The clouds have paused, and the moon seems tired…

Posted on | August 9, 2008 | 13 Comments

(warning: very long post ahead.read at your own leisure and risk)

So i cannot sleep at one in the night, and do not want to study. And slightly high on three stiff shots of Vodka, listening to soft music reminds me of an old idea I had of writing about the songs I love. And so this post which discusses twenty five of the most evocative (read nostalgic/sad/morose/*fill up your own word here*) songs i have ever heard, and while listening to Bhupinder sing karoge yaad to har baat yaad ayegi I begin typing, and the result is this very long post, far longer than I had intended to write, and I know that as it is 4:15am as I type these words, I will not sleep tonight again, but listen to these songs again. So, for what they are worth, here are my top 25 (in no particular order) and my take on them:

1) 1)Karoge yaad to: This song by Bhupinder from the movie Bazaar was the first song I settled on when I decided to write this post, just for the lyrics and the way Bhupinder has sung it. Baras-ta bheeg-ta mausam dhuaan dhuaan hoga,pighalti shammon pe dil ka mere gumaan hoga…you can feel the rain drops falling gently on your face and a gentle nostalgic mist surrounding you, as the heart literally melts. Brilliant stuff. I can never tire of listening to this masterpiece.

2) 2)Kisi nazar ko tera intezaar: Speaking of Bhupinder brought me to this brilliant ghazal from Aetbaar, where Bhupinder and Asha Bhonsle do a brilliant job of bringing your heart to your mouth. First Bhupinder sings his way to glory evoking memories of a love which just may have a chance of revival (yakeen nahi hai, magar aaj bhi ye lagta hai; meri talaash me shayad bahaar aaj bhi hai), and just when you feel warm with the afterglow, reminded of a love golden and rich like honey, Asha crashes the dream ever so mellifluously in that ending refrain (kaun ab kiska aitbaar karey). Speak of playing on emotions.

3) 3)Guzar gaya jo zamaana: I still remember the time when I was recovering from the effects of an unrequited love. I used to go to bed listening to this song every night, playing it again and again, much to the chagrin of my then roomie, who though he loved the song, found it too depressing to hear it every night. But it used to be the solace with those philosophical lines (jo naksh ban nahi sakta, use mita hi do). But this song by the much under rated Pakistani maestro, Hamid Ali Khan, is much more than just solace to the pining of a tired heart. The imagery is beautiful and so very evocative. Imagine a song speaking of paused clouds, and a tired moon. Don’t take me at face value. Go listen to it.

4) 4)Yoon zindagi ki raah me mazboor ho gaye: I selected this song for this list narrowly over another Jagjit-Chitra favorite, Uss more se shuru karein,fir ye zindagi , because I felt this song was far more mature than uss more se. As Vikram Seth writes in The Golden Gate, “How wonderful it is to wake up to a morning with your lover on your side” , this song, to me evokes the simple joys of life which should never have been lost. It is more about what should have been than what is, even though it talks mostly about what is. Every word drips with a forlorn nostalgia which is grows so heavy almost to be tangible.

5) 5)Mera kuch samaan tumhare paas: This probably is one of the most beautiful, and yet maudlin songs I have ever heard. And I cannot pay a higher tribute to this song than Megha does here. Read this post. It is as much worth the read as the song is worth listening.

6) 6)Khaali haath shaam aayi hai: This is the second song from the movie Izazat in this list. And like the first number, this one is also brilliant. The portrayal of a lonely evening is almost luminous. The irony/tragedy of even tears refusing to arrive and reduce the loneliness envelopes you inside it as you listen to it, and before you know, you yourself are alone too, surrounded by a crowd, maybe, maybe with people whom you can see once you walk out the door, and still, completely, irrevocably alone.

7) 7)Is more se jaate hain: This song from the movie Aandhi made it to this list over such masterpieces like Tere bina zindagi se from the same movie, and Naina barse rimjhim from Wo Kaun Thi and Hazaar Raahein from Thodi Si Bewafai. They are not lesser songs, but this song captures the tragedy of two lovers who know that their paths are slowly, inexorably separating, and yet are unable to do anything about it. Sometimes we all seem to know that life is pulling us apart, and maybe we try to reach out, or we wait for the other to reach out to us…knowing all the while that it is not going to happen. Somehow I get the feeling of this inexorable Homeric tragedy in the perennially optimistic lines of this song. When Lata sings ik raah to wo hogi, tum tak jo pahunchti hai somehow, it always reminds me a drug addicts’ laugh, temporarily full of happiness and optimism, and yet, so hollow inside.

8) 8)Mujhe tum nazar se: I would have loved to include Baat karni mujhe mushquil kabhi over this song, but this again, dates back to the bad old days when I used to be in love. Nostalgia wins. The conceited hopes of a rejected lover are beautifully voiced by Mehdi Hassan.

9) 9)Hum tere shaher me aaye hain musafir ki tareh: This ghazal makes it to this list over another Ghulam Ali favourite Chupke Chupke. The two songs are totally different in mood and tone, one is hopeful, the other nostalgic. And perhaps, for once, it is the hope that wins, even if it is a hope for small blessings.

Ra   10)Raina beeti jaaye: Well I am a big time fan of Lata Mageshkar, and there had to be this song in this list. Even though I select it more for the lyrics than the singing, which admittedly, is very high quality. The quivering heart of the lover, who is one of those jilted by society, is beautifully portrayed in the lyrics, as she wonders if the lover has forgotten the date, or worse, some sautan has trapped his fickle heart by her wiles. The movie is as good as the song, and the tone of the movie really defines the song. Go see the movie.

11   11) Sach keh raha hai deewana: Probably any guy who has gone to college and lived in a hostel knows this song from RHTDM. I remember this song used to be sort of anthem whenever someone got drunk and wanted to sing (as somehow, inexplicably, many people seem to want to). As true a tale of one sided love as any, this song deserves a place in this list for the sheer simplicity which is its beauty. No layers to this song. I am a simple college grad who wants happiness in life and a bit you, and you broke my heart, and so I will sing this for you. And, ik din use bhula doonga main…

12   12) Thehre huye paani mein: Well, to speak of it most generously, Dalaal was a sordid movie. And most of its songs were crap, especially that one about pigeons. But I am not ashamed to say that I liked to listen to Kumar Sanu sing, and I loved this song from Dalaal. A relatively simple song, and with less than exceptional singing, this long forgotten number describes the agony of a person who is struggling to come to terms with a love which should never have entered his life. The reference to boats on sand (chal-ti hai kab reit pe kashti) was brilliant. Okay, the second stanza about flowers and thorns was a bit overdone and clichéd, but still…

13   13) Phirse Aaiyo Badra Bidesi: From the movie Namkeen. I thought this song was exceptional. Did you ever imagine your lover could be like a cloud? The metaphors are brilliant. And yet, this song is multilayered. I have not seen the movie, and imagine it was supposed to be a pining song, but it is so easy to imagine this song as a philosophical take on life and lost opportunities.

14   14) Still loving you: I never lose a moment to say that I love Scorpions. And this song is probably their best. Though winds of change and when the smoke is going down come very very close. This song says so many things…guilt, pleading, repentance, hope, wish for another chance…how many times have you lived this song in your life?

15   15) Wasted time: This song by The Eagles makes it to the list ahead of classics like Most of us are sad, Seven bridges road, and Tequila Sunrise. Memories of a love gone awry, of someone who should never have left drifted apart, guilt and sharing of blame, and some bitterness, all delivered in brilliant vocals make this a great song in my book. I cannot have enough of this song.

16   16) The End: Of all the singers I like, Jim Morrison’s is the voice which comes most easily to the ear, barring Kishore Kumar and David Gilmour. And The Doors always have been among my favorites ever since I first heard them, and it began with this song. When the music’s over, Roadhouse Blues, and riders on the storm are brilliant too, but they do not even come close to the rebellious belligerence of this song. And I did feel that the song in the background of Apocalypse Now was brilliant. A shattering, ugly brilliance…an act of mad genius. How has the song evolved, and how many things it means to so many people! I have loved the last lines for many years now…so few words, and yet so meaningful…the end of laughter and soft lies, the end of nights we tried to die…as Morrison gently falls into that refrain…this is…the….end. A long song clocking at almost twelve minutes, and originally written as a love song for a broken affair, this song is yet about more than a lost love. It is not even about something so simple or complex like death even. At some level, it more about mourning a loss of innocence, a sense of the demise of a more beautiful era…somehow when Morrison screams the mother line, it does not remind me of Oedipus as pseudo-psychological analyses of the song would have us believe, it reminds me of the Yeats poem, The Gyres : A greater, a more gracious time has gone , only without the contemptuous “what matter” that Yeats adds. To me this song is rebellious, and yet forlorn on one level…reflective of a deep seated loneliness…a private grief struggling to come out and yet held back by very tight self control.

17   17) Goodbye Blue Sky: There are no two ways about this. Pink Floyd is the band and The Wall is The Album. They will continue to define rock music for me probably as long as I live. No matter what Cobain did or wrote for Nirvana, he probably would never have reached the heights of Gilmour or Waters or even the mad genius of Barret. And Nirvana can never be more than a shadow of Floyd, that brilliance will probably never be reached again. This song made this list over another song from the same album, Don’t Leave Me Now, another forlorn number. But the hard hitting way this song questions the promise of a brave new world, the lack of understanding as the child asks the questions are incomparable. As the child begins to lose his dreams in the shower of bombs, and begins to question the world he lives in, you cannot but be shaken. If you have not seen the movie version of the album, go see it. It is a must watch for anyone who has ever loved a Floyd song.

18   18) Saathi re, tere bina bhi kya jeena: the brilliance of kishore da singing this song was magical.

19   19) Your possible pasts: one of the more underrated Floyd songs, this song from The Final Cut makes it to the list ahead of two songs from The Wall, Comfortably Numb, and In the Flesh, both of which latter songs are very imaginative depictions of isolation, and very varied in tone and mood. But your possible pasts is different simply for the complexity of the lyrics, quality of the singing, and the impact it makes. Listen to it to feel it. I cannot even begin to describe it.

20   20) November Rain: From the Use your Illusion set, this was probably the song as far as the Guns are concerned. It is not the magnificient video (one of the most expensive ever made) which makes the song special. Not even the story on which the song is based. The story was a pretty ordinary one which the song made immortal. There are so many things that go right with this song. The lyrics are superb, moving right from the angst of lost love to looking for possible ways out of it, of regaining trust, of rebuilding hope (nothing lasts forever…not even cold November rain) when the singer knows that the beloved is already dead, it is a build-up of pent up rage and loss slowly reaching a climax in the gruff voice of Rose, until the whole set-up explodes into a mad frenzy of grief as Slash’s guitar screams into violent life. In the video the sweeping visuals of slash playing the guitar madly in front of the church as the camera pans around from a helicopter, or Slash running amok atop Rose’s piano at the concert. I can keep going on about the song for ten thousand words and not say enough. Seek out the video on you tube if you love rock music, and see it again.

21   21) Mother: Another Floyd number from the wall. The lyrics are brilliant. As is the singing, so totally can you get lost with the child as he seeks protection with his mother, and builds the wall around himself to protect himself from the cruel world. And yet, he also realizes the futility of the exercise and the need for humane company even as he shuts the world out. The last refrain mother, did it need to be so high? always brings a lump. The whole movie is one piece of coruscating brilliance, right from the songs to the visuals to the music. Specially the songs.

22   22) Don’t Speak: a beautiful number by No Doubt.

23   23) Sansaar hai ik nadiya: This number from the movie Raftaar won over Jaane Kahan gaye wo din from Mera Naam Joker, simply for the wide ranging, multilayered lyrics. Though I will agree with anyone who says Jaane Kahan gaye wo din was much better sung. But this song is incredibly complex.

24   24) Itni shakti hamein dena data: This was a simple bhajan from the movie Ankush, and should not have been in my list, me being an atheist and all. But still it figures here because it is not just a prayer song. It, to me, is a beautiful song about a set of people who are not very strong physically or socially or economically who faced by life’s hardships seek inner strength to face up to life. This fairly simple prayer song is transformed into a dazzling piece of poetry when seen on screen in the movie.

25   25) Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony: While strictly speaking, it is not a song, yet any list I compile of pieces of music I like would be incomplete without it. I don’t purport to be a classical music aficionado, I don’t even pretend to understand classical music, my only criteria for listening to music is to listen to what sounds good to me, and this final symphony of the great composer, written one hundred and fifteen years ago scores very high on that parameter. This has been rated by many to be the saddest work of music ever written, and yet Wikipedia informs me that the original Russian title of the symphony (Patetičeskaja) did not mean arousing pity, rather, means passionate or emotional. But it is the French title, Pathétique, which is popular across the world, and I will stick to it. I will not describe it because I don’t know much about classical music. I will just recommend it very highly for a listen.

I        i hate giving out tags, and if it does become a tag, it will be painful because it is so long. yet it would be interesting to see Cuckoo’s take on this, because our choice of songs seems to coincide to a great extent. So, Cuckoo,are we going to see a post? I would ask you Naween for ten songs of your choice, but i know what you are going to say  :P random chutiyaapa

Update: just heard the crystal ship again.am only sorry this lovely song could find no space up there

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