Had To Cry Today

Guitar riff sounds like Cream, vocals sound like Traffic.

Marvellous.

It is impossible to deliver a conclusive account of the essential meaning of this song. We are dealing with the realm of metaphor, imagery and subjective idiomatic language. However, we are presented with the opening lines, which immediately gives us the 'painted picture' - 'It is already written that today will be one to remember'-And-'The feeling's the same as being outside of the law'.

The spirit of the times, when any day could be historical, new ground was being explored, eventful and significant times, memories being forged out of the raw materials of new experiences. Being outside of the law - obviously we are dealing with exceptional times, people , the feeling is the same as if we are set free of normal constraints, we are enabled and our potential is opened up, risky, potentially dangerous but exhilarating.

And then we have the references to a girl, a relationship, seeing a 'Sign' but not being able to access the person? I missed you there - perhaps a dying romance, a fading connection which brings sadness. We have to go with our own feelings, our own responses-but these were some of mine.

I would go along with what's already been written here. The only thing I would add is that this was the first song they played at their famous Hyde Park open air concert, and the opening line in that context seems significant. Blind Faith got a lot of flak for the " Supergroup " hype that was imposed on them by the press, and which they didn't welcome. I think it's a great shame that they weren't allowed to develop their music further, because they could've done so much more. They were never able to quite shake off the conception they'd been saddled with, of being a top-heavy group of virtuosoes, but their ensemble playing was actually quite restrained and tasteful. I've been listening a lot lately to their one and only album and think it's a bit of an underrated classic.

“Had to Cry Today” evokes a momentous day in which the singer attends a major protest and realizes his relationship is falling apart. The first line, “It’s already written that today will be one to remember” unites past (already written), present (today) and future (to remember). This is not about losing oneself in the moment but about understanding the present as a fleeting episode fated to happen and become part of history. The tumultuous year of 1969 is the context so the references to being outside of the law and the “sign” suggest a protest. What was already written could have been as specific as a real news article predicting important consequences for the protest or as general as a view of history as a predictable path to an inevitable future or as metaphorical as a submission to fate. \n\n“I saw your sign and I missed you there” suggests the singer could see a protest sign made by a romantic interest (the “you”) emerging from the crowd at a distance but not the person holding it. What is the singer crying for? Perhaps the injustice that sparked the protest, such as the people killed in a war, and this pain is intensified or mirrored by estrangement from the person the singer misses. \n\n“You say you can’t reach me” also suggests the packed bodies and immobility of the protest, but also interpersonal distance or failure to communicate. “You want every word to be free,” can be variably interpreted, first, that the “you” will not be pinned down in a relationship, agree to terms of debate or even the meaning of words. In semiotics, a sign is anything that conveys meaning and there is no fixed relationship between a sign, such as a word, and the thing it refers to, and in this sense, every word is free in that there is nothing binding it to a specific thing except the conventions of a particular language. “I saw your sign and I missed you there” suggests such a disconnect between the sign and what it represents and perhaps a larger crisis in which the singer can no longer rely on familiar cues to make meaning of life just as he can no longer rely on the missed friend. The feeling of being outside of the law seems to reinforce both the context of the protest and the feeling of the loss of certainty. \n\nPerhaps the most enigmatic verse is “I’m taking the chance to see the wind in your eyes while I listen.” Wind could be present at an outdoor protest as well as listening to speeches but how does one see wind in another’s eyes? This phrase evokes the winds of change, a relationship in conflict or falling apart and eyes represent both seeing and being seen, of being observed and perhaps judged, and of the wind, like the crowd, and like history or fate itself, as yet another force driving the two inevitably apart.

I suspect it was Steve Winwood writing about Eric Clapton's heroin addiction. Losing his friend and collaborator to drugs and alcohol.

Nobody's commented... hmm, well i can see how this song, great as it is, can get lost in the overwhelming aggregate of great 60s/70s music that has achieved more popularity than lil' old blind faith. i think everyone should hear steve winwood's soaring voice at least once in their lives. and on this song, the poetic lyrics could pretty much be meaningless and he would still make them sound good.

Beautiful song.

Don't really know. Who is he talking to? Maybe a friend? One can only imagine.

We do know already that all days are to be remembered, maybe this was a day of a particularly sad or tragic event. It seems as though, he missed something of importance regarding this friend.

On this day he had the same feelings as if he was being outside the law. This does not mean he was breaking the law. Maybe he was doing something impermissible.

His friend had communicated to him in some way that they should meet about something. They never got to meet so he cried which leads one to believe there was a tragic event of some kind. Or maybe he's just sad about not seeing his friend.

He took a chance to see this friend. Thus adding significance to the second line of the song about the feeling of being outside the law.

He was looking for the wind in his friend's eyes and to listen. Of course, we all know what this means so no details here.

Hippy Trippy song. The guitar is the focus of this song. The lyrics make little since.

I think it's about a sad ending of a relationship that couldn't flourish because of wavering feelings (wind in your eyes). Perhaps those feelings generated from knowledge of a previous commitment, age difference, or gender similarity (outside the law). Maybe the unsure one had been trying to communicate those feelings but the crying one didn't listen (saw your sign and I missed you there) The crying one probably tried, but had difficulty, understanding those feelings even though the thoughts((words) where easily understandable (every word to be free). The crying one apparently heard the words but couldn't come to terms with them. I noted there are no hes or shes in the lyrics.