Crowded House - Fall At Your Feet

Falling for fall songs - as fall nears winter (at least in the northern hemisphere)

Photo by Jeremy Thomas on Unsplash

Where I live in the Bay Area (specifically, Oakland), the shift in seasons is more subtle than in the rest of the country. Our summers are often colder than our springs and falls; our winters splattered with afternoons suitable for t-shirts and shorts.

If the days weren’t growing shorter and the nights getting longer, if the sun wasn’t rising at a peak 60 degree angle instead of 90, it might be hard to notice the passage of time. Well, other than looking in the mirror and watching the creases between the eyes, the lines around the curves of the mouth, the skin beneath the chin succumbing to the ravages of gravity.

Even the trees are late bloomers around here. Or the opposite of late bloomers: late droppers. The fig tree in my backyard only began setting free its leaves a week ago. It’s a huge tree, so the droppage covers the entire deck, and the wind has spread its bounty far and wide, coating the yard in a sea of crunchy foliage. Nothing as vibrant as the sea of reds, maroons, purples and greens at the make-shift dog park down the street, where the pooches and the oak trees (and the squirrels flittering and chattering across their trunks and branches) are a constant reminder that living in the present is an ever-present presence.

But the browns, golds and yellows that paint the floor of my backyard do that too; they bring a sense of peace to my heart. Nature’s natural cycle continuing once more.

Despite the impending environmental apocalypse, today is pretty darned lovely.

Not as pretty as the picture at the top, but still made me happy

It was likely this vivid fall portrait, this leaf-laden scene in front of me as I stood with a cup of coffee in my backyard, that summoned “Fall at Your Feet,” the gorgeous ballad by Crowded House from their 3rd (and IMO best) album, Woodface.

Written by Neil Finn, “Fall at Your Feet” is a heart-on-the-sleeve love song about a partner letting their significant other know that no matter what, they will be at their side — or at their feet — to co-traverse through the hard times.

I’m using genderless pronouns because this song, like so many great love songs, is one that transposes the listener into the place of the protagonist. Neil is a man singing about a woman (assumingly, his wife), but the use of the 2nd person — you — in the lyrics, makes it easily adaptable to whatever pronoun combination one’s relationship matches.

You're hidin' from me now
There's somethin' in the way that you're talkin'
The words don't sound right
But I hear them all moving inside you

Know
I'll be waiting when you call

Hey, whenever I fall at your feet
Won't you let your tears rain down on me?
Whenever I touch, your slow turnin' pain

The lyrics are more evocative than specific. Phrases like “something in the way that you’re talkin’ (Is this a nod to The Beatles “Something”?) comes off sounding vague and a little foreboding — gauzy and unsure. “The words don’t sound right,” can be interpreted as the “you” in the song struggling to express themselves, perhaps in a state of depression; or perhaps it’s more that the narrator of the story struggles to understand them. Their relationship is clearly strained, whatever the situation is.

And then, in the last line from the quote above — “Whenever I touch, your slow turnin’ pain'“ — the narrator expresses a profound empathy, a tenderness; he sees his partner’s suffering, her sadness, whatever hard emotion she’s dealing with. Even if the right words to express that pain can’t be accessed, she need not feel alone, as he’s fallen at her feet. (I had to go back to the gender use of the song’s origins to write that paragraph…)

The following bridge clarifies the commitment felt by the narrator, if it seemed unclear:

The finger of blame has turned upon itself
And I'm more than willing to offer myself
Do you want my presence or need my help?
Who knows where that might lead
I fall

Crowded House at Wolfgang’s, San Francisco, California. L to R: Paul Hester, Neil Finn, Nick Seymour...http://andwhatsnext.com/bands/copyright

Although this song was written by Neil, I’m of the belief that this album is richer, the melodies lusher, the sweetness laced with a sharper bitterness, than the band’s previous two albums (Crowded House, Temple of Low Men), due to older brother Tim joining the band and adding his gorgeous vocals (and piano, guitar and songwriting chops) into the mix.

It’s a lovely twist of fate, of sibling love, that elder Tim, who had founded New Zealand’s most revered band, Split Enz in the early ‘70s, had invited younger brother Neil to join the Enz for their 3rd album, Dizrhythmia in 1977. It should be no surprise that each time the Finn brothers combined forces, their songwriting chops, their merged ways around a timeless melody, reached newfound heights.

It was when Neil started writing songs for Split Enz that the band transitioned from art-rock outsiders to the new-wave hitmakers of such notable tunes as “Six Months in a Leaky Boat,” “I Got You,” and “Message To My Girl.”

“Fall at Your Feet” is the rare type of love song that doesn’t resort to cliché or false sentimentality. It’s an honest, unfiltered expression of the heart. One that can only emerge from years of experiencing profound joy and deep sorrow with a partner and coming out the other side stronger.

I want to say that Neil had been with his wife Sharon for 12 years at the time he wrote this song. Plenty of time for a bevy of profound joy and deep sorrow.

After researching the song’s origins, though, I learned that “Fall at Your Feet” was actually written by combining two different songs being considered for Woodface, and rejiggering the lyrics to make it seem like one cohesive story. The verses and the chorus were not originally paired together, but once producer Mitchell Froom heard the two songs, he immediately recognized that, like Reese’s peanut butter cups, something profoundly rich and tasty would come from the melding of each song’s lyrics.

This is interesting and shows how sometimes songs are written from happy accidents.

I will say, though, that I had imagined Neil Finn sitting down at the piano and the melody and lyrics merging on the spot in a burst of open-hearted inspiration. Learning the true origin story is a bit of a bummer.

There’s a reason mythology is so damn appealing.

Like country singer Iris Dement sang in her 1992 song, life can often be richer when we “Let the Mystery Be.”

With “Fall at Your Feet” being this week’s earworm, I got to thinking: what other songs would I include on a favorite "fall” playlist?

Of course there are literally thousands of “falling in love” titled songs, so I’ll try and avoid the obvious picks.

Below is a link to what I’ve come up with.

I intentionally kept it short because I want to know what songs would “fall” into your playlist?

Leave your favorite noun or verb FALL songs in the comments. And I know it’s probably winter for some of you (or spring summer depending on where you are or when you read this).

Thanks for reading!