Folk music is a genre committed to holding up a mirror to ourselves. Artists from other genres speak to humanity, yes, but they don’t do so as bare and unabashed as folkies. Below are three massively popular folk songs that everyone loves, but are somehow so reflective that they feel personal to every one of us.
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“Sunshine On My Shoulder” (John Denver)
John Denver’s “Sunshine On My Shoulder” is more a painting than a song. The folk/country icon describes his surroundings so beautifully that his words become visceral images. And, though it’s Denver that prompts those images, the listener can’t help but interject themselves within Denver’s story of a warm day after a long, dreary winter.
Denver wanted to write a melancholy song when he penned this track, but an uplifting one came out instead. The lyrics seem to point to a relationship of some kind—one that Denver likens to the restorative nature of sunshine. The listener will undoubtedly have someone in mind for the main character in this story. The universality of love in this song makes it impossible not to connect with it personally.
“Fire and Rain” (James Taylor)
James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain” is a song loved by every generation that hears it. There’s really nothing to hate about this folk classic. It’s endearing, emotional, and impossible not to relate to on some level.
Though not everyone has experienced the same hardship Taylor did when he wrote this song, there is a hard-won truth in these lyrics that anyone can take to heart. Been walking my mind to an easy time / My back turned towards the sun / Lord knows, when the cold wind blows / It’ll turn your head around, the bridge reads. Few selections of lyrics have been as stunningly poignant and straightforward as this one.
[RELATED: 3 Amazing Folk Albums From the 2020s That Breathed New Life Into the Genre]
“Cats in the Cradle” (Harry Chapin)
Harry Chapin’s “Cats in the Cradle” has a titular storyline, but at its core, this hit folk song is about regret and the passage of time—something everyone knows all too well.
Even if someone hasn’t experienced the exact circumstances Chapin sings about here, there is something in this universal story to connect with, which speaks to how wildly popular it became in the ’70s.
(Photo by Ross Marino/Getty Images)
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