thinkin' about Dad
Posted by torrential1 on 9 February 2010 - 11:55pm.
I've been thinking about my late Father today, don't know what brought it on (he passed on 31 years ago), but it got me thinking about great songs written about Fathers.
Here are two of my favourites.
Martin Simpson - "Never Any Good"
Horace Silver - "Song For My Father"
What are Wordsters favourite or most poignant 'Father' songs?
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Harry Chapin - Cat's In The Cradle
By a father about a son, but every father should know this song:
Springsteen
Walk like a man.
Probably won't be popular..
..amongst the cognisenti, but..
Nowt wrong with that
Used to hate it. Then listened to it properly. Good song, great vocal.
Here here
Good comment milky. Sometimes middle of the road radio play songs so much that they cross over and we sometimes forget how good they are. Mike & The Mechanics tend to get tarred with that brush these days and although I don't play that stuff much anymore, when a track comes on the iPod I always think, that's good. Time we started claiming some of this stuff back. Phil Collins is another. At his best, he was brilliant. Not afraid to strip songs down to their basics.
Not a fan of mike and the Mechanics
but this song always always grabs me..great shout!
So it's not just me then...
As someone said, once you put down your anti-Genesis / M.O.R. prejudice it's one of those that gets you right there. Thankfully I had time to tell mine before he went.
Steve Goodman
My Old Man says it all.
There are versions by his friend John Prine too.
Can't do links at the moment but
Father Son by Peter Gabriel always gets me a bit misty eyed.
Peter Gabriel
Another strong attempt.
(edit: two of us thought of this at the same time)
Father son
I love this, and always find I have something in my eye whilst listening to it. Luckily I still have my Dad, I don't think I could bear to listen to this song if I didn't.
Cheers
Thanks Adze Never seen the video before but I've always loved the song. Gave my Dad it on a CD last Fathers Day - just so he knows.
not fair!
It's seven am and that video (I'd never heard the song) has me weeping in a manner ill-befitting a man of nearly forty who has to go to work!
btw Shane (above) The Living Years is one of the most beautiful songs ever, no need to expect a backlash on that one.
Living Years
I think the sentiment in the song is admirable and it came out not long after my own father died but the record itself is absolutely awful and I would be happy never to hear it again. I think any backlash is fully justified.
Not now John
The beauty of this thread is that we're talking about one of the strongest emotions any man can feel - so in the face of such sentiment, taste should be irrelevant,and while you may well have been able to compartmentalise your own reaction to this song, even in the aftermath of your own bereavement, so as to be able to judge, and find wanting, its music/production/ whatever, I think that people who are just touched on a deep deep level by it should be allowed to feel that a song is great without having their mourning suits, or soundtracks dismissed because after all, if a piece of art has touched them, ergo, it's good: that's art's function. And yeah, I would back that argument up to the point of defending , say, Westlife, if one of their songs meant something to them.I suppose it's a 'one man's meat' thing and agreement is impossible.
Forgive the Athena video here, but it's the only version I could find and I often listen to this song while I watch my beautiful 2yr old son sleep - and, like others on this thread, I realise every day the gift it is to still have my dad.
Spot On
You are so right vorgon, its got little to do about taste, and everything to do with emotion.
For instance I simply cannot watch the video of Sinead O'Connor's "Nothing Compares 2 U" without blubbing like a madman because I once heard her explain in an interview that the famous tear was because she was thinking about her late Mother.
Now the lyrics seem so fitting when I think about my own Mum who I lost a few years ago.
Great Dick Gaughan song too!
Each to their own
If I hadn't felt personally involved in the thread I wouldn't have got to this point. Perhaps because I thought it was such a strong thread was the reason I wanted to say what I did about the track.
I actually find it interesting and slightly odd that people want to associate such a maudlin song with their father, but each to their own. I couldn't listen to Death Disco by PIL for about 20 years after my father's death without it upsetting me so I avoided it, I'm still uncomfortable listening to it even today.
"Living Years" is anything but maudlin..
..you're just bringing the baggage of association to it.
If anything "Death Disco" is maudlin, in its true sense.
80's music
OK I'll put it another way. I think The Living Years is a dreadful, bland, record and I think I would do whatever it was about, I'd rather take the "life's too short" message and spend mine listening to something I like. I don't associate the record with anything but being one of the things that gives 80's music a bad name!
This is the one for me
A pale moon in a sunny sky.
the best
suggestion on hear by a country mile
This would also get my, thankfully, unqualified vote
Some of the songs on here always seemed a little manipulative to me (but as pointed out elsewhere, when the timing is tragically right things can hit you whether you want them to or not). This however always seems genuinely moving whilst being very low key and personal.
I cant find guy clark
singing this solo but this knocks my socks off
XTC - Hold Me My Daddy
This does the trick too. I love the African style guitars at the end.
Ships
By Ian Hunter, from his 'Schizophrenic' record. Barry Manilow had a big hit with it in the US oddly enough.
The kids are revolting
It's 1968 and the younger generation, galvanised by rock'n'roll music, is in frenzied revolt against the values and mores of their square parents.
Except nobody told Graham Gouldman. (And thank goodness for that)
My old man wore three-pieces whistles/
He was never home for long...
Mr Dury, of course.
possibly
his finest moment
Elbow 'Switching Off'
Just a beautiful song, I know it's not about a specific person's death as such, (nor is it about euthanasia - as some seem to think) - but being in a perfect moment and deciding that this will be the scene you remember as your life ends.
The first line, 'Last of the men in hats hops off the coil' makes me think of my Dad, so this is my choice.
The song starts at 1.45 - but it's worth watching the intro to hear the joke about Stephen Fretwell.
beautiful indeed
The "Last of the men in hats" line refers to Garvey's grandfather, by the way.
Thanks, Hesh
so perhaps it was inspired by his Grandfather's passing? Sounds as though that may have been the trigger.
More Springsteen
Two that always remind me of my dear, departed old man
Independence Day
and My Hometown
I miss him everyday
My old man
and me used to sing this together when I was a kid. A few years back I was sitting in a dressing room with Jack and Meg White and it came on their stereo. They were big fans of his and it turned out John Peel had turned them on to the joys of Lonnie. It took me right back to sitting in the kitchen with my dad and brother on a Saturday morning listening to Stewpot. I haven't seen It Might Get Loud but would pay strong money to see those three jam along to this.
Guy Clark
singing Randall Knife
Jackson Browne
Oh fick, I can't start sobbing at work:
A dirty wind blows through the sky
And the Autumn leaves cut loose and fly
Leave me watching
And wishing I could follow
Though among the regrets that I can't get by
There are just one or two
Unkind things I said to you
Daddy what was I supposed to do?
I don't know why it was so hard to talk to you
I guess my anger pulled me through
But Daddy I want to let you know somehow
The things you said are so much clearer now
And I would turn the pages back
But time will not allow
The way these days just rip along
Too fast to last, too vast, too strong
Somewhere something went wrong
Or maybe we forgot the song
Make room for my forty-fives
Along beside your seventy-eights
Nothing survives
But the way we live our lives
Cat Stevens
Father and Son.
When I was a kid, I identified with the son's verses.
When I became a Dad, my perspective shifted to the father's - almost overnight.
Tom Waits - Sins Of My Father
Is certainly my favourite. Yes its ridiculously long, and not in anyway emotional. But it has a memorable tune, and the lyrics are superb. Unsurprisingly, for Waits, really.
And on a completely different note, there's a Christian song called "The Father's Song" by a chap called Matt Redman that is just beautiful.
A couple of tunes
I know it's not usual Word type stuff, but this always gets to me.
Andy
Good call on the Dury song, always my favourite of off NB&P and dont apologise the late great Mr Vandross, he ought to be welcome everywhere.
As is so frequently the case, the answer is Loudon Wainwright
Sometimes I forget that you've gone
You've gone, and you're not coming back
And it's hard to believe that you're still not here
What's left behind, disputes that fact
And your bookcase still holds all your books
It's as if all you've done is go out of town
You'll be back soon, that's just how it looks
But your suitcase is empty, it's right here in the hall
That's not even the strangest thing
Why would you leave your wallet behind
Your glasses, your wristwatch and ring
Your glasses, your wristwatch and ring
Sometimes I forget that you've gone
That we'll never see you again
I think for a moment, I've got to give him a call
But I can't now I realize that
No we can't meet for lunch at the usual place
The place where we always would go
And there was something I wanted to tell you so bad
Something I knew that you'd want to know
I could go by myself to our old haunt
That seems like such a strange thing to do
The waiters would wonder what was going on
Why weren't you there, where were you
Why weren't you there, where were you
Sometimes I forget that you've gone
I remember and I feel the ache
How could it have happened, how could it be
It's not true, there must be some mistake
Momentos, memories, tell me what good are they
No they're not much to have and to hold
And it's true that you're gone,
And you're not coming back
And this world seems so empty and cold
But sometimes things happen,
It doesn't seem strange
You're not far away, you're near
Sometimes I forget that you've gone
Sometimes it feels like you're right here
Right now it feels like you're right here
Which is a far nicer song about a father than his son was prepared to write. For those who have only come across Loudon as a sort of American Richard Digance character, please do explore the album 'History', which as well as some (admittedly run of the mill) 'funny' songs has a few numbers about his parents, sister and children that sting like an icicle to the heart. The printed word doesn't do justice to the delivery of Sometimes I Forget (above).
saw him
play this live a few years ago...not a dry eye in the house..great performer... can have you splitting your sides at the goofy end of his writing one song ..and next have you breaking your heart at another..also wrote the best song about John Lennon's passing in "Not John"..it's on you tube but I havent a clue how to upload it on here..enjoy!
Loudon
Sometimes I forget - LWIII as mentioned above (not sure about the cat???):
also my own favourite - A Father And A Son:
Changing mediums but not themes - The end of the Kevin Costner film "Field Of Dreams" never fails to bring a lump to my throat...
don't want to be the fly in the ointment
and I've been really enjoying all these lovely songs about fathers. And I do often like Loudon Wainwright. But imagine having a dad who was always singing about you. No wonder this happened:
Morrissey - Used to be a Sweet Boy
Used to Be a Sweet Boy from Vauxhall and I
Finally realising that you don't have to inherit your father's hangups. Struck a chord with me.
Was (Not Was)
Somewhere In America There's A Street Named After My Dad... a lovely little number
Wasn't obvious
until I heard David Bowie talking about this lyric on the radio, that it was inspired by thinking about people who had died, particularly his father - feeling like they'd taken a trip somewhere but would be coming back.
Heard this explanation a year or two after my own Dad died and still feel a bit choked up when I hear it.
David Bowie - "Everyone Says Hi"
Oh...
I was told that the song was about Richie Edwards. Maybe not, then.
May have been part of it?
As ever, Bowie wasn't going to be pinned down completely, and left it suitably generic about people who were no longer here, but his own Dad was definitely mentioned. The rest of his explanation is a bit hazy, as I was driving at the time and trying to concentrate on the road (which had suddenly become rather fuzzy).
What a great thread
I love this song, it's so evocative.
This song
is not Dad specific but it will forever strike an emotional chord with me. My Dad died one night 17 years ago, I went to be with my Mum at about 2am and stayed with her until his body was taken away. I came home and as I walked through the door to my wife this was on the radio. Everything poured out and it will always remind me of my Dad more than any song. Only music can do this, even Simply Red. Must go now there's something in my eye.
this one is the one that makes me think about
my dad passing and the sadness at losing him mixed with the joy of knowing him. He's actually still alive he's 86 now and still hearty. But he had me late on (I was born when he was 58) and so his possible death has always been very much in my mind.
He had a heart attack when I was 6. We were on holiday and I was sharing a bed with him. When I woke up he wasn't there.
When I was 17 he had a quadruple heart bypass and again the angel of death hung over our heads. But more than 10 years later he is still doing more than hanging in there.
But at some point this song will come to pass I guess. Well the emotions it stirs in me will. Or maybe they won't who can know what I will feel until I feel it.
On The Road Again by Willie Nelson
... and Top Of The World by the Carpenters - chosen for his funeral in 2004. Can't listen to them even now without a wobble.
And for my mum's passing in November 2008, Autumn Leaves sung by Eva Cassidy - a voice to rip the emotion from your soul any day. She died slowly over a 6 week period in autumn, and finally surrendered on the day that the tree outside her window shed its last leaf.
Prefabs
Doo Wop in Harlem is a stunning song written by McAloon about his old man. The key line of the chorus is:-
'If theres not a heaven that holds you tonight,
they never played Doo Wop in Harlem'
Loverly!!
My dad
Died in 2003, but would have been 70 on Monday, so very much on my mind at the moment. "Forever Young" by his Bobness, comes to mind, being as my Dad was such a Bob-fan and all....
Believe me; this takes on
an especially poignant sheen if you're old man actually WAS a dustman...