Roger Harty: Songs About Time

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rsz_roger_hartyARTISTS often fascinate me, especially for the way they give us an insight into the manner of how we live our lives.

Art is a very broad term as it can include painting, music, prose, poetry, writing etc. etc. but for the purpose of this article music is the one I wish to concentrate on.

Whether it be pain (or joy!) from living, sheer genius, or simply ordinary everyday life experience great musicians and singers seem to be able to capture the essence of living in song and music.

Because they capture and enthral us with feelings that every human being will experience at one time or another is the very reason that these songs are so popular.

They connect with us, and it is because of this very connection that they have millions of ‘hits’ on YouTube. As these songs are timeless they were also classics long before YouTube was invented and will be there also long after it is gone.

For the purpose of this exercise I am going to give two examples from The Past, Future and Present.

The Past

Yesterday
Written by Paul McCartney, performed by The Beatles and released in 1965, the song represents the joys of yesterday when all our troubles seen so far away.

Paul wrote the music but had difficulty with the lyrics. He used makee-uppy lines (‘Scrambled eggs/Oh my baby how I love your legs/Not as much as I love scrambled eggs’) before he came up with the timeless lyrics of Yesterday.

Time in a bottle
This is a hit single by singer-songwriter Jim Croce. Croce wrote the lyrics after his wife Ingrid told him she was pregnant with his son, Adrian, in December 1970.

When Croce was killed in a plane crash in September 1973, the song’s lyrics, dealing with mortality and the wish to have more time, had additional resonance.

The Future

Tomorrow
“Tomorrow” is a song from the musical Annie, with music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Martin Charnin, published in 1977.

The song apparently pronounces an optimistic view of life through its main themes, ‘hang on until tomorrow’ and ‘when I’m stuck with a day that’s grey and lonely, I just stick out my chin and grin’.

If tomorrow never comes

Written by Garth Brooks and Kent Blazy, it was released in August 1989. A man lies awake at night, thinking what would happen in his love’s mind if he were to die the next day.

‘If tomorrow never comes, will she know how much I love her?’ It was also a huge hit for Ronan Keating.

The Present

One day at a time

This is a popular Country and Western-style Christian song written by Marijohn Wilkin and Kris     Kristofferson.

It has been recorded by over 200 artists and has reached No.1 in several countries. “One Day at a Time” was recorded by Gloria who released it as a single in August 1977.

This song is treated like an anthem for anyone trying to recover from addiction of any type. ‘Lord for my sake, teach me to take, One Day at a Time!’ It is teaching us to live in The Now.

Wherever I lay my hat

“Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home)” is a song written by Marvin Gaye, Barrett Strong and Norman Whitfield, and first recorded by Gaye in 1962.

This song was also recorded by Paul Young and released in 1983. The essence of the song is a guy telling his girl that he is a drifter and that wherever he lays his ‘hat’ that’s where he is.

On a deeper level it tells us to ‘Be’ wherever we ‘Are’.

This is my simple exercise on ‘Songs About Time’ – I’m sure you can come up with many more as ‘time’ is something that has definitely enthralled artists down through the ages.

• Next week I am going to write about – Searching for Happiness

One Comment

  1. Very, very nice. Evocative! Thank you.

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