Tears

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'd 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've seen the future in the tracks of your tears
Of your tears
All those 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:

"I had a bad day when I wrote Tears."
(John Squire speaking to Dave Simpson in Oslo, Melody Maker, 13th May 1995)

The guitar outro of Good Times segues beautifully into a piece by Simon Dawson on Wurlitzer electric piano, played backwards, followed by the guitar intro of Tears. The song follows a 'Stairway to Heaven' Zeppelin-esque arc from acoustic to electric folk, and features perhaps Ian's best vocal of the entire LP. According to Mani, Ian was initially very critical of the song, however:

"I think Ian said to John, 'You'd have to wake me up, put a gun against my head and walk me down to the vocal booth for me to sing that.' He didn't like the song, and we didn't have a gun."
(Mani, Mojo Collections, Autumn 2001, p. 79.)

Squire's lyric of introspective reflection finds him full of despondency. Some of the lyrics have 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 - 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 Jimi 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" (for example, at Leicester in December 1995). A keyboard piece from Nigel Ipinson halfway trough the live performance allowed John to change from acoustic to electric guitar. Ipinson, previously a member of Orchestral Manoeuvres In the Dark, was brought in on keyboards during the 1995 world tour. His playing had the unfortunate effect of turning established classics into midi versions. In an interview, Squire expressed dissatisfaction that he was not consulted about the recruitment of a keyboard player; the fact that his opinion was not even sought is testament to how severe the breakdown in relations was between Squire and the other members. If part of the reasoning behind bringing Ipinson in was to inject some creative inspiration into the band, and paper over the cracks of relationship breakdowns (a la Billy Preston with the latter day Beatles), it failed miserably. The recruitment also of Robbie Maddix radically changed the dynamic of the band for Squire: "I think getting a new drummer showed me that I was more independent than I thought, but it was quite shocking to play with someone else after all that time as a closed unit, it was a bit of a revelation actually." On April Fools Day 1995, Reni quit the band prior to their first world tour, the beginning of the end for The Stone Roses. Not the most media-friendly band in the world, they gave no satisfactory explanation for his departure; Maddix, an old friend of Steve Adge, was drafted in, and the band soldiered on.

 

Left: Smokey Robinson & The Miracles.
Right: 'Stairway to Heaven' can be found on Led Zeppelin IV (1971). An issue of Q magazine from February 2005 states that Reni had a particular enthusiasm for this Led Zeppelin LP.

There is a Beatles ('Hey Bulldog') influence on the parting two lines of this track (which perhaps allude to Aleister Crowley's most famous work, 'Magick Without Tears'):

Some kind of innocence is measured out in years
You don't know what it's like to listen to your fears

The Beatles, Hey Bulldog

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