Sometime in late 2014, on a Saturday morning, I found myself walking around the house quietly singing a song to myself. I didn't think much of it until my wife turned to me and said "You know, it's been a real adventure the past 15 years to discover what song you're going to sing to yourself every morning."
I protested that it didn't happen nearly that often, but she assured me that most mornings, I had some tune or another stuck in my head, and they rarely repeated.
So, I decided to do a daily blog post about the song I have in my head each day, just to see where it leads.
I hope will come true
That you're here with me
And I'm here with you.
I pray that the Earth, Sea
And Sky up above
Will send me someone to "lava" (love)
For years, my favorite Pixar short has been the cowboy poetry laden "Boundin'," but ever since watching Inside Out, it has been replaced by this cute, hartwarming, pun-filled treasure.
Now my wife and I love to tell each other (and our children) "I lava you."
Drew inspiration from a need;
So many problems to crack, and mouths to feed.
Crooked was the path, and brazen was the walk;
A cocky swagger up the ladder - and could he ever talk!
Always enjoy the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and this one is one of their peppiest. It's fun to belt out "it's the last round; A-AH! Do it again!"
Listen to your heart
when he's calling for you.
Listen to your heart
there's nothing else you can do.
I don't know where you're going
and I don't know why,
but listen to your heart
before you tell him goodbye.
Not sure why this one. I like Roxette well enough, but I can't even think of the last time I heard this song, and it doesn't seem to be apropos of anything in particular.
I'm walking on air
I never thought I could feel so free
Flying away on a wing and a prayer
Who could it be?
Believe it or not it's just me.
Things didn't go so well for me the other day; even my wife knew, when she heard me singing this one, that it was more in defiance of my internal struggles rather than a celebration of my own status as someone who is "walking on air."
two hearts beating wildly.
To put it mildly, it was love at first sight.
This is one my wife taught me to appreciate. I really enjoy the way the chorus takes a little twist right there at the end; the meaning becoming so much more. This is a thing I notice a lot more in country music than in most other kinds of music, and I expect that (now that I've called it out here) some of those other songs will leak into my brain in the coming mornings.
and the promises they hold
You promised me everything
you promised me thick and thin, yeah.
Now you just say, "Oh, Romeo, yeah;
you know, I used to have a scene with him."
Such a sad one...I never had any sympathy for the characters of Romeo and Juliet, but I feel bad for this guy.
Also, I had never seen that music video before. That is an ODD one, is it not?.
In the light of day;
let the storm rage on!
The cold never bothered me anyway.
Well, let's be honest - it was only a matter of time until THIS ONE popped up. Still, even with the gross over-saturation, it's a well-written (and well-performed) song.
Not entirely certain I've transcribed those lyrics correctly, but MAN, this is a fun one!
I can't even think of the last time I heard this one, so no idea how it ended up in my head today; but I had some fun bopping around the house this morning getting it stuck in my children's heads.
He tried to cut me so I'd fit
And doesn't that sound familiar?
Doesn't that hit too close to home?
Doesn't that make you shiver,
the way things could have gone?
And doesn't that feel peculiar
When everyone wants a little more
And so that I do remember
To never go that far
Could you leave me with the scar?
I like this one; for being at its heart an angry, bitter relationship song, it really bounces and is quite cheerful in tone. That dissonance pleases me, in a way that I can't quite quantify.
on a hippie trail
head full of zombie
I met a strange lady
She made me nervous
She took me in and gave me breakfast
And she said
Do you come from a land down under?
Been a rough month. I haven't had many songs in my head...
Although I do have two posts I owe you all from last week - I was just too busy to get them posted. Hopefully today.
Regardless, we're back in full swing with some Men At Work.
Of when England was young
And Knights were brave, and bold!
The good King had died
and no one could decide
who was rightful heir to the throne…
It seemed that the land
Would be torn by war
Or saved by a Miracle alone
And that Miracle appeared
In London-town…
The Sword in the Stone.
I'm actually surprised I managed to find this one at all - but no luck on Spotify.
But I only see one way out
You've got to cry without weeping
Talk without speaking
Scream without raising your voice
You know I took the poison
From the poison stream
Then I floated out of here…
This remains my favorite U2 song of all time. That is all. Enjoy it.
Another day, another destiny
This never-ending road to Calvary…
It's been largely quiet upstairs this week in the music department, I think largely because I have been waking up hours earlier than usual; however, that should end after today – which naturally led me to wake up singing this great showpiece from Les Miserables.
My wife says that this one is actually pretty common – but, in her defense, she was pretty sleepy this morning when I headed out.
…no more, no more
It cannot wait, I'm sure
There's no need to complicate, our time is short
This is our fate, I'm yours
Honestly don't know a single other thing Jason Mraz has done, but I came to love this one because of the ukulele - such a fundamentally melancholy instrument.
So often these songs are out of my head by the time I arrive at work for the day, but this one stuck ALL DAY LONG - and I'm perfectly fine with that.
but now the storm
Simply rests to strike again.
Standing, waiting, I think of her.
I think of her.
The Secret Garden was the first musical to ever really MOVE me. I still feel the sting of tears in my eyes everytime Mary finds her place in the world.
Or leave a bad taste in your mouth?
You act like you never had love,
And you want me to go without.
In case it wasn't obvious from the post on 2015-02-20 (U2's Bad), expect to hear a LOT of U2. Although we started out in a bit of a show tunes vein (and I certainly expect to see a good deal of those over the course of the blog), I expect the bulk of posts over time will eventually trend to one U2 song or another.
…time to close your eyes
And save these questions for another day
I think I know what you've been asking me
I think you know what I've been trying to say
I promised I would never leave you
And you should always know
Wherever you may go, no matter where you are
I never will be far away
I had a good friend once who shared with me the story of how his mother selected a lullabye specific to each of her children, and she
continued to sing that lullabye to them throughout their lives.
I shared the story with my wife early in our marriage, and she thought it was a pretty neat idea, and proceeded to choose one for
each of our children as they were born.
While this is not officially the lullaby for our daughter, that doesn't mean I didn't sing it to my little baby girl from time
to time. I don't know if she even remembers it, but this is a powerfully moving song for a father who loves his daughter.
If you tear yourself in two again;
If I could, you know I would
If I could, I would
Let it go
I came to U2 in a way that was probably pretty unusual for a person of my generation.
When I was in 7th grade, my favorite vocalist was Frank Sinatra. I would listen to it all the time, turned up as loud as I thought I could get away with, and sing along.
I have no idea where I even heard Frank to start loving his music - it's not as if my parents were listening to it. My dad couldn't stand it - he used to get so upset at me for liking the kind of music his dad had listened to - and I couldn't even guess what kind of music my mother enjoys…I don't recall her ever singing along to anything, or even really showing any particular interest in music.
So here I am, a 13 year old kid who loves Frank Sinatra; one day at school while trying to convince a friend that they should also be listening to Frank Sinatra, they mentioned in passing that I should check out U2, as they often cited Frank Sinatra as influencing them musically. So I went down to the Music Castle (the only real record store in town at that point) and asked the guy if I could listen to some U2 music. He went and got a record (which was really odd at the time - this was the height of the casette tape era, and before the "vinyl revolution") and played "Bad" for me.
I was hooked. Unfortunately, I can no longer remember who it was that I was having that conversation with, so I can't even properly thank them here. It's been more than 25 years since they made that off-hand comment, and it's been a wonderfully rich 25 years of music from this incredible band. Thanks, whoever you were.
Or else my heart is going to pop
'Cuz it's too much - yeah it's a lot -
to be something I'm not.
Another overdue post - you wouldn't think it'd be that hard to just write a few words every day!
Lenka, Regina Spektor, and Yael Naim all seem to occupy a very similar niche on my "mood music" shelf, and often come packed closely together, so I wouldn't be terribly surprised to see the others show up soon..
drawn too close, then gone in a flash
with just a few bruises in the region of the splash…
I can't say I love EVERYTHING The Cure ever did, but the Wild Mood Swings album strikes a very deep, melancholy chord in me, and I often come back to it.
He'd never stood one single time to prove the county wrong.
His mama named him Tommy, the folks just called him yellow,
But something always told me they were reading Tommy wrong.
This is the post I said I owed you. This song was in my head Friday morning.
Not a whole lot of Kenny Rodgers in my mental catalog, but this one pops up every now and then for reasons unknown.
Though it's deep, though it's dark
And though you may lose the path,
Though you may encounter wolves,
You can't just act,
You have to listen.
This one won't mean anything to those of you who haven't seen Into the Woods (I'm looking at you, Daboo), but it's always been a very stirring summation of a great musical for me.
Since my last experiment with YouTube on this musical failed so horribly, we'll try this Vimeo link instead...
Blankets of pansies,
Out from the cold.
Lilies and iris,
Safe from the chill.
Safe in my garden,
Snowdrops so still.
This will - always and forever - be my favorite musical, due to the final scene. I won't spoil it for anyone who's not had a chance to see it for themselves, but I will say that I weep every time I see it, hear it, or even think of it.
This part isn't particularly my favorite part of the musical (it's simplye the very beginning), but in my dream last night I was trapped inside a box, and to keep myself from going mad I sang every musical I could think of. In the dream, I went through every musical I could think of three times, and had wrapped around to start again on my fourth trip through, and was singing this particular song, when I woke for the morning.
Look, it's not as if I'm picking these things on PURPOSE, OK?! This is just a record of what was in my head when I woke in the morning. Mostly, I thought it would prove to my wife that it doesn't happen as often as she thinks it does (how's that working out for you, eh?)
Anyway, this one is more than a little bit odd. But it's what I was singing when I rolled over this morning to check the clock.
I first came across Steve Schultz when we were looking for some additional variety in our podcast intro music. Steve was gracious enough
allow us to use his music royalty free, and ever since I listened to his album Over the Edge, this track has come back into my mind
from time to time.
I don't have a ton of great memories of my older brother, but I can remember walking around the streets of our hometown, taking turns singing different parts of various songs using harmony. This was one of our favorites.
Again, I can trace the roots of this one to events of the previous day: when I went looking for my copy of the American Playhouse filming of "Into the Woods", I found one of the Narnia movies in its case instead.
I think I would classify myself as a moderate fan of Regina Spektor prior to hearing this song for the first time. But something about this track so effectively epitomizes the FEELING of C. S. Lewis' work, that I gained an all new level of respect for her. The music itself has a deep sense of melancholy, balanced by the Aslan-sounding promise of the lyrics - I'll come back when you call me; no need to say goodbye.
And then there's that last verse, which I think tells us the story of Lucy in Caspian in such a few short words:
Now we're back to the beginning, it's just a feeling, and no one knows yet;
but just because they can't feel it too doesn't mean that you have to forget.
Because it stirs so strongly the emotions I remember feeling that first time I read the Narnia novels (back in second grade - wow, that's been a few years now!), this is one that gets stuck in my head, playing over and over again throughout the day.
I kind of set myself up on this one; as I was writing last night's post, and thinking about Javert, I mentioned the Witch's refrain. Thus, I wasn't particularly surprised to wake this morning and find this one stuck in my head.
I was cautiously optimistic about the recent Disney production of this, as it's one of my favorite musicals of all time, but I really feel like it fell flat. If you were a fan of the musical going in (especially of the American Playhouse filming of the Broadway production), you almost certainly came out a little disappointed at some of the changes and elisions. If you didn't know what to expect, you probably walked away a little bit confused, and more than a little bit put off. It didn't help anything that none of the trailers showed it was going to be a MUSICAL.
I suspect the same person in charge of the advertising for "Into the Woods" did the advertising for "Frozen". In both cases, there is demonstrated a lack of understanding of the material and the audience that is astounding.
If you haven't given up entirely on the idea of this musical, you should check out the filming of the Broadway production; unfortunately, it isn't available to stream on Netflix, although it does look like there's an Amazon Instant Video option, if you're inclined in that direction.
Listen to it on Spotify; this is the Original Broadway Cast Recording, with Bernadette Peters as the witch. I wish the recent Disney movie had just followed their formula...
I was unable to find the work anywhere else on YouTube, so I provided it myself. It's possible I may face a DMCA-style "take down", but I left a lengthy description describing how I hope that the work will be interpreted as within "fair use". So, while it lasts, you can watch it on YouTube:
a fugitive running, fallen from God. Fallen from Grace...
I always identified with Javert far more than I did with Jean Valjean. The way his own moral inflexibility led to his own suicide struck home to me a lot more than the long chain of questionably heroic acts of Valjean; it reminds me a little of the Witch's final scene in "Into the Woods" - "I'm not good, I'm not nice, I'm just RIGHT."
Listen to it on Spotify: This my personal preferred version - if you've never availed yourself of hearing the Complete Symphonic Recording of Les Miserables, you don't even know what you're missing yet:
Watch it on YouTube:
This is the same actor (Philip Quast) as the one in the "Complete Symphonic", but the orchestration is not as strong in my opinon. Still good, though:
It just so happens that we'll be starting on a bit of a down note, as we hear Bert help Mr. Banks come to a realization that his kids lives are passing right before his eyes, and he's missing it.
It's something I worry about a lot, working as much as I do, so this one isn't unusual for me to wake up with - especially if the kids were already in bed by the time I got home from work the night before.
AKA The artist formerly known as Prince), who originally penned this one.