I’m not giving in an inch to fear
Fear — the emotional belief that something or someone is dangerous or threatening — can be crippling. It can be healthy when it warns us to keep our distance from people or situations that are likely harmful, but it can also be irrational, especially when manipulated by someone with a hidden agenda.
Most people suffer from at least one of a wide variety of fears — enclosed spaces, crowds, darkness, heights, the unknown, financial insecurity, abandonment, public ridicule, things that go bump in the night, DYING — all of which are ripe material for authors, screenwriters and songwriters. Horror movies and murder mysteries capitalize on common fears, and rock music has many dozens of examples of song lyrics that explore the things that scare us.
Just in time for Halloween week, I have gathered 15 songs, mostly from the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, with lyrical themes that address our deep-seated fears. Some of these tunes should be familiar; most will be new to you. There’s a Spotify playlist at the end so you can check them out as you read about them.
***************************
“Scared,” John Lennon, 1974
From mid-1973 to late-1974, Lennon went through a conflicted period he later called his “lost weekend,” when he was living in Los Angeles separated from Yoko Ono. “I loved the freedom, but ultimately, it wasn’t good for me, and I drank too much,” he recalled. “I missed her, and it showed up in the songs on ‘Walls and Bridges.'” One of the more intriguing tracks on the album is the haunting “Scared,” which explores Lennon’s fears of aging, loneliness and the emptiness of success: “I’m scared, I’m scared, I’m scared, /As the years roll away, and the price that I paid, and the straws slip away…, /Every day of my life, I just manage to survive, /I just wanna stay alive…, /Hatred and jealousy, gonna be the death of me, I guess I knew it right from the start…”
“Fear,” Sade, 1985
Nigerian-born British chanteuse Sade Adu burst on the musical scene in 1984 with her “Diamond Life” LP and big single “Smooth Operator.” Joining forces with guitarist/saxophonist Stuart Matthewman, Sade wrote most of the tracks on her hugely successful follow-up, “Promise,” which reached #1 on the U.S. album chart and included “The Sweetest Taboo,” “Is It a Crime?” and “Never As Good as the First Time.” Also found on this LP is a darkly lovely piece called “Fear” that addresses the anxiety the wife of a matador feels whenever he heads out to his death-defying pursuit at a bullfight. “Blue is the color of the red sky, /Will he, will he come home tonight?, /Blue is the color that she feels inside, Matador, I can’t hide my fear anymore…”
“Girl Afraid,” The Smiths, 1984
Hugely influential in British rock of the ’90s and beyond, The Smiths produced some of the most memorable post-punk rock and pop of the ’80s, led by singer Morrissey and guitarist Johnny Marr. One critic called their songs “intoxicatingly melancholic, dangerously thoughtful, and seductively funny.” Their first Top Ten hit in the U.K., “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now,” included “Girl Afraid” as its B-side, and both songs appeared on the compilation LP “Hatful of Hollow” in 1984: “Girl afraid, /Where do his intentions lay? Or does he even have any? /She says, ‘He never really looks at me, I give him every opportunity’… /Boy afraid, /Prudence never pays, and everything she wants costs money, /But she doesn’t even like me, and I know because she said so…”
“Baby I’m Scared of You,” Womack and Womack, 1983
Cecil Womack, younger brother of his more famous brother Bobby, had sung in gospel groups and behind soul greats Sam Cooke and James Brown in the early ’60s. While working as a songwriter, he met Cooke’s daughter Linda, also a songwriter, and the two married in 1978, debuting as a recording group known as Womack and Womack in 1983. Their debut LP “Love Wars” spawned three R&B hits, one of which, “Baby, I’m Scared of You,” was a catchy, call-and-response duet about a girl who’s wary of a boy’s truthfulness: “Come, if you got real love for me, /Stay away, if got games and tricks for me, /I want a man that means everything he say, /Not a boy full of play, pulling rabbits out of his hat every day, /Oh, baby, I’m scared of you…”
“Don’t Fear the Reaper,” Blue Oyster Cult, 1976
BOC’s lead guitarist and singer Donald “Buck Dharma” Roeser was frustrated when “(Don’t Fear) the Reaper” was interpreted as encouraging suicide, or even murder-suicide (the “Romeo and Juliet” reference). “My intent was ‘Don’t be afraid of death. It’s inevitable.’ It’s basically a love song where the love transcends the actual physical existence of the partners.” It became a hugely popular slab of melodic hard rock in the middle of the disco era, reaching #12 in 1976: “Came the last night of sadness, and it was clear she couldn’t go on, /Then the door was open and the wind appeared, the candles blew and then disappeared, /The curtains flew and then he appeared, saying ‘Don’t be afraid,’ /Come on baby, and she had no fear…”
“Stage Fright,” The Band, 1970
The Band’s first two LPs had been rapturously received and the third one, 1970’s “Stage Fright,” continued their musical journey but with songs that took a darker turn. As the name implies, the title track is about “the terror of performing,” according to drummer/singer Levon Helm, and was written by Robbie Robertson’s anxiety about The Band’s first live show under that name in 1969: “See the man with the stage fright, just standin’ up there to give it all his might, /He got caught in the spotlight, but when we get to the end, he wants to start all over again, /Now if he says that he’s afraid, take him at his word…” In a more general sense, the lyrics also allude to the pitfalls of fortune and fame, which profoundly affected The Band in terms of interpersonal relationships and substance abuse.
“Running Scared,” Roy Orbison, 1962
Known primarily for his distinctive, powerful voice, Orbison wrote and recorded some of rock’s most operatic, darkly emotional ballads, many of which reached the Top Ten on US pop charts in the 1960-1964 period. While other rockers of that era projected macho images, Orbison embraced a more vulnerable persona, wearing his heart on his sleeve on hits like “Only the Lonely,” “Crying,” and “Dream Baby (How Long Must I Dream).” One of his biggest singles came in 1962 with “Running Scared,” a bolero-style song that reveals the narrator’s insecurity of losing his woman to another man: “Just runnin’ scared each place we go, so afraid that he might show, /Yeah, runnin’ scared, what would I do if he came back and wanted you?…”
“Fear For Your Future,” Ronnie Wood, 1992
First with the Jeff Beck Group, then with Faces and eventually with The Rolling Stones, Wood has amassed an enviable legacy as an accomplished guitarist on some of rock music’s best classic albums (“Truth,” “Ooh La La,” “Some Girls”). He has managed to release six solo albums as well, although only 1979’s “Gimme Some Neck” made much impact. On his 1992 LP “Slide On This,” his funk tune “Fear For Your Future” warns his ex-lover that her dishonesty will be her eventual downfall: “It’s too late to cry, move your sorry butt aside, /I don’t care what you say ’cause your truths are nothing but lies, /I see the time coming soon to cross you off my list, /I’ll drink to the good time we had and send you off with a kiss, /I fear for your future, I fear for your life…”
“I’m Scared,” Burton Cummings, 1976
Cummings helped lead the Canadian band The Guess Who to multiple Top 40 success (“These Eyes,” “No Time,” “American Woman,” “Share the Land”) in the 1969-1974 period in their native country as well as in the U.S. In 1975, when a couple of his songs were rejected by the band, Cummings chose to go solo, having an immediate hit with “Stand Tall.” Although the follow-up single “I’m Scared” stalled at #61 in the U.S., it became a concert favorite, with lyrics about a fearful man crying out for divine intervention: “I’m scared, Lordy Lord, I’m shaking, I’m petrified, /Never been much on religion, but I sure enough just fell down on my knees, /Come on now, give me a sign you’re listening to me, /You hear me talking, you hear me crying, /It’s confusing to me, Lord, I’m terrified…”
“Afraid of Love,” Toto, 1983
The talented musicians who comprised the lineup of Toto had been active as studio session guys for years before forming their own band in 1978, making a splash with their first single, “Hold the Line.” Four years later, their “Toto IV” LP won the Album of the Year Grammy, thanks in part to the megahits “Rosanna” and “Africa.” Guitarist Steve Lukather, keyboardist David Paich and drummer Jeff Porcaro combined forces to write “Afraid of Love,” a solid deep track that focuses on the fear of falling in love with the wrong person: “I like the way you move and just the way you are, /I can’t take anymore, ’cause girl, you’re pushing too hard, /I gotta get away from you, girl, ’cause I’ve never been afraid of love ’til I met you, /Never thought a girl could make me feel the way you do…”
“Whatever I Fear,” Toad the Wet Sprocket, 1997
Ever since I was first exposed to Toad the Wet Sprocket in the mid-1990s, I’ve been a fan. “Walk On the Ocean,” “Something’s Always Wrong,” “All I Want,” “Nanci” and others showed the fine melodic sensibilities of chief singer-songwriter Glen Phillips, and I’ve seen the band in concert twice in the past few years. Their overlooked 1997 album “Coil” needs to be rediscovered, especially the irresistible lead track, “Whatever I Fear,” which focuses on the irrationality of fearing new things we’re exposed to in our daily lives: “Whatever I fear the most is whatever I see before me, /Whenever I let my guard down, whatever I was ignoring, /Whatever I fear the most is whatever I see before me, /Whatever I have been given, whatever I have been…”
“Fearless,” Pink Floyd, 1971
Pink Floyd’s superstardom in the U.S. and around the world didn’t take hold until 1973’s seismic “Dark Side of the Moon” LP, but the first signs of the soundscapes that marked the band’s ’70s/’80s albums first surfaced on 1971’s “Meddle,” with tracks like “Echoes” and “One Of These Days.” Another memorable tune was “Fearless,” a hypnotic, acoustically driven piece which also made use of a soccer crowd chanting its team anthem “You’ll Never Walk Alone” (from Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “Carousel”). Its lyrics encourage us not to lose hope in the face of life’s challenges and adversities: “As you rise above the fear-lines in his brow, /You look down, hearing the sound of the faces in the crowd, /Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart, and you’ll never walk alone…”
“Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark,” Robert Cray Band, 1988
Cutting his musical teeth on blues guitar greats like Albert Collins, Freddie King and Muddy Waters, Cray emerged in the 1980s as a key member of the next generation of blues musicians who earned mainstream appeal. His 1986 LP “Strong Persuader,” and its single “Smoking Gun,” brought him considerable recognition. On the title track from his follow-up album “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark,” Cray tries to reassure his woman that he will remain a source of calm and comfort even if they’re cuddling in as dark bedroom: “You might tremble, you might shake, /Scream out loud, you may even pray, /I know which moves suit you right, /You’ll beg for more, you’ll forget about the night, /Don’t be afraid of the dark, baby, no no, /I’ll be there to hold you, don’t be afraid of the dark…”
“Fear (of the Unknown),” Siouxsie and The Banshees, 1991
British singer Susan Ballion, known by her stage name Siouxsie Sioux, emerged during the post-punk scene in 1978 and, with her band The Banshees, became “one of most audacious and uncompromising acts of that period,” as one critic put it. They scored nine consecutive Top 20 albums in the U.K., but didn’t make much of an impact in the U.S. until 1991’s “Superstition” LP. “Kiss Them For Me” reached #23 on pop charts here, and “Fear (of the Unknown),” which explores the anxiety known as xenophobia, received heavy airplay in dance clubs that year: “Imagine two complete strangers who suspect they were meant to be, /Both in need of love and affection, /Yet their suspicions prevent something heavenly, /Fear takes control, fear of the unknown…”
“I’m So Afraid,” Fleetwood Mac, 1975
When Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined Fleetwood Mac in early 1975, they each had three or four songs ready to go because they’d been anticipating making a second album as a duo following their 1973 “Buckingham Nicks” LP, but their contract wasn’t renewed. Buckingham had suffered a bout of mononucleosis that frightened him, and it surfaced in the lyrics to “I’m So bAfraid,” which one critic described as “a paranoid blues blowout.” It’s one of the hardest rocking songs in the group’s post-1974 catalog, with Buckingham performing a blistering guitar solo on record and on almost every tour since: “I’m so afraid the way I feel, /Days when the rain and the sun are gone, /Black as night, agony’s torn at my heart too long, /So afraid, slip and I fall and I die…”
**************************
Honorable mention:
“Afraid,” David Bowie, 2002; “Fear of the Dark,” Iron Maiden, 1992; “Scared,” Tragically Hip, 1994; “Don’t Be Afraid,” Boston, 1978; “Frightened,” Toby Lightman, 2004; “The Fear of Being Alone,” Reba McEntire, 1996; “Afraid,” Mötley Crüe, 1997; “Fear of Sleep,” The Strokes, 2006.
***************************
Hack's Back Pages 