Here are 12 of my favorites. If you haven't REALLY listened to these songs, try them again.
He Went To Paris - Jimmy Buffett
Beautifully told story of a man's life regarding aspirations, love, loss, and reflection. One of the greatest songs ever imo.
Cleopatra - The Lumineers
From the songwriters:
Black - Pearl Jam
Some of the best poetry in rock music about a man who has lost his love:
Traveling Soldier - Bruce Robison (made famous by The Dixie Chicks)
You all know it. If it didn't touch your soul the first time you heard it, you weren't listening.
Carolina Drama - The Raconteurs
Jack telling the story of a murder in Carolina. If you haven't heard it, check it out. It will stick with you.
Ruby's Two Sad Daughters - Pat Green
Just a beautiful song that anyone who grew up in a small town can relate to.
Jeremy - Pearl Jam
You all know it. But had to list it. Based on the true story of a Dallas kid who commits suicide in front of his classmates who bullied him.
Elephant - Jason Isbell
Sad as ****, but it's about as honest of a description of death as you'll find. What a great songwriter.
He Stopped Loving Her Today - George Jones
Classic and arguably the greatest country song of all time. My mother divorced my father, and he never stopped loving her. Kept her picture in his wallet until he died. This song always reminds me of him as I lost him when I was twelve.
Night Moves - Bob Seger
This song just makes me think of being a young man figuring it out. Oh, to be young...
Time - Pink Floyd
A beautiful song about how fast life goes by. Absolutely great poetry.
The House That Built Me - Miranda Lambert
First heard this song driving down I35, and it immediately struck me. Another gem about growing up in a small town.
He Went To Paris - Jimmy Buffett
Beautifully told story of a man's life regarding aspirations, love, loss, and reflection. One of the greatest songs ever imo.
Cleopatra - The Lumineers
From the songwriters:
Quote:
We often get asked why the title Cleopatra for this song, the name worked so well because here is this young girl, overflowing with confidence and believing the world is her oyster she will rule it one day! As she looks back, she realizes that at that age, we try on all of these masks of identity, like an actress. We are confident in the world and ourselves, but with very little experience to back that up.
She's older now, but when she was about 16, she unexpectedly lost her father. And in the midst of that loss, her boyfriend with whom she was madly in love with asked her to marry him Georgia was a particularly religious country (Russian Orthodox) and it wasn't uncommon to marry young. She was still reeling and numb from the death of her father and refused to give him an answer.
Her boyfriend, after hearing no answer to his marriage proposal, left their small town rejected, never to return again. The day he had proposed it had been raining, and he had tracked in muddy footprints onto the carpet. She refused to wash these footprints off and always felt that he was the great love of her life.
Black - Pearl Jam
Some of the best poetry in rock music about a man who has lost his love:
Quote:
I know someday you'll have a beautiful life
I know you'll be a star
In somebody else's sky
But why
Why
Why can't it be
Oh can't it be mine
Traveling Soldier - Bruce Robison (made famous by The Dixie Chicks)
You all know it. If it didn't touch your soul the first time you heard it, you weren't listening.
Carolina Drama - The Raconteurs
Jack telling the story of a murder in Carolina. If you haven't heard it, check it out. It will stick with you.
Ruby's Two Sad Daughters - Pat Green
Just a beautiful song that anyone who grew up in a small town can relate to.
Quote:
When the sun hits it right on its way down
It was the prettiest thing in our little town.
Every hour I'd sneak a glance over at the plastic frame cracked glass
That held the picture of Ruby's two sad daughters.
The last mill closed when I was nine,
And daddy left,
And momma cried, again.
I spent my nights cleaning Ruby's floors.
Just another cafe
On a wind swept highway.
And the farmers *****ed,
We're no good at football anymore.
In this land that knows no laughter,
And this land that holds no water,
We were all in love
With Ruby's two sad daughters.
Jeremy - Pearl Jam
You all know it. But had to list it. Based on the true story of a Dallas kid who commits suicide in front of his classmates who bullied him.
Elephant - Jason Isbell
Sad as ****, but it's about as honest of a description of death as you'll find. What a great songwriter.
He Stopped Loving Her Today - George Jones
Classic and arguably the greatest country song of all time. My mother divorced my father, and he never stopped loving her. Kept her picture in his wallet until he died. This song always reminds me of him as I lost him when I was twelve.
Night Moves - Bob Seger
This song just makes me think of being a young man figuring it out. Oh, to be young...
Quote:
She was a black haired beauty with big dark eyes
And points all her own, sitting way up high
Way up firm and high
Time - Pink Floyd
A beautiful song about how fast life goes by. Absolutely great poetry.
And just for effect, here's a haunting version of Time by a street musician in Rome:Quote:
You are young and life is long, and there is time to kill today
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun
And you run, and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death
The House That Built Me - Miranda Lambert
First heard this song driving down I35, and it immediately struck me. Another gem about growing up in a small town.
Quote:
Up those stairs in that little back bedroom
Is where I did my homework and I learned to play guitar
And I bet you didn't know under that live oak
My favorite dog is buried in the yard
