It was an…Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini that she wore for the first time today
I have NO IDEA where this one came from. I have been laughing at my brain all morning for pulling this one in.
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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.
I often wonder if I ever really have.
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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.
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…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.
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I came to this strange world Hoping I could learn a bit about how to give and take.
Can't say I didn't warn you…
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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.
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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..
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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.
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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.
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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...
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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.
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for toy soldiers.
Particularly fitting for my mood lately.
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since you took your love away...
Sinéad O'Connor was pretty weird, but nowhere near as strange as Prince (AKA Jamie Starr AKA Christopher AKA Alexander Nevermind AKA The Purple One AKA Joey Coco AKA 
AKA The artist formerly known as Prince), who originally penned this one.
Pretty weird, both of them - but this song is so evocative of a pretty formative time in my life, and I love the raw, acoustic sound of it.
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but it really is so - I'm my own grandpa.
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.
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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.
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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.
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which then turned into a hope...
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.
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I'm just right!
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:
