Music request.

[Dburkhead]

While I was playing with my kids recently, I happened to hear two songs in fairly close proximity to each other that struck me deeply. One was "Cat's in the Cradle" by Cat Stevens and Mike and the Mechanics doing "In the Living Years."

It got me to thinking. In Cats in the Cradle, the father in the story has his priorities all screwed up. While in "In the Living Years" the father seems to have done a pretty good job but the story is told from the son's POV.

It got me to thinking about songs about father/child (particularly father/son) relationships told from the POV of a father who really appreciates his family. I couldn't think of any and that's a damn shame.

(Anybody here guess that "The Family Man" starring Nicholas Cage and Tea Leoni is one of my favorite movies.)

[Birdie]

I don't think it's a damn shame, the history of music and poetry has been to write verses about unrequited love. Ussually relationships between men and women, not many songs are written about father/son relationships are about the same reason that more people don't write songs about Mashed Potatoes.

[Ian Moulding]

A song about a happy, well-adjusted man praising his kids? That's exciting. The closest thing I can think of is Cat Steven's Father and Son.

On a related note...

Still the same - Bob Seger
You always won everytime you placed a bet
You're still damn good
No one's gotten to you yet
Everytime they were sure they had you caught
You were quicker than they thought
You'd just turn your back and walk

You always said
The cards would never do you wrong
The trick you said
Was never play the game too long
A gambler's share
The only risk that you would take
The only loss you could forsake
The only bluff you couldn't fake

And you're still the same
I caught up with you yesterday
Moving game to game
No one standing in your way
Turning on the charm
Long enough to get you by
You're still the same
You still aim high

There you stood
Everybody watched you play
I just turned and walked away
I had nothing left to say
'Cause you're still the same
You're still the same
Moving game to game
Some things never change
You're still the same

[Princess]

Just The Two Of Us - Will Smith

(Now dad this is a very sensitive subject)
From the first time the doctor placed you in my arms
I knew I'd meet death before I'd let you meet harm
Although questions arose in my mind, would I be man enough?
Against wrong, choose right and be standin up
From the hospital that first night
Took a hour just ta get the carseat in right
People drivin all fast, got me kinda upset
Got you home safe, placed you in your basonette
That night I don't think one wink I slept
As I slipped out my bed, to your crib I crept
Touched your head gently, felt my heart melt
Cause I know I loved you more than life itself
Then to my knees, and I begged the Lord please
Let me be a good daddy, all he needs
Love, knowledge, discipline, too
I pledge my life to you

Chorus:
Just the two of us, we can make it if we try
Just the two of us, (Just the two of us)
Just the two of us, building castles in the sky
Just the two of us, you and I

Five years old, bringin comedy
Everytime I look at you I think man, a little me
Just like me
Wait and see gonna be tall
Makes me laugh cause you got your dads ears an all
Sometimes I wonder, what you gonna be
A General, a Doctor, maybe a MC
Haha, I wanna kiss you all the time
But I will test that butt when you cut outta line, trudat
Uh-uh-uh why you do dat?
I try to be a tough dad, but you be makin me laugh
Crazy joy, when I see the eyes of my baby boy
I pledge to you, I will always do
Everything I can
Show you how to be a man
Dignity, integrity, honor an
An I don't mind if you lose, long as you came with it
And you can cry, ain't no shame it
It didn't work out with me an your mom
But yo, push come to shove
You was conceived in love
So if the world attacks, and you slide off track
Remember one fact, I got your back

Repeat Chorus

It's a full-time job to be a good dad
You got so much more stuff than I had
I gotta study just to keep with the changin times
101 Dalmations on your CD-ROM
See me
I'm tryin to pretend I know
On my PC where that CD go
But yo, ain't nuthin promised, one day I'll be gone
Feel the strife, but trust life does go wrong
But just in case
It's my place
To impart
One day some girl's gonna break your heart
And ooh ain't no pain like from the opposite sex
Gonna hurt bad, but don't take it out on the next, son
Throughout life people will make you mad
Disrespect you and treat you bad
Let God deal with the things they do
Cause hate in your heart will consume you too
Always tell the truth, say your prayers
Hold doors, pull out chairs, easy on the swears
You're living proof that dreams do come true
I love you and I'm here for you

Repeat Chorus 'till fade

(This is a good song dad, how much am I gettin paid for this?)

lol sorry

[Dburkhead]

That's an extremely narrow view of both music and poetry. I wouldn't even say most songs and poetry fall into that category.

Of course, I'm sure there are literary critics who could turn something like "Mending Wall" amd "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" (Frost) or "Gunga Din," "Fuzzy Wuzzy," and "Tommy" (Kipling) or "Ozymandius" (Shelley) or "Old Ironsides" (Holmes) into poems about "unrequited love" but most readers would, IMO, take a different view.

That aside, my point was that there were songs about father-son relationships but they're generally about realizations that come too late--at least the one's that I remembered at the time. OTOH, I do recall a song about a successful father/son relationship told from the POV of the son--that real oldie "Oh Mein Papa"

[Polkadot]

well its kind of a war song and its country but one you could try is "letters from home" by john michael montgomry. its a kid in iraq reading letters from home and talking about them and the last one is from his dad saying im proud of you son. its a really good song.
other ones that come to mind are drive (for daddy gene) by toby keith, and dance with my father by luther vandross.
enjoy

[Mooman]

Blood Brothers by Iron Maiden (my fave band of all timez yo) is essentially about the relationship between the bassist and writer of the song, Steve Harris, and his father who passed away. It also touches on death in general, and happens to be a really beautiful and thoroughly kick-ass song that ranks in my all time favourites.

And if you're taking a walk through the garden of life
What do you think you'd expect you would see?
Just like a mirror reflecting the moves of your life
And in the river reflections of me

Just for a second a glimpse of my father I see
And in a movement he beckons to me
And in a moment the memories are all that remain
And all the wounds are reopening again

We're blood brothers, we're blood brothers
We're blood brothers, we're blood brothers

And as you look all around at the world in dismay
What do you see, do you think we have learned
Not if you're taking a look at the war-torn affray
Out in the streets where the babies are burned

We're blood brothers, we're blood brothers
We're blood brothers, we're blood brothers

There are time when I feel I'm afraid for the world
There are times I'm ashamed of us all
When you're floating on all the emotion you feel
And reflecting the good and the bad

Will we ever know what the answer to life really is?
Can you really tell me what life is?
Maybe all the things that you know that are precious to you
Could be swept away by fate's own hand

We're blood brothers, we're blood brothers
We're blood brothers, we're blood brothers

When you think that we've used all our chances
And the chance to make everything right
Keep on making the same old mistakes
Makes untipping the balance so easy
When we're living our lives on the edge
Say a prayer on the book of the dead

We're blood brothers, we're blood brothers
We're blood brothers, we're blood brothers

And if you're taking a walk through the garden of life....

[[geoduck]]

Evidently Jim Croche wrote Time In A Bottle for his son, but it could easily be applied to a romantic relationship instead.

[Joel Fagin]

Phil Collins wrote "You'll be in my heart" basically for his daughter. However, that was used in a Disney movie so they probably told him it had to be a parent/child song.

- Joel Fagin

[Yeahduff]

That's an extremely narrow view of both music and poetry. I wouldn't even say most songs and poetry fall into that category.

Well, I think his point was that art typically derives from some sorta conflict, or it can be very boring. Frost, for instance, while not writing about unrequited love, certainly wasn't writing happy dandy verses. Nearly every poem confronted death and while he alluded to its inevitablility, the point was that he wasn't going just yet, that he was fighting until the end.

So apart from the problems men have showing affection toward other people, particularly other men, songs with such an unabashedly positive outlook mostly end up being goopy and sentimental, and very difficult to listen to. I agree that it's not a shame that such songs are in short supply.

[Dburkhead]

Well, I think his point was that art typically derives from some sorta conflict, or it can be very boring. Frost, for instance, while not writing about unrequited love, certainly wasn't writing happy dandy verses. Nearly every poem confronted death and while he alluded to its inevitablility, the point was that he wasn't going just yet, that he was fighting until the end.

So apart from the problems men have showing affection toward other people, particularly other men, songs with such an unabashedly positive outlook mostly end up being goopy and sentimental, and very difficult to listen to. I agree that it's not a shame that such songs are in short supply.

The editor who bought my first short story told me that "the essense of story is conflict." However "art" covers a lot more territory than "story." Representing, even celebrating, aspects of life is one such purpose. Take a trip through any museum with a reasonably large collection sometime to see that.

But even all that aside, is less about whether or not there's conflict, but how that conflict is resolved. Take Chapin's song. The conflict between career and family ("There were planes to catch, and bills to pay") is not the problem from the perspective of my original post (and only from that perspective--I like the song in "don't let this happen to you" sort of way) is the choices the father makes in response to those conflicts ("he learned to walk while I was away.") There are other stories that could be built on that conflict. One possibility that comes to mind is a story that has a man deciding to be with his son and watching co-workers and friends pass him by in the careers, then at the end of the song, the closer is the realization that he was happier than those others who chose career over family--maybe one of his co workers went by the name of Corey, Richard Corey. Movie example of this kind of thing is Stewart's "It's a Wonderful Life."

To go back to music, there are plenty of songs about separation from a loved one, and the people in the songs deal with that in various ways, some leading to sad, wistful, songs and others leading to much more upbeat songs. An example of the latter is Celine Dion's "I drove all night." Okay, she was separated from her loved one, but she solved that problem by driving all night. Gets back to her lover. Happy ending.

Your story starts with the conflict. It ends when the conflict is resolved, however it is resolved. And, IMO, it's a damn shame that more songs aren't about the conflict being resolved the other way.

[Warren]

There seem to be as many songs from Father to Daughter as Father to Son....

Off the top of my wife and my heads....

To Daughter...
Butterfly Kisses... Bob Carlisle
For Rosanna... Chris DeBurgh
Annabella's Song... Everclear
Lullaby (Goodnight My Angel)... Billy Joel



To Son...
Just A Word Away... Chris DeBurgh


To unborn child....
Unborn Heart... Dan Hill
Arms Wide Open... Creed

[Nanda]

BNL's "When you dream" was written for a new son, also "Beautiful Boy" by John Lennon, and "Merry Christmas Little Zachary" by John Denver.

And I could just be thinking of the video, but I think Puddle of Mudd's "Blurry" was about his son. And then there's *cough*Creed's "With arms wide open."*cough*

[Owlbear]

About a father and son...
"Wooden Toy Sword"

Won't you come and wait for me at the gate
With your wooden toy sword in your hand?
It is then I will come with the beat of the drum
From defending my king and my land

[Birdie]

That's an extremely narrow view of both music and poetry. I wouldn't even say most songs and poetry fall into that category.

Read any poem written in the 16th century. The essence of poetry came from love. There were poets before Frost and Whitman.

[Dburkhead]

That's an extremely narrow view of both music and poetry. I wouldn't even say most songs and poetry fall into that category.

Read any poem written in the 16th century. The essence of poetry came from love. There were poets before Frost and Whitman.

And there were poets before the 16th century. Nor is Europe the sole source of poetry. Poetry is as old as language itself.

There's precious little of love, requited or not, in The Iliad and while there is "love" in "La Chanson de Roland" and "Orlando Furioso," it's more as a side issue then what the poems themselves are about.

Even your "any poem written in the 16th Century" is overassuming: John Lyly's "Fairy Revels," and while Lope de Vega's "The Good Shepherd" is about "love" it's hardly the romantic love implied above, and John Lyly's "Syrinx," while referring to "kissing" is a case of a woman turned into a read and therefore used to make panpipes--the poem is actually about love of music rather than a woman.

While there is certainly a lot of poetry about love in general and unrequited love in particular, that doesn't begin to cover the breadth of territory covered by poetry.

[Mvmarcz]

BNL's "When you dream" was written for a new son

Ok nanda.....I will now run away with you

[ShineDog]

tears in heaven could POSSIBLY be considered, though its a sad song not a happy one, about Eric Claptons son who died after falling out of a window.

[Levi-chan]

That Live song? "Heaven", I think.

[Anywherebuthere]

Phil Collins-Father to Son

Somewhere down the road, you