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!
You may remember that I have been to two Nanci Griffith tribute concerts in Southport - one in 2013 and one in 2014. Both times, Edwina Hayes was present and I had the privilege of hearing her beautiful and unique voice. Both times, I also met her - last time, I literally ran into her - and she was lovely.
So, it is a great pleasure to be able to listen to and review her album Pour Me a Drink. Released in 2008, it is Edwina's second solo album.
I must begin by commenting on its beautiful artwork: it is incredibly pretty and I feel that the blossoms decorating both the cover and some of the inside pages of the sleeve represent the album really well: the songs are soft, delicate and fragile like blossoms, yet also very strong, as is a cherry tree.
The album opens with Run, a rather dark, sad song which I personally would not have chosen as an opener but which is very good nonetheless. The next track is one of my favourites, Leave a Light on for You, which is simple but very sweet and for me is reminiscent of a Nanci Griffith song.
Season of Love is more bluegrass and I like it, especially the chorus.Very American-sounding. Call Me flows in the same vein as Leave a Light on for You and is similarly sweet and delicate. One of several songs on the album written by Edwina alone rather than in collaboration, it is a good example of her song writing - a simple but beautiful song about a never-ending love.
The title track, which I saw Edwina perform live in Southport, is slow and haunting and very sad. It's followed by her take on the traditional Froggie Went a Courting, which is smooth and pleasant to listen to and has a happy ending!
Edwina's cover of Randy Newman's Feels Like Home is the first song I heard her sing, due to its use in the film version of My Sister's Keeper. It also became very important to me when I moved from one University hall of residence to another and felt much more at home in the second one. I kept playing this song in my head and I now associate it with that time.
It is a marvel in that it manages to be smooth and very easy on the ear while being extremely raw and emotional. It is probably still my absolute favourite of her songs, although I have discovered several new favourites on this album.
The album ends with Irish Waltz, a lovely piece that sounds genuinely like it could have been written centuries ago in Ireland unlike certain other modern pieces designed to sound so that don't. Edwina's voice is always lovely but here it is divine, and Jack McKeague's guitar work and especially his dobro work are stunning. It is a wonderful end to the album.
I enjoyed this album. While most of the songs are quite similar in that they are simple, delicate love songs with an acoustic guitar, each one does create its own unique ambience. Edwina's guitar work is very nice and her voice is gorgeous.
As a writer, one measure of what I think is a good song is one that I would use in a film of one of my books. I would certainly consider this for both Leave a Light on for You and Edwina's version of Feels Like Home (although the latter has already been done).
Overall, a lovely album and one which I am sure I will listen to a great deal.
In 2011 I went to the south of France with my sixth-form college, a trip that changed my life. I made a film about it, and wrote a blog post about the songs I used in the film. In 2012, I returned there and had another great trip. Again, I made a film, and in this post I will let you know the stories behind the songs I used.
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The first song I used, for the Montpellier segment of the film, is "In This City" by Iglu & Hartly.
I first discovered this song on a trip to Oxford, and I thought of it for the film as its chorus describes perfectly how I feel about Montpellier:
"And I know that down here, in this city,
That I won't disappear in this city,
I have nothing to fear in this city..."
I adore Montpellier and would love to live there some day. It is definitely my favourite city. I have even written a novel set there. It just seems to be to have its own vibe, its own air even. I find it to be a truly unique place.
I first discovered this song on a family trip to London when I was sixteen. We were driving through a very green neighbourhood with lots of trees, and now hearing the song always brings me back there. We went on to visit Hampton Court Palace, somewhere I'd dreamed of going for a long time as I was fascinated by the Tudors. It was a wonderful trip.
I rediscovered this by chance when I was making my film and tried it with the beach photos, not really expecting it to work - but it really did. So I kept it, and now I really like this part of the film - it may be my favourite part.
I did a post with a bit more about why I love this song.
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The third and final song covers Carcassonne, and is "Famille" by Jean-Jacques Goldman.
I first encountered this song when I was exploring Goldman's music - I did a post all about it. When it came to the film, this was probably the easiest song to choose: throughout the trip, the group had referred to each other as "ma deuxième famille" - "my second family." So I thought of this song right away.
Plus, it's a nice song to end the film on: it has that "ending" feel to it, but in a happy, celebratory way, rather than a sad, "it's over" kind of way.
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Overall, I really like the film. I had a limited amount of time in which to finish it - much less than I had for the first film - and I worried at the time that it wouldn't be able to match the first one. However, I think I managed it, and the music was a huge part of that.
I am now on my Easter holidays! Hooray! Three weeks of relaxation before going back to University and facing my summer exams. I will do plenty of study, of course, but a lot has happened this half-semester, and it will be good to have the chance to chill out a bit.
I would like to bring to your attention that I have set up a blog for my poetry and possibly other types of writing. It would mean a lot to me if you could have a look at it. Feel free to comment and let me know what you think.
Finally, I thought I would share this song and clip from the film Casper. Beware of spoilers if you haven't seen the end of the film!
For anyone who doesn't want to see the clip for fear of spoilers, here is the song on its own:
As a kid, I'd occasionally go to an activity club where they had a TV room. At least half the time, this film was showing. I saw all of it in bits and pieces, but never from beginning to end.
It was only a couple of years ago that I caught it on TV and was able to sit back and enjoy the whole film. It was a lot better than I remembered; I think being older allowed me to appreciate the tragedy/friendship/romance side of the film, whereas as a kid I saw it more as an adventure/mystery film.
Anyway, I really love the dancing scene. While I do like the song in its own right, I believe that being fitted with this specific scene elevates it to something incredibly beautiful and poignant. The lyrics are very simple, but work so well with the music and with the scene.
There has been a fairly big development in my life, in that I have moved to a new University hall of residence.
There were various reasons behind the move which I won't go into. What I will say is that I settled into my new hall really quickly - even on the first day I felt that I was home. This song kept playing in my head:
That was last Wednesday - eight days ago. It feels like so much longer. I feel as though I've been living here for a long, long time. I already know a large number of the hall's residents, and I have made some wonderful friends. It's safe to say that I'm very happy here.
Long live my new home, and may many happy times be ahead of me here.
Last night I stumbled upon Flying Without Wings by Westlife.
From what I had heard of this in the past I used to find it cheesy in the extreme, but listening to it properly I... I really like it. The lyrics aren't mindblowing but are very pretty...
"Some find it sharing every morning,
Some in the solitary night..."
I especially love the last verse:
"For me, it's waking up beside you,
To watch the sunrise on your face..."
Cheesy and not very original, I know, but I really do like it and would love to sing this song at karaoke one day... Maybe I will if I can get someone else to sing it with me as I think it would work wonderfully as a duet.
And what's my special thing that helps me fly without wings? I don't know if I can pinpoint one thing. Maybe simply the beauty of this earth. My family, friends, my cat, the stars, the sea, sunset skies, the cool breeze in the evening, that smell when it's about to rain...
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 ♥
In October I had the honour of interviewing Eddi Reader for The Mancunion ahead of her gig at the RNCM on 1st November. I was then given the chance to review that gig, which was brilliant, and afterwards I met Eddi! She came across as a lovely, down-to-earth person and the whole experience was fantastic.
You can read my interview of her here and my review of the gig here. I hope you enjoy them.
Eddi and me
Let me now share with you some Eddi Reader videos.
I wish there was a video for Married to the Sea, a gorgeous song she performed at the concert I saw. Look out for that song, it's wonderful.
Bell, Book and Candle is probably my favourite song that she sings, and this live version is so beautiful.
There's also Patience of Angels, which I heard in a music quiz last year and which I recognised but couldn't place. I'm sure I heard it when I was much younger. It's a lovely song and always has that sense ofdéjàvu for me.
Here is Perfect. I never was a massive fan of this until she performed it live at the RNCM gig, and since then it's grown on me. I love this performance:
Finally, here is one of my favourite music videos of all time, Is This Love? by Alison Moyet, in which she, Eddi and the rest of the band dance on the beach and look so happy and carefree - that's how all music videos should be!
It was a trip arranged by the French department at my college and by Ecole Klesse, a French language school in Montpellier. During the week we stayed with French families in Montpellier and attended the Ecole, and during the weekend we explored Carcassonne, Arles and Saintes Maries de la Mer.
For me it was a formative experience which I feel improved my French, made me fall in love with the south of France and - cliché coming - helped me grow as a person.
I was a volunteer for my college's TV station and I really wanted to make a film of the trip. So I did, and it can be found below.
I want to tell you about the five songs I used in this video, and why I used them.
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Firstly, Vélomoteur by Les Calamités, which is the first song playing and covers the Carcassonne part of the trip.
Like many of my favourite French songs, I first heard Vélomoteur on the brilliant Platine 45 compilation album that my brother and I have. It was one of the last songs I discovered on it, having simply never got around to listening to it before. When I did hear it, it was shortly before the trip, and I just knew I had to use it.
I decided to use it as my opening song as it is so upbeat and I feel it puts the viewer in a positive mood from the start.
I chose this song whilst on the trip, as I could see ways in which I could tie the footage I already had to the song. For example, the mention of "going downtown" while my friends descended an elevator, "following the stars" for a night-time shot, and "book of wisdom" as my friends read the Montpellier newspaper.
If you can speak French then it's fairly self-explanatory: it's a song about going to the seaside and having a good time.
It was one of the songs featured at our college's French Music Club not long before the trip, and if I remember correctly we also sang it on one of the coach journeys during the trip itself - so it was reasonably well known to the group, which is another reason why I used it.
Finally, it's from 2010 - the film was made in 2011 - and I thought at least one song should be fairly current. So Toi et Moi it was.
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Fourthly, we have Can't Fight This Feeling by REO Speedwagon, which I used for the aquarium section.
Around the time of the trip the song had featured on a TV ad, and as a result was fresh in people's minds; I seem to remember at least one member of the trip singing it to themself in France.
Another reason why I thought of this song for my soundtrack is the mention of the ship and the way I could tie that in nicely with the footage of the group in a ship simulator.
The music went with the footage even better than I had imagined, and those few seconds make up one of my favourite moments in the whole film.
I had heard this song a few times and quite liked it, but I only really sat down and listened to it just before making the film - maybe it was serendipity.
I was looking idly through songs I had on my computer, shortlisting ones for the film, and saw this one and thought it might be suitable. I listened to it through and knew then it was perfect for the film - and that it was more beautiful a song than I had ever realised.
Looking back at that final montage always makes me so happy that I had the opportunity to go on that amazing trip - and makes me want to go back to Montpellier!
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Go back I did, the next year - and of course, I made another film, which you can watch here:
I'm working on a blog post about the songs in this second film, so watch this space!
I hope you enjoyed this post,
Thanks for reading,
Liz x
Songs: Vélomoteur - Les Calamités - 1987
Joyride - Roxette - 1991
Toi et Moi - Guillaume Grand - 2010
Can't Fight This Feeling - REO Speedwagon - 1984/5
These Are the Days of Our Lives - Queen - 1991
I hope you are all well. I have finished all of my university exams so now I can relax for the summer - although I am still busy with writing and poetry. One of my poems - a poem about music, actually - is going to be published in an online magazine soon! So I am very happy about that.
I was recently listening to Wind Beneath My Wings by Bette Midler and remembering how much I love the film Beaches - I really must watch it again soon.
I also never knew the girl who played Bette Midler's character at eleven in the film is now Sheldon's girlfriend (or sort-of girlfriend or whatever; I don't watch it so don't know the ins and outs of it) in the Big Bang Theory.
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Recently I heard this song in the car, on the radio, and remembered how much I like it: I'll Stand by You by the Pretenders.
When I was younger I heard the Girls Aloud version a lot and discovered far too late that there was a brilliant 90s song behind the awful over-the-topness GA made it into. When I found the original I was amazed by Chrissie Hynde's sumptuous vocals. This is one song I would love to be able to sing really well.
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You know when you keep hearing a song and you don't know what it is, and you'd love to hear it again? Well, once on a car journey I heard a song on the radio that I accepted was clichéd but which I really liked, and all I could remember was a lyric about open arms.
I then heard it again very recently in a café and listened as hard as I could to try to hold onto something I could look up and hopefully find the song. This time I caught enough lyrics to find it, and it turned out to be... drumroll... Where Do Broken Hearts Go by Whitney Houston.
I was surprised, I had expected it to be from before her time. I am also not generally a big Houston fan; however I do really like this song.
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I have been watching bits and pieces of The Voice UK and my favourites out of the four finalists have to be Matt and Mike, with Mike being my winner (though I don't think he will actually win, sadly. Ah well, I can hope).
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I've been learning Cantonese for a month or so (I already speak some Mandarin) and I wanted to share this song by Faye Wong: versions exist in both Mandarin and Cantonese. Here is the Cantonese one.
I would recommend learning a Chinese dialect to anybody: there is so much fascinating culture attached to the language and idioms.
In addition, I imagine learning a language made of characters instead of letters (assuming your first language is one that has letters) probably improves lateral thinking too. I feel that it's had that affect on me, anyway.
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I think that's it for now; thanks again to all my wonderful Uni friends for a great first year; thanks as well to all my non-Uni friends for some amazing times together.
Just after starting Uni I shared this song and described how it captured my feelings about the new friendships I was making; it still does now.
Thanks for reading,
Liz x
Songs:
Wind Beneath My Wings - Bette Midler - 1989
I'll Stand By You - The Pretenders - 1994
Where Do Broken Hearts Go - Whitney Houston - 1988
Don't Close Your Eyes - Mike Ward - 2013
No Regrets - Faye Wong - 1993
We Are One - Cam Clarke and Charity Sanoy - 1998
I recently had a great revelation regarding Marcella Detroit. This revelation may seem obvious to some but I simply hadn't put two and two together. I had always known her as the singer of I Believe, a song that played throughout my childhood, but I've only just found out that she was also in Shakespears Sister.
This is largely to do with the fact that I had never seen her singing I Believe and at one point I thought from her voice that she was black. When I found out she was white it was via a tiny picture that wasn't sufficient to make me realise that she and that woman who sings the bulk of "Stay" were one and the same.
I had even seen comments on the video of Stay on YouTube referencing "Marcella"... the penny just didn't drop until I recently looked Shakespears Sister up and saw her name, and thought "of course..." and when I thought about it, I realised it was the same beautiful voice I had heard on both these songs that I loved.
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"I Believe" is featured on a compilation album named Girls and Guitars that I was brought up with; it was played in our car on long journeys and on lazy summer days sitting in the garden. When I got my own mp3 player I put the album on it.
I now know the complete track order despite the fact that my mp3 player doesn't recognise it and so it just says "track 1, track 2" etc. I Believe is track 7. It's followed by "Hold On" by Wilson Phillips, another favourite of mine, so I often used to listen to the two as a unit.
I mainly associate this song with a memory from my youth of us driving down a sunny motorway. However, I inadvertently created another special memory for myself when I played this song on the way from the university we had been staying at to the airport when I was leaving Beijing after studying there for three weeks in winter 2012/13.
I remember the silent city rolling past the windows in the still-dark early morning, and the sadness I felt at leaving it. And this song was playing.
I had felt guilty about listening to music, thinking that maybe I should focus all of my attention on my last views of Beijing. However, now I realise that music can strengthen memories, and I'm sure that without linking them to I Believe my memories of that final journey would not be as strong.
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Stay is a song that I probably will have heard when I was younger as it seems to have been a 90s classic; however only last year did I hear it properly, with a critic's ear.
It was on a music channel on TV, on some sort of countdown of ballads, and I remember thinking at first that it was rather generic but still a good song. It has since grown on me hugely.
The opening lyrics especially feel very poignant for me:
"If this world is wearing thin, and you're thinking of escape..."
Haven't we all felt like our world is wearing thin, and thought of escape? By escape I don't mean death, which from the video may be what the song is referring to; I rather mean retreating from things and pretending the world doesn't exist, or perhaps physically running away.
If I'm feeling down I often find myself playing this song in my head and thinking of the people who would be my Marcella and want me to stay; to hold on, to try to be happy.
Siobhan Fahey is great in Stay as well, and as Shakespears Sister was her project it wouldn't be right not to acknowledge her. However, for me Marcella makes this song; her voice and the emotion in her performance are just incredible.
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So, Marcella Detroit has gone for me from being a bodiless voice - but a brilliant one - to somebody I can envisage and I actually already knew... life is strange sometimes.
I have discovered that one of my favourite artists and one of my favourite bands, both of whom were perhaps better known for their music in the 1980s/90s, have recently released new songs. They are, more specifically, Alison Moyet and Deacon Blue.
What I have always loved most about Alison in her older hits such as "Is This Love?" and "Invisible" is her amazing voice, the emotion she puts into her songs, which really feels genuine, and the good production - her records tend to be very pleasant on the ear with regards to the music as well as her voice.
I came to this song half-expecting a belt-y ballad, and whilst it proved to be exactly that, it still quite surprised me. I think I had expected it to be looser and simpler, primarily a means of showcasing her voice, while in fact it is quite a complicated arrangement, which showcases her voice yet is also a really beautiful song with interesting lyrics and a catchy tune.
At first listening I quite liked it, at second listening I liked it a bit more - basically it's grown on me very quickly. It's the first single from her new album "the minutes," which is set to be released in May, and from which I am looking forward to hearing more material.
I like the video - the coastal theme provides a link back to her 1986 hit "Is This Love?" - one of my favourite songs - and they did a good job of finding a look-a-like who is also a good actress and presents the song well.
I was getting worried that we might not actually see the real Alison in the video, when happily she appeared. I love that unlike some artists who see a come-back as a chance to completely change their image, Alison is completely recognisable as the young woman who sang and danced about on the beach in "Is This Love?".
And of course, her voice is amazing, as always. The emotion is clear and raw. The production is also good; I really like the instrumental particularly; it sounds like it could have come from a Cure song, which is high praise from me because I love The Cure's arrangements.
All in all, I really love this new song; I had been doubtful as to whether it could match the sheer brilliance of some of Alison's older songs, but it is certainly one of the nicest songs I have heard in a long time. Welcome back, Alison ♥
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The next song I want to share with you is Turn by Deacon Blue, from their late-2012 album, "The Hipsters."
I heard this song on the radio a couple of days ago and quite liked it and wondered who it was by, then when the DJ announced that it was by Deacon Blue I was surprised and pleased.
At first I liked it but thought it sounded like a lot of other songs. Having heard it a few more times, it's really growing on me and I now think it sounds quite distinctive. The video is slightly bizarre but I like it.
Also, assuming the backing vocals are by Lorraine McIntosh as usual, I like them on this song more than on some of Deacon Blue's older songs. I think they add more to this song, maybe as she is just singing rather than doing fancy things with her voice as in some other songs; perhaps the simplicity is what works particularly well here.
I like the quieter, more lyric-based feel of this song, as opposed to some of the louder, faster material of Deacon Blue such as "Wages Day" and "Queen of the New Year" - although I still love these songs! I just think it's nice to have something more raw and stripped-back for a change, in addition to their brilliant back-catalogue.
I like the reference to "Dignity" in the video! I predicted that the third card would say "work" and was quite pleased with myself when it turned out I was right. I also think the first guy on the bus looks like Marcus Bridgestocke... Is he Marcus Bridgestocke?
I really like this song; it isn't my favourite Deacon Blue song - that would probably be "Your Swaying Arms" or "When Will You (Make My Telephone Ring)," but I do really like "Turn."
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So, two really good new songs from an artist and a group who have been about for years; let's hope they continue producing fantastic new material for many years to come.
This is a very special blog post... it is the fiftieth post on this blog!
In the very first post I did, way back in March 2011, I mentioned some of my favourite songs lyrics-wise. I decided that between this post and the next one I will listen again to these songs and and see how I feel about them now, almost a year and a half after I made that list.
I will also see if, through keeping this blog, I have discovered any other songs that deserve to join that list. I'm sure there are many! But I am looking for the very best for my lyrics hall of fame.
The first song I mentioned in that list was Can't Fight This Feeling by REO Speedwagon.
I remember when I first heard this song, it was while in the car flicking through 80s songs on the mp3 player I had at the time. It included a few 80s albums on which I wasn't sure what half the songs were because it hadn't recognised the album and just called the songs, Track 1, Track 2 etcetera. I was listening through them to see what they all were when I discovered this song, which I don't think I had heard before.
I thought it must be Candle in the Wind by Elton John. I wasn't familiar with said song at the time, and I decided this must be it as I thought I heard the line, "You're a candle in the wind". I'd also heard Candle in the Wind being hyped about and as this song was amazing, I thought this must be the song.
I turned out to be wrong on several counts. The line was, "You're a candle in the window." The song was Can't Fight This Feeling by REO Speedwagon. Candle in the Wind isn't an 80s song so probably wouldn't have been on that album anyway. And I've since heard Candle in the Wind and don't think much of it, which is a shame because I sort of want to like it.
Anyway, the bottom line is that I discovered a song that I really loved, and that I still love. Since I wrote that blog post in March last year, Can't Fight This Feeling has been featured in a TV advert in the UK for - I think - yoghurt which has a cow running along a beach dreaming of being a horse. The ad is certainly memorable, and I think that may have brought the song to a new audience as I heard one of my friends my age singing it around that time.
In July 2011, this song took on a huge new significance and poignancy to me, as I used it in the film I made of my college trip to France, and now listening to the song evokes so many amazing memories of that wonderful trip. Here is my film, in case you are interested - Can't Fight This Feeling begins about seven minutes and fifty seconds into the film.
I chose this song for the aquarium segment of the film because I could see direct links between the lyrics - les paroles in French - and some of the things that happened in the aquarium, for example the reference to the ship. I also loved the general tune and sentiment of the song, and wanted to use it as part of my record of our trip.
Now when I'm listening to the song and I get to the part where there's talking in the film, I subconsciously expect to hear that talking, and I always feel surprised when the music goes on and the talking doesn't occur! I love this song more than ever and it certainly retains its place as one of my favourite songs ♥
"It's time to bring this ship in to the shore, and throw away the oars, forever..."
"My life has been such a whirlwind since I saw you..."
♥
The next song on my list was The Whole of the Moon, by the Waterboys.
Well... There isn't much to say about this song, I feel. Yet there is a whole ocean of things to say... It is amazing. It is beautiful. It is perfect. It is a very, very special song to me. I love it.
I first heard it in the car - I'm pretty sure I can remember exactly which stretch of road we were driving along, and where we were going. It's the same for Can't Fight This Feeling! Not the stretch of road, but the fact that I can remember exactly where I was when I first heard both songs. Songs can be so powerful when it comes to bringing back memories attached to them.
I love the lyrics to this song - I really hope that Mike Scott, who wrote and sung the song had a particular person in mind when he wrote those lyrics. There seems to be a lot of debate over who the song was written for, but all I care about is that he wrote it from his heart and with complete love and sincerity. That is when a superficial love song becomes a beautiful, evergreen love song.
This is one of the songs I would most like to be able to sing in concert if ever I got a band together. I always envision a full orchestral arrangement with trumpets and violins and maybe even a choir to do the backing singing in the last verse.
However, such powerful lyrics as these could hold their own in sung a cappella or just spoken... you could do so much with this song, so many different arrangements, and as long as you mean the lyrics and sing them with all the love and emotion you feel for that person is in your life who saw the whole of the moon, it will be something amazing.
"I spoke about wings, you just flew.
I wondered and I guessed and I tried - you just knew.
I sighed, but you swooned,
I saw the crescent, you saw the whole of the moon."
♥
The third song that was on my list of top songs lyrics-wise is Romeo and Juliet by Dire Straits. As well as learning to spell their name properly - I was shocked to see, "Dire Straights" on that first post, which was swiftly corrected - I have been listening a lot to music by Dire Straits, with two particular songs being among my favourites: the aforementioned Romeo and Juliet, and Brothers in Arms.
I am planning to do a longer blog post involving Brothers in Arms soon, so for now I will just say that it is a song I have loved for a long time, and which think I can add to my lyrics hall of fame. As for Romeo and Juliet, I shared my thoughts on it as part of a blog post about love songs that I did last year, and I still love it.
♥
The next two songs on my list are both by Fleetwood Mac: Songbird and Sara. I adore Songbird and have sung its praises in my blog post about the amazing Christine McVie (whom I love and who is one of my greatest influences musically).
Sara is a song that has been in my head a lot recently - maybe partly because I was planning to do this blog, but I think it may also be partly to do with the fact that in one of the novels I am trying to write (my dream is to have a book published one day, and I am working on several potential novels) there is a character called Sarah.
Her naming had nothing to do with the song; it's just a name I like. But writing about her often reminds me of the song.
"Wait a minute baby, stay with me a while,
You said you'd give me light, but you never told me 'bout the fire."
I always liked this song, but never as much as some other Fleetwood Mac songs such as Gypsy, Little Lies and Say You Love Me. However, I've recently come to like it a lot more. Stevie Nicks has the knack for making a song not just a song, but an experience... something you get completely sucked in to, and when it finishes you feel as if you've come out of a cinema into daylight; like you have been absorbed in a story; in a far away place. In another universe.
The initial piano chords from Christine McVie have always reminded me of the church bells ringing out in my town, and whenever I hear them, this song comes straight to my head.
"Sara, you're the poet in my heart,
You never change, and don't you ever start."
I saw a documentary about Fleetwood Mac in which Stevie Nicks claimed that this song was written because she was having an affair with Mick Fleetwood, and then Mick Fleetwood ended up in a relationship with Stevie's friend Sara. The exact meaning of the lyrics of this song has always puzzled me, but I can feel a lot of love behind the words. I have come to really like this song - it still isn't my favourite Fleetwood Mac song by a long way but I do really like it.
I will sign off for now and in my next blog entry I will finish my list of top songs lyrics-wise; commenting on the work of Nanci Griffith, and of Ricky Ross and Deacon Blue, and I will add some more songs to the list, songs that I have discovered or rediscovered since I started my blog which I think merit a place on that list.
Thanks for reading,
Liz x
Songs: Can't Fight This Feeling - REO Speedwagon - 1984/85
Today I thought I would share a current song that I really like: Black Heart by the British girl group Stooshe.
I discovered this song at zumba, where at the minute we are using it as the song we do our cool-down and stretches to after the main zumba session. I've discovered some brilliant music through zumba, and this is no exception.
At first I thought it must be a really old song; from the sixties or seventies. It certainly has that "old-school" vibe about it, and I just really love the whole song. It is quite unconventional; the way the tune is quite upbeat but the lyrics tell a very bleak story. Their voices are really good, especially the girl who sings first in the song.
Stooshe's songs tend to be somewhat loud and pop-y, and this is so different... it must have been a bit of a risk releasing it. However, the risk seems to have paid off because they got to number four on the UK Singles Chart, which surprised me because there is usually so much rubbish at the top of the charts (and here still is) but somehow this lovely little song made it up there. People must appreciate its individuality and the way it harks back to the Sixties, both in the song and the video.
I was a bit disappointed to find out that they didn't write the song; I like it when singers write their own material. But the fact that this song got written at all is something I am very happy about, and I think Stooshe are just the right band to do justice to it, so I'm glad that it was they who recorded it.
