Our love, girl, is going through changes
I don't know if I'm alive
Dead, dying, or just a little jaded
Someone throw me a line
You know I need it, I need it bad
Lost in a maze of my own making
No way out that I can find
Send home your hard working jury
I'm going down this time
You better believe it, yes you had
So if you hear me crying or talking in my sleep
Don't be afraid it's just the hours that I keep
We've got a love to last for a million years
A love that could never fade through the tracks of your tears
All I can do is hope that you will see me fall
Do your best to smash my picture on your wall
Forgive me baby, absolve me, my dear
I've seen the future in the tracks of your tears
I cast a shorter shadow with every passing day
No time to think, I'm just fading away
Some kind of magic in all your hopes and fears
Shows me the future through the tracks of your tears
Lyrics by:
Squire
Music by:
Squire
Written:
1993
Personnel:
John Squire (guitar)
Ian Brown (vocals)
Gary Mounfield (bass)
Alan Wren (drums)
Simon Dawson (Wurlitzer electric piano)
Producer:
Simon Dawson & Paul Schroeder. Initial recording by Mark Tolle and Al 'Bongo' Shaw.
Engineer:
Available on:
Second Coming (6.50)
First live performance:
In August 1995
Details:
The guitar outro of Good Times beautifully segues into a piece by Simon Dawson on Wurlitzer electric piano played backwards, followed by the guitar intro of Tears. This 'Stairway To Heaven' pastiche is either loved or hated by fans. Personally, I think it is among the Roses' best songs - Ian arguably gives his finest performance of the whole of Second Coming; according to Mani, he did not like the song at the outset, however:
Tears, some say, was written about the state of Squire's married life in 1993 ("Don't be afraid, it's just the hours that I keep"). This can be related to the sentiment of Your Star Will Shine, in which Squire expressed worry that he would not be around to see his daughter grow up. Similar to the double meaning of heroin(e) on Good Times, there is another on this track - "Someone throw me a line…I need it bad" - a simple, desperate plea or a reference to the (alleged) cocaine dependence of Squire circa Second Coming ? Squire's lyric of introspective reflection finds him full of despondency, in which we learn that he is personally responsible for his plight, a la 'Nobody's Fault But Mine' by Led Zeppelin. Some of the lyrics have strong religious connotations - the narrator is certain that he's 'going down', not requiring a jury to confirm for him what he sees as his inevitable fate - strongly suggestive of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Jesus saw the future through the tears of Martha and Mary over the death of Lazarus, knowing that He also was soon to suffer the same fate. Jesus Himself broke down and cried also, not because He was too late to reach Lazarus before his death, or resurrect him subsequently, but because He saw His own future in the tears of the women.
The plaintive intro of the song echoes 'The Tracks Of My Tears' by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, affirmed by the influence penetrating the lyrical sentiment ("A love that could never fade through the tracks of your tears").
The guitar of the second half of Tears is close to Hendrix's cover of Bob Dylan’s 'All Along The Watchtower', tacitly recognized by Ian when he included a couple of lines from All Along The Watchtower when singing Tears live - "Two riders were approaching and the wind began to howl" (4.32 - 4.45 at Leicester). A nice keyboard piece from Nigel Ipinson halfway trough the live performance allowed John to change from acoustic to electric guitar.
There is a Beatles ('Hey Bulldog') influence on the parting two lines of this track (which allude to Aleister Crowley's most famous work, 'Magick Without Tears'):
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