Mourning 😭 | 3 to 5 BOPS

Mourning 😭: 3 to 5 BOPS No. 46 (2023), features musical BOPS courtesy of Grizzly Bear, Kendrick Lamar, Post Malone, Sarah Brightman, and The Smiths.

Ah, you know what time it is! It’s 3 to 5 BOPS time – WOO! On 3 to 5 BOPS, it’s all about brevity and sweetness… for the most part! There’s a theme/topic, 3, 4, or 5 songs, and a blurb – two paragraphs or less.  3 to 5 BOPS, hence, is a mini playlist that shouldn’t take much time to consume.  In the 46^th edition of 3 to 5 BOPS (2023), we select songs that are associated with Mourning 😭  in some form or fashion. The BOPS arrive courtesy of 🎙 Grizzly Bear, 🎙 Kendrick Lamar, 🎙 Post Malone, 🎙 Sarah Brightman, and 🎙 The Smiths. Okay, let’s get into it!

via GIPHY

1. Post Malone, “Mourning”

💿 Austin • 🏷 Mercury / Republic • 🗓 2023 

“Don’t wanna sober up / The sun is killin’ my buzz, that’s why they call it mourning.” Ah, clever 🎙 Post Malone – we see what you did there!  The singer (the best way to label him these days) drops the short but sweet second single from his 2023 album,  💿 Austin, 🎵 “Mourning”. “Mourning,” produced alongside 🎛 Louis Bell and ​watt, finds Post in reflective mode, bothered by, shit for lack of a better word (“Got a lotta shit to say, couldn’t fit it in the chorus”).  

The shit that has affected Post Malone is substance issues – the alcohol.  Part of the problem seems to be those “quote-unquote friends” who enable him, with him footing the bill of dinner, and them dragging him “to a party out in Malibu.” Things get worse in the second verse, where he asserts, “Stumblin’ down the corridor, came across and open door / Throwin’ up is easy and who put on The Commodores.” A brilliant reference to the famed soul collective, it also speaks to Malone’s alcoholism.  Despite his substance issues, which are no joke, 🎵 “Mourning” is sweet music to the listener’s ears. This is an authentic, honest, and well written single.  Post Malone is being true to self.     

via GIPHY

Appears in 🔻:

• Awesome Songs: May 2023

2. Sarah Brightman, “Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again”  

💿 The Phantom of The Opera (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) • 🏷 Polydor Ltd. • 📅 1987

Is there anything more heavenly than an expressive, gorgeous ballad from a musical? No, there isn’t! Furthermore, when that musical is one of the greatest of all time, 🎦 The Phantom of The Opera, there is no debate whatsoever! The Phantom of the Opera, which closed on Broadway in 2023, has its fair share of BOPS, haha. Among the crème de la crème is the somber 🎵 “Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again”, which finds protagonist Christine Daae memorializing her father.  In the original Broadway performance in 1987, Christine was portrayed by 🎭 🎙️ Sarah Brightman.  

“You were once my one companion / You were all that mattered,” Christine sings at the beginning of the ballad, initially set in G minor.  She continues singing, “You were once a friend and father / Then my world was shattered.” Later, stricken with the grief of his passing, Daae asserts in the poetic text, “Passing bells and sculpted angels / Cold and monumental / Seem for you the wrong companions.” Of course, the centerpiece is the chorus, varied slightly each time it occurs, where the minor key shifts to the parallel major.  It is incredibly tuneful, accompanied by more enthusiastic orchestration:  

“Wishing I could hear your voice again 
Knowing that I never would
Dreaming of you won’t help me to do
All that you dreamed I could.” 

Also, the outro is worth highlighting, as Christine has closure regarding the loss. She knows that she can’t wallow in grief.  🎼 ✍ Andrew Lloyd Webber, you are truly legendary and brilliant for this one!

Appears in 🔻: 

• Andrew Lloyd Webber, “Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again”: FIERCE Pop + Rock 🔥🤘 23 (2023)
• 11 Compelling Songs Focused on HERE (2023)

3. The Smiths, “Suffer Little Children”

💿 The Smiths • 🏷 Warner Music UK • 📅 1984 

“But fresh lilaced moorland fields / Cannot hide the stolid stench of death.” EERIE 😱! 🎵 “Suffer Little Children” is the penultimate track from 🎙 The Smiths’ 1984 self-titled debut.  The Smiths were an English band from 80s, led by 🎙 Morrissey, who later continued his career as a solo artist.  “Suffer Little Children” references the infamous child murders (Moors murders) committed by Ian Brady (1938 – 2017) and Myra Hindley (1942 – 2002). Morrissey mentions the victims of Brady and Hindley by name. 

“Lesley-Anne, with your pretty white beads 

Oh John, you’ll never be a man  

And you’ll never see your home again 

Oh Manchester, so much to answer for 

Edward, see those alluring lights? 

Tonight, will be your very last night.”   

Creepy. Interestingly, Ian Brady is left out of the name dropping.  Myra Hindley, not so much. Historically, there seems to be greater hatred for Hindley, who, notably, died long before Brady: “Hindley wakes and Hindley says / Hindley wakes, Hindley wakes, Hindley wakes, and says: / ‘Oh, wherever he has done, I have done.’”

Appears in 🔻:

• Songs That Reference Ian Brady & Myra Hindley (2019)

4. Kendrick Lamar, “United in Grief”

💿 Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers • 🏷 Aftermath / Interscope • 🗓 2022

“I wake in the morning, another appointment / I hope the psychologist listenin’.” Woo! 🏆 Grammy and Pulitzer Prize winner 🎙 Kendrick Lamar kicks off 💿 Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers with a bang with 🤩 🎵 “United in Grief.”  Here, Lamar reflects on a wide array of topics: his career, money/drip, trauma experienced (including loss of friends), meaningless sex, and mental health.  It seems as if Kendrick has used sex and money to cope with emotional/mental health.  He admits, in the outro, “I grieve different.”  Notably, “United in Grief” features intriguing production switches (), which marvelously help to illustrate all that’s spinning around in his head. Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers is a challenging album, but “United in Grief” marks one of its best moments.

5. Grizzly Bear, “Mourning Sound”

💿  Painted Ruins • 🏷 RCA • 📅 2017

“I made a mistake / I should have never tried / I took the cake / Finished every slice,” 🎙 Ed Droste sings on 🎵 “Mourning Sound”, one of four singles issued from the 2017 🎙 Grizzly Bear album, 💿 Painted Ruins.  Notably, the alternative collective returned after a ‘beary’ long break – a five-year hiatus.  “Mourning Sound” is enjoyable by all means. Droste continues singing in the first verse,  “I moved away / Still playing off the fights / For every day / I share our love delight.”  From the start, there is an intense groove, grabbing the listener’s attention, keeping them engaged. Within the groove, a hint of synth is perceptible alongside bass and drums.  Following the verses, the instrumentation increases, with the sound expanding, including synths. By the conclusion of the song, Grizzly Bear throws all kinds of sounds at the listeners. Vocally, Droste shines from the start. The structure of the song is interesting: two verses, with two instrumental interludes, following them.  The first two verses are written in similar fashion, eschewing complex lyrics, as excerpted above. While it lacks complexity, the simplicity is appealing and downright charming. The first chorus arrives after the second verse-interlude (“I woke to the sound of dogs / To the sound of distant shots and passing trucks / We woke with the mourning sound”). After the third verse (patterned after the first two), there’s a slight variation of the chorus.  Instead of “I,” Droste goes for “We.”

Mourning 😭: 3 to 5 BOPS No. 46 (2023) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Aftermath / Interscope, Mercury / Republic, Polydor Ltd., RCA; Brian James from Pexels ]