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