Tag: honest playlist

Crying and dying music

Hymn To Joy

This continues my response to J. Eric Smith’s The Honest Playlist prompt, with his answers here. It turned out to be crying and dying music.

Crying

The song that makes me cry is “A LOT OF MUSIC MAKES ME CRY,“ and it’s become more frequent over time. Sad songs such as these can be tied to failed romance. Also in the category is “Harvest Moon” by Neil Young. A friend was playing that song by Cassandra Wilson and wondered if it made me feel down; no, it’s the specific cadence of the original.

Lullabye by Billy Joel, especially after I heard an a cappella group from Binghamton, NY perform it c. 1995. It’s the bridge.

The inverse pedal point.

Silent Eyes by Paul Simon. The Boxer by Simon and Garfunkel; see the description here. Biko by Peter Gabriel, specifically at the end. There are quite a few songs. 

I wrote here about my mom in 2016, five years after she died: “I went to church [back in Albany] that last Sunday of the month when we sang Lift Every Voice and Sing, which I’ve sung for years. But I can barely get through it anymore without crying, and it started that day when I knew, profoundly, that my mom, and my last living ancestor, was gone.”

There’s a Lenten hymn called “Ah, Holy Jesus.” The second verse ends with “I crucified You.”  It always makes me verklempt.

But it doesn’t always have to be sad. Lots of organ music affects me; it often offers power chords at the end. I’m a sucker for the very last, very high note Julie Andrews sings in Do-Re-Mi from The Sound of Music. Or the growl by Paul Carrack in Squeeze’s Tempted. The modulation in She’s Gone by Hall and Oates; that song won me $48. There are a slew of them. But they don’t always affect me the same way every time.

Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye

The song I’d like played at my funeral: Coincidentally, in the spring of 2025,  folks in our adult education class at church talked about what music, scripture, etc., the participants would like to have at their funerals. I wasn’t there because the choir rehearses at the same time.

If you want to play music in the lead-up to my funeral, I’d suggest the Barber adagio or Raindrop Prelude by Chopin. The Chopin begins and ends simply, but the middle (the inverse pedal point section) is the stormy section. 

At the beginning, I’d love to have a recording of My Prayer by the Beach Boys. It’s not very long but effective.

How Lovely Is Thy Dwelling Place from the Brahms Requiem, in English, would be nice during the service. Also, I Will Not Leave You Comfortless by Everett Titcomb, or Come Thou Holy Spirit by Pavel Tschesnokoff.

I want someone to sing the response to Psalm 29, the arrangement by Hal Hopson, as one of the scripture pieces, along with readings of Psalm 150 and Matthew 25:34-40. 

Hymns

Pick some hymns with harmonization; I don’t want a bunch of boring unison singing. Here are some options from a previous Presbyterian hymnal. They are in page order, not by any preference:

Holy, Holy, Holy (Nicaea)—I now know the blessed Trinity refers to God’s manifestations, but it evokes in me my first church in Binghamton (Trinity AME Zion) and in Albany (Trinity United Methodist). And it’s the first hymn in what a late ex-girlfriend used to refer to as the “real Methosdist hymnal.”

It Is Well With My Soul (Ville Du Havre) – sung at several Trinity UMC funerals

God of the Ages, Whose Almighty Hand (National Hymn). I always loved the trumpet opening. We sang some version of this in elementary school around Thanksgiving.

Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise (St. Denio)

Guide Me, Oh Thou Great Jehovah (Cwm Rhondda)- I always loved the bass vocal flourish in the last line. It reminds me of someone specific.

How Firm A Foundation (Foundation)

My Hope Is Built On Nothing Less (Sold Rock)

O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go (St. Margaret)

Precious Lord (Precious Lord)

Lord, You Give the Great Commission (Abbot’s Leigh) – this has a great bass line.

The Church’s One Foundation (Aurelia) – I’m a sucker for old Wesleyan hymns

Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Theee (Hymn To Joy) – roll over, Beethoven

For The Beauty of the Earth (Dix)

When Morning Gilds The Skies (Laudes Domini)

And in the end

Near the end, I want God Be With You Till We Meet Again (Randolph) or Now The Day Is Over (Merrial), and most importantly, I want a seven-fold Amen. We don’t sing enough Amens in our service.

I need a postlude, something I could feel viscerally if I sat in the choir loft. One option would be the Toccata from Symphony V by Charles-Marie Widor, which I first heard in 1992 at my graduation from library school. But there are others.

Finally, I want someone to play a recording of In The Mood by The Henhouse Five (Plus Two), the nom de poulet of Ray Stevens, purveyor of eclectic songs such as Gitarzan, Mr. Businessman, Everything Is Beautiful, and The Streak. I have the song on a Warner Bros. Loss Leader. He showed that, and I’ve known this ever since, almost anything can be done in chicken. (See, for example, Ode To Chicken by TwoSetViolin.)

I suppose this is all subject to change, with music I’m not thinking of. (I’m REALLY bad at remembering names of instrumentals.) And since I’ll be, er, dead, I don’t want to handcuff the planners of my funeral TOO much. But I thought it was a pretty good first draft. 

The Honest Playlist, part 1

inverse pedal point

It’s J. Eric Smith’s fault that I’m doing the Honest Playlist. He is an old blogger buddy of mine—well, he is not that old—who used to live in the Albany area but now resides in Arizona.

He explained the setup, which you can read here. It involves, in part, Flight of the Conchords, which I have never seen, but that is not required for this exercise.

“The premise of the recurring feature is that artists are given a set of song-based questions which they must answer, honestly.” And I have to do this because Eric namechecked me, curse him.

The first song I remember hearing: I don’t really know, but it is likely one of my father’s 45s. It may also be Be Kind To Your Parents. I’ve written about this before, but the previous link is the correct version. It was on a red 45 that my sister Leslie and I played on our record player all the time.

The first song I fell in love with: From my father’s singles, 45 Men a Telephone Booth by The Four Tophatters.

The first album I bought: Beatles VI from the Capitol Record Club, which I paid for with proceeds of my newspaper route delivering the Evening and Sunday Press in Binghamton, NY circa 1966.

The song I do at karaoke: I seldom do karaoke, but it’d be Talking Heads’ version of Take Me To The River.

Party!

The best song to play at a party: I initially thought of songs my daughter and I know and like. The first thing that came up: Motown Philly by Boyz II Men; she was jealous when her mother and I saw the group at Chautauqua in 2024. Then I thought, maybe some Motown, such as the obvious Dancing In The Street by Martha Reeves & The Vandellas or the obscure, though it went to #2 on the pop charts, I Heard Through the Grapevine by Gladys Knight and the Pips. How about Twist and Shout by that Liverpool group? Ultimately, I landed on Sledgehammer by Peter Gabriel, which is slower than the video suggests.

The song I inexplicably know every lyric to: The Ballad of the Green Berets by SSgt. Barry Sadler. It WAS the song that spent the longest at #1 pop in 1966, at five weeks, when I turned 13 and was listening heavily to the radio. (The Monkees’ I’m A Believer started their run in ’66 but most of it was in ’67.)

The third and final verse and chorus:

Back at home, a young wife waitsHer Green Beret has met his fateHe has died for those oppressedLeaving her his last request

Put silver wings on my son’s chestMake him one of America’s bestHe’ll be a man they’ll test one dayHave him win the Green Beret

Even then, I wondered about rhyming oppressed with request – I’m pretty sure Stephen Sondheim would not have approved – but after hearing Defying Gravity from Wicked pronounced “gravidy,” I’ve surrendered on the point.

Ick

The song I can no longer listen to: Oddly, I don’t think there is one. After making lists of songs that hit #1 from the first third of the 20th century and listening to songs that are boldly racist, I have tough skin on this.

Now, I do hear songs that have changed for the worse. I’m thinking of  The Homecoming Queen’s Got A Gun by Julie Brown, which appears on a Dr. Demento CD I play every April for his birthday. It makes me reflect that it was supposed to be funny in 1990—it really wasn’t—but in the last quarter century of school shootings, it’s even less comfortable. 

Back in 2019, Arthur asked: About your Rolf Harris song [Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport] – it raises a question: Are we under any obligation to erase performers or songs we once liked because it later turns out that they were either allegedly or actually terrible humans or allegedly or actually did terrible things, like Rolf?

I was disinclined broadly, though Eric was eloquent in dismissing several artists,  notably Michael Jackson. He is incidentally correct that Off The Wall is better than Thriller. I think of all those Phil Spector-produced songs I wouldn’t want to give up. Generally, music is a multifaceted endeavor.

Non-musical sidebar: I STILL remember chunks of Bill Cosby routines verbatim from repeated listening.

But it’s weird because if I were watching films, I might experience a greater ick factor. I’m thinking Woody Allen’s Manhattan or American Beauty with Kevin Spacey. 

Guilty Pleasures?

 The song I secretly like: I have a soft spot for Seals and Crofts. I saw them with my then-girlfriend on November 12, 1971 in New York City. (Why do I remember that date? Because it was the birthday of Baháʼu’lláh’, who founded the Baháʼí Faith. Anyway, I was listening to them recently, and i think Yellow Dirt is a hoot. 

The best song to have sex with: Eric wrote, “I’m a gentleman, yo. That’s none of your business. Sheesh.” Sure. That said, I can’t think of an answer anyway. 

The song I’ve always hated: You Light Up My Life – Debby Boone, You’re Having My Baby -Paul Anka, several others. But I can easily avoid them.

The song that changed my life: Quintet/Tonight from West Side Story. Can you do multiple melodies like that? This is why this musical was my favorite.

The song that gets me up in the morning: Never a single album or artist fits the category. Generally, it’s something my wife wouldn’t mind, so John Hiatt/Ella/the Duke/world music (I’ve been listening to Playing For Change a lot)/my wife’s K girls (her designation) Alison Krauss and Diana Krall rather than Led Zeppelin/the Who/the Kinks. 

That’s enough because the last question in particular took up a lot of space. I’ll finish it next week. 

Ramblin' with Roger
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