Friday, June 15, 2012

There Ain't No Sunshine ...

It is amazing the effect music has on some folks.

Sitting in Starbucks this morning, updating my Bakken oil blog, with non-descript elevator music in the background. And then, "There Ain't No Sunshine..." a cover...but very good.

It immediately brought me back to 1971 and Boston. I don't know why. It was not a song we shared, but wow, the neurons are firing, taking me back to the brick brownstone..

There Ain't No Sunshine, Bill Withers


Tuesday, June 5, 2012

You Are The Prettiest Star

There are a handful of songs that can transport me back to the asphalt roads where I walked in Yorkshire so many years ago, where I would get picked up by the prettiest star ...

And this is one of the songs. It is impossible to articulate the feeling of the cerebral and neck veins dilating and the cascade of blood in free fall to the chest when this song comes on. The first few distinctive chords, and if sitting, my whole upper body slumps. I don't think I could remain standing if the song "appeared" without warning.

I've never really listened to the lyrics closely -- until tonight.
Cold fire, you've got everything but cold fire
You will be my rest and peace child
I moved up to take a place, near you

So tired, it's the sky that makes you feel tried
It's a trick to make you see wide
It can all but break your heart, in pieces

Staying back in your memory
Are the movies in the dark.
How you moved is all it takes
To sing a song of when I loved
The Prettiest Star
.

One day though it might as well be someday
You and I will rise up all the way

All because of what you are
The Prettiest Star

Staying back in your memory
Are the movies in the past
How you moved is all it takes
To sing a song of when I loved
The Prettiest Star.

One day though it might as well be someday,
You will rise up high and take us all the way,
All because of what you are:
The Prettiest Star.

The Prettiest Star, David Bowie


Saturday, June 2, 2012

Dido's Lament

Don't ask me how I got here.

But when I hear this, I hear Arvo Part. I think of that little church in the middle of the night.


Dido's Lament, Henry Purcell

I See Your Face

When I want to see you again all I have to do is watch this video:

Viens, Viens, Marie Laforet
Note: the performance is dated 1973, the date we graduated from college.