![\"Mountains](\"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/ayearofsongs\/images\/blogimages\/mountainscome2.jpg\")
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A<\/span>s a wide-eyed youth, I was always a sucker for songs like “Teen Angel,” “Running Bear” or the Everly Brothers’ weeper, “Ebony Eyes.”<\/p>\n “Teen Angel” is pretty well known and its title is probably close enough to self-explanatory… “Running Bear” was about two young American Indians from different tribes, separated by their tribes’ mutual animosities — and a raging river — who fall in love from opposite riverbanks and finally, overcome by love, dive in from opposite sides and perish in the rapids just as they reach each other. Makes me misty just thinking about it. Loved that hokey “Native American” tom tom beat that underlay the song, too. Bum buh bum bum. Bum buh bum bum…<\/span><\/p>\n The Everly Brothers’ “Ebony Eyes” is more somber… but a mid-song monologue spoken in a shaky, post-juvenile voice by one of the brothers heads straight for the top of lugubriousness. Hearing it the third or fourth time as a callow youth may well have been my first turn toward cynicism. Even though I’d been a big Everlys fan as a youngster, I remember turning “Ebony Eyes” off more than a few times.<\/p>\n As I wrote in the post for the previous AYoS version<\/a> of this song, the lyrics were originally written around ’99 to go with a fast (142 bpm, if I recall) techno track<\/a> from Deakin Scott, a young producer in Britain, who came across me on the web and wanted to collaborate.<\/p>\n Deakin didn’t have any idea what kind of lyrics I should put to it.<\/p>\n I fooled around with a bunch of ideas and eventually pulled out my acoustic guitar (which was not first reach in those days), found myself playing a classic rock ‘n’ roll progression (I-vi-IV-V, for those who keep track of these things).<\/p>\n I came up with the first line (“Mountains come, mountains go…” — which was inspired by a song in my favotire musical, the 1955 Kismet… ” Princes come, princes go \/ An hour of pomp and show they know \/ Princes come \/ And over the sands, and over the sands of time they go…” [Forrest and Wright]) and it looked like it was going to be one of those “highest mountain\/deepest ocean” things but then it veered off into tragic loss.<\/p>\n Now, I can’t tell you why, but I have to admit that, embarrassing as it is, I find these lyrics strangely moving. They’re far from an empty exercise in pop formalism to me. I guess you’re really not<\/span> supposed to admit that you’re emotionally affected by your own lyrics but… well, there ya go. Call me a silly, sentimental sap.<\/p>\n\n