Haroula Rose KXLU Playlist (12/5/2010)

I have had many people ask me for my playlist and I am excited to share it with you. You can hear it and see the artists included here



I hope you like it, please do not be shy about letting me know! Music is my life, so would love to hear feedback. I will also keep updates on my own music on my facebook page

www.facebook.com/haroularose

Cheers,
Haroula

The Winter

It's December 1 so it automatically makes one think of winter, right? The first song that popped into my head was "Winter Wonderland" so I went online to find out the story of this song. It's from 1934 and there are like a million covers of it. But what was most interesting to me is that Radiohead has done a version of this song....kinda great, right?



I've always been pretty into Vivaldi's Four Seasons. In fact, I used to sit around with a friend and play it and try to guess which one was which and why. "Winter" is pretty incredible. I hope you like this strange video



Here is a sand drawing of the same piece:



Hazy Shade of WInter. Long live the Bangles. Though I love Simon&Garfunkel too of course. I recall seeing "Less Than Zero" and I couldn't stop thinking about it for weeks.



The snow on your eyelids that curtsy with age
Is freezing the stares on tyranny's wings.
The bitter is hard and the warmth of your skin
Is diseased with familiar caresses.
Withdrawing from splendor and royal decay
Among all the triumphs and jaded awards
The angry and blazing circus of sun
Blasphemes as the crown prince arises.
You cannot beget all the sins that you owe
To the people of paradise magic
Pretend to answer passion and form
With foreign rationalizations.
Primroses are the jewels that lurk
Among masks of pleasure that flicker with doubt
Embraces of fame that's simultaneously fear
To advance and demand to be recognized.
The river shall flow through hollow green faces
Of caricature's resentment etched out of the tongues.
Both reluctant princess asleep before birth
The classical sensitive failures.
The worshipping wicked cling to the dark of your heart
Lying there and wait with your angels
Moan and ravish from dawn to dusk
The avaricious young lovers.

Songs About Wind

Hi guys,

SO I love the wind, and had this idea that I would compile a few songs together that are about just that! Just played a show with Ruthann Friedman and a couple other folks I like so much (Redeye, Fort King) at a most coolest place ever HM 157. I love Ruthann and this song is really really rad, especially her version. I mean, we've all heard The Association sing it....And the rest are some other songs about the wind that I think might be nice. I am from the Windy City so it's only appropriate.

PS The Bob Segar one down below is a link to a great live performance....there was no embed code but check it out it's grrrrreat

Peace&Hugs
Haroula Rose

RUTHANN FRIEDMAN "Windy"




CAT STEVENS "The Wind"



NINE SIMONE "WIld Is The Wind"



VASHTI BUNYAN "Come Wind Come Rain"



BOB SEGAR "Against The Wind"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi79wy97Wug

JULIE MILLER "Ride The Wind" (cover)

Found a beautiful, raw cover of this song that I love....



MUMFORD & SONS "Winter Winds"

Late for the Sky -- Jackson Browne

Jackson Browne's third album, 1974. This song, the title track, has been my anthem for this entire year of 2010. It's been a challenging year, emotionally, and this song really got me through a lot of moments. I cried a lot. Kind of every time I played it. Actually, this whole album is pretty mind-blowing. I couldn't decide if I wanted to post this one or "Fountain of Sorrow" because in my mind they are both totally incredible achievements. I love how genuine it is, how human it is, it is so frail and strong at the same time. That sound of the guitar is awesome, perfectly mournful for a death, in this case the death of a relationship which feels like the death of a person in many ways. Jackson Browne is one of my favorite lyricists of all time because of how truthful and poetic he is and how he shapes words and ideas together. Most importantly though, he is really honest in a way that's totally his own. "Late for Sky" might be the best breakup song in the universe.

Oh yeah, I love the movie "Taxi Driver" too.




Late for the Sky

All the words had all been spoken,
Somehow the feeling still wasn't right
And still we continued on through the night.
Tracing our steps from the beginning,
Until they vanished into the air
Trying to understand how our lives had led us there.
Looking hard into your eyes
There was nobody I'd ever known
Such an empty suprise
To feel so alone.

Now, for me, some words come easy
But I know that they don't mean that much
Compared with the things that are said when lovers touch.
You never knew what I loved in you
I don't know what you loved in me.
Maybe the picture of somebody you were hoping I might be.

Awake again, I can't pretend
That I know I'm alone,
And close to the end
Of the feeling we've known.
How long have I been sleeping?
How long have I been drifting along through the night?
How long have I been dreaming I could make it right,
If I closed my eyes and tried with all my might,
To be the one you need?

Awake again, I can't pretend
That I know I'm alone,
And close to the end
Of the feeling we've known.
How long have I been sleeping?
How long have I been drifting along through the night?
How long have I been running for that morning flight
Through the whispered promises, and the changing light
Of the bed where we both lie,
Late for the sky.

Superwolf "I Gave You"

Will Oldham your voice moves my soul and I love this most intense song....So good.



I gave you a child and you didn't want it
That's the most that I have to give
I gave you a house and you didn't haunt it
Now where am I supposed to live ?

I gave you a tree and you did not embrace it
I gave you a nightmare and you didn't chase it
I'd give you a dream and you'd only wake from it
Now I'll never go to sleep again

I'd give you a treasure and you'd only take from it
Look at the hole where jewelry had been
Baby, oh baby, why must you escape from it –
This love that we once called our friend ?

I gave you my body and you ate a plenty
I gave you ten lives and you wasted twenty
Now I'm standing empty, helpless and bare
Without a morsel left of me to give

And you, you have vanished into the air

The air in which I must live

Angie

Straight up wistfulness and wanting...something about this song. I can never turn it off, and if I ever hear it on the radio I have to wait until it plays out. Maybe because it's straightforward and so painful. I don't know....what do you think? "They can't say we never tried" is such a sad and beautiful line.



Angie, Angie
When will those clouds all disappear?
Angie, Angie
Where will it lead us from here?
With no loving in our souls
And no money in our coats
You can't say we're satisfied
But Angie, Angie
You can't say we never tried
Angie, You're beautiful
But ain't it time we said goodbye
Angie, I still love you
Remember all those nights we cried?
All the dreams we held so close
Seemed to all go up in smoke
Let me whisper in your ear
Angie, Angie
Where will it lead us from here?
Angie, don't you weep
All your kisses still taste sweet
I hate that sadness in your eyes
But Angie, Angie
Ain't it time we said goodbye?
With no loving in our souls
And no money in our coats
You can't say we're satisfied
But Angie, I still love you, baby
Everywhere I look I see your eyes
There ain't a woman that comes close to you
Come on baby dry your eyes
But Angie, Ain't it...
Ain't it good to be alive?
Angie, Angie
You can't say we never tried

Because The Night

Mykonos (Fleet Foxes)

I love this song and video:

Last night this song was played for me and my jaw just dropped. Literally couldn't believe what I was hearing....God rest your soul, Judee...



Love, risin' from the mists
Promise me this and only this
Holy breath touchin' me
Like a wind song
Sweet communion of a kiss

Sun, siftin' thru the grey
Enter in, reach me with a ray
Silently swoopin' down
Just to show me
How to give my heart away

And once a crystal choir
Appeared while I was sleepin' and called my name
And when they came down nearer
Sayin', "Dyin' is done",
Then a new song was sung
Until somewhere we breathed as one

Stars, burstin' in the sky
Hear the sad nova's dyin' cry
Shimmerin' memory
Come and hold me
While you show me how to fly

Sun, siftin' thru the grey
Enter in, reach me with a ray
Silently swoopin' down
Just to show me
How to give my heart away

And lately sparklin' hosts
Come fill my dreams descendin' on firey beams
I've seen 'em come clear down
Where our poor bodies lay
Soothe us gently and say,
"Gonna wipe all your tears away"

Love risin' from the mists
Promise me this and only this
Holy breath touchin' me
Like a wind song
Sweet communion of a kiss...

Happy 2010 Heart of Gold

One of the Christmas presents from my boyfriend this year was the Neil Young archives box set vol. 1 and I have been loving it. "Heart of Gold" was the first song I heard this morning, January 1, 2010. Which is a great way to start the new year, and new decade. This re-mastered set of songs has really been inspiring. One of my favorite harmonica solos ever, it always makes my heart stand still. And that haunting pedal steel - doesn't get much better than this, a perfectly crafted song and lyrics and composition married in a way that, contrary to the narrator of this song, never gets old.

I want to live
I want to give
I've been a miner
For a heart of gold
It's these expressions
I never give
That keep me searching
For a heart of gold
And I'm getting old

I've been to Hollywood
I've been to Redwood
I'd cross the ocean
For a heart of gold
I've been in my mind
It's such a fine line
That keeps me searching
For a heart of gold
And I'm getting old

Keep me searching
for a heart of gold
You keep me searching
for a heart of gold
I've been a miner
For a heart of gold
And I'm growing old

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