10 Songs That Will Reduce An Open Heart To Tears: #3

I’ve turned many people onto this song over the years, but here’s my favorite story about this one..

One evening in my frolicksome twenties, I played this for a one night stand. She happened to be a music fan, and we were having a discussion about the difference between “album cuts” and “singles.”

She was a lovely girl, but it didn’t lead anywhere, and that was that.

Until about a year later.

I ran into her on the street, and ALL SHE COULD TALK ABOUT WAS THIS SONG.

She just thanked me so profusely for introducing her to one of her favorite songs.

Mine too. Probably the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard.

It sneaks in, like a whisper, and before you know it you’re swimming in atmosphere.

Listen to Tony Levin’s bass line – this is the kind of thing that puts a player on the level of “best in the world.” It’s one of those supporting yet absolutely crucial parts. The kind that, when someone hits on it in a recording studio, everyone just has an “omigod” moment. It just makes the song.

And those high-pitched, siren-like vocal swells that float in and out. Again, the sort of thing you might hear for the first time on the tenth, twentieth, hundredth listen (if ever at all). But it gives you goosebumps.

(Incidentally, those gorgeous, high-pitched swells are performed by none other than the master producer of the song and album, Daniel Lanois).

And the female vocal harmonies by none other than Sinead O’Connor.

It was this album, and above all this song, that fully inspired me to write an entire double album project – about the decay and end of a relationship – using only one other, female, voice as the harmony and counterpoint to my own.

The format came from Peter Gabriel, and this song.

And it’s got one of the greatest bridges of all time. Talk about climax and release.

I haven’t even mentioned anything at all about the content of the lyric. Suffice it to say it’s as elemental as it gets.

I hope you’ll enjoy.

P.S. There is one aspect to this song that I sometimes think about when I listen to it. With the refrain of:

The union of the woman,
The woman and the man

It seems like it could alienate gay people. I hope this is not true, but if it is, which would of course be understandable, it’s unfortunate.

Obviously, as far as art-making is concerned, an artist is free to write whatever he or she wants to, and that, in this specific instance, it seems to be part of a larger work that is extremely personal, even confessional, which is to say autobiographical.

I would only say that if the lyrical content does in fact alienate, it’s perhaps a shame that such a stunning piece of music would incorporate lyrics that are not universally resonant.

On the other hand, it’s not an obligation of art or artists to be universally resonant, or to do any particular thing, but it does raise an interesting question, both from a songwriter as well as a listener point of view.

If you have any thoughts on the matter, please feel free to leave them below.

NEXT SONG…