Music for the Hard Times

What do you listen to when you are sitting in a hospital chair for three and a half hours to have iron infusion, in the same ward that is potentially where your mother who was diagnosed the day before with primary colon carcinoma will come for chemotherapy?



answer: preferably not Leaving the Hospital by The Dreamer and The Sleeper.



Yes I was trying to relax and listen to my mp3 while having my iron infusion therapy and this beautiful though very bleak song came on.



I also was told my blood pressure rose when Lisbeth Scotts version of Be Still My Soul came on, this song is the best version of this sad but very soothing song (or hymn if you prefer) but yet again, wrong song for the occasion as the first time I heard the song it was used for a funeral scene in the tv series Alias.



I can't even sit in my room listening to music without looking around and seeing various candles and wondering, if one of these candles could possibly be one that I end up burning as a memorial for my mother. As soon as I think it my mind shuts down, the most important thing is not answering that question, not choosing a candle. Don't choose a candle!



So what am I listening to at this time in my life? Well some sad songs I suppose, but I have always had this link with sad songs, I need them, to help me feel, but at the same time if a sad song is beautiful - has a beautiful melody ,a beautiful voice, and a beautiful set of lyrics - it at the same time as making me tear up, soothes me. I call the songs that have this effect, My Rainy Day Butterflies.



Here are my favourite Rainy Day Butterflies:

Ooh Child - Beth Orton

The Beauty of The Rain - Dar Williams

On Saturday Afternoons in 1963 - Rickie Lee Jones

I Will Love You - Fisher

Where Is My Love - Cat Power

Stuff and Nonsense - Missy Higgins

I'll Fly Away - Serena Matthews

Hymn - Brooke Fraser

I'll Build A Home - Patrick Watson with Cinematic Orchestra

AND THE SONGS I NORMALLY LOVE BUT CAN'T LISTEN TO AT THE MOMENT (unless I want to break down!)

Wooden Arms - Patrick Watson

Great Escape - Patrick Watson

I Cried For You - Katie Melua (this will be me if the worst happens, 'when you went I became a hopeless drifter')

All The Wild Horses - Ray Lamontagne ('tethered with tears in their eyes' that's the bit that gets me going)

Into Dust - Mazzy Star

Song of the Day.... and more

"I don't know who I am, I don't know who you are but when I see your face....." Yep today I am stuck on Ferris Wheels by I Am Kloot.
Totally loving this song right now, don't know why it didn't make the same impression on me when it came out. Guess mood and life experiences can feed into it. What do you think?

I've been commuting 4 hours a day to see my 77 year old father in hospital (going on 6 weeks now) music has saved me for sure, I actually enjoy the journey and sometimes regret arriving in the middle of a great song.

What else has been on my playlist.....

We Are All Made of Stars by Moby
Electric Feel by MGMT
Heaven by The Fire Theft
Brighter Than Sunshine, by Aqualung
Longtime Sunshine, by Rivers Cuomo
Publish My Love, by Rogue Wave
For The Windows In Paradise, by Sufjan Stevens

and often dreaming of my dream gig - Sufjan Stevens, Rivers Cuomo, and Bright Eyes in my back yard..... reckon they'd come?

Song Of The Day

The Great Escape by Patrick Watson

feeling like this is definitely the song of the day, sad and beautiful, and just making me slow down and sing.

the beautiful piano is soothing my frayed nerves.

last night I started writing a chapter about my own life, and a lot of feelings came up, and this song is just perfect for me right now.

"don't let yourself fall down" and I have felt like I'm falling, but now I feel like when I land it will be on a bed of soft downy feathers, because this song just eases everything.

sad but soothing.

My Top 10 Foreign Language Songs

Yes a bit of a deviation from my normal alternate rock and pop but lately I have been under the spell of Rebekah Del Rio's acapella cover of Crying (Called 'Llorando') used in the soundtrack Mulholland Drive.

So here are my top 10 songs in languages other than English.

Llorando, Rebekah Del Rio, acapella cover

Time To Say Goodbye, Andrea Bocelli and Sara Brightman

Ne Me Quitte Pas (cover of 'If You Go Away') by Nina Simone

Sua Gan, a welsh lullaby, by the Ambrosian Boys Choir

Sukiyaki, any traditional performance, but it is worth remembering Oranger did a rock version (its in English)

Sola Otra Vez, (cover of All By Myself) by Lara Fabian or perhaps if you are so inclined Il Divo

La Vie En Rose, by Edith Piaf

She, the French version by Charles Aznavour, the original artist of this song.

Vincent (Starry Starry Night), Italian cover by Roberto Vecchioni

Ganz Allein, the German version of the Beach Boys 'In My Room'

Lyred You're My Hero!

Well I am one crazy dame when it comes to pursuing the music I love. I even have scraps of paper in a drawer with lyric snatches from songs I love but have no idea the vintage, artist, or title....

I have a niece who rings radio station djs and sings or hums bits of mystery songs until they tell her what she wants to know. I don't do that,

but I do spend hours searching on the internet until I A) identify the song and B) get my own copy of it!

I used to use lyricsfly but I have discovered lyred (www.lyred.com) you can type in any amount of lyrics in inverted commas and then search the entire google world for lyric matches, I have had a much higher success rate now, and have some hot little songs in my music player thanks to them!

so if you have a mystery song bugging you, get onto lyred and you'll be all set!

Patrick Watson CD

I am a happy girl, my Amazon order arrived on Tuesday, with my four cds, Cat Power 'The Greatest', Cat Power 'The Covers Album', Brooke Fraser 'Albertine', and Patrick Watson, which I bought because I had to have the song 'The Great Escape' fortunately I love the other songs on the album.

I also have to mention Eisley, and thank my friend April Atrocity for recommending them to me!

Famous Mis-Hearings

Last week my ear was blocked (sorry) but it gave rise to some mis-hearings, that made me laugh, most notably an ad on television for dvds of Nipple House On The Prairie, whoops, make that Little House..... tea nearly sprayed out my mouth, then I realized of course, that I had misheard.

Over the years I have misheard a song lyric or two as well. Why can't I remember these mistakes now?

What about unintelligible singers? Sometimes they sing clearly but you can't understand a word they say in an interview! (Ozzy Osbourne, Tom Petty...)