The perfect Sam/Rosie song
Friday, July 30th, 2004 07:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seraiBeen buying CDs over at Half.com lately. Just got this one in the mail. I'd had it years ago, but it slipped away, and I'm very glad to have it again.
Harvest Moon
by Neil Young
Come a little bit closer
Hear what I have to say
Just like children sleeping
We could dream this night away
But there's a full moon rising
Let's go dancing in the light
We know where the music's playing
Let's go out and feel the night
Because I'm still in love with you
I want to see you dance again
Because I'm still in love with you
On this Harvest Moon
When we were strangers
I watched you from afar
When we were lovers
I loved you with all my heart
But now it's getting late
And the moon is climbing high
I want to celebrate
See it shining in your eyes
Because I'm still in love with you
I want to see you dance again
Because I'm still in love with you
On this Harvest Moon
Of course, you can't get the full gist of it from reading the words. These lyrics, as sweet and heartfelt and deceptively simple as they are (just like Sam), are only the tip of the iceberg. You have to hear the song - the lilt of the the melody, the quiet perfection of the instrumentation, and above all, the gentle depth and wistful soulfulness of Young's voice.
What is it about his voice? What is it about any voice that makes it magical, evocative, true? Young has very little singing ability - he has barely two octaves in his range, and even within those he strains at times. His voice often wavers, as if he can't hold a note, and sometimes you can actually hear him lose one. It's not a deep or profound voice, either; actually it's kind of nasal. But it's so honest, so real. There's such knowing sadness in it, such a depth of wisdom earned by long life, love of nature, years of thinking. The observer, the one who understands. Listening to this song, it's impossible for me not to cry. Every time I hear him sing that line, "Because I'm still in love with you", I tear up, because I hear in it the absolute truth of loving someone over long years and hoping that despite one's own foibles, the beloved will love back.
I don't often pimp songs with this much vehemence, but I'm dead serious here - if you're a Sam fan, and you want to hear a song that captures that sense of sweet, all-consuming, helpless love that Sam embodies as a lover, then find this song. It's quite famous; I'm sure you can find it in any good music library online.
As to how I happened to make the connection between this song and Sam/Rosie, I'd been rereading![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rubynye's lovely The Rose and the Book, and I was struck by how perfectly this song expresses Sam's love for his darling lass. Listening to it, I can just feel the moment when Sam finally asked her to be his own, that nerve-wracking moment of waiting for the answer, and the rush of love and warmth and heat and delight and oh-every-dream-come-true that comes when the one you love looks at you with shining eyes and dazzling smile and finally says the one word you've been longing to hear -
"Yes."
Harvest Moon
by Neil Young
Come a little bit closer
Hear what I have to say
Just like children sleeping
We could dream this night away
But there's a full moon rising
Let's go dancing in the light
We know where the music's playing
Let's go out and feel the night
Because I'm still in love with you
I want to see you dance again
Because I'm still in love with you
On this Harvest Moon
When we were strangers
I watched you from afar
When we were lovers
I loved you with all my heart
But now it's getting late
And the moon is climbing high
I want to celebrate
See it shining in your eyes
Because I'm still in love with you
I want to see you dance again
Because I'm still in love with you
On this Harvest Moon
Of course, you can't get the full gist of it from reading the words. These lyrics, as sweet and heartfelt and deceptively simple as they are (just like Sam), are only the tip of the iceberg. You have to hear the song - the lilt of the the melody, the quiet perfection of the instrumentation, and above all, the gentle depth and wistful soulfulness of Young's voice.
What is it about his voice? What is it about any voice that makes it magical, evocative, true? Young has very little singing ability - he has barely two octaves in his range, and even within those he strains at times. His voice often wavers, as if he can't hold a note, and sometimes you can actually hear him lose one. It's not a deep or profound voice, either; actually it's kind of nasal. But it's so honest, so real. There's such knowing sadness in it, such a depth of wisdom earned by long life, love of nature, years of thinking. The observer, the one who understands. Listening to this song, it's impossible for me not to cry. Every time I hear him sing that line, "Because I'm still in love with you", I tear up, because I hear in it the absolute truth of loving someone over long years and hoping that despite one's own foibles, the beloved will love back.
I don't often pimp songs with this much vehemence, but I'm dead serious here - if you're a Sam fan, and you want to hear a song that captures that sense of sweet, all-consuming, helpless love that Sam embodies as a lover, then find this song. It's quite famous; I'm sure you can find it in any good music library online.
As to how I happened to make the connection between this song and Sam/Rosie, I'd been rereading
rubynye's lovely The Rose and the Book, and I was struck by how perfectly this song expresses Sam's love for his darling lass. Listening to it, I can just feel the moment when Sam finally asked her to be his own, that nerve-wracking moment of waiting for the answer, and the rush of love and warmth and heat and delight and oh-every-dream-come-true that comes when the one you love looks at you with shining eyes and dazzling smile and finally says the one word you've been longing to hear - "Yes."
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no subject
Date: Friday, July 30th, 2004 09:16 pm (UTC)I think there is something looney going on, cause you just posted about Harvest Moon, I just posted about a blue moon, and as I type my Real Player just started Dancing in the Moonlight by King Harvest on random play.... weird.
The Lady, she is everywhere!
Date: Friday, July 30th, 2004 09:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Saturday, July 31st, 2004 08:30 pm (UTC)