#67783
04/29/2002 1:44 AM
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 320
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 320 |
The recent spate of poems and songs about birds, and blackbirds in particular, had me thinking about the way I find myself responding to certain poems and songs. Case in point: both Bye Bye Blackbird and the Beatles' Blackbird. Among the definitions of bittersweet, M-W includes: pleasant but including or marked by elements of suffering or regret. That's how these two songs make me feel. I get the same effect from Danny Boy. I wonder what other songs evoke similar feelings in listeners.
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#67784
04/29/2002 3:04 AM
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 477
addict
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addict
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 477 |
what other songs evoke similar feelings in listeners
Didn't want to leave you lolling about here on your own, but this one requires some thought, so - in the words of Arnie - I'll be back...
'course, Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve comes straight to mind, but mainly because of the name. 
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#67785
04/29/2002 3:24 AM
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189 |
what other songs evoke similar feelings in listeners
VINCENT
by Don MacLean
"Starry starry night,
Paint your palette blue and gray..."
Somewhere (...a time for us), West Side Story, Bernstein/Sondheim
Summertime, Porgy 'n' Bess, George Gershwin (and, IMHO, and after much painstaking thought, I picked this song as #1 on the 20th century list...but that's a whole nother thread).
The Only WO'N!
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#67786
04/29/2002 3:26 AM
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636 |
"River" by Joni Mitchell
I find that most of her songs pre-1975 have an element of bittersweet to them.
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#67787
04/29/2002 3:40 AM
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189 |
Send in the Clowns, A Little Night Music, Stephen Sondheim, recorded by Judy Collins
The Only WO'N!
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#67788
04/29/2002 8:58 AM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055 |
bittersweet - ah yes, oxymoronic language is a favourite for writers and composers enchanted and/or enchained by love. I always liked the idea of 'slaving to need'. And there's is of course the concept of a fine line between pleasure and pain so often used.
I'm not sure where the 'sweet' part comes in during 'Vincent'. It has a certain melancholy resolve that we've come to admire from a suicidal protagonist though.
As for some tunes that spring to my mind, one is the Bristol outfit Portishead, in particular the song 'Glory Box'. Their music reflects the slippery bittersweet state well through the employment of a melodic song, but coupled with the use of highly syncopated beats, interspersed with scratching and discordant samples, and to top it off, a lady's voice that ranges from quiet whispers to long, loud, lazy notes that fall to bits. Good stuff anyway.
For anyone that likes open-tuning and great songs there's always 'The Red House Painters' (from 4AD label) with the sweetness in the music and the bitterness in the content. Powerful yet overwhelmingly simple guitar music. Probably something for those who like Dylan or Ryan Adams, who would both deserve a mention in this topic anyway I guess.
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#67789
04/29/2002 12:55 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Speaking of birds, there is a vine called bittersweet in New England that had been planted on the small farm I lived on for thirty years. Allegedly the birds ate the seeds. I never saw it happen. Allegedly the seeds on the vines were decorative. Not in my estimation. I spent many hours trying to get rid of it. For a picture of it, see: http://makeashorterlink.com/?Z198516C
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#67790
04/29/2002 1:24 PM
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189 |
Dylan
Sara, Bob Dylan
The Only WO'N!
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#67791
04/29/2002 3:14 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Bob Dylan
Ya talk about Dylan, he thinks yer talkin bout Bob Dylan (whoever he was). The cat ain't got no kulchuh.
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#67792
04/29/2002 3:27 PM
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
Linda Ronstadt's recording of Skylark.
Bill, bittersweet grows here in Virginia, too. The dried berries on branches are really pretty and look nice in baskets, crockery and other receptacles. Those dried berries look a little like dried cranberries.
Berry regards,
WW
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#67793
04/29/2002 3:45 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
There is a song by an Australian band called The Hoodoo Gurus called "Bittersweet," but the song itself isn't bittersweet -- it rocks. It's one of my all time favorite rock and roll songs with three chords, a good beat, and a lot of energy and exhuberance.
"Keeping Awake" by the Innocence Mission is sort of bittersweet. Another Beatles number that's bittersweet is "In My life." So is Stan Getz "Corcovado (Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars)", almost. [see the thread on beauty in all its forms].
I like "Corcovado" because it illustrates how a person in love changes from a pessimist (if they were one to begin with) to an optimist:
I who was lost and lonely, believing life was only
a bitter, tragic joke have found with you
the meaning of existence, oh my love..."
At the end of the second line, when the word "you" is sung, it's the most beautiful note in the whole song. Such an amazing composition -- and to think the lyrics in English are just the translation from the original Portuguese!
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#67794
04/29/2002 4:11 PM
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189 |
Ya talk about Dylan, he thinks yer talkin bout Bob Dylan (whoever he was). The cat ain't got no kulchuh.You're right, Faldage!...whatever was I thinking? Here's the true Dylan. Sorry, folks...guess I'm just not a super-hipster anymore (sigh)... http://www.dylan.org/home.htmlThe Only WO'N!
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#67795
04/29/2002 4:56 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Here's the true Dylan.
Not the Dylan I had in mind, but.
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#67796
04/29/2002 9:49 PM
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636 |
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#67797
04/29/2002 9:57 PM
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189 |
How about this one then?
Yeahbut®, he's just a real son of a Dylan.
The Only WO'N!
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#67798
04/30/2002 5:36 AM
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065 |
Surely it must be this Dylan.
http://www.sugarlumpstudio.co.uk/html/figures/mr_dylan.htm
Bingley
Bingley
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