Playlists: songs about candles and candlelight

By Marco den Ouden

One of the things that struck me with this topic’s nominations was the extent to which candles and candlelight are metaphors for life. Like a candle, life starts with a spark that flares into a flame, a writhing, living thing. Sometimes a candle can shine brightly. Other times it can flicker and seem a bit precarious. Just like the ups and downs of life. A candle has a limited lifespan and melts away. Just as our lives do. And sometimes a sudden breeze can cause a candle to be snuffed out unexpectedly when we least expected. Just as tragedy and fate can cut our lives short. 

Candles reflect relationships. A candle in the window can be a beacon for a loved one to find their way home. Candles can reflect a sense of togetherness and community as it often does in religious settings. It can reflect the most intimate of relationships, a bond between lovers over a candlelit dinner. A candle, because of its fragility reflects a hope for peace and good will. For only with peace can the candle be preserved and not snuffed out prematurely. 

There are a great many nuances to the symbolism of candles often reflected in figures of speech and even profound proverbs. Candles provide solace in times of sorrow. And hope in times of struggle.

Candles are especially popular and meaningful during this festive season. So we start and end our list with two seasonal songs. In Sweden the winter solstice is widely celebrated with candles and music. December 13th is St. Lucia day. She was a Christian martyr who brought food to Christians hiding in the Roman catacombs. She lighted her way through those dark tunnels wearing a wreath of candles on her head. She symbolises the triumph of light over darkness. So we open our set with the Oscar Fredik Church Orchestra and Choir singing a Sankta Lucia Medley. The festival is annual and our video is from 2016 and beautiful to behold.

We continue with Jackson Browne singing a song reflecting the fragility of life, a Song for Adam. He never expected his friend Adam’s life to end suddenly. “I sit before my only candle but it's so little light to find my way. Now this story unfolds before my candle which is shorter every hour as it reaches for the day.”

From Spain we have Javier Solis lamenting the passing of his love. Cuatro Cirios (four candles) guard the coffin. “What loneliness and pain! Only the four candles remain, also dressed in mourning, just like my heart.”

The lighting of a candle in a Catholic church can have several meanings. Often one lights one to remember a loved one who has passed. In Grace Cathedral Hill, Colin Meloy, lead singer of The Decemberists, tells of the funeral of his wife (then girlfriend) Carson’s Dad. It was New Year’s Day. They lit a candle and after the service they spent the day together. “Some way to greet the year, your eyes all bright and brimmed with tears.” The day marked an ending but also a beginning for as he comforted her, “Are you feeling better now?” he found himself falling more deeply in love with his Irish “green-eyed girl”.

We follow this with two songs celebrating two very similar women, both whose lives ended too soon. Elton John pays tribute to Marilyn Monroe (born Norma Jean Mortenson), the “blonde bombshell,” one of Hollywood’s most successful actresses, who committed suicide at age 36. Her life was a Candle in the Wind, as John puts it. 

Monroe’s reputation as a sex symbol was rivalled only by the equally statuesque Jayne Mansfield. Her story is just as tragic. Siouxsie and the Banshees tell her story in Kiss Them For Me. Thrice married with five children, the song recalls her last days. Her career was in decline and her lawyer boyfriend abused her. The story takes a bizarre turn here. As recounted by journalist John Wirt, the boyfriend incurred the wrath of Anton LaVey, the founder of the Church of Satan when he “flippantly lit a forbidden candle in LaVey’s altar room.” LaVey proclaimed a curse from Satan on him—he would die in a car crash within a year and anyone with him at the time would also die. 

Just keeping looking the the candles, sir … Jayne Mansfield lights up the room with Sophia Loren in 1957

In 1967, driving from a gig in Biloxi, Mississippi to New Orleans, the speeding vehicle slammed into a semi that had slowed down because of signal flares ahead. As Siouxsie sings it: “On the road to New Orleans a spray of stars, hit the screen as the tenth impact shimmered. The forbidden candles beamed.” Mansfield was killed instantly. She was 34. 

We’ve been to Sweden and to Spain. Now we find Tong Li in China. She laments a bitter youth and how time has passed her by. She sheds Red Candle Tears. “Love has vanished like smoke / Only a half-burnt red candle remains in my heart.”

From one song about love passing them by, we go to another, Pulp sing that you Got to Have Love. “Light all your candles for me now 'cause all your birthdays came at once.” He didn’t heed his own words. “I waited far too long to believe in the words I once wrote to this song. You've got to have love.”

Sometimes we find ourselves in a relationship and it turns out all wrong. One of the curious things about post-traumatic stress syndrome, according to psychiatrist Bessel Van Der Kok in his book, The Body Knows the Score, is the tendency for abused women to return to their abuser again and again. Macy Gray sings of such a situation in Still. “I still light up like a candle burnin' when he calls me up. I still melt down like a candle burnin' every time we touch.” Leaving an abusive relationship takes tremendous resolve. 

From these somber songs on death and dying, lost opportunities and PTSD, let's close with some positive and even upbeat songs. 

In the deeply romantic Candlelight and You, Chanté Moore sings of love shared by candlelight. “For all the things that you are to me and what you do I want candlelight and you.”

Shirley Bassey takes the candle metaphor to a whole new level. The phrase "burning a candle at both ends” usually means working too hard. But for Shirley Burn My Candle (At Both Ends) is a rather bawdy double entendre. “Who's got a light he's hidin', under a bush or fence? Who wants to help me burn my candle, at both ends?” Just do there’s no misunderstanding, she spells it out. “There's 'S' for Scotch, that's so direct. And for straight and simple sex.” She’s on fire!

In a more reflective vein, Eric Bibb tells us The Light Was Worth the Candle. Don’t be afraid to take chances. 

Give it all you've got
Whatever you do, trust your heart
The journey's worth more
Much more than the gold

Neil Young invokes an ancient Chinese proverb in Light a Candle. 

Instead of cursing the darkness,
Light a candle for where we're going,
there's something ahead, worth fighting for.

And Peter, Paul and Mary sing a plea for world peace in Light One Candle.

Light one candle for all we believe in
Let anger not tear us apart!
Light one candle to bind us together
With peace as the song in our heart

And so we come back to a seasonal song. Jane Siberry sings a Christmas anthem in Are You Burning Little Candle? 

Are you burning, little candle?
High upon the Christmas tree
Symbol of a new beginning
Faith and hope and sweet release

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas. Wishing you peace and joy and family and love. 

Aromatic All Aglow A-List Playlist:

1. Sankta Lucia - Oscar Fredik Church Orchestra & Choir (Naguchi)

2. Song for Adam - Jackson Browne (Fred Erickson)

3. Cuatro Cirios - Javier Solis (Maki)

4. Grace Cathedral Hill - The Decemberists (tincanman)

5. Candle in the Wind - Elton John (BanzirGalbasi)

6. Kiss Them For Me - Siouxsie & The Bansees (happyclapper)

7. Red Candle Tears - Tong Li (BanazirGalbasi)

8. Got to Have Love - Pulp (happyclapper)

9. Still - Macy Gray (Nicko)

10. Candlelight and You - Chanté Moore (Naguchi)

11. Burn My Candle (At Both Ends) - Shirley Bassey (Naguchi)

12. The Light Was Worth the Candle - Eric Bibb (Williamsbach)

13. Light a Candle - Neil Young (Fred Erickson)

14. Light One Candle - Peter, Paul & Mary (Naguchi)

15. Are You Burning Little Candle - Jane Sibery (Tatanka Yotanka)

Brightly Burning B-List Playlist:

1. Candle - Peter Hammill (TarquinSpodd)

2. One Little Candle - Nina Girado (SweetHomeAlabama)

3. 16 Candles - The Crests (severin)

4. A Candle for the Flame - Janis Ian (severin)

5. Long As I Can See the Light - Creedence Clearwater Revival (ShivSidecar)

6. Maria - Blondie (happyclapper)

7. Spanish Stroll - Mink DeVille (Traktor Albatrost)

8. You Make My Dreams - Hall & Oates (Traktor Albatrost)

9. Moths - Jethro Tull (BanazirGalbasi)

10. Candela - Buena Vista Social Club (Nicko)

11. Burn - Tina Arena (Nicko)

12. Flikaflame - Aswad (Uncleben)

13. Candle of Life - The Moody Blues (Nicko)

14. Melt Away - Max Romeo (Nicko)

15. Can’t Fight This Feeling - REO Speedwagon (Naguchi)

16. Old Flames Can’t Hold a Candle to You - Joe Sun (TarquinSpodd)

17. Pipes of Peace - Paul McCartney (ParaMhor)

18. 5000 Candles in the Wind - Mouse Rat (TarquinSpodd)

19. Candle for a Cowboy - Darrell Scott (Uncleben)

20. Hope in the Air - Laura Marling (tincanman)

21. Silk, Satin, Carriage Waiting - Tommy James (Fred Erikson)

22. Soulville - Dinah Washington (severin)

23. Sad Polish Song - Jackie Leven (TatankaYotanka)

24. I Melt - Rascal Flatts (Naguchi)

25. Candle - King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard (Nicko)

26. Light a Candle in the Chapel - Frank Sinatra (Naguchi)

27. Candlestick Maker - Beau Brummels (ShivSidecar)

28. Tänä jouluna sytytän kynttilän - Local Al & Mummypowder (TatankaYotanka)

29. Show a Flower a Candle and It Will Grow - Froth (vanwolf2)

30. Obsession - Xymox (vanwolf2)

31. When the Night’s on Fire - Mike Oldfield (Fred Erickson)

32. Burn That Candle - The Cues (Fred Erickson)

33. Miss Simone - Sara Bareilles (Fred Erckson)

34. Candle - Bobby Hutcherson (Fred Erickson)

35. I Won’t Light a Candle for You - Giorgia Fumanti (Naguchi)

Guru’s Wildcard Pick:

I couldn’t think of anything but I noticed no one had nominated anything in French so I looked up the French word for candles and found the following:

Les Bougies - Christophe Maé 

These playlists were inspired by readers' song nominations in response to last week's topic: How illuminating: songs about candles and candlelight. The next topic will launch on Thursday after 1pm UK time.

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