(published on ABBAMAIL June 2005)

Number one is Kate Bush - This Woman's Work.

Good lord. I remember this day, summer, 1988 I was in a Cineplex Odeon movie theatre, Georgia street, downtown Vancouver BC Canada, it was a Tuesday. They used to have $2 Tuesdays at that time. Yes, that means movies were $2 on Tuesdays. Sometimes I would take in four in a single Tuesday. Being unemployed at the time.

Tuesday. Matinee. I'm watching the movie "She's Having a Baby" and the only reason I'm doing so is because Kevin Bacon at the time really was 'working' for me. His wife in the movie (Elizabeth McGovern) is dying, having a baby or a miscarriage I can't remember, Kevin is in the waiting room having a nervous breakdown. Emotions are high. I am beside myself already. I have no idea what's coming.

Suddenly, a piano tinkles and a female voice sings "ah ha hoo, ah ha hoo," and it is Kate Bush. Kevin buries his head in his hands. I choke up. Kate continues.

"pray god you can cope, I stand outside, this woman's work, thia woman's work is hard on the man, now his part is over, now starts the craft of the father. I know you have a little life in you yet, I know you have a lot of strength left. I should be crying but I just can't let it show. I should be hoping but I can't stop thinking of all the things I should have said but I never said, all the things we should have done but we never did, all the things I should have given but I never did. Oh darling, make it go, make it go away."

At this point I am a mess.

Kate continues singing, more passionately, the music swells. She starts screaming, and singing at the same time, as only Kate can.

"All the things you needed from me, all the things that you wanted for me, all the things I should have given but I didn't. Oh darling, make it go away. Just make it go away now.

I about lost it.

To this day, that song sends shivers down my back. It makes me want to cry, it makes me need a hug, it makes me want to do all the things I should have done but I never did, and all the things I should have said but I never said, I think of all the things I should have given but I never did.

Song #2 is "Hold On" by Sarah McLachlan.

I love how it starts, a guitar, slow, a drum fills in softly, then Sarah sings, "Hold On, hold on to your self, this is gonna hurt like hell." The drumming on this song is amazing. Sarah's voice is at her best, the music builds, the passion in her voice escalates.

"What is it in me that refuses to believe
This isn't easier than the real thing.
My love, you know that you're my best friend
You know that I'd do anything for you.
My love, let nothing come between us,
My love for you is strong and true"

"Am I in heaven here or am at the crossroads I am standing
So now you're sleeping peaceful I lay awake and pray
That you'll be strong tomorrow and you'll see another day
And we will praise it
And love the light that brings a smile across your face. "

If you don't know what this song is about it may not affect you. But it is about her (the character's) husband dying (supposedly of aids). When you hear the words in that context, the song is devastating. (The video helps, too).

"Oh god if you're out there can you hear me
I know that we've never talked before
Oh god the man I love is leaving
Won't you take him when he comes to your door"

"Am I in heaven here or am at the crossroads I am standing
So now you're sleeping peaceful I lay awake and pray
That you'll be strong tomorrow and you'll see another day
And we will praise it
And love the light that brings a smile across your face.

The music builds and builds, becomes more powerful and passionate, then, suddenly, it ends. Cold. The band aid is pulled off. The man dies.

"Hold On, hold on to yourself, for this is gonna hurt like hell."

Song #3 for me is Rickie Lee Jones "We Belong Together," the opening song from her 1981 album, "Pirates." The third song, "Skeletons" is also devastating, and you have to really listen to the lyrics of "A Lucky Guy" to get what she is saying. But the shining moment, the emotional core of the album, one of the brightest jewels in Rickie's canon, is "We Belong Together."

This is Rickie Lee Jones at her most brilliant. The song starts out slow, just a piano, and Rickie's voice. The music slowly builds, the drumming kicks, it, the band kicks in, the song rocks out. The song is "West Side Story" at just over five minutes, it even features Natalie Wood. The atmosphere is crackling.

Then in the third verse, the tempo and the mood return to the beginning, and the song ends as it begins. We are exhausted, we are emotionally spent. Rickie at the piano, singing, "We belong together, we belong together," and we're not sure who she's trying to convince. It's electric, it's gorgeous, it's sad for no obvious reason, only what was once and what could have been.

Here is the last verse of the song:

"Shall we weigh along these streets
Young lions on the lam?
Are the signs you hid deep in your heart
All left on neon for them?
Who are foolish
Who are victim
Of the sailors and the ducky boys who would
Move into your eyes and lips and
Every tear
That falls down on the neighborhood now
I said "Bird, we just gotta tell them"
And they turn and ignore us
And the only heroes we got left
Are written right before us
And the only angel who sees us now
Watches through each other's eyes
And I can hear him
In every footstep's passing sigh
He goes crazy these nights
Watching heartbeats go by...
And they whisper ---
We belong together
We belong together"

Complete lyrics to all Rickie's songs (imperative for enjoyment of same) are at rickieleejones.com

My fourth choice has been part of my life for so long it doesn't really choke me up anymore, but I do get a chill, especially if I pay attention to the words.

It's "A Song for You" by the Carpenters.

First of all, Karen's performance is astounding. Sheer perfection. Not even a half slip of a half note. Richard's arrangement is brilliant. The instrumentation is spot on. But it is the words that get me, because they are so eerily autobiographical, and tragic.

Here's the first verse:

"I've been so many places in my life and time
I've sung a lot of songs I've made some bad rhymes
I've acted out my love on stages
With ten thousand people was
But we're alone now and I'm singing this song for you"

But it is the last verse which gives me goosebumps.

"I love you in a place where there's no space or time
I love you for all my life you are a friend of mine
And when my life is over
Remember when we were together
We were alone and I was singing this song for you."

Because we're alone now, and Karen is singing this song, for me.

Rod Reynolds
Los Angeles, CA USA
©2005 The Art Dept LA