Day #26 of the 30 Day Song Challeng

[shadowkat]

Day #26 of the 30 Day Music Meme - a song that makes you want to fall in love.

Hmm. I was going to go with Bruce Springsteen's song "Fire" - then I listened to it, and thought...okay, maybe not. The lyrics of that song are...well..hmmm. See all I remember is the husky voice and the lyric "when we kiss, fire", what I did NOT remember - was "I lean close, you say you don't like it.." or "I'll take you home, but you want to be alone" - that part I did not remember. Ugh. That's the weird bit about songs, for me at any rate - I don't always remember them.

This is kind of a difficult category. Particularly if you are single, and romantic love continues to be a rather painful carrot perpetually out of reach. I've learned over time that romantic love isn't unconditional and kind of painful, it's often judgmental and more about...well not love.

The love of my life isn't romantic. It's a skinny little girl with dark brown eyes, and a pixie voice who loves with her whole heart. I'd die for that little girl. I don't care if she loves me back. I just love her. And lucky for me she does. That's love - unconditional - where it doesn't matter if the other person loves you, gives you presents, or makes you feel good.
You just love them. Just seeing them is enough. Just knowing they are there is enough.

So...with that in mind...it's kind of hard to find a love song. And as you all know by now? My music memory sucks beans. I can't remember many songs.
When I think of love songs that make me want to fall in love again...these are the two that come to mind today at this moment in time (and I'm too lazy to scroll through any more). Make of that what you will.

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

Comments

(frozen)

[cjlasky7]

Body of a linebacker. Voice of an angel.

Aaron Neville, "Tell It Like It Is"

https://youtu.be/6HjCbKnzDzQ

[wendelah1]

I love Springsteen and I love "Fire" but imho it works better sung by The Pointer Sisters. Doing it from the woman's POV makes it crystal clear that the feelings are mutual. Sexier, too. YMMV.

[shadowkat]

Haven't heard the Pointer Sisters version. Only heard Springsteen and James Marsters sing it.

[wendelah1]

The single was a huge hit for them in the late seventies. It played on the radio constantly. Theirs was the first recording, for sure. It was certainly in the liner notes but I doubt I read them. Not certain if I knew Springsteen wrote the song until the internet... (I'm such a dork.)

Fire by the Pointer Sisters

[shadowkat]

You're right it works better with the Pointer Sisters. I like their version better. I think Springsteen's would have worked better if he'd sung it the same way they did.

It doesn't work when the singer says - "I pull you close, you say you don't want to but when we kiss fire" - it sounds like "rape-seduction". But the opposite sounds more like - I'm attracted to you, but we can't - push me, pull me banter.

Reminds me of the song - Baby, It's Cold Outside. It depends on how it's sung and who is singing which role.

[wendelah1]

When Springsteen sings, it's like he's telling his girlfriend how she feels, which is kind of weird, even apart from the coercion. (It might have worked for Elvis? That's who Springsteen had in mind when he wrote the song. God I love Wikipedia.) Whereas when Anita Pointer sings, she's telling us how she feels about the guy. "Baby it's cold outside" is a perfect analog.

[shadowkat]

It is, isn't it?

I just looked up "Fire" too. You're right, it might have worked for Elvis - except then again maybe not. (Elvis...eh, he had an odd rep with women.) OTOH - he tended to flirt, and came across as harmless - there was a feminine characteristic to Elvis that Springsteen lacks. Springsteen comes across as dangerous. Johnny Cash couldn't sing that song effectively either. Marsters - sings it kind of like Spike would - which...is a bit more similar to Elvis actually.

I've begun to realize that lyrics change depending on how a song is sung. (Also Springsteen, great singer that he is, doesn't exactly have the best rep in regards to women.)

Another song that has "interesting" lyrics, that no one appears to really listen to - is Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah. People sing it as if it's a song about heaven, or something. It's a song about a broken relationship. And sex. "She tied you to a chair, and elicited a Hallelujah"...that's BDSM sex, hello?

[mefisto]

This is the weirdest thing. Hallelujah is about a love affair gone cold (with sex too, as you say): "It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah". Bad song for a politician already in office, but it reminds me of when Reagan used to play "Born in the USA" just for the refrain without ever caring about the lyrics.

The Pointer Sisters version is the only one for me. I have it on my playlist but not Springsteen.

[cjlasky7]

From Leonard Cohen himself:

"This world is full of conflicts and full of things that cannot be reconciled. But there are moments when we can... reconcile and embrace the whole mess, and that's what I mean by 'Hallelujah'.

"The song explains that many kinds of hallelujahs do exist, and all the perfect and broken hallelujahs have equal value. It's a desire to affirm my faith in life, not in some formal, religious way, but with enthusiasm, with emotion."

The version of the song that broke it wide open:

https://youtu.be/y8AWFf7EAc4

[mefisto]

Interesting. That's not at all the way I interpreted it.

[shadowkat]

You're citing the version played with most television shows - and how most people became familiar with it. Specifically from the episode The West Wing.

I've since heard better ones, done by women. I rather love KD Lang's and Jennifer Holliday's...mainly because it twists the song in an interesting way. Also someone at my church did a version of it that made me cry.

When men sing it though - I'm very aware of the sexual connotations. ;-)

[shadowkat]

It's a bad song for any politician in office. A friend of mine said last night via text message (we were text messaging) - that "everything was politicized now, you couldn't have an adult discussion about anything any longer". True.

I mean even songs. I happen to like the Bruce Springsteen song - it works well with his voice, and is seductive. But I'm also a heterosexual female and I've never been sexually assaulted, so it's not a trigger for me. Nor do I interpret it in that manner. But, after listening to and reading the lyrics - I thought, okay, this is a politically incorrect song and will piss off my audience, lets find something less politicized.

Which is kind of sad if you think about it. It can be interpreted more than one way. Kind of like the song Baby It's Cold Outside, Hallelujah, or Gypsies Tramps and Thieves.
Depends on how you sing it, the context, and the singer...I think.

[mefisto]

All true. I often listen to older songs and think it would be interesting to have a female artist cover them, or even to switch the pronouns in the songs themselves.

[shadowkat]

Exactly - when you listen to.. Baby It's Cold Outside as sung by two men to each other...

or..This version with Lady Gaga and Jordan Gordon-Levitt : https://youtu.be/_9VQ6f3jzEw

They swapped the roles.

Then looked at the original version..https://youtu.be/7MFJ7ie_yGU

But if you watch the original - it's not a negative song at all. It's banter, or playful flirting. And within the context of the time period - it's not pressure at all. But you can interpret it as negative.

[mefisto]

I had a debate with my daughter on this (she's 37). In my view, the song wasn't offensive because in the context of 1945 (or so) all it meant was that they were drinking and flirting. But of course in her lifetime roofies and date rape were real things and it bothered her.

[shadowkat]

If you watch it in the original movie - Neptune's Daughter - it's done both ways. One humorous with Red Skelton as the one who wants to leave and keeps stating, I got to get home, and the first version with Esther Williams wanting to leave. Both are played lightly for laughs. But in the Sinatra film Come Blow Your Horn - it's offensive when Sinatra sings it - mainly because Sinatra comes across as a predator.

Now, it doesn't work. Hence the Lady Gaga/Gordon Levitt version, and the Glee versions.

Context is everything.

[mefisto]

Yep.

Re: "Fire"

[cjlasky7]

Pointers > Bruce

Robin Williams as Elmer Fudd singing "Fire" > Pointers and Bruce

https://youtu.be/1vT-VaMXsAw

Re: "Fire"

[atpo_onm]

Yes! What a moment! Thank you for finding this little masterpiece!

What a wascally wabbit that Williams was!

:-)

[atpo_onm]

Good choices, especially enjoyed the Flack one. Midler, sadly, doesn't often get credit for how damn good she is at quite a lot of things.

This one does it for me, definitely, seeing as how the end sequence where Hanks and Hannah's characters swim off together to this beautiful city under the sea both makes me cry (in happiness for them) and simultaneously feel sorry for myself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPUmf8yqmGE

A great movie, still. Popular at the time of it's release, a big career step for both actors, it had quite a few subtleties tucked in and around the comedy. And then-- that fabulous twist at the ending where they subvert the prior norms and he follows her, giving up his life on the land to be with her.

[shadowkat]

I forgot the end of that movie. Tom Hanks is the rare male actor that both men and women love, which explains his popularity. Daryl Hannah didn't quite achieve that - she doesn't grab women the same as men - while she was good in this role, I found the actress hard to relate to, which is why the actress hasn't done as well.

I like the song. Thanks for this.