FOUR STRONG WINDS

NEIL YOUNG

SONGWRITER: IAN TYSON

COUNTRY: CANADA

ALBUM: COMES A TIME

LABEL: REPRISE

GENRE: ROCK

YEAR: 1978

 

          Neil Percival Young OC OM (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer-songwriter, musician, and activist. After embarking on a music career in the 1960s, he moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Furay and others. Since the beginning of his solo career with his backing band Crazy Horse, Young has released many critically acclaimed and important albums, such as After the Gold Rush, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, and Harvest.

          Young has received several Grammy and Juno Awards. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted him twice: in 1995 as a solo artist and in 1997 as a member of Buffalo Springfield. In 2000, Rolling Stone named Young the 34th greatest rock 'n roll artist. His guitar work, deeply personal lyrics and signature tenor singing voice define his long career. He also plays piano and harmonica on many albums, which frequently combine folk, rock, country and other musical styles. His often distorted electric guitar playing, especially with Crazy Horse, earned him the nickname "Godfather of Grunge" and led to his 1995 album Mirror Ball with Pearl Jam. More recently he has been backed by Promise of the Real. His 21 albums and singles have been certified Gold and Platinum in U.S by RIAA certification.

            Young directed (or co-directed) films using the pseudonym Bernard Shakey, including Journey Through the Past (1973), Rust Never Sleeps (1979), Human Highway (1982), Greendale (2003), and CSNY/Déjà Vu (2008). He also contributed to the soundtracks of the films Philadelphia (1993) and Dead Man (1995).

           Young has lived in California since the 1960s but retains Canadian citizenship.  He was awarded the Order of Manitoba on July 14, 2006, and was made an Officer of the Order of Canada on December 30, 2009. He became a United States citizen, taking dual citizenship, on January 22, 2020.

        "Four Strong Winds" is a song written by Ian Tyson and recorded by Canadian folk duo Ian and Sylvia. Tyson has noted that he composed the song in about 20 minutes in his then manager Albert Grossman's New York apartment in 1961. A significant composition of the early 1960s folk revival, the song is a melancholy reflection on a failing romantic relationship. The singer expresses a desire for a possible reunion in a new place in the future ("You could meet me if I sent you down the fare") but acknowledges the likelihood that the relationship is over ("But our good times are all gone/And I'm bound for moving on ...").

        The song has a clear Canadian context and subtext, including an explicit mention of the province Alberta as well as references to long, cold winters. In 2005, CBC Radio One listeners chose this song as the greatest Canadian song of all time on the program 50 Tracks: The Canadian Version. It is considered the unofficial anthem of Alberta

 

Think I'll go out to Alberta

Weather's good there in the fall

I got some friends that I could go to working for

Still, I wish you'd change your mind

If I ask you one more time

But we've been through this a hundred times or more

 

Four strong winds that blow lonely

Seven seas that run high

All those things that don't change, come what may

If the good times are all gone

Then I'm bound for moving on

I'll look for you if I'm ever back this way

 

If I get there before the snow flies

And if things are looking good

You could meet me if I send you down the fare

But by then it would be winter

Not too much for you to do

And those winds sure can blow cold way out there

 

Four strong winds that blow lonely

Seven seas that run high

All those things that don't change, come what may

The good times are all gone

So I'm bound for moving on

I'll look for you if I'm ever back this way

 

Still, I wish you'd change your mind

If I ask you one more time

But we've been through that a hundred times or more

 

Four strong winds that blow lonely

Seven seas that run high

All those things that don't change, come what may

If the good times are all gone

Then I'm bound for moving on

I'll look for you if I'm ever back this way

I'll look for you if I'm ever back this way.

APRIL COME SHE WILL

SIMON & GARFUNKEL

SONGWRITHER: PAUL SIMON

COUNTRY: U. S.A.

ALBUM: SOUNDS OF THE SILENCE

LABEL: COLUMBIA RECORDS

GENRE: FOLK ROCK

YEAR: 1965

 

         Simon & Garfunkel were an American folk-rock duo consisting of singer-songwriter Paul Simon and singer Art Garfunkel. They were one of the best-selling music groups of the 1960s, and their biggest hits—including "The Sound of Silence" (1965), "Mrs. Robinson" (1968), "The Boxer" (1969), and "Bridge over Troubled Water" (1970)—reached number one on singles charts worldwide.

           Simon and Garfunkel met at Forest Hills Junior Elementary School in Queens, New York, in 1953, where they learned to harmonize together and began writing material. By 1957, under the name Tom & Jerry, the teenagers had their first minor success with "Hey Schoolgirl", a song imitating their idols the Everly Brothers. In 1963, aware of a growing public interest in folk music, they regrouped and were signed to Columbia Records as Simon & Garfunkel. Their debut, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., sold poorly, and they once again disbanded; Simon returned to a solo career, this time in England. In June 1965, a new version of "The Sound of Silence" overdubbed with electric guitar and drums became a major U.S. AM radio hit, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The duo reunited to release a second studio album, Sounds of Silence, and tour colleges nationwide. On their third release, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (1966), the duo assumed more creative control. Their music was featured in the 1967 film The Graduate, giving them further exposure. Their next álbum Bookends (1968) topped the Billboard 200 chart and included the number-one single "Mrs. Robinson" from the film.

       The duo's often rocky relationship led to artistic disagreements and their breakup in 1970. Their final studio album, Bridge over Troubled Water, was released that year and became their most successful, becoming one of the world's best-selling albums. After their breakup, Simon released a number of acclaimed albums, including 1986's Graceland. Garfunkel released solo hits such as "All I Know" and briefly pursued an acting career, with leading roles in two Mike Nichols films, Catch-22 and Carnal Knowledge, and in Nicolas Roeg's 1980 Bad Timing. The duo have reunited several times, most famously in 1981 for The Concert in Central Park, which attracted more than 500,000 people, one of the largest concert attendances in history.

       Simon & Garfunkel won 10 Grammy Awards and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990. Rolling Stone ranked them number 3 on its list of the 20 Greatest Duos of All Time. Richie Unterberger described them as "the most successful folk-rock duo of the 1960s" and one of the most popular artists from the decade. They are among the best-selling music artists, having sold more than 100 million records. Bridge over Troubled Water is ranked at number 172 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

          "April Come She Will" is a song by American music duo Simon & Garfunkel from their second studio album, Sounds of Silence (1966). It originally appeared on the solo álbum The Paul Simon Songbook. It is the B-side to the hit single "Scarborough Fair/Canticle". It is included on the The Graduate soundtrack album and was additionally released on the "Mrs. Robinson 'EP'" in 1968, together with three other songs from the The Graduate film: Mrs. Robinson, Scarborough Fair/Canticle, and The Sound of Silence.

         The song was written in 1964 while Paul Simon was in England. Its lyrics use the changing nature of the seasons as a metaphor for a girl's changing moods. The inspiration for the song was a girl that Simon met and the nursery rhyme she used to recite, "Cuckoo". It is the shortest song on the album. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Sony/ATV Music Publishing, the song is composed in the key of G Major with Paul Simon's vocal range spanning from D3 to D4. On the duo's recording, Art Garfunkel sings the lead vocals.

April come she will

When streams are ripe and swell with rain

May she will stay

Resting in my arms again

 

June she'll change her tune

In restless walks she'll prowl the night

July she will fly

And give no warning to her flight

 

August die she must

The autumn winds blow chilly and cold

September I'll remember

A love once new has now grown old.

I’ M SORRY

JOHN DENVER

SONGWRITER: JOHN DENVER

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: WINDSONG

LABEL: RCA VICTOR

GENRE: COUNTRY

YEAR: 1975

 

         Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. (December 31, 1943 – October 12, 1997), known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer-songwriter, record producer, actor, activist, and humanitarian, whose greatest commercial success was as a solo singer. After traveling and living in numerous locations while growing up in his military family, Denver began his music career with folk music groups during the late 1960s. Starting in the 1970s, he was one of the most popular acoustic artists of the decade and one of its best-selling artists. By 1974, he was one of America's best-selling performers; AllMusic has called Denver "among the most beloved entertainers of his era".

        Denver recorded and released approximately 300 songs, about 200 of which he composed. He had 33 albums and singles that were certified Gold and Platinum in the U.S by the RIAA, with estimated sales of more than 33 million units. He recorded and performed primarily with an acoustic guitar and sang about his joy in nature, disdain for city life, enthusiasm for music, and relationship trials. Denver's music appeared on a variety of charts, including country music, the Billboard Hot 100, and adult contemporary, earning 12 gold and four platinum albums with his signature songs "Take Me Home, Country Roads", "Annie's Song", "Rocky Mountain High", "Calypso", "Thank God I'm a Country Boy", and "Sunshine on My Shoulders".

          Denver appeared in several films and television specials during the 1970s and 1980s, including the 1977 hit Oh, God!, in which he starred alongside George Burns. He continued to record into the 1990s, also focusing on environmental issues as well as lending vocal support to space exploration and testifying in front of Congress to protest censorship in music. He lived in Aspen for much of his life, where he was known for his love of Colorado. In 1974, Denver was named poet laureate of the state. The Colorado state legislature also adopted "Rocky Mountain High" as one of its two state songs in 2007.

         An avid pilot, Denver died at age 53 in a single-fatality crash while piloting a recently purchased light plane.

      "I'm Sorry" is a song written and recorded by American country-folk singer-songwriter John Denver. Released in 1975, it was his final number-one pop hit released during his career.

          The song, which is an apology for forsaken love, "I'm Sorry" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on September 27, 1975, as well as reaching number one on the Easy Listening chart. Six weeks after topping the pop chart, the song was Denver's third and final number one on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart.

          The flip side of "I'm Sorry" was "Calypso", and, like its A-side, enjoyed substantial radio airplay on Top 40 stations.

It's cold here in the city

It always seems that way

And I've been thinking about you almost everyday

Thinking about the good times

Thinking about the rain

Thinking about how bad it feels alone again

 

I'm sorry for the way things are in China

I'm sorry things ain't what they used to be

But more than anything else

I'm sorry for myself

'Cause you're not here with me

 

Our friends all ask about you

I say you're doing fine

And I expect to hear from you almost anytime

But they all know I'm crying

And I can't sleep at night

They all know I'm dying down deep inside

 

I'm sorry for all the lies I told you

I'm sorry for the things I didn't say

But more than anything else

I'm sorry for myself

I can't believe you went away

 

I'm sorry if I took some things for granted

I'm sorry for the chains I put on you

But more than anything else

I'm sorry for myself

For living without you

 

It's cold here in the city

It always seems that way

And I've been thinking about you almost everyday.

Sweetheart like you

Bob dylon

Songwriter: bob dylon

Country: u. s. a.

Álbum: infidels

Label: COLUMBIA RECORDS

Genre: ROCK

year: 1983

 

          Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman; May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter, author and visual artist. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture for more than 50 years. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s, when songs such as "Blowin' in the Wind" (1963) and "The Times They Are a-Changin'" (1964) became anthems for the civil rights and anti-war movements. His lyrics during this period incorporated a range of political, social, philosophical, and literary influences, defying pop music conventions and appealing to the burgeoning counterculture.

        Following his self-titled debut album in 1962, which mainly comprised traditional folk songs, Dylan made his breakthrough as a songwriter with the release of The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan the following year. The album features "Blowin' in the Wind" and the thematically complex "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall". For many of these songs, he adapted the tunes and phraseology of older folk songs. He went on to release the politically charged The Times They Are a-Changin' and the more lyrically abstract and introspective Another Side of Bob Dylan in 1964. In 1965 and 1966, Dylan drew controversy when he adopted electrically amplified rock instrumentation, and in the space of 15 months recorded three of the most important and influential rock albums of the 1960s: Bringing It All Back Home (1965), Highway 61 Revisited (1965) and Blonde on Blonde (1966). Commenting on the six-minute single "Like a Rolling Stone" (1965), Rolling Stone wrote: "No other pop song has so thoroughly challenged and transformed the commercial laws and artistic conventions of its time, for all time."

           In July 1966, Dylan withdrew from touring after a motorcycle accident. During this period, he recorded a large body of songs with members of the Band, who had previously backed him on tour. These recordings were released as the collaborative álbum The Basement Tapes in 1975. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Dylan explored country music and rural themes in John Wesley Harding (1967), Nashville Skyline (1969), and New Morning (1970). In 1975, he released Blood on the Tracks, which many saw as a return to form. In the late 1970s, he became a born-again Christian and released a series of albums of contemporary gospel music before returning to his more familiar rock-based idiom in the early 1980s. Dylan's 1997 album Time Out of Mind marked the beginning of a renaissance for his career. He has released five critically acclaimed albums of original material since then, the most recent being Rough and Rowdy Ways (2020). He also recorded a series of three albums in the 2010s comprising versions of traditional American standards, especially songs recorded by Frank Sinatra. Backed by a changing lineup of musicians, he has toured steadily since the late 1980s on what has been dubbed the Never Ending Tour.

        Since 1994, Dylan has published eight books of drawings and paintings, and his work has been exhibited in major art galleries. He has sold more than 100 million records, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. He has received numerous awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, ten Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award. Dylan has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. The Pulitzer Prize Board in 2008 awarded him a special citation for "his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power". In 2016, Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition".

       “Sweetheart Like You” is a song by Bob Dylan that appeared as the second track of his 1983 album Infidels. The song was recorded on April 18, 1983 and released as a single in December 1983, with "Union Sundown" as its B-Side.

       "Sweetheart Like You" peaked at #55 on the Billboard Hot 100 on January 28, 1984, staying on the chart for a total of nine weeks. The song also appeared on the ARIA Charts in Australia, reaching #74.

[Verse 1]

Well, the pressure’s down, the boss ain't here

He gone North, for a while

They say that vanity got the best of him

But he sure left here in style

By the way, that’s a cute hat

And that smile’s so hard to resist

But what’s a sweetheart like you doing in a dump like this?

 

[Verse 2]

You know, I once knew a woman who looked like you

She wanted a whole man, not just a half

She used to call me sweet daddy when I was only a child

You kind of remind me of her when you laugh

In order to deal in this game, got to make the queen disappear

It’s done with a flick of the wrist

What’s a sweetheart like you doing in a dump like this?

 

[Verse 3]

You know, a woman like you should be at home

That’s where you belong

Watching out for someone who loves you true

Who would never do you wrong

Just how much abuse will you be able to take?

Well, there’s no way to tell by that first kiss

What’s a sweetheart like you doing in a dump like this?

 

[Verse 4]

You know you can make a name for yourself

You can hear them tires squeal

You can be known as the most beautiful woman

Who ever crawled across cut glass to make a deal

 

[Verse 5]

You know, news of you has come down the line

Even before you came in the door

They say in your father’s house, there’s many mansions

Each one of them got a fireproof floor

Snap out of it, baby, people are jealous of you

They smile to your face, but behind your back they hiss

What’s a sweetheart like you doing in a dump like this?

 

[Verse 6]

Got to be an important person to be in here, honey

Got to have done some evil deed

Got to have your own harem when you come in the door

Got to play your harp until your lips bleed

 

[Verse 7]

They say that patriotism is the last refuge

To which a scoundrel clings

Steal a little and they throw you in jail

Steal a lot and they make you king

There’s only one step down from here, baby

It’s called the land of permanent bliss

What’s a sweetheart like you doing in a dump like this?