Just Walk Away Renee

Mike Brown of the Left Banke began writing this when he was 16 years old. Its tone, their vocal harmonies, and the instrumentation make my eyes well up. Not actually cry, but the feeling you get just before you cry. In Greek there is a word for this feeling, which always amazes me about the specificity of language. How adorable are they in this live performance?? I adore his tapping right hand on the thigh thing.

And when I see the sign that
points one way
The lot we used to pass by
every day

(Chorus):
Just walk away Renee,
You won't see me follow you back home
The empty sidewalks on my
block are not the same
You're not to blame

From deep inside the tears that
I'm forced to cry
From deep inside the pain I
I chose to hide

(Chorus)
Now as the rain beats down
upon my weary eyes
For me it cries

(Solo)

(Chorus)

Your name and mine inside
a heart upon a wall
Still finds a way to haunt me,
though they're so small

(Chorus)

Sozinho by Caetano Veloso

This might actually be in the top most amazing songs I've ever had the pleasure of hearing. At once somber and sweet, nostalgic and hopeful, it touches on so many things that move your very soul. I am so happy to be on the planet at the same time as Caetano to hear his playing and his words.

Sometimes, in the silence of the night,
I sit and imagine us two
I sit here, daydreaming
Joining the before, the now, and the after
Why do you leave me so free?
Why don't you stick with me?
I'm feeling so alone
I'm not and I don't want to be your owner
But sometimes your love feels so good
I have my desires and secret plans
I only open to you, to no one else
Why do you forget me and disappear?
And if I become interested in someone?
And if she suddenly wins me?
When people like each other
It's clear that they care for each other
You say that you love me
But you don't mean it
Or you mess with me
Or you aren't ready
Where are you now?
When people like each other
It's clear that they care for each other
You tell me that you love me
But you don't mean it
Or you mess with me
Or you aren't ready
Iê iê iê iê iê
Where are you now?
From: http://lyricstranslate.com

The lute, the recorder, violins, double bass, various kinds of percussion, and her voice above all....she can manipulate it so it sounds like some other kind of wind instrument. Savina Yannatou sings in so many languages - long gone ones and contemporary ones - and finds these treasures of folk songs to continue to spread with her incredible presence. Really magical, the way the sirens must have bewitched Odysseus.

Blending Influences

Ok I am just going to go ahead and say that this song is the perfect score for any city, mode of transport or dwelling of any sort. I think that is due to its blend of influences - Avishai Cohen is a total badass double bass player who hails from Israel, but played with Chick Corea and you can clearly hear a kind of sound that is somewhat Eastern European/Middle Eastern/and yet standard jazz rhythms and feelings are present too. Oddly, it reminds me of holidays in December, while at the same time evoking a sense of mystery and rapture at life. I listened to this song on trains in Spain, and planes across that continent as I was headed to the MIddle East, and as I walked the streets I could always feel it echoing my experience. When I was travelling a lot, it always fit. But even now when I am back in the States and not on the go every second, this song manages to move me every time. I hope someday he gets to compose a score for a film, since his music is just naturally so cinematic and reflects life so magically. Enjoy this one!

If Music Be The Food Of Love

So the title of this blog comes from a song by Henry Purcell (1659-1695??) that is so incredibly beautiful in melody and words, a perfect marriage of the two I think. This person is simply bewitched, and the music also betrays this kind of magical feeling of total vulnerability I think. Doesn't it make you want to dress up and have some sort of feast? By candlelight only??

If music be the food of love,
sing on sing on

sing on sing on

till I am fill'd with joy;
for then my list'ning soul you move
with pleasures that can never cloy,
your eyes, your mien, your tongue declare
that you are music ev'rywhere.

Pleasures invade both eye and ear,
so fierce the transports are, they wound,
and all my senses feasted are,
tho' yet the treat is only sound.
Sure I must perish by our charms,
unless you save me in your arms.

The More Personal, The More Universal

It's been said time and again that the more personal one gets with their experience, the more universal it becomes. This is a such a beautiful human truth, that once we share those things that can make us feel singularly alone or somehow unrelatable, we are no longer alone. So it goes with songs and poetry, or visual art or any mode of expression; these specificities become universal principles and emotions that we can all relate to. Todd Rundgren hits this on the head in his hit song 'Hello, It's Me,' where we can all see ourselves or those we know written in there somewhere...

Hello, it's me
I've thought about us for a long, long time
Maybe I think too much but something's wrong
There's something here that doesn't last too long
Maybe I shouldn't think of you as mine

Seeing you
Or seeing anything as much as I do you
I take for granted that you're always there
I take for granted that you just don't care
Sometimes I can't help seeing all the way through

It's important to me
That you know you are free
'Cause I never want to make you change for me

Think of me
You know that I'd be with you if I could
I'll come around to see you once in a while
Or if I ever need a reason to smile
And spend the night if you think I should

It's important to me
That you know you are free
'Cause I never want to make you change for me

Think of me
You know that I'd be with you if I could
I'll come around to see you once in a while
Or if I ever need a reason to smile
And spend the night if you think I should

Think of me...
Think of me...
Think of me

'Mon Amie La Rose' (Francoise Hardy)

And then there are those story songs, that move like water, encompassing anything and everything in one theme. In this case, mortality. One thing we all know is that everything comes and goes, there's a beginning and an end to it all. In the words of Robert Frost, "nothing gold can stay":

Nature's first green is gold
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay

+++

So Francoise sings about a rose telling her the meaning of life in 'Mon Amie La Rose' echoing that idea of finality, and how it all went by so fast, and all those things that seemed so important are no longer. Makes me want to rethink whatever I am stressed about, that's for sure :)

We are truly insignificant
And that's what my friend the rose
Told me this morning

I was born at dawn
Baptised in dew
I blossomed
In the rays of the sun
Happy and in love
I closed my petals at night
And when I awoke I was old.
Yet I had been beautiful
Yes, I was the most beautiful
Of all the flowers in your garden

See, the God that made me
Now makes me bow my head
And I feel I'm falling
And I feel I'm falling
My heart is almost bare
I have a foot in my grave
Already I am nothing
You admired me only yesterday
And I shall be dust
Forever, tomorrow

We are truly insignificant
And my friend the rose
Died this morning

Last night the moon
Kept vigil over my friend
And in a dream I saw
Her soul, dancing
Dazzling and naked,
Above the heavens,
Smiling on me.
Let those who can, believe
But I need Hope
Or else I am nothing

'How Can I Tell You?'

I guess I'll start with one of my all-time favorite songs 'How Can I Tell You' by Cat Stevens. I first heard this song when I was about 15 years old and it felt like the whole world stopped. Its strength lies in its simplicity, and therein also is the sincerity, the soul of a song I think....I found a great video on youtube of a live performance too.

How can I tell you that I love you, I love you
but I can't think of right words to say
I long to tell you that I'm always thinking of you
I'm always thinking of you, but my words
just blow away, just blow away
It always ends up to one thing, honey
and I can't think of right words to say
Wherever I am girl, I'm always walking with you
I'm always walking with you, but I look and you're not there
Whoever I'm with, I'm always, always talking to you
I'm always talking to you, and I'm sad that
you can't hear, sad that you can't hear
It always ends up to one thing, honey,
when I look and you're not there
I need to know you, need to feel my arms around you
feel my arms surround you, like a sea around a shore
and -- each night and day I pray, in hope
that I might find you, in hope that I might
find you, because heart's can do no more
It always ends up to one thing honey, still I kneel upon the floor
How can I tell you that I love you, I love you
but I can't think of right words to say
I long to tell you that I'm always thinking of you
I'm always thinking of you....
It always ends up to one thing honey
and I can't think of right words to say