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!
This is a guest post by my brother Noah Gibson with his views on this year's Eurovision Song Contest. He has two YouTube channels where he reviews music: GibboMaths and GibbyTheLegendG. I hope you enjoy his post!
***
Having watched both semi-finals and the final of
Eurovision 2016 and having heard all the songs, I have given them all ratings
out of 20. I have also rated Romania, which I have listened to on the internet. I think that this year, lots of entries have had good looking performers and
great costumes, backing singers and dancers. The lighting for many entries and
the way their act performed the song was very good. Some entries had very
modern electronic production and some artists had very strong voices. However,
the main bad thing about it this year was that there were far too many sad
songs and songs with sad parts in them.
Here are my top
3.
1. Estonia
I like the piano
in the first verse and the guitar in the bridges. The tune is very catchy and
the lighting is very good. It is colourful and sophisticated. Jüri Pootsmann
does a good magic trick in the middle of the performance. It is very effective
when there is a slow part without many instruments before the final chorus.
2. Sweden
The verses are
sung in a way which is very different to most singing. It has got a good beat
that carries the song. The lighting is simple but effective and Frans has got
good performance skills.
3. Netherlands
It is a very relaxing
song and has a country edge to it, making it different to many other entries
this year. There is a variety of good instruments. The clock projection on the
floor is good and Douwe Bob has got quite a good image. Here are my ratings for each country's song. Albania – 12/20, Armenia – 11/20, Austria – 16/20, Australia – 8/20, Azerbaijan –
14/20
Belarus – 16/20, Belgium – 15/20, Bosnia And
Herzegovina – 12/20, Bulgaria – 17/20
As my readers know, I am a massive fan of Eurovision. I've been particularly looking forward to the 2016 contest, partly because I've had a super-busy year and Eurovision is a great chance to relax and celebrate, and partly as it is in Sweden again (after they hosted in 2013) and we know how well they do Eurovision.
As the first semi-final kicked off on Tuesday, I felt we were in safe hands. Sweden as hosts aren't glitzy or over-the-top, they're just... really good.
Instead of having, as many countries do, three young presenters that seem slightly nervous and take things very seriously, Sweden gives us the wonderful Petra Mede whose attitude towards the show is just perfect.
She is joined this year by last year's winning performer, Måns Zelmerlöw, who I feel has been okay at presenting so far, though he is often overshadowed by Petra. But then, it's hard not to be!
I loved the segment where Måns and Petra pretended to be taxi drivers - it's the kind of low-budget, down-to-earth thing that other countries might shy away from but which the Swedes recognise as being genuinely entertaining. The moment when the two guys realised they were in a cab with Petra was brilliant and I had to re-watch it.
Måns's performance and the part with the Pippi dancers were okay. They are clearly gifted dancers and I think they could have been used better to show off their potential. Plus, though I do love her, Pippi was referenced in the 2013 contest, and they could have had something new this time.
I like this year's dandelion clock theme, but some of the dandelion graphics are rather psychedelic. I like how they use jazzy fonts for the names of the countries. The postcards, like many elements of this year's show, feel simple and serviceable, which I like.
Okay, on to the music! I've given each song a mark out of 20. I'll comment on the voice, performance, staging, etc, but the mark is mainly for the song itself.
1) Finland - Parts of this sounded like a recent-ish pop song, I think possibly by the Swedish House Mafia. I found it pretty average, and the constant "Bruh, bruh"-ing a bit annoying. Not a great start to the show, although at least it was energetic. 7/20
2) Greece - I wasn't sure whether this was supposed to have some political connotations or not, and as a result feel slightly uncomfortable commenting on it lyrically. Musically, I found it quite ordinary and very typical of Greek Eurovision entries. 10/20
3) Moldova - I liked her dress! The song felt clichéd but I felt she had a strong stage presence. I liked the silver and blue-themed staging. 8/20
4) Hungary - Ah, the drums, the drums! We couldn't possibly yet a Eurovision year go by without them. I felt this song had lots of good ingredients but they never really came together. 8/20
5) Croatia - I liked the staging and the way it built up to the end, with the falling sparks. Her first dress just didn't work even as a decoy for the second, proper one - her hair was too short for it and it swamped her. Had her hair been longer it may have worked. The song was on the good side of average and she sold it well. 12/20
6) Netherlands - More country from them! I'm not complaining; it was a decent song, though it's hard to match the Common Linnets (whose success I imagine they're trying to emulate with this year's entry). One of the backing band reminded me of Mick Jagger. The staging seemed to swamp the lead singer at first but he settled into the performance. 14/20
7) Armenia - Hmm! I don't know where to begin on this one. She looked like Nicole Scherzinger. Her voice and the song were both decent. But the over-dramatic camera work and cutting on this were awful and fitted a music video better than a Eurovision performance. It really was hard to watch. 13/20
8) San Marino - The lyrics and the way he sang them came across as a bit odd. The horrible graphics in the background combined with his garish outfit were very hard on the eyes. 4/20
9) Russia - Most clichéd lyrics yet - "Thunder and lightning, it's getting exciting." The staging was very reminiscent of both the Austrian and Swedish winning songs from the last couple of years, but it was quite good all the same. At the end it became hard to watch due to all the strobing. 10/20
10) Czech Republic - The staging was nice but strobey. The lyrics were very repetitive but the song quite pleasant, and I liked her dress and the way she let her hair down at the end (quite literally!). 13/20
11) Cyprus - As Scott Mills, commentating for the UK, declared, this really sounds like Somebody Told Me by the Killers. It was all just a little bit over-the-top, what with the flashing lights, moody glazes, blue smoke and howling. It was something different, however, and that is always welcome. 11/20
12) Austria - She looked like a Disney Princess! She also reminded me of Amanda Seyfreid in Mamma Mia. It was all a bit too cutesy and high-pitched for me, and it seemed to go on for a long time. She didn't seem to be doing much and the background graphics got a bit annoying. 12/20 13) Estonia - More chess in the postcard! Horses and chess were the recurring themes this semi-final! This guy reminded me of Nick Henderson from Big Brother. I personally don't like songs based heavily around a theme unless they're really good. The theme of playing cards totally dominated this performance and staging and it was too intense. I was relieved when it was over! But he is kind of endearing and I can understand why people seem to like him. 11/20
14) Azerbaijan - I wasn't keen on the outfits here! However, it was a decent song and performance. Azerbaijan have been fairly consistent in recent years, sending songs that aren't amazing but are very solid. 14/20 15) Montenegro - Scott Mills really didn't like this! I thought it was okay - it was certainly striking. It's a shame there were more silly jump cuts and angles; this time it felt like we were watching a festival set instead of a Eurovision performance and I feel the song itself, which was all right, was drowned out by the theatrics. 14/20
16) Iceland - I liked what she did with the shadows staging-wise. The song was cheesy but good. 14/20
17) Bosnia and Herzegovina - Scott and Mel Giedroyc joked about the tin foil outfits but I actually liked them! I wasn't keen on the "Ey, ey, ey," at the end. Overall it was very Eurovision. 10/20
18) Malta - Another nice dress! She gave a very confident performance and I liked the background. The song is okay - a bit of an earworm. 13/20
Overall, I enjoyed the show. I feel this was the weaker semi-final - the one on Thursday had more stand-out songs for me. However, this one was very watchable and Måns and Petra - especially Petra - did an excellent job.
Watch this space for my thoughts on the second semi-final!
Welcome to my 100th post on this blog! I'm incredibly proud and happy that my blog has reached 100 and is still thriving. It is also more or less three and a half years old - although it feels like I've had it much longer.
So here is my joint 100th post/three and a half birthday celebration!
☀✏♥☆❀
I celebrated my fiftieth post by looking back at how my blog had changed in the year and a half I'd had it at that point.
I also looked back at my first post, which listed some of my favourite songs lyrics-wise, to see how I felt about them fifty posts later. Most of them I still loved at that point - and I still love now.
So, I wondered what to do for my 100th post that would be different. I decided to do a list and a countdown and, in doing so, reflect on my relationship with music and writing over the past three and a half years and how it has evolved, and how it has shaped my life.
I will link to various other posts on this blog, so this 100th post should also be a good navigational tool for finding music you like that I have written about.
I hope you enjoy it!
☀✏♥☆❀
Firstly, I present the top 10 most significant things I have achieved since starting this blog.
Feb 2011 - I set up this blog.
1) Mar-Apr 2011 - I visited the south of France with my sixth-form college. We were based in Montpellier and visited Carcassonne, Arles and Saintes Maries de la Mer. My love for the area has fuelled many choices I've made in life since, and also inspired my first novel - more about that later!
☀✏♥☆❀
2) Sept - Dec 2011 - I applied for Oxford University and reached the interview stage, which meant I got to stay in Oxford for a few days and see it through a student's eyes.
I ended up going to Manchester University and I like it very much, but it was nice to have that brief taste of being an Oxford student. I love the city.
☀✏♥☆❀
3) Summer 2012 - I started my first paid job, in a small shop. I really enjoyed it and felt it helped me grow up a lot before going to university in the autumn.
☀✏♥☆❀
4) Jul - Aug 2012 - I completed my Gold Duke of Edinburgh's Award expedition, four days camping and walking in the Lake District. I had a great team and came back with some lovely memories and a wonderful sense of achievement.
☀✏♥☆❀
5) Sept 2012 - I started University. I had a great start, meeting the people who would become my good friends on my very first day.
From there I had some ups and some downs, but overall I'm glad I came to Manchester. It has been a memorable experience and I have met some great people.
☀✏♥☆❀
6) Dec 2012 - Jan 2013 - I went to Beijing with Uni. I applied for a free place on a three-week programme there and was amazed and thrilled to be accepted, especially as I was so young.
Most people on the trip were older than me but I made some friends for life and it was three weeks I will never forget. Beijing in the snow is freezing cold but almost unbearably beautiful.
I am currently interviewing another artist who I won't yet name but whose interview will hopefully feature on this blog soon!
☀✏♥☆❀
8) May - Aug 2013 - I completed my first novel. I had been planning it since I was fourteen or fifteen but my trip to France aged seventeen added a whole new spin to the story. I knew it now had to be set in the south of France, and the location became a vital aspect of the book.
I am immensely proud and hope to see it published some day.
☀✏♥☆❀
9) Nov 2013 - I was made Fiction Editor at Miracle Magazine! I really love this job. I get on well with the rest of the Miracle team, and I am so proud when each issue of the magazine come out and I get to see the product of our hard work.
In 2014 I was asked to also be the Blog Editor of the magazine, and I adore this position. I set up the Miracle Blog and maintain it, posting pieces I have written and commissioning them from other writers.
☀✏♥☆❀
10) Oct 2014 onwards - I have accepted a job as English Language Assistant in a lycée (ages 14-18) in Perpignan, in the south of France. I am so happy to have been placed in Perpignan as it looks truly beautiful and my Catalan will come in useful!
I am very grateful and am looking forward to what could be the best year of my life.
☀✏♥☆❀
I will now list my top 20 songs that I have mentioned on this blog.
Each song links to the post, or one of the posts, where it is discussed.
☀✏♥☆❀
Phew, that was hard! I had to say goodbye to some songs I really love to fit in those I prefer. I would much rather do a Top 100 but I think picking the Top 25 has been a useful exercise in working out what I really like in a song.
Lyrics are important, as you can tell from the title of my blog. But for me, the number one important thing about a song is the sincerity with which it is sung. A song can have beautiful lyrics, but the singer has to really mean them for me to like it.
One of my songs, On ira, is French and even before I understood all of the lyrics - which are very beautiful - I loved it because I could clearly hear the love and honesty in Jean-Jacques Goldman's voice as he sang.
☀✏♥☆❀
It's been an amazing experience keeping this blog. I'm so glad I actually got around to setting it up - for weeks I had wanted to and then, in February 2011, I finally took the plunge.
I must thank my friend Megan, who responded positively to the idea when I mentioned it to her - that really encouraged me to actually do it.
Thank you to my Mam, who often spurred me on when I was worried a post wasn't "good enough" and made me see that it's not about producing a really polished post, it's about producing an honest and heartfelt one.
And finally, thank you to everyone who has read and supported my blog and my writing generally over the years.
As you will know if you follow this blog or my Facebook page, I am a huge Eurovision fan. It is quite possibly the highlight of my year. I just love the sense of together-ness, of people all over Europe watching and enjoying the same spectacle.
☀♥✈
The host nation:
One thing I like about Eurovision is learning about the host nation, and in this way I felt slightly let down this year, as I found there wasn't much information about Denmark, or Copenhagen as a city.
The only thing that had anything to do with Danish culture was the performance of Hans Christian Anderson's The Ugly Duckling in one of the semi-finals. I would have liked more of that sort of thing, especially in the final.
☀♥✈
The hosts:
I thought the show was well-hosted, though I preferred Petra Mede last year. I think some of the hosts' humour was perhaps lost in translation, as I didn't find some things funny that I think I was supposed to.
I also didn't really get the continual China references - was that an in-joke of some kind? Overall, though, it was better hosted than a lot of past contests.
☀♥✈
The venue:
I was amazed when I saw pictures of the venue from the outside - it is a pair of former shipping containers, and looked so different from more glamourous past Eurovision venues. Yet inside, it looked wonderful; I liked the stage design and how it matched the gem theme of the contest.
When I first encountered the gem theme, I thought it too simple and ordinary. However, it really worked on the night and looked quite arty. The tagline, "#Join us," is too similar to Norway's 2010 slogan, "Share the moment," and I feel that Norway captured the sentiment better with their flashmob. But it is a nice sentiment to have in the first place.
I could have done without the hash tag, though. Not all of us use Twitter, and those of us who don't can still be part of Eurovision.
☀♥✈
The songs:
I thought the standard of songs this year was really good - probably the best overall quality across all the songs that I remember seeing at Eurovision. However, for me there were few really excellent songs. I voted for Malta and the Netherlands, my favourites by a long way.
I also quite liked Spain's song. But that was it. While many other songs were good, they just didn't blow my mind.
☀♥✈
The winner:
I like how Conchita's victory was a victory of sorts for equality. Also, Tom, the guy whose character she is, seems really nice in interview. However, I don't really like the song - it just seems to be about three other songs pasted together and generally dull.
The ideal situation for me would have been for Conchita to have come second, which would still have made a stir and a statement, and for the Netherlands to have won because they had the better song and it is a song contest at the end of the day.
☀♥✈
I hope you enjoyed reading my thoughts on the show. Congratulations to Conchita and to Austria, and thank you to everyone who was involved in making Eurovision 2014 such a great success.
Here's to Eurovision 2015 in Austria!
Thanks for reading! I have also written an article about Eurovision for my university's student newspaper, if you would like to check it out.
Today is Thursday, and I wanted to continue my fiftieth blog post celebrations by reflecting on what I have learnt by keeping this blog.
♥
I can't believe this is my fifty-second blog post. It's amazing. And I can't believe it's been nearly a year and a half since I started this blog. Some of the posts I did last summer seem like yesterday. Time really does fly.
Looking at my posts, it's easy to see the evolution from quite basic, usually gushing about a song I loved, to more structured, more critical - still praising songs I love, but in a more constructive way, I feel.
That's not to say that my first posts aren't worth reading - I think they still make good reads, especially if you're looking for something short and focussed on one particular song. But I feel that my blogging is more sophisticated now.
My presentation has evolved - I would now very rarely, if at all, use multiple exclamation marks, nor do I use smilies like this :) Instead I use the proper alt code to get this☺Generally, though, I don't use smilies that much. I use hearts ♥ because I think they look nice and because I am the emotional kind of person who sees the need to use hearts a lot.
I've also discovered quite recently how to get music notes from alt codes ♪♫ so you may be seeing some music notes on this blog in the future!
♥
I've started putting links in posts; I learnt how to do this at Cornerhouse, for which I am very grateful. I also now put tags on all my posts; I didn't originally and have now gone back and made sure all my posts are tagged.
I started putting the year the song came out at the bottom of each post along with the name of the song and the artist. I know it can be a nightmare finding the details on a song you really like via the Internet, so hopefully my song listings at the end of posts may make that a little easier. Plus I think it makes the blog look that bit more professional.
I have my "recommended posts," at the end of blog entries; an idea I came up with to help people find entries on the music and artists that they personally like, and also to draw attention to some of my older posts that newer readers may not have seen.
I now lay out all my entries in the "align left" format, whereas I used to use "align centre" on occasion, and I now think that can look a bit tacky. So, align left it is, and align centre for quoted lyrics. Altogether nicer, I feel.
♥
I think my titles have evolved as well - it was always, "Gorgeous song!," "Lovely song! : ) ," etcetera - then they became more sensible because they started telling you what the post was actually about - "R.E.M. and Paul Young," for example.
Then there was the Eurovision block, then after that I got into the habit of making titles a list of everything mentioned in the blog, for example, "Ireland, the Olympics, Snowdonia and Nanci Griffith." More recently on the title front I've been alternating between humorous and sentimental -and sometimes managed to achieve both.
I can't believe I've found so much to say about the evolution of my blog - it has changed more than I ever realised. I have changed too - I've become more mature, more sensible, I feel.
I also write on here regularly, not just when I feel like it as was once the case. I feel like I have entries that need to be written; inspirational songs and amazing songwriters that deserve a place on this blog, and I 'll never be able to cover them all if I only write once in a blue moon.
This blog isn't just a collection of songs I like, but a record of my life, and sometimes an important moment doesn't get recorded here because I don't get round to writing it up and then I feel that the moment has passed. And I think that's a terrible waste. So I will try not to let that happen any more.
♥
Have my musical tastes changed since starting this blog? I don't think so. However, I feel I have discovered music that I never would have if I hadn't been keeping this blog; music that, it turned out, I really liked. So thank you, blog!
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
.JPG)
