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Author Topic: "The Ballad of the Sad Young Men" by Fran Landesman  (Read 20152 times)

Offline southendmd

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"The Ballad of the Sad Young Men" by Fran Landesman
« on: October 02, 2013, 08:02:01 pm »
"The Ballad of the Sad Young Men".

Not sure how I stumbled onto this song (was it facebook?), but it's my latest obsession. I shouldn't be so interested in such a melancholy song while it's still that beautiful time between summer and fall, but there it is, and maybe that's why ("autumn turns the leaves to gold, slowly dies the heart...").

Written by the poet Fran Landesman, with melody by Tommy Wolf, it was featured in the Broadway show "The Nervous Set", around 1959, along with a perhaps more famous song, "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most" (which relates to T.S. Eliot's "April is the cruelest month..." from The Waste Land).

It seemed to be very popular, and was covered by many artists in the '60s and beyond.  

Listen to the words.
Are they about sad, young gay men? Many think so.  

Here are the lyrics:

Sing a song of sad young men
 Glasses full of rye
 All the news is bad again
 Kiss your dreams goodbye

All the sad young men
 Sitting in the bars
 Knowing neon lights
 And missing all the stars

All the sad young men
 Drifting through the town
 Drinking up the night
 Trying not to drown

All the sad young men
 Singing in the cold
 Trying to forget
 That they're growing old

All the sad young men
 Choking on their youth
 Trying to be brave
 Running from the truth

Autumn turns the leaves to gold
 Slowly dies the heart
 Sad young men are growing old
 That's the cruelest part

All the sad young men
 Seek a certain smile
 Someone they can hold
 For a little while

Tired little girl
 Does the best she can
 Trying to be gay
 For a sad young man

While the grimy moon
 Watches from above
 All the sad young men
 Play at making love

Misbegotten moon
 Shine for sad young men
 Let your gentle light
 Guide them home tonight
 All the sad young men


« Last Edit: October 21, 2013, 12:47:23 pm by southendmd »
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Offline southendmd

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Re: "The Ballad of the Sad Young Men"
« Reply #1 on: October 02, 2013, 08:03:53 pm »
Might as well start out with a torch-style belter, Dame Shirley Bassey, from 1979:


[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wL6AvSgO6Ak[/youtube]
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Offline southendmd

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Re: "The Ballad of the Sad Young Men"
« Reply #2 on: October 02, 2013, 08:07:31 pm »
Interestingly, the title may refer to F. Scott Fitzgerald's collection of stories:  "All the Sad Young Men".

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Offline southendmd

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Re: "The Ballad of the Sad Young Men"
« Reply #3 on: October 02, 2013, 08:10:01 pm »
A lovely version by Roberta Flack: 

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JksP1Kc6fjo[/youtube]
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Offline southendmd

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Re: "The Ballad of the Sad Young Men"
« Reply #4 on: October 02, 2013, 08:18:25 pm »
Here is a most excellent instrumental version, with Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette, from 1989:

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxWNB-2FltA[/youtube]
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Offline southendmd

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Re: "The Ballad of the Sad Young Men"
« Reply #5 on: October 02, 2013, 08:22:33 pm »
Here's a spare, breathy version by Fiona McBain, with just a bass:


[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0j6Jo_zQ25Y[/youtube]
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Offline southendmd

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Re: "The Ballad of the Sad Young Men"
« Reply #6 on: October 02, 2013, 08:25:46 pm »
Just to compare, here is "Spring Can Really Hang You up the Most", by the same songwriters (curiously, it was cut from the play), with a 19-year old Barbra Streisand:

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAS8BDDV8uM[/youtube]

And a few years later, at 67:

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6l0EQ3Uzzb0[/youtube]
« Last Edit: October 04, 2013, 09:00:32 pm by southendmd »
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Offline southendmd

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Re: "The Ballad of the Sad Young Men"
« Reply #7 on: October 02, 2013, 08:30:52 pm »
My all-time favorite is Ella's version, one of her best:

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vd5VVELfWC8[/youtube]

And the lyrics:

Once I was a sentimental thing
 Threw my heart away each spring
 Now a spring romance hasn't got a chance
 Promised my first dance to winter
 All I've got to show's a splinter for my little fling

Spring this year has got me feeling
 Like a horse that never left the post
 I lie in my room staring up at the ceiling
 Spring can really hang you up the most

Morning's kiss wakes trees and flowers
 And to them I'd like to drink a toast
 I walk in the park just to kill lonely hours
 Spring can really hang you up the most

All afternoon those birds twitter twit
 I know the tune, "This is love, this is it"
 Heard it before and I know the score
 And I've decided that spring is a bore

Love seemed sure around the New Year
 Now it's April, love is just a ghost
 Spring arrived on time, only what became of you, dear?
 Spring can really hang you up the most
 Spring can really hang you up the most

Spring is here, there's no mistaking
 Robins building nests from coast to coast
 My heart tries to sing so they won't hear it breaking
 Spring can really hang you up the most

College boys are writing sonnets
 In the tender passion they're engrossed
 But I'm on the shelf with last years Easter bonnets
 Spring can really hang you up the most

Love came my way, I hope it would last
 We had our day, now that's all in the past
 Spring came along a season of song
 Full of sweet promise but something went wrong

Doctors once prescribed a tonic
 "Sulphur and molasses" was the dose
 Didn't help a bit, my condition must be chronic
 Spring can really hang you up the most

All alone, the party's over
 Old man winter was a gracious host
 But when you keep praying for snow to hide the clover
 Spring can really hang you up the most


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Offline southendmd

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Re: "The Ballad of the Sad Young Men" by Fran Landesman
« Reply #8 on: October 02, 2013, 08:38:01 pm »
Gotta give equal time to Sassy:

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enoPgQwy11U[/youtube]
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Offline southendmd

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Re: "The Ballad of the Sad Young Men" by Fran Landesman
« Reply #9 on: October 02, 2013, 08:45:50 pm »
Back to the sad young men.  This time with the great South African Miriam Makeba from 1967:

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_RdfM3tlR8[/youtube]
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