Music

When last did your soul dance…

…to music?

 

“Come, follow me into the realm of music…

Our wonderment will have no end, and yet

From the very beginning we feel at home.”

Hugh MacDiarmid

 

 

I’ve recently been introduced to music that’s refreshed both my mind and body and helped me to release so many creative juices I don’t know how to capture it all in the written form.

 

Someone, not so recently, had asked me to please share with the music that’s had a positive effect on me; however, as I am no longer in contact with them I thought I’d share it more widely. And how ironic that these were spontaneously shared with me by one of my ex-lovers; someone who makes music and writes his own songs… If that isn’t happiness, then what is…?

 

In the kitchen, overlooking the garden that’s about to burst with sunflowers, while we were baking a chocolate beetroot cake for his birthday the iPod was playing softly in the background.

 

“Last year Mick sent me this CD for my birthday, and challenged me if it didn’t grab instantly then I could spend a week at his cottage in Cornwall – all expenses paid. I didn’t get the free week away…”

 

Three songs later, I dropped the wooden spoon coated in a rich chocolate batter into the mixing bowl. “Who’s singing this? Please turn it up…” His voice like no other and the lyrics open with a bang.

 

Angus & Julia Stone – Get Home

 

If I ever ever did stray

Would you come back, come back to me?

But you can’t call a dog home

No, you can’t call a dog home if you don’t know its name

Just as long as you gon’ get home, you get home

 

Oh, you’re bleeding out your heart

For the one you love…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c26VUNBGHRA – I wouldn’t mind riding on the back of his bike…

 

Angus Stone – Like The Bird On A Buffalo

Shot my baby with an arrow in the wing

Wounded cut bent and scarred we got together

Lost in love in your broke down car

Through stormy weather

Like the bird on the buffalo…

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KY3Prdm_H6E – It’s as if everything is supposed to be, exactly as you’d always find the bird, the oxpecker, on the buffalo, which reminds me of every game reserve I’ve been to in South Africa, and the sand dunes remind me of Namibia.

 

Angus & Julia Stone – Draw Your Swords

So come on Love, draw your swords

Shoot me to the ground

You are mine, I am yours

Let’s not fuck around

 

Cause you are, the only one

Cause you are, the only one…

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8DcpKtQZzE – The only track I’ve heard him say ‘fuck’ on. And he pushes his voice to the limit – the only time…

 

Paddy Casey – Anyone Who’s Yet To Come

You know I need your love

And you know I need your love

You know that I need your smile

‘Cause you make my days worthwhile

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgPn-9jEZd8 – Listen 1.26 minutes into the video clip and be prepared to be blown away… But it’s the rawest production of a recorded artist I’ve ever heard and that’s what makes it special. It’s just his voice and a guitar, inside a church. It’s the heart-pinching lyrics, the most unrefined voice…

 

Damien Rice – I Don’t Want To Change You

 

Wherever you are

Well, know that I adore you

No matter how far

Well, I can go before you

And if ever you need someone

Well, not that you need helping

But if ever you want someone

I know that I am willing

 

Oh, and I don’t want to change you

I don’t want to change you,

I don’t want to change your mind

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6fNeQN29o8 – I don’t think anyone’s beaten this live performance when it comes to emotion in the eyes; and what an opening to a song.

 

Passenger – Let Her Go

 

Staring at the bottom of your glass

Hoping one day you’ll make a dream last

But dreams come slow and they go so fast

 

You see her when you close your eyes

Maybe one day you’ll understand why

Everything you touch surely dies

 

But you only need the light when it’s burning low

Only miss the sun when it starts to snow

Only know you love her when you let her go

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBumgq5yVrA

 

Each one of these songs oozes raw emotional weight and makes my body tingle all over. Only one song had I heard before, Passenger – how is this possible? What else am I missing out on? I think I will find out soon enough.

 

And then he sends me lyrics to part of another song he’s just produced:

 

She couldn’t be

Any closer to my dream

I would love her

With everything beautiful she’s seen

I’d watch her eyes

Watch her cry

Hold her close so close to me

And in a world

Where you stray when in need

We’d find belief

Plant a seed

That would shine every night and day

Where colours run

Colours fall

Ah I want you more and more

For my aching heart is yours

Take my hand

Take my soul

Take me where love goes