5 Songs That Devastate Me
Anne Litt, KCRW DJ.
As a music fan, I have a love/hate relationship with lists. I always grumble through putting together a “top 10” of anything and if you ask me to rank them in order… forget about it. That said, there’s nothing I love more than talking about my favorite tracks, albums, etc and I realized if I were to do any sort of “top 5” I needed to start at the beginning. My own beginning with music. It’s about the way these songs make me feel.
For me, this music is the reason I do what I do. Some represent a moment in time, some represent emotion, but they all are pieces of music that stop me dead in my tracks. They are intensely personal and are my own poetry.
The Beatles – “For No One”
I first heard this song on the eve of my 10th birthday. I was in the 4th grade. My family was going to Disneyworld for spring break and I had just discovered the Beatles through my best friend’s aunt. I asked for one of their albums and my parents chose Revolver for me. Wow. I listened to the cassette of Revolver over and over again in the caron one of those old portable cassette players. When I heard this song (and album) I knew it was about something big and something important but I didn’t quite understand what it was. I could tell that it was the saddest song about lost love I had ever heard without knowing what lost love was. Even at that age, I somehow got the irony of being at Disneyworld while listening to Revolver. This is where it all started.
The Kinks – “Waterloo Sunset”
Not long after I moved to Los Angeles, I was driving on Mulholland at about 2:30 in the morning by myself. Gary Calamar was on KCRW and he played “Waterloo Sunset.” I pulled over, looked at the view and just listened to the music and felt very in love with that time and place.
Debussey – “Claire de Lune”
To me this song is about peace. If everyone in the world could listen to this piece of music at the same time, I’m fully convinced that all of our world’s problems would be solved. How can you listen to “Claire de Lune” and feel angry or feel like going to war or feel like not taking really good care of your children?
Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass – “A Taste Of Honey”
This devastates me in a dance-around-the-living-room-and-have-a-party kind of way. It reminds me of long summer evenings in Virginia, a house full of people having fun — laughing, eating, cocktails for the grown-ups and catching lightning bugs for the children. I play it as much as possible for my son, Guy.
Johnny Cash – “If You Could Read My Mind”
This is a Gordon Lightfoot song from the 70’s. Although this story has nothing to do with this particular song, I think of it when I hear Johnny Cash perform “If You Could Read My Mind.” I saw June Carter Cash perform at the Troubadour in the late 90’s and she brought Johnny Cash on stage to do “Ring of Fire” The love and devotion they had for each other and the way they looked into each other’s eyes is what struck me most about the performance. True love.
When I heard this particular song it was about three years after both of their deaths on Johnny Cash’s posthumous release, American V, one of his last collaborations with Rick Rubin. The feeling in his voice at the end of his life and the lyrics of the song never fail to turn me inside out. A true American master. Listen to this under headphones. You will weep.
