mainly music
Wow, I'm so busy of late it's not even funny. An example: after all these months, roseveare has started sending me beta comments for the late chapters of Symphony, and I have found no time to do even the simple stuff.
And even so, my librarian thesis is still pathetically behind. (In less than three weeks, it's supposed to be 40 pages. It's currently about 15. Ick.)
So obviously I'll distract myself by writing in my LJ.
I've been humming some of my old favourite making-myself-cry songs, and it occurred to me that all the songs I used to sing to make myself cry are Swedish. I didn't know if it was because English-language songs aren't as sad, or if it's because the saddest songs are old songs (and I just don't know as many old English-language songs) or if I've just somehow missed out on the real tearjerkers.
Thus I ask you all to tell me your favourite making-yourself-cry songs, especially if they are in English.
The ones I've been using are the following:
I en sal på lasarettet (In a hospital room) - a children's song about a girl with tuberculosis who keeps asking the doctor when she gets to go home. Naturally, she is dead by the final verse. This was my first making-myself-cry song and has long since stopped working due to overuse.
Lejonbruden (The Lion's Bride) - an old folk song about the animal tamer's daughter who is forced into marriage. The lion kills her rather than letting her go to her awful fiancé, and the fiancé in his turn shoots the lion. The delightfully melodramatic last verse in translation: "And after he's drunk his beloved's blood, he lies down quietly, his spirits down. By the paling corpse he seeks his comfort - a bullet, murderous, hitting his chest." Has also long since stopped working.
Elin i Hagen (Elin of the Valley) - a song by poet Gustaf Fröding, about an unwed mother who drowns her baby and is sent to prison. Can still work sometimes if I'm in a mood.
Briggen Blue Bird av Hull (The Brig Blue Bird of Hull) - a song by Evert Taube (learn the name, all interested in Swedish music) about a shipwreck, where the sailors are rescued only to find out that their rescuer's son was the boy who steered them ashore, and whom they forgot on board. (Can you say "oops"?) Like the previous song, still works sometimes if I'm in a mood.
I could really use some new ones. Care to help me? *grin*
In return, I'll offer you some yousendit files of songs that are guaranteed not to make you cry - Tom Lehrer songs, to be precise. I downloaded them a few days ago, and uploading them again is a way to share my love as well as kicking the new law-to-be in the ass.
National Brotherhood Week
Poisoning Pidgeons in the Park
Vatican Rag
Werner von Braun
Enjoy!
And even so, my librarian thesis is still pathetically behind. (In less than three weeks, it's supposed to be 40 pages. It's currently about 15. Ick.)
So obviously I'll distract myself by writing in my LJ.
I've been humming some of my old favourite making-myself-cry songs, and it occurred to me that all the songs I used to sing to make myself cry are Swedish. I didn't know if it was because English-language songs aren't as sad, or if it's because the saddest songs are old songs (and I just don't know as many old English-language songs) or if I've just somehow missed out on the real tearjerkers.
Thus I ask you all to tell me your favourite making-yourself-cry songs, especially if they are in English.
The ones I've been using are the following:
I en sal på lasarettet (In a hospital room) - a children's song about a girl with tuberculosis who keeps asking the doctor when she gets to go home. Naturally, she is dead by the final verse. This was my first making-myself-cry song and has long since stopped working due to overuse.
Lejonbruden (The Lion's Bride) - an old folk song about the animal tamer's daughter who is forced into marriage. The lion kills her rather than letting her go to her awful fiancé, and the fiancé in his turn shoots the lion. The delightfully melodramatic last verse in translation: "And after he's drunk his beloved's blood, he lies down quietly, his spirits down. By the paling corpse he seeks his comfort - a bullet, murderous, hitting his chest." Has also long since stopped working.
Elin i Hagen (Elin of the Valley) - a song by poet Gustaf Fröding, about an unwed mother who drowns her baby and is sent to prison. Can still work sometimes if I'm in a mood.
Briggen Blue Bird av Hull (The Brig Blue Bird of Hull) - a song by Evert Taube (learn the name, all interested in Swedish music) about a shipwreck, where the sailors are rescued only to find out that their rescuer's son was the boy who steered them ashore, and whom they forgot on board. (Can you say "oops"?) Like the previous song, still works sometimes if I'm in a mood.
I could really use some new ones. Care to help me? *grin*
In return, I'll offer you some yousendit files of songs that are guaranteed not to make you cry - Tom Lehrer songs, to be precise. I downloaded them a few days ago, and uploading them again is a way to share my love as well as kicking the new law-to-be in the ass.
National Brotherhood Week
Poisoning Pidgeons in the Park
Vatican Rag
Werner von Braun
Enjoy!