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 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.
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.
Today is the 4th of July which for some people will mean fireworks and celebrations, so I hope that if it concerns you, you are enjoying this special day. For me, however, this date is important for another, more personal reason: it was the 4th of July last year when I first posted my finished Montpellier trip film on YouTube. Here it is:
We went on this college trip in March/April 2011 and I really loved it. It opened my eyes to the culture of the south of France, where I had never been before.
I really got the chance to practise my French, and I could feel it improving more and more during the nine days we spent in Montpellier and Carcassonne. And I really enjoyed making the film of the trip - it was hard work but was truly a labour of love. I am so happy with the final result.
I had such a good time in Languedoc-Roussillon (the region of France we visited) that I went on the trip again this year, and again I had a lovely time. And again, I am making a film so that we can look back and remember the great times we spent together in such an amazing place.
I'm really pleased with the way this year's film is coming along, and hopefully it will be up on YouTube soon.
A song I have been listening to a lot recently is I've Been In Love Before by Cutting Crew.
As well as being incredibly beautiful, this song brings back lots of memories for me: I remember around the first time I started listening to it was on a lovely family holiday in London, and I remember driving down leafy green lanes listening to this in the car.
It also brings back memories of another enjoyable trip I went on around the same time; a school trip to Belgium. I remember listening to this on my MP3 player in the coach and being moaned at for having my music too loud! I love this song ♥
I hope you enjoy it too.
Thanks for reading,
Liz x
Song: I've Been In Love Before - Cutting Crew - 1986/7
This is my final blog entry of June 2012, and I have to say; this has been an amazing month for me, and I only really realised when I was writing yesterday's blog entry and looking back on all that has happened in my life in the last thirty days.
I have Domino by Jessie J stuck in my head at the minute - not the best song in the world but quite catchy and upbeat. I heard it on the radio at work today, which is probably why it is in my head! Also My Kind of Love by Emeli Sande - I really like this song and her voice is so incredible.
I also discovered another song today; well, I say discovered but I think I had already heard snatches of it because parts of it sounded familiar. But today was the first time I heard the song through - in fact it was on the radio twice while I was at work - and I really like it. It turned out to be Brokenhearted by Karmin.
I must admit that, while the name rang a distant bell, I knew practically nothing about this band (or, rather, duo). However, I now fully intend to listen to more of their music and see what other material they have, and then I can decide how far I think they can make it in the charts. Judging from this song, I have high hopes for them! It has such a good beat.
When I first heard it I was wracking my brains trying to think who it could be - Jessie J, Pixie Lott, Lady Gaga and even X-Factor winners Little Mix came to mind, but it didn't sound quite like any of them. I was pleased to see that it was a band I didn't know; I love discovering new talent.
I realise that I have been blogging a lot recently about newer music that is currently in the charts. However, I still spend just as much time listening to the older stuff - music that never ages. One of my all-time favourites has to be A Letter to Elise by the Cure.
It is twenty years old this October; I never realised until I researched it for this blog entry. Happy birthday, song!
When I was younger, my parents used to play the Cure a lot in the car when we were travelling. I liked this song, but I preferred the flashier, louder, more upbeat songs like In Between Days and Love Cats. While I still love both those songs, I have come to really appreciate the simple beauty and poignancy and sheer emotion in A Letter to Elise, and it is now among my favourite Cure songs.
It is certainly, for me, the most mood-versatile Cure song - many of their other songs I have to be in a certain mood to listen to, but A Letter to Elise I will happily listen to any time. It is so perfect as a song. Four-and-a-bit minutes of sheer beauty and emotion and sincerity.
From when I first listened to this as a child, my favourite lyrics have always been;
"Oh, Elise, it doesn't matter what you do, I know I'll never really get inside of you,
To make your eyes catch fire the way they should."
There is so much love in that second line. I love this song. And, listening to the song more recently, I have come to really like the stanzas he speaks at the end, almost like a poem;
"Every time I try to pick it up like falling sand,
As fast as I pick it up, it runs away from my clutching hands."
It is such a strong image, and the narrator's sense of defeat at the end, "There's nothing else I can really do at all," is heartbreaking.
I love this song and I am so glad that I rediscovered it in all its beauty and brilliance. The Cure are amazing! And not remotely dreary and Gothic as some people seem to believe! Listen to some of their songs and you will see how varied their material is - they can do bouncy pop songs (Friday I'm in Love); arty, slightly bittersweet numbers like Boys Don't Cry and Close To Me; and beautiful, poetic love songs such as A Letter to Elise, Catch and Pictures of You.
So, I will sign off for now, but I am challenging myself to write on this blog every day as is humanly possible during the month of July. There are some days where it just won't be possible because I will be away without Internet access, but whenever I can blog, I will!
