Mentioning the Thompsons reminded me of John Martyn's Grace And Danger (yet, with Phil Collins, who did on his Face Value more or less the same thing).Originally Posted by markwoll
Mentioning the Thompsons reminded me of John Martyn's Grace And Danger (yet, with Phil Collins, who did on his Face Value more or less the same thing).
Robert Fripp - NY3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExNAI3zJfYQ
See, you learn something new everyday. Thanks for enlightening me, now I will listen to that song differently.
Eric: "What the hell Hutch, it's all Rush, what if we wanted a little variety?"
Hutch: "Rush is variety, Bitch! Rule number one: in my van, its Rush! All Rush, all the time...no exceptions."
From "Fanboys" 2009.
And Lovesick Morning from the same album.
Eric: "What the hell Hutch, it's all Rush, what if we wanted a little variety?"
Hutch: "Rush is variety, Bitch! Rule number one: in my van, its Rush! All Rush, all the time...no exceptions."
From "Fanboys" 2009.
I think it was with “Knowing Me, Knowing You”—the first of their break-up songs—that they realized that they were really good at writing sad songs. Compare the bubblegum/Schlager sounds of Waterloo to The Visitors, which seems to be all sad, somber songs, all the time.
They got very good at conveying complex emotions through pop songs, no mean feat for songwriters working in a language not their own. Check out “The Day Before You Came,” their penultimate single release*. On the surface it’s a song about a woman whose life was empty and meaningless until she met the love of her life. But if it’s such a romantic sentiment, why does the song sound so sad. There are a lot of fan theories about this one—my favorite is that it’s actually sung by the ghost of a woman singing to the man who murdered her. But my explanation is far more mundane—and infinitely more tragic.
She’s singing the song from her lover’s grave.
It’s the only explanation that makes sense. With the sorrowful tone of Agnetha’s lead voice, and the funereal wailing from Frida in the background, it definitely sets the tone. Agnetha is portraying a woman remembering what life was like before her lover came along and brought meaning to her empty life, and is extremely broken that she has to return to that now that he is dead. In a way it’s a song about carrying on in the face of adversity, “I was able to live this way once. Even though I don’t want to go back to this life, I can do it again.”
*of new material. They reissued “Thank You For the Music”—initially from The Album—as a single after their last 7" of new material, “Under Attack.”
Confirmed Bachelors: the dramedy hit of 1883...
Great choice. Wish I had thought of that one.
Last edited by DocProgger; 03-01-2018 at 05:39 PM.
The Gates Of Delirium- Yes
Digging In The Dirt- Peter Gabriel
Cat Food- King Crimson
Gotta admit, scratching my head on that one as a breakup song.
"'The Gates of Delirium' is the first track on Yes’s 1974 album, Relayer. The song is based on Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace, and it begins with a lengthy vocal section followed by a long instrumental section (beginning at about the 8 minute mark) representing a battle. The final section, occurring about 16 minutes in, released as a single in 1975 entitled "Soon", is a very gentle, soothing prayer for peace and hope which represents the aftermath of the battle."
"Collapse the Light Into Earth" by Porcupine Tree:
Helps that I got that album right after a breakup, so it felt particularly relevant.I won't heal given time
I won't try to change your mind
I won't feel better in the cold light of day
But I wouldn't stop you if you wanted to stay
Jonathan Byrne
http://jdbyrne.net
The first one I thought of was Owner of a Lonely Heart, but then the lyrics don't make the slightest bit of sense.
I don't know if Zebra counts as prog, but a lot of their songs seem to be about breakups: Tell Me What You Want, Take Your Fingers from My Hair, Hard Livin' Without You, Better Not Call, One More Chance.
Genesis--Evidence of Autumn and Please Don't Ask
David Gilmour--Near the End
Stencil Forest's Abyss is a concept album about the lead guitarists's divorce. One song mentions an affair that needed to end, so there were two breakups.
Anthony Phillips--Bleak House and Holy Deadlock (about a marriage that sounds like it's about to end)
Not prog, but a great modern folk song by The Other Favorites about would-be lovers who end up trying to kill each other, with one succeeding:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ay4IF5iOz_k
Nice to see Auktyon pop up here. I saw them several times live here in Germany, and it always was a special experience. But I never had any idea what the lyrics are about. I don't speak a word of Russian.Lovely stuff! And being English I've never had a clue about Auktyon's lyrics but they certainly convey emotion. I just love the bass clarinet line in this too. It struck me that the singer resembles the young Peter Hammill.
I'll go and give it a spin now if only I can work out which album it came from
A Ha - "I Wish I Cared"
To love me truely or let me go
Inbetween I don't want to know
This is how it has to be
No more us and no more we
Hey - I wish I cared
Hey - I wish I cared
Once again, on the station
See your face in a crowd
Comes again the sensation
You can't hear yourself think
With their voices inside your head
Hey - I wish I cared
Hey - I wish I cared
I wish I cared
Yes I really do
I wish I cared
(Just as prog as many already named!)
Kayleigh as well. Actually, you could probably say all of Misplaced Childhood is about Fish' inability to get over his high school girlfriend.
I suppose it's still a bit "bubblegum", but I always saw SOS as being a breakup song, or at least a "beginning of the end of the relationship" song. And though it sounds like a happy song, Mamma Mia is kinda about a pretty frelled up relationship too, as the protagonist finds herself unable to leave a man who she knows has been unfaithful. So I think there was some pretty complex things going on in some of those songs even early on.
I always reckoned they got into the sort of sadder songs later, as their marriages fell apart, but Knowing Me, Knowing You predates that time, so it seems like the songwriting was already headed in that direction even before their lives were.
Oh and kudos for using the word "penultimate" correctly. It drives me crazy when it's used as a synonym for "ultimate" (which, actually, is also usually used incorrectly too, as ultimate actually means "final", not "best").
You're kidding! That was a high school relationship he was singing about on that album?! I always reckoned it to have been something considerably more recent.
Unreleased Genesis track from 1976. Was only released in Moldavia as the B-Side of Squonk
Peter Gabriel Tore us apart
When the routine bites hard
And ambitions are low
And the resentment rides high
But emotions wont grow
And were changing our
ways,
Taking different roads
Then Gabriel , Peter Gabriel will tear us apart again
Why is the bedroom so cold
Turned away on your side?*
Is my timing that flawed,
Our respect run so dry?*
Yet theres still this appeal
That weve kept through our lives
Gabriel, Peter Gabriel will tear us apart again
Do you cry out in your sleep
All my failings expose?*
Get a taste in my mouth
As desperation takes holdIs
it something so good
Just cant function no more?
*When Gabriel, Peter Gabriel will tear us apart again
Envoyé de mon GT-I9195 en utilisant Tapatalk
Dieter Moebius : "Art people like things they don’t understand!"
Over/Not Over
Alan, the studio version of this song is on the album Bodun (Russian slang word for "hangover") from 1991. Good point about young Peter Hammill – it never came to mind, but indeed, there is a certain similarity.
Their lyrics are very unique, highly indebted to absurdist poetry from the 1920s and 1930s (especially the OBERIU circle, see here for the general idea of what that was: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oberiu). By the way, they are usually written not by the singer (Leonid Fedorov), but by the keyboard player (Dmitry Ozersky). Also, one missing piece in my Auktyon collection is the original LP of their Ptiza album that came out in Germany in 1993. So, if you live there and know where to find it, please tell me
Jeff Beck--Cause We've Ended as Lovers
Surely Ian Anderson must have written on this subject? Can't think of anything offhand.
Good call on John Martyn's 'Grace and Danger'. Martyn says he and Phil Collins took tear-stained turns on the phone to their respective soon-to-be-ex partners while they were making it.
Sorry, not high school, college. At least from the lyrics he talks about them being together in the "college hall".
Shipwrecked by Genesis. I was going through a separation at the time and CAS had just come out. That song and much of the Moody Blues' Strange Times album was the soundtrack to that event.
Bill
She'll be standing on the bar soon
With a fish head and a harpoon
and a fake beard plastered on her brow.
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