Hello! As you may have guessed from the name of this blog, my name is Liz and I am fascinated by song lyrics. I hope you enjoy my waxing lyrical about lyrics and about music generally. I also review albums and gigs and have interviewed several wonderful musicians. Enjoy!
I will be posting on this music blog again soon - I'll tell you all about my time in France, about my two trips to Spanish Catalonia and about the music that for me will always resonate with memories of this unique year.
Since I last posted on here, in January, spring seems to have come to Manchester! There is blossom on the ground, the birds are singing... And I just can't help feeling happy.
A few other things have happened since I last posted: I have turned 20, I have had several important University exams, and I have made big steps in trying to become a published novelist. Re. the novel, watch this space: I really hope to have good new for you one day!
2014 is going scarily fast - I really hope it slows down a bit so I can enjoy it while it's here, and make it a year to remember.
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What music have I been listening to? Well, I've been listening to On ira, a French song by Jean-Jacques Goldman.
I first discovered most of Mr Goldman's music when I was at sixth-form college, and listening to his songs always brings me back there. Sitting in the infamous "Islands" computer area, with my earphones in, waiting for my bus and supposedly doing some work while actually just listening to the song. Happy days.
If you speak French and are interested, I wrote a piece in French about Jean-Jacques - click on the link to read it, or click his name above the video to read another piece I did about him in English. (Yes, I'm a huge fan!)
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There's also All Out of Love by Air Supply.
I heard this for the first time in a long time on the radio last year, and assumed it was a woman singing the choruses - I was in for a surprise!
The radio DJ described this as "one of the best love songs ever written," making it sound, as DJ's have a tendency to, like this sentiment were universal. When it played, I thought, it isn't that amazing.
However, I did like it and I started listening to it on YouTube, and one day I heard the beautiful simplicity and sadness of the opening bars and realised it is an incredible song. One of the best love songs ever written? Quite possibly. I'm really glad I heard it on the radio that day.
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After I listened to All Out of Love on YouTube just now, Right Here Waiting came up in the suggested videos, and I decided to share it here as it fits my developing theme of simple but beautiful love songs.
This was one of the first songs I ever knew. It was on a compilation album called "Bitter Suites" that my parents used to listen to when I was very young. It was probably the first song on the album that I learned to recognise and to like.
The words meant little to me and I couldn't understand his accent a lot of the time, so the song was less a story, something with meaning, than a beautiful series of sounds and - in my head - colours and patterns.
Soon I knew most of the songs on the album, and I think I might do a blog post about it (so again, watch this space!) but Right Here Waiting was always, and will always be, special to me.
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Another song that follows in a similar vein is In Too Deep by Genesis.
For a while, In Too Deep was nice but not mindblowing. Then something changed. I realised it was playing in my head at random times. I dreamed of singing it at karaoke. While it will never replace Follow You, Follow Me in my affections, it has become another song whose simplicity, for me, makes it a classic.
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I'll end this list of simple but effective love songs with one of my favourite such songs: I Want You, by The Silencers.
My parents used to play this at home, and I quite liked it. Then when I was at sixth-form I played it to myself and I realised I really liked it. It has become one of my favourite songs. So simple, so beautiful. It's near the top of my list of "songs I will learn to play first if I ever master the guitar." It would be just wonderful to be able to play it and sing it with joy and pride and so much love.
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I've just realised that I have managed to collate a song each from France, Australia, the US, England and Scotland. This wasn't intentional and just shows that all over the world people are writing simple, beautiful love songs - it is a genre that spans continents and cultures and that we all can enjoy and respond to.
Well, night's coming in and it's nice and cool, and people are milling about outside, probably unable to believe their luck that spring seems to have come overnight. I certainly appreciate this change in the weather - good weather really can lift your mood. Time for spring, for blossom, for lighter nights and birdsong and feeling great ♥
Today is Sunday, and I have been here a week! And it has been, as promised, one of the most amazing weeks of my life! Mainly because of the brilliant friends I have made ♥
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I went home on Friday night, and it felt so strange being back in Wigan. The main thing I noticed at once was the stars - you never really see that many stars in Manchester; there are too many lights. In Wigan - well, my bit of Wigan at least - the sky was sprinkled with silver.
I saw all the familiar constellations, and, as always, searched for the Andromeda galaxy. I know where it is, but some nights you can see it and some nights you can't, depending on how clear the sky is.
I have always loved stargazing; the world can move quickly around you but the stars never change. I can look up and find Cassiopeia, trace my way to Perseus and Andromeda and the square of Pegasus. The stars can be scary, yet they can be reassuring... they are a force so powerful, unbreakable, ancient... I suppose they are an example of what you call the numinous.
I will have to find out if there is a stargazing society in Manchester; if there isn't I will have to set one up! Anyway, it was lovely to be home and to see everyone again.
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The next day - yesterday - I dragged myself out of bed to get my train back into Manchester in time for bowling and Laser Quest.
I was a bit disconcerted at first because I didn't seem to know anybody on the excursion; however I soon made some new friends.
The Laser Quest wasn't the best one I've ever been in, but it was fun and got very competitive! But may I say, whoever invented the need to recharge your gun in Laser Quest... it is the most pointless and annoying thing ever! I have been to Laser Quest venues where you don't have to do that, and I feel it makes the game run a lot more smoothly, and you can relax and get on with it without having to worry about recharging!
Still, we had fun. We also had a game of bowling, in which I think I ended up coming last. I started out really well, then had a couple of goes in a row where the ball went into the tramlines... Not good. However, I met some more people in my Halls which was nice.
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We then had a barbeque back at the Hall; I hadn't been really excited about the BBQ because I don't usually like BBQ food... but this one was so lovely; the food was nice and we got huge tubs of ice cream! I had caramel flavour and it was delicious!
The sun was setting as we sat around on the lawn chatting, and it was such a lovely end to Freshers' Week. It was amazing to be celebrating it with my wonderful new friends.
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I then went to the open mic night in the Hall bar; there was a wide array of different musicians and groups; there was even someone who I think said he was from Wigan! I will have to talk to him some time!
My favourite act of the evening was a jazz quartet; they were really smooth and professional and so talented. Well done to them, and thank you to everyone involved for a great night.
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I am going to share We Are One from The Lion King II; I have not seen this film but I somehow discovered this song when I was at college, and it really captured my heart. It is so beautiful, both the music and the lyrics.
I am not usually a huge Disney fan, but I love this song ♥
And in looking for it on YouTube, I somehow ended up on the Portuguese version. I love the Portuguese language - I think it is one of the most beautiful in the world.
Even if you don't understand Portuguese - and I don't understand all of this song in Portuguese - just the sound of the language is so gorgeous. I would give it a listen.
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I stumbled upon the original version of this song yesterday when looking for songs by the French singer Lio on YouTube and general Lion King stuff came up in the search options, and I thought, I'll listen to We Are One. It perfectly sums up my first week at Uni and the wonderful people I've met and the friendships I've made ♥
Thanks for reading,
Liz x
Songs: We Are One (English) - Cam Clarke and Charity Sanoy - 1998
We Are One (Portuguese)/Somos Um - I don't know who sings this; if anyone could tell me I would appreciate it! - 1998
