Two songs and a whole album had such an emotional impact on me in the last 10 years that tears rolled down my cheeks. Music from three different decades, totally different genres and definitely favourites from these three artists.
One of Bono’s best songs, “One”, showed up on the 1991 U2 album “Achtung Baby”, but the song reached a whole new emotional level when Mary J. Blige lent her voice to U2’s backing track fifteen years later. I was totally stunned when I heard it for the first time on the radio, though it wasn’t played much at all in Sweden it seems. I loved U2’s version too, but Mary’s singing transcended Bono’s and gave it a whole new dimension. I’ve bought many U2 albums, including “Boy”, the day after they played live on Swedish TV for the first time in 1980, but I’ve never seen them live. Bono preaching from the stage is not something I’ve ever longed for, however sincere he is, but if the opportunity to see them comes along again, I’ll go for it. I won’t hold my breath for an appearance from Mary, though.
I have a pretty big garden which demands a lot of lawn-mowing and with that I have no problem at all. When I’m not immersed in my own thoughts I like to listen to an album while I’m mowing. A few years ago I reached out for the Kate Bush album “Hounds of Love” on Spotify and listened to the whole of it in my mowing bubble. I bought the vinyl album when it came out in 1985, but had never listened so intensely to the whole album on earphones as I did on that day, with the resulting flood of emotions. The intimacy you get from the lack of distractions! “Hounds of Love” is a genuine masterpiece from beginning to end from a true artist. Kate forever!
Last up, a bunch of men so utterly removed from life as we know it in Europe, that even I have difficulty understanding my connection to them: Eagles. I watched a video of a concert recorded in Melbourne from their first farewell tour and when Don Henley stepped up to the microphone to sing “Wasted Time”, something hit me right between the eyes and I was done again. Gone again. I was something of an Eagles fan in the early 70’s and bought both “Desperado” (1973) and “Hotel California” (1976) and my friends had all the others, but then along came punk/new wave and I lost all interest in the band. And never regained it, though naturally that didn’t stop me watching the video concert. So what was that about? Nostalgia? Mourning lost youth? Who knows. But what I do know is that the song is great, Henley sang it very well and I’ve always loved the timbre in his voice. And I can still listen to “Hotel California”.
What’s really weird is the vast number of songs that I’ve loved and which have affected me greatly or been an inspiration over the years, but which haven’t provoked this sort of emotional response, or anything close to it. What about all the Beatle’s stuff? Nope. This could be an interesting subject to discuss with my psychoanalyst. If I had one.