{"id":97004,"date":"2016-04-15T14:30:22","date_gmt":"2016-04-15T18:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=97004"},"modified":"2016-04-15T14:54:19","modified_gmt":"2016-04-15T18:54:19","slug":"the-song-stuck-in-my-head","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/04\/15\/the-song-stuck-in-my-head\/","title":{"rendered":"The Song Stuck in My Head"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OXeh742_jak\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Life is but a day:<br \/> A fragile dewdrop on its perilious way<br \/> From a tree\u2019s summit<br \/> \u2014John Keats<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Last night I heard the singer-songwriter Emmy the Great cover \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=HJeLguRecYc\">Who Knows Where the Time Goes<\/a>.\u201d It was beautiful. That song is one that lends itself to covers: resolutely gorgeous, flexible enough to allow for interpretation, but always essentially itself. Whether it\u2019s Cat Power, Richard Thompson, Eva Cassidy, or the cast of\u00a0<em>Pretty Little Liars<\/em>\u00a0singing the ballad, the mix of melancholy reflection and bursts of pure feeling can never be less than stunning. (Okay, maybe the\u00a0<em>Pretty Little Liars<\/em>\u00a0version doesn\u2019t quite get there.)\u00a0<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Written in 1967 by the folk-rock legend Sandy Denny, \u201cWho Knows Where the Time Goes\u201d was covered by Judy Collins, then recorded by Denny herself and by her band,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=5sNPorNyME0\">Fairport Convention<\/a>. The elegiac lyrics take on more poignancy in light of their author\u2019s life: after struggles with substance abuse, Denny died at only thirty-one from blunt-force trauma to the head following a bad fall. Although she was revered by her peers, she wasn\u2019t a great commercial success, and her reputation has grown significantly since her death.<\/p>\n<p>Across the evening sky, all the birds are leaving<br \/> Oh but then you know, it was time for them to go<br \/> By the winter fire, I will still be dreaming<br \/> I do not count the time<br \/> for who knows where the time goes?<br \/> Who knows where the time goes?<br \/> Sad, deserted shore<br \/> your fickle friends are leaving<br \/> oh, but then you know it was time for them to go<br \/> But I will still be here<br \/> I have no thought of leaving<br \/> I do not count the time<br \/> for who knows where the time goes?<br \/> I know I\u2019m not alone<br \/> while my love is near me<br \/> I know that it\u2019s so until it\u2019s time to go<br \/> All the storms in Winter and the birds in Spring again<br \/> I do not count the time<br \/> For who knows where the time goes?<br \/> who knows where the time goes?<br \/> who knows where the time goes?<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s the classic stuff of ballads\u2014Denny came from a family of traditional singers\u2014but more personal and immediate. While you can\u2019t go wrong with any cover, I do urge you to listen to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=OXeh742_jak\">Nina Simone\u2019s rendition<\/a>, which trades wistfulness for wisdom.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, her opening words on people pleasing are worth the listen alone: \u201cYou use up everything you got when you give everybody what they want.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Sadie Stein is contributing editor of <\/em>The Paris Review<em>, and the <\/em>Daily<em>\u2019s correspondent.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Life is but a day: A fragile dewdrop on its perilious way From a tree\u2019s summit \u2014John Keats Last night I heard the singer-songwriter Emmy the Great cover \u201cWho Knows Where the Time Goes.\u201d It was beautiful. That song is one that lends itself to covers: resolutely gorgeous, flexible enough to allow for interpretation, but [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":178,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13115],"tags":[16877,46,642,1685,21980,13487,21979],"class_list":["post-97004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-our-daily-correspondent","tag-melancholy","tag-music","tag-nina-simone","tag-sandy-denny","tag-singer-songwriters","tag-songs","tag-who-knows-where-the-time-goes"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.4 (Yoast SEO v25.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Song Stuck in My Head by Sadie Stein<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"April 15, 2016 \u2013 Life is but a day: A fragile dewdrop on its perilious way 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