Song Awakenings

I have kind of a weird one. I was on a family road trip 10 or 12 years ago, and I nodded off in the shotgun seat with the car stereo on. Sometime during my snooze, Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven" came on -- I think it was the Unplugged version. Now, I knew all about the tragic circumstances behind the song (his 4-year-old son falling to his death out of a high-rise window), and was certainly bummed out for Clapton, but the song had never done anything for me musically. I liked E.C.'s older stuff, and thought his godlike status had flickered out about a decade prior.

Well, I had one of those odd dreams where reality and the dream cross streams, and the song served as more than a soundtrack to the rem sleep visual -- I dreamt of little Connor Clapton falling out a window and trying to save him and failing. I woke up disoriented and somewhat frazzled. While my family wondered why I was looking like I was about to cry and needing to play back the song several more times, I just kept it to myself. Every time thereafter I've heard the song, it's been 1,000 times more compelling than ever before. I haven't listened to it in a while, though, and now that I have a young child about the same age, it would probably leave me sobbing like a little girl. So I guess I'd better keep it shelved for macho purposes.

"The Weight" is a brilliant song, probably The Band's best, even after way too many listens. "Don't Do It" and the live, horned-up version of "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" off The Last Waltz are my Band favorites, though they did plenty of good stuff. I remember going into Herb's room on a regular basis in college and hunkering down for an hour or two to play Hearts on his Apple, shoot the breeze, and skip class. Invariably, in addition to The Smiths' The Queen Is Dead and his Neil Young mix, I'd crank up The Best of The Band to while away the afternoon. Not bad.