She's Leaving Home by The Beatles.

[TooBigForMyBoots]

DS1 is leaving for London at the end of the week.

When I left for London, my mother, along with my very extended family, sang this song to me. I haven't listened to it in a long time.

I love that it was relevant to me.
I hope it isn't relevant to him.

Beautiful song.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jDF-S4mrYVA

I love it but makes me feel sad

It’s very poignant. I also find 17 by Carole King bittersweet and get quite tearful when I listen to it.

Mine played that when I left for Uni

😭

Ummm....isn't it a song about a young woman effectively running away because she doesn't get on with her parents? 🤔

It is sad. An unapologetically, sad song.😢

I thought it was about a young, unmarried woman leaving home to have a termination.

It is a very female centric song.

A song about controlling parents, never letting their daughter have any freedom, so her only exit is to sneak off at the crack of dawn leaving them wondering what they did wrong. From their perspective, they just wanted her to follow their rules, live her life by their values.
Welcome to my childhood. I sang it to myself as I finally escaped my father.
To me, it is a very sad song about messed up parenting, not a song I would choose to play for my kids.

Such a poignant song and beautiful music

I love how Paul McCartney conjures scenes in his songs (she’s leaving home, Eleanor Rigby, his portion of a day in the life “woke up got out of bed…”)

It is about someone running away

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/She%27s_Leaving_Home

It was my understanding at the time, that she was pregnant and was going for a termination. It was based on a real girl I think.

The “man from the motor trade” is an abortionist.

,

At seventeen, by Janis Ian.

I learned the truth at seventeen
That love is meant for beauty queens
And high school girls with clear skin smiles
Who married young and then retired.

Poignant in a different way, I think.

The Beatles came up with so many wonderful songs in such a short time. I’m old enough to have seen them at our local theatre.

Definitely this. Not a song I would want to hear sung about me or my children.

Not sure about the termination connection. I always thought "the man from the motor trade" was the parents being disparaging about her boyfriend. And the lyrics say she's having fun, which doesn't fit having an abortion.

I did not know that. I knew the description was significant, but I only thought he was a fast-talking insincere second-hand car salesman, an Arthur Daley type.

Wow.

I love 'She's leaving home' - I also thought it was about a girl going for an abortion.
I first heard the Billy Bragg version - it was the B side of a charity single - maybe comic relief or Children in need. Had Wet wet wet on the other side I think. I love Billy Braggs voice (I know in general MN are not fans of his though).

I find both songs mentioned here very very sad.

I like the Carly Simon song from the end of Working Girl as a happy transition song.

I like that song, I used to think about it a lot and it's meaning when I was a teenager. Like meeting the man from the motor trade, to buy a car from so she could go wherever!

But when you read up about songs, they say they wrote songs with other meanings!

I don't think there is anything in the song about an abortionist, no. The girl that was the inspiration may have had a termination, but to me, it has always been as you describe. And as I experienced, parental disappointment and disapproval of a boyfriend who wasn't good enough for them. A family who would give anything financially while ignoring you emotionally. Fun (love) is the one thing that money can't buy...

I love the music of that song but it's so sad.

Slipping through my fingers by ABBA is more on the mark. A little boy sang it at our school talent show last year (beautifully) and it was complete sobbing carnage in the audience

Here’s the Billy Bragg version, on TOTP. Also good, but different. Accompanied just by a solo piano, and a couple of recorders in the chorus.

I’d not heard it before, thanks to previous posters for mentioning it.

Cheers.This, along with Hotel California and Chanson bloody d'amour is one of my longterm earworms. Here it is for

Cheers.This, along with Hotel California and Chanson bloody d'amour is one of my longterm earworms. Here it is for