Had an emotional afternoon today when my Daughter told me which song she's chosen for me and her to dance to when she ties the knot next year! We listened to it together today on You Tube and shed a tear or two.
I won't reveal it as it might just be bad luck.
Being a sentimental old fool and a collector of vintage vinyl I have an unhealthily active soft-spot for haunting songs. I've continued the yearning tonight and have enjoyed listening to a lilting sprig of heartfelt ballads, which, if you'll forgive me, I'll share the links to here in case you want a listen too. Grab a brandy and a hanky!
Sarah Version 2 by the superb and much missed Thin Lizzy: this is a hauntingly beautiful, almost chivalrous homage to the late great Phil Lynott's Grandma. Brings a tear to my eye every time.
Its almost forgotten as there is another much more famous Lizzy song called Sarah about Phil's daughter.
Landslide by Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac: an almost unbearable lament on parents' ageing and growing old. Never fails to bring a lump to my throat as I think about my own child and Grandchild as I grow old.
If You Go by Hothouse Flowers, the brilliant Irish balladeers of the late 80's. If You Go is one of many fine songs on their utterly brilliant People album from 1988. We had it on cassette and played it forever in the car.
His Friends Are More Than Fond of Robin: one of two-sides-worth of memorable brilliance from Carly Simon on her wonderful No Secrets LP. 'Robin' always gives me goose-pimples. Its sounds so sincere, an elegy for unrequited love and one I listened to many times during a difficult couple of years when my High School sweetheart only had eyes for her older neighbour!
Linda Paloma: on Jackson Browne's magnificent The Pretender LP. I never heard it back in 1976 and came to this gem much later in the Noughties. A singer-songwriter of huge talent, Linda Paloma is an achingly gorgeous spanish ballad.
Stay With Me Till Dawn: when I was 18 I was in love with songstress Judie Tzuke. She was the long-haired maiden I dreamt of and this song was her signature, a fabulous ballad, which showed off her wonderful voice to the full. I went to see her at Lancaster University and fell in love.
Hallelujah: I first heard this when I got the late young Jeff Buckley's Mystery White Boy CD. It stopped me in my tracks then and always will. Gone all too soon, Buckley's soulful rant is simply sublime and when medleyed with The Smith's harrowing I Know Its Over it's powerful beyond words. Famous now, Hallelujah gets on the list. Nuff said.
Linden Arden Stole The Highlights: from the emerald masterpiece that is Veedon Fleece, Van the Man Morrison managed to even outdo his own celtic genius with this. We forget just how brilliant this Irish balladeer was. I adore this song, its beautiful tinkling, its sumptuous singing and its startling final line. Veedon Fleece always reminds me of a much younger Me and the Missus as we began our tender married life in North Wales in the early 1980's full of optimism and completely penniless. It was on the tape deck constantly along with most of Van's fine albums. They were the soundtrack of our twenties. Our first dog Ben the boy Labrador ate this tape along with the tinsel off the Christmas Tree. We had to leave Ben behind when we moved to the Home Counties. I hope he had a good life on the Welsh farm.
Which ballads do you like readers?
