Emmy Lou Harris: I love sad songs. . . . they make me so happy.

CROWELL: You know, as I'm listening to it, I was thinking about it. You know, I wrote that song during a very happy and peaceful time in my life. And...

(LAUGHTER)

SIMON: Boy, that's disappointing. I was hoping for a great song story. You go ahead.

CROWELL: Well, here's the thing. It just came to me as we were listening, and I can engage melancholy as if it were a kind of revelry. 'Cause inside of that blue tonality that, you know, on the back sides of our heart, that's where those kind of songs come from. And, you know, I had my heart broken as a young man at the age of 21, 22. I mean, deeply. And, you know, that'll be with me the rest of my life, that experience. I can still draw on it, even on a day when I wake up and it's zippity-doo-dah outside.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "OPEN SEASON ON MY HEART")

CROWELL: (Singing) I can't be something that I'm not.

CROWELL: (Singing) I can't give you what I haven't got...

HARRIS: I love sad songs. And I say on stage they make me so happy.

CROWELL: They do. And is there anything more beautiful than a sad song?

HARRIS: A really sad song that pierces you to the heart.