In "Gedicht vom Tode eines Fussballers" ("Ballad on the Death of a Footballer"), Friedrich Torberg, one of the foremost coffee-house writers, suggested suicide by a man who felt "disowned" by "the new order".
The one exception was "Train Song," a Vashti Bunyan ballad on which she welcomed Justin Vernon of Bon Iver.
I sell it for the sweet side," Sklute said, indicating the ballad on the back, "Gettin' Is Kinda Cool Now".
As applied to the Cy Coleman-Carolyn Leigh ballad "On Second Thought," it produced a simple but profoundly soulful melancholy.
Andreas Tengblad, who wrote the music and plays guitar in the acrobats' band, sings a drippy ballad on his knees while accompanying himself on the cello.
Elsewhere, he turns a stately piano ballad on its head, inhabiting the persona of a woman scorned to deliver a series of ultimatums.
The 1970's revival may never die, but no songwriter should base a ballad on the phrase, "If you love someone, set them free".
Which is handy, if you're both partial to bugging out in clubs and, perhaps only a few hours later, weeping to a ballad on your bed.
When Ms. Yearwood followed that thunderous song with a final corny ballad, "On the Bus to St . Cloud" her artful phrasing somehow purified it of sentimentality.
A similar problem afflicted a new ballad on which Mr. McAll said he had bestowed two working titles, "Poverty" and "Wealth".
