I haven't heard a song so exquisitely, personally painful in a long, long time.
The Ghost was a Canadian band that released one album in 1970, when albums still suffered from a 1960s hangover. Lead vocalist, Shirley Kent, sings in a style reminiscent of Joan Baez and Judy Collins -- folk-y with a certain classical rigor. The combination of her throwback vocal style with her unexpectedly-steely lyrics creates the overwhelming impression that she's saying goodbye, not only to a thoughtless, inconstant lover; but to the 1960s themselves.
After all this time, it shouldn't hurt this much. But it does.
Goodbye the love that made rivers of flowers, Ships on my flowerbeds, sleeping away Roses now run to the sea, from the river Once that I've cried, once that I say Hearts and flowers die today
Hello, the face that brought me a new day Maps on my windowpanes, made out of rain Choose your way home for I'm only leaving Once that I've cried, once that I say Hearts and flowers die today
And as the flowers flow The ships, they had to grow Under horizons in your eyes Your window maps will find That I was left behind Now you don't recall my name
Goodbye the love that made rivers of flowers, Ships on my flowerbeds, sleeping away Roses now run to the sea, from the river Once that I've cried, once that I say Hearts and flowers die today Hearts and flowers die today
Here are The Ghost, with "Hearts and Flowers":
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