The theme of today's Song Corner: This too shall pass.
Al Green ft. Booker T & the MGs: A Change Is Going to Come
Never one to co-opt this civil rights anthem for personal extravagance, but in this case it feels appropriate. The ragged quality of Al Green's voice, the raucous backing of the horns and organ, the presence of the crowd.
Listen: this take on Sam Cooke's finest will move you.
Hey, look, the sun's come out in Monterey and pushed the fog away.
Showing posts with label song corner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label song corner. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Monday, July 4, 2011
Song Corner: Neko Case
Welcome back to Song Corner. Cue the drums:
Neko Case: This Tornado Loves You
This is a particularly relevent Song Corner, because, as you'll see from the "One or More Things I Did Today" that I have yet to write (July 3rd, 2011 edition*), we caught a free show at Stern Grove in SF on Sunday. And who should be performing at this free show? Why, Neko Case.
Get outta town!!!
While it's a good suggestion, I can't and won't be doing that.
But what I will be doing is writing the rest of this Song Corner installment. Lucky me.
So, back to my point:
Neko Case is pretty swell as a whole, but this song it the jam. As I was trying to describe it to Brian** at Stern Grove yesterday***, when it comes to music, it seems that people I've spoken with often describe themselves in terms of being particularly drawn to either the vocals or the orchestration in a piece of music, but skewing towards one or the other. In that sense, I realized, I can analyze a song as being 30% lyric-driven and 70% orchestration, or any other distribution. Why do I bring this up? Because I think this song I'm writing about here is a pretty perfect mix of the two: 50/50.
That being written, the lyrics are pretty astounding. I recommend listening to the words (thankfully, Neko's delivery is super crisp, making this easy to do), even if you're a "I'm not to into the words" kinda person, because this is one worth listening to. So visceral, palpable, impressive. Neko is basically a tornado chasing after a lover. Powerful stuff. Check it out!
If you're interested, here's more.
Thanks for reading.
*Don't fret - I'll go back and hyperlink you to it after the fact. Ah, the joys of editing a blog. I'm bigger than linear time, guys!
**Like more and more things I'm saying these days, I seem to be articulating points via conversation that were prior to a bit nebulous in my mind, but that spring forth fully formed like Athena from Zeus's dome when I'm chatting. Fun stuff!
***Note: if you are reading this post and it is not July 4th, 2011, "yesterday" is not really "yesterday". Remember, that whole "time" thing. If you are reading this post and it is July 4th, 2011, please contact me immediately, because I've been trying to be bigger than this whole linear time deal, and you apparently have some means of time travel that you should share.
Neko Case: This Tornado Loves You
This is a particularly relevent Song Corner, because, as you'll see from the "One or More Things I Did Today" that I have yet to write (July 3rd, 2011 edition*), we caught a free show at Stern Grove in SF on Sunday. And who should be performing at this free show? Why, Neko Case.
Get outta town!!!
While it's a good suggestion, I can't and won't be doing that.
But what I will be doing is writing the rest of this Song Corner installment. Lucky me.
So, back to my point:
Neko Case is pretty swell as a whole, but this song it the jam. As I was trying to describe it to Brian** at Stern Grove yesterday***, when it comes to music, it seems that people I've spoken with often describe themselves in terms of being particularly drawn to either the vocals or the orchestration in a piece of music, but skewing towards one or the other. In that sense, I realized, I can analyze a song as being 30% lyric-driven and 70% orchestration, or any other distribution. Why do I bring this up? Because I think this song I'm writing about here is a pretty perfect mix of the two: 50/50.
That being written, the lyrics are pretty astounding. I recommend listening to the words (thankfully, Neko's delivery is super crisp, making this easy to do), even if you're a "I'm not to into the words" kinda person, because this is one worth listening to. So visceral, palpable, impressive. Neko is basically a tornado chasing after a lover. Powerful stuff. Check it out!
If you're interested, here's more.
Thanks for reading.
*Don't fret - I'll go back and hyperlink you to it after the fact. Ah, the joys of editing a blog. I'm bigger than linear time, guys!
**Like more and more things I'm saying these days, I seem to be articulating points via conversation that were prior to a bit nebulous in my mind, but that spring forth fully formed like Athena from Zeus's dome when I'm chatting. Fun stuff!
***Note: if you are reading this post and it is not July 4th, 2011, "yesterday" is not really "yesterday". Remember, that whole "time" thing. If you are reading this post and it is July 4th, 2011, please contact me immediately, because I've been trying to be bigger than this whole linear time deal, and you apparently have some means of time travel that you should share.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Song Corner: Beirut
This song fairly accurately sums up how I'm feeling right now.*
Beirut: Scenic World
Do with this song what you will, but know that it's one of my favorite tunes of all time. In my 28 year old mind, I'd find it appropriate if they played this song at my funeral.
Like it? Here's more.**
Thank you for joining me for Song Corner.
Until next time.
*Disclaimer: to be fair, I can't quite determine the exact words at certain points during the song, so don't entirely hold me to what I wrote there.
**Important: if you're reading this, make sure you read the "early years" portion of the Wikipedia entry. Here, I've hyperlinked it for you. Now you have no excuse, now you can't miss it.
***(****) Bonus addition to Song Corner: I've added a picture this time. Nice, huh? Don't expect one every time.
**** Note: I tried to add an asterisk to the picture, but couldn't figure out how to work it. Please accept this footnote as a substitute, explanation, and additional footnote (I'm telling you, people love footnotes).
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Song Corner: Bonnie Prince Billy
Alright, I've settled down a bit. Time to start posting for real*.
One of the finest feelings of my life is sitting in a coffee shop / friend's living room / my bed when I've got a moment, high on coffee, and vibing on a wonderful song.
There's a lot of time for that now, so it would seem this is an excellent forum to share some of those songs I've loved.
Here's the first one:
Bonnie Prince Billy: I Called You Back
One of my favorite artists, I'm sure we'll see more from Bonnie, né Will Oldham, on Song Corner** going forward.
Listen to the tune. One of the most tender songs I've ever heard. Moves me every time. The simple, almost droning beat that sets the table for the tiny flourishes, the vulnerability, and Oldham's shaking voice.
I hope you enjoy.
Like it?*** Here's more.
Until next time,
Song Corner.
*I realized that I don't have to keep a particular voice or tone throughout this entire blog. I can dabble, I can experiment. I can write whatever I damn well please (case in point - I would never say that in real life). And here's the kicker, what compelled me to go ahead with it: the more I write, the more of a sample size we'll have. And then we'll be able to take this body of work as a whole, rather than a outlier from one particular manic, lonely, inspired, or hungover morning.
Minor epiphany.
** Going to have to think about this name. Might need to go back and change these at some point, but for the immediate future Song Corner will work just fine.****
***Everything in red here? Not a formatting mistake, though that's a good guess. No, this is all of the text I thought I had lost to the Angel's Share of blogging (see "Getting Over It" post). Turns out it hadn't been lost to the ether after all, but rather just made invisible! Wonderful news. My day has been made. And best of all? Yep - an opportunity for another footnote! God, I love this blog.
**** I love footnotes. So much fun. Expect these to be a mainstay on WIDWINW.
One of the finest feelings of my life is sitting in a coffee shop / friend's living room / my bed when I've got a moment, high on coffee, and vibing on a wonderful song.
There's a lot of time for that now, so it would seem this is an excellent forum to share some of those songs I've loved.
Here's the first one:
Bonnie Prince Billy: I Called You Back
One of my favorite artists, I'm sure we'll see more from Bonnie, né Will Oldham, on Song Corner** going forward.
Listen to the tune. One of the most tender songs I've ever heard. Moves me every time. The simple, almost droning beat that sets the table for the tiny flourishes, the vulnerability, and Oldham's shaking voice.
I hope you enjoy.
Like it?*** Here's more.
Until next time,
Song Corner.
*I realized that I don't have to keep a particular voice or tone throughout this entire blog. I can dabble, I can experiment. I can write whatever I damn well please (case in point - I would never say that in real life). And here's the kicker, what compelled me to go ahead with it: the more I write, the more of a sample size we'll have. And then we'll be able to take this body of work as a whole, rather than a outlier from one particular manic, lonely, inspired, or hungover morning.
Minor epiphany.
** Going to have to think about this name. Might need to go back and change these at some point, but for the immediate future Song Corner will work just fine.****
***Everything in red here? Not a formatting mistake, though that's a good guess. No, this is all of the text I thought I had lost to the Angel's Share of blogging (see "Getting Over It" post). Turns out it hadn't been lost to the ether after all, but rather just made invisible! Wonderful news. My day has been made. And best of all? Yep - an opportunity for another footnote! God, I love this blog.
**** I love footnotes. So much fun. Expect these to be a mainstay on WIDWINW.
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