Readers recommend: melancholy songs

Is melancholy a mood or an emotion? Is it involuntary or an indulgence? Are there any similarities between misery and melancholy? Scholars say that the lines between them are blurred. Very helpful.

Let’s instead turn to more creative souls who seem to catch on what one poet was all about when he said,“MELENCOLIA transcends all wit” (yes spelt that way and in all caps). Gospel, soul, blues, folk … all show a complaint of souls overflowing with the bitterest anguish - “Like tears, they were a relief to aching hearts.”

The Portuguese have one word for all the pleasures of reflection and contemplation of things we love and long for, with hope adding a touch of sweetness that makes melancholy bearable. And more - fado. And who better to introduce us to the “joys of longing” than Amália Rodrigues, the Queen of Fado herself. In Lágrima, she tells her lover, “And if I knew that by dying/ You would have to cry for me/ Then just one tear from you/ Would bring a joy I would die for.” Incrível!

Rocked by the loss of a close friend, depression and addiction, James Taylorshows how much courage it takes to ride out his bad days publicly in Fire and Rain, a reflection marked more by contemplation than recollection.

Or maybe the simple act of saying goodbye to friends could set us off as Sandy Denny and Fairport Convention remind us of all those on the road in Farewell, Farewell.

Paul Simon contemplates a different sort of travel. “I live in fear that my love is so overpowering I’m afraid that I will disappear … The nearer the destination, the more the danger of Slip Slidin’ Away.”

How would you describe the life of a man who spends his one weekly off in bed till ten o’clock? Mickey Buckins & The New Breed paint this picture of quiet desperation in Reflections of Charles Brown and ask us “What a quiet life he’s had/ Don’t you think it’s very sad?”

John Prine takes us deeper into blues territory when he declares his dislike for all things – from broken toys to old love letters - that rob him of his childhoodSouvenirs. “Broken hearts and dirty windows/Make life difficult to see.”

Such contemplation of memory - of a person, place or event – can bring about the clouds, as the Queen of the Slide Guitar Bonnie Raitt details in I Gave My Love a Candle. And now that she’s moving down that “same lonesome road” all she can say is “Goodbye, Goodbye, Goodbye.”

New Orleans bluesman Snooks Eaglin has a similar affliction. He met his love when it was raining and it rained when he lost her. Now he says, “I Get The Blues When It Rains,” sharing the penchant all such minds have for linking weather and mood-swings. He’d really be miserable in Cherrapunji.

Blues icon BB King doesn’t have any such particular point. He has no money, his woman is cold-hearted and the whole world is just wrong. “Hard luck and trouble is my middle name, and I can’t shake it loose, these Chains and Things.”

It’s not just about loss as the promise of a fresh start is part of melancholy. Bon Scott and his mates in AC/DC raise just such hope with an honest re-appraisal of their lives. The answer is to Ride On. Scott’s demise soon after only adds to the poignancy.

But, a reader asked, can rap do melancholy? Hell Yeah! With a clip of George H W Bush providing a counterpoint rapper Paris sets his song amidst urban warfare and crime. Back in the day being bad was cool …”But nowadays it seems life just ain’t the same … It ain’t the same as the Days of Old.” Brutal.

From that iron blow to the velvet slash of Chitthi Aayi Hai. This tale of/from an expat starts suspiciously like a massive guilt trip. It says you haven’t written ... blah, blah. Then word by word, note by note Pankaj Udhas turns the theme inside out in a masterclass of mellifluous melancholy.

A sort of a respite comes at the end of this playlist when Amira Willighagen enters RR’s lists as the youngest performer with her singing of Puccini’s aria O Mio Babbino Caro. I’ll leave her introduction to André Rieu, who after the applause ends, just shakes his head in wonder and says: “Nine years old!” Quite. Or as we say at RR, super mega donds! 

(Published in The Guardian musicblog Spet 3 2015)

Playlist A: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLd311HlAmiPrgze2bdxrNJWdLUJtgRZ5g

Playlist B: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLd311HlAmiPqJReCWkEChZu43E-p-SByp

RRSA Refusal – results (The Guardian July 16/2015)

Published in The Guardian on July 16, 2015

Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind, said Bruce Lee. Our baker's dozen of artists firmly believe in the opposite and insist that life requires dispute.

Foo Fighters kick off this week's roster of refusal with their Monkey Wrench. "Now and then I'll try to bend under pressure, wind up snapping in the end," they say, adding "I'd rather leave than suffer this."

Lauryn Hill not only concurs she takes it one step further. I Find It Hard To Say that everything is alright, she sings and implores: "What I gotta say is rebel, while today is still today."

Punk rockers Cock Sparrer are even more direct in Watch Your Back. "We don't wanna fight because you tell us to," they inform the world and add the dire warning, "watch your back for we might just turn on you"

There are unseen outcomes of being a rebel, points out shock rock specialist Alice Cooper. After having been a sweet guy who used to open doors for little old ladies and helped the blind, he now faces a dilemma. Since he's turned mean, his dog bites him, the cat claws his eyes and when he sneaks into church, even the pastor punches him in the nose, saying "No More Mister Nice Guy, you're sick, you're obscene."

Rebellion need not only be for the youth nor on a grand scale. The Beautiful South tell us how in When I'm 84, conjuring up an old man getting his jollies from making the postman wait, tripping up kids, dropping the litter and smoking weed.

Once in a while the result of not saying no hits home pretty hard as Otis Gibbs learns. With A Gun In My Hand tells the story of a 14 year old being torn between wanting to be by his father’s side in the woods when he went hunting and the fact that he hated the idea of killing animals for sport.

It's often said sausages are like laws and we shouldn't see how either of them are made. Youth Of Today make up a grisly compilation of images in No More to convince us that eating meat doesn't make for a more conscious society.

Rock music legend and a musician who influenced many, many more, Lou Reed swears to Keep Away from everything that's good, from dignity and pride, from abstracts and keep it all inside so that "I'll fry in my own juices an' I'll become somebody else."

However, points out Buffy Sainte-Marie, The Big Ones Get Away. "Love junkies wanna change the world, though it stays the same. Money junkies hire all the smart ones and power junkies run the game," she says. Words that Alexis Tspirias and Greece are bound to ponder and fume upon in the days come.

Enough to make one sympathise with Ska-P when they rage in A La Mierda - "National pride, virtual patriot, military hero, xenophobia demented puppet, mental paralysis, scum of the brain - to hell with it all. I don't give a damn about everything you yap on about."

You follow the rules, or at least as much as you can and to, what in your mind, the best of your ability. But what do you do when God Says No. Monster Magnet gives us a hint, slyly adding that it's good to be bad and it's the best time you'll ever have.

The rebel has fought the good fight and has run the race. And Diego Moreno honours him with his rendition of Bella Ciao, a song that envelops the fallen hero's memories like a graceful benediction. This is the flower of the partisan, who died for freedom, Bella Ciao, Bella Ciao, he croons.

Ay-no. No-ay, for nothing I must be, said Richard II, at least according to The Bard. Centuries later The Fugs find how correct he was. They find Nothing on each day of the week, in each month and each decade. They find nothing in different languages, in books, philosophers and leaders ranging from Mill to Stalin - in whom they find a little less than nothing. What are they left with? Not a goddamn thing.

Playlist A - Refusal

Playlist B - Refusal

The Nutmeg Fest

Once in a while sports fans are treated to a very special performance. One that they will cherish and remember for the rest of their lives. Tyson unifying the boxing belts, Curtly Ambrose's 7 for 1 spell against the Australians … you get idea.

March 18, 2015 was one such day when one man and his team showed how a great team can demolish a good team.

The penalty miss in the first leg of the Manchester City-Barcelona tie and the headlines that followed – MESSI MISSES!!! Leo Loses Killer Instinct - had a telling effect. 

The English, being English, were crass enough to add insult to injury, making a lot of noise about why their brand of football was better and that the Spanish style was dying if not dead already.

And so Man City arrived for a match without realising the humiliation that was waiting. 

For Messi was a man possessed. He brought the crowd to its feet, bewitched us with his footwork, found gaps that didn’t seem to exist and danced past opponents in a way that took the art of dribbling to its highest level. Oohs and aahs turned to a chant of Messi, Messi, Messi from the 92,500 strong Nou Camp.

Messi was at an exhilarating peak and that, in football terms, is an exquisite form of bullying. James Milner, who may be a possible England captain, made the mistake of diving in at one point. The nutmeg from Messi left him on his backside and, high in the stands, former mentor and coach, Pep Guardiola could be seen howling with laughter at the impudence. By that stage Messi had already done it to Fernandinho though Neymar was first. 

The nutmeg is one of football's classiest insults. It happened to Fernandinho twice in 15 minutes as the Brazilian and Argentinian took turns to humiliate him.

Neymar was bright, Suarez busy, though in all it was a beautifully choreographed show from Messi. At times he would just deceptively amble around. Suddenly he would be on the ball, picking up speed, causing mayhem. It was a masterclass.

If it wasn't for City's goal keeper Joe Hart playing out of skin, the score-line would have been 6-0 or 7-0. Hart’s brilliance was such that Luis Suarez, though he was foiled multiple times, gave him a warm and long hug at the final whistle, which also blew out the last English team from the tournament.

Despite their attempts to play, Man City faced a huge problem, getting hold of the ball. Barca's players kept the ball with such focus and when they did give up possession they hunted in a pack to get it back.

Yaya Toure, Samir Nasri, Vincent Kompany, Kun Aguero were all handed their heads during those magical 90 minutes that Messi lit up for us and made us glad that we too had seen him play.