THE SATURDAY SONG

[Ruby]

This has been an earworm all week for some unknown reason. Certainly not the weather - well, maybe one or two days! Cerulean skies and and turquoise water. I love the song, but it's also kinda weird being in two distinct parts that are completely different from one another. Nonetheless, a great example of that indefinable luminosity that accompanies certain pieces of music - a little bit of magic. 

[Ruby]

Sometimes the simplest things are the best. This is from an album by Sandra Boynton that is geared for children but I don't care - there are some truly profound so-called children's songs. And it's never too late, so say the ubiquitous 'they'! 

Ryan Adams has/had such a great voice - no idea what he's up to lately, I just know he lost his way a bit, but then maybe we all do in varying degrees - it's the human condition. There are three tracks that I really like on the Frog Trouble release and today, this is the one that's calling so here it is ... 

[CRAZY-HORSE]

speaking of Ryan Adams Ruby
did you ever hear his cover of Taylor Swift's "1989" album in its entirety???

[Ruby]

^No - nor have I listened to the original! Guessing I should give it a try? I liked Heartbreaker and Gold.

[CRAZY-HORSE]

heres his version of Taylor's "shake it off" from his version of the album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwmXO0J-PAA

i guess if you like what he does with it you might like his version of the album

[Ruby]

^I listened to that song CH. Mmmmm - not sure. I will hear out the album at some point.

This week's song arrived courtesy of Firefall's Friends & Family - their cover of Fleetwood Mac's "World Turning" which is just perfect for right now! And whatismore, I think it's a stonking version of the song too. Not sure who takes lead vocal here, but it works!





The Fleetwood Mac original ...

[Ruby]

Unlikely as it may seem, Nad Sylvan’s newly released track “Monumentata” is my pick for this week. The song speaks of loss and memories – the death of his father, and the fact that no matter what age you are, when both parents have gone, it leaves you a little adrift in the world, even when, as in this case, the relationship was far from perfect. He’s looking back here and paying what homage he realistically can. And he is feeling a sense of his own mortality.

Sylvan’s birth name is Hugh Erik Stewart – his father was Hugh Wright Stewart, and he was a big tennis star in his heyday, hence the racket imagery throughout the video. What interests me especially is that this is an artist wearing their heart on their sleeve – showing a vulnerability. The beings that we are respond well to this kind of disclosure – this show of humanity – we feel we can relate, and I don’t find any pretense which is why it strikes such a chord. He tells us, reading between the lines, that having a sports star father while he was a more artistically inclined child, might have been a bit of a challenge for the parent, or that the child felt it that way - it's complicated, as are many family relationships and since the father lived to 96, he would have been very much of a certain era - that is the inference. The song is a sort of testament or monument - a way for him to process this event. Stewart Snr was half Hungarian which is where ‘tata’ comes in – it’s a diminutive of the word for father. Monumentata is an invention and is the title of his new album which will be out soonish – he says it’s personal this time - real, and that he has abandoned the somewhat gothic persona he had adopted for previous releases. He's getting on a bit and his voice is a little 'choked', for want of a better description but there's still something endearing happening, IMHO, and I will give it a whirl when it launches.

[Ruby]

Today’s pick is a no-brainer, except, unlike Ms Peebles, I really don’t mind the rain at all! Last month this time, we had balmy sunny skies and everyone was swanning about in short sleeves and cooling down in front of fans (mechanical - not ra ra, LOL), whereas right now, there is a deluge of biblical proportions. The vagaries of the southern hemisphere, CT in particular, which has also been known to produce all four seasons in one day!

Anyway – it’s all about the weather and Lowell George’s version is quite THE most funky, feelgood version, IMHO … impeccable pace and timing … the louder the better …

[CRAZY-HORSE]

^^
our climates are very similar Ruby (as your friends here would attest to)

[Ruby]

^They do seem to be CH!

Today’s choice of song is primarily because I included a question relating to it in my monthly quiz. I know it’s been played to death, but it is, quite simply, a tour de force. Mark Knopfler is a master storyteller, as well all know, and I can honestly visualize that miserable evening, the dreary pub and the lacklustre band of this particular tale.
 
I think that this is one of MK’s greatest skills – weaving a story that is absolutely believable, imbuing with it all the essence of the moment. And that’s the thing - there’s so much authenticity in the portrayal because it was real. He stepped into a pub, pretty much accidentally, or at least by happenstance, encountering a rather pitiful bunch of musos playing to an empty room except for the wasted lot in the corner, and proceeded to unearth a wealth of material in what for most people would be an uninspiring situation. All goes to show - sometimes it's a question of perspective.

He notices people, dynamics and atmosphere and he is a genius at translating all the nuances to a musical format. From what I have read, it took a bit of work to get the music right, but he found his mojo creating this number and it’s the track that set them all up, in no small way. Ridiculous to think it was a debut! And so …

You get a shiver in the dark
It's raining in the park but meantime
South of the river you stop and you hold everything
A band is blowing Dixie, double four time
You feel alright when you hear the music ring

Well, now you step inside but you don't see too many faces
Coming in out of the rain, they hear the jazz go down
Competition in other places
Uh, but the horns they blowin' that sound
Way on down south
Way on down south, London town

You check out guitar George, he knows all the chords
Mind, it's strictly rhythm he doesn't want to make it cry or sing
They said an old guitar is all he can afford
When he gets up under the lights to play his thing

And Harry doesn't mind if he doesn't make the scene
He's got a daytime job, he's doing alright
He can play the honky tonk like anything
Savin' it up for Friday night
With the Sultans
We're the Sultans of Swing

Then a crowd of young boys, they're foolin' around in the corner
Drunk and dressed in their best, brown baggies and their platform soles
They don't give a damn about any trumpet playin' band
It ain't what they call rock and roll
And the Sultans
Yeah, the Sultans, they play Creole, Creole

And then the man, he steps right up to the microphone
And says at last just as the time bell rings
"Goodnight, now it's time to go home"
Then he makes it fast with one more thing
"We are the Sultans
We are the Sultans of Swing"