Lyrics & The Singer's Life


On a recent thread re: favorite cover versions, a response reminded me that Warren Zevon covered "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" when he knew he was dying of cancer. For me, it makes that performance much more moving. I also thought about a similar case of a lyric being more meaningful given the singer's personal situation: When Mark Everett ("E") of the Eels lost his entire family (mother, father, sister IIRC) over the course of a year, he released a depressing record "Electro-Shock Blues" - no surprise. But the first track from his next record is called "Grace Kelly Blue"s.

After describing a bunch of depressed characters, the song concludes:
"Me, I'm doing pretty good as of now, Not sure when I got here, or how"

I found it notably uplifting, given his circumstances. A nice "good to have you back" moment.

Even some of the angry ones like Lennon at Macca ("Now you're just another day") or Lindsey Buckingham at Stevie Nicks ("Think of me whenever you don't come") are enhanced by the personal context.

Any other songs resonate more for you in light of your understanding of the singer/writer's circumstances?

Marty
martykl
Lucinda Williams - Lake Charles. It's about a boyfriend who drank himself to death, a slow suicide she called it.

Many of the songs on Sweet Old World and Car Wheels... are about people she knew or relationships.
Frank Sinatra "In the wee small hours" recorded about 4:00AM after breaking up with Ava Gardner (Love of His Life) He had been drinking most of the night, voice was warm and mellow, he sang from the heart wide open. Think of that next time you here the original. Bourbon in one hand cigarette in the other, one light overhead no one else except the engineer in the studio. Wow!