The Avett Brothers: “Shame” (2007)
We can all learn from failed love. The good thing is it can make us more sensitive people. The sad thing it’s usually too late to apply the lessons to the lost relationship.
Songs You May Have Missed #108
22 May 2012 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: avett brothers, shame
Songs You May Have Missed #107
19 May 2012 2 Comments
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: i'm getting ready, michael kiwanuka
Michael Kiwanuka: “I’m Getting Ready” (2012)
Of course these things are purely a matter of personal preference. But often “religious” music, with its tone of confident declamation, can leave me uninspired, whereas a more “secular” lyric expressing the humility of a searching soul can move me to tears. Sometimes it takes an artist who isn’t by definition a “religious” or “Christian” singer to put that searching across authentically.
Michael Kiwanuka is a British soul singer who may bring Bill Withers and “Dock of the Bay” Otis Redding to mind. If he doesn’t sound British, it’s because he’s the son of Ugandan parents who’d fled to England from the Amin regime.
The song’s message is as simple as it is profound–and takes the tone not of a sermon, but of a diary entry:
Oh my, I didn’t know what it means to believe/Oh my, I didn’t know what it means to believe
But if I hold on tight, is it true?/Would You take care of all that I do?/Oh Lord, I’m getting ready to believe
Songs You May Have Missed #106
18 May 2012 3 Comments
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: mandy barnett, who (who will it be), who will it be
Mandy Barnett: “Who (Who Will It Be)” (1999)
Just as young singers are periodically labeled as the “Next Dylan” or the “New Norah”, we’ve seen a succession of women tagged the “Next Patsy Cline”. Sometimes the hype can help launch a successful career (LeAnn Rimes) and sometimes it can yoke a young artist with tremendous expectation, or make someone with talent of their own seem more like a novelty act or mere impersonator.
As for Mandy Barnett, she’s somewhat less than a household name as a singer in her own right. But she has held the title role in a musical based on the life of…Patsy Cline.
Songs You May Have Missed #105
18 May 2012 1 Comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: girls, honey bunny
Girls: “Honey Bunny” (2011)
On Girls’ somewhat schizophrenic Father, Son, Holy Ghost album I hear echos and homages to a number of styles of rock, both new and classic. But “Honey Bunny”, which leads off the LP, is the tastiest ear candy of the lot.
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2013/10/11/songs-you-may-have-missed-487/
Songs You May Have Missed #104
18 May 2012 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: average white band, for you for love
Average White Band: “For You, For Love” (1980)
Scotland’s Average White Band (did you assume they were American?) ended their six-year run of pop chart hits in 1980 with this laid back love song which evokes the sound of Earth, Wind & Fire’s “After the Love Has Gone”. It only went to #106 and is fairly unknown today. But I submit it as a candidate for your next “Smoove Grooves” mixtape. Or whatever.
Songs You May Have Missed #103
16 May 2012 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: bell tower, ryan mcallister
Ryan McAllister: “Bell Tower” (2011)
Sometimes I wonder if this category should be called “Songs That Haunt Me”. This one is hovering close by tonight, as I call to mind someone who’s “gone in some foreign direction”.
I occasionally worry that I may be revealing too much about my own life in the songs I recommend, so I can only imagine the excruciating soul-baring of the songwriter.
Anyway, most any song that mentions Icarus metaphorically is one that must be passed along, so here ya go…
Every Moment Has A Song 