Songs You May Have Missed #587

01 May 2016 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: , , ,

rufus

Rufus Wainwright with Florence Welch: “When in Disgrace with Fortune and Men’s Eyes (Sonnet 29)” (2016)

I don’t know how you observed the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, but Rufus Wainwright gathered a diverse group of singers and actors to recite and sing a selection of 16 interpretations of nine of the bard’s sonnets.

Some are operatic, some experimental-sounding, some sparely arranged and others richly orchestrated. Most employ classical arrangements but a few are chamber pop pieces more approachable for the fan of more mainstream pop, such as this take on Sonnet 29 featuring Florence Welch of Florence + The Machine. Never has Elizabethan-era love poetry sounded more catchy.

When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself, and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featur’d like him, like him with friends possess’d,
Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven’s gate;
For thy sweet love remember’d such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings. 

See also: https://edcyphers.com/2012/05/07/songs-you-may-have-missed-96/

Songs You May Have Missed #586

27 Apr 2016 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: ,

joe

Joe Jackson: “Awkward Age” (2003)

Unlike say, Al Green or Lynyrd Skynyrd, there is no one Joe Jackson sound. He started out making critically successful, highly-caffeinated pop-punk with the Joe Jackson Band, but abandoned the style almost immediately to explore other genres. His Jumpin’ Jive in 1981 presaged the neo-swing revival and with Night and Day the very next year he seemed to be trying on Cole Porter’s songwriting shoes.

But in 2003 he finally reunited with the band that backed him for his seminal hit “Is She Really Going Out With Him” and his first three albums. While the results were mixed, “Awkward Age” seems to recapture a bit of the classic vibe and energy.

Jackson’s message here is meant to embolden someone (specifically a fifteen-year-old female) trapped in a less-than-cool life situation, reminding her that “we’ll all be fine” and the awkward age can be any age.

Bonus points for the phrase “Klingon beauty queen”.

Songs You May Have Missed #585

27 Apr 2016 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: ,

clannad

Clannad: “Down by the Sally Gardens” (Live) (1979)

William Butler Yeats wrote this as a poem, inspired by an older song, “You Rambling Boys of Pleasure”. It was set to music by Herbert Hughes.

Clannad is a family folk group comprised of three siblings and two uncles. They also spawned the solo career of another sibling whose fame eclipsed their own–Enya.

This song drips with the melancholy of unrequited love that is a hallmark of so many Irish traditional songs.

See also: https://edcyphers.com/2020/05/15/songs-you-may-have-missed-664/

Songs You May Have Missed #584

14 Apr 2016 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: ,

dwight

Dwight Yoakam: “Ain’t That Lonely Yet” (1993)

At the height of Garth mania in the early 90’s, Dwight Yoakam’s Bakersfield sound had more of an attraction for me than the typical Nashville product. He seemed to record songs that had more of an authentic emotional pull as opposed to melodrama. And his hooks–like the harmonized, reverb-drenched chorus of this weeper–seemed to owe more to classic pop than Nashville assembly line craftsmanship.

These things are highly subjective of course. All I know for sure is that this is one song that had a way of insinuating itself into my brain and staying there for extended periods of time.

Songs You May Have Missed #583

09 Apr 2016 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: ,

eric

Eric Bachmann: “Mercy” (2016)

You know how people try to console you with that philosophical bit of banality that “everything happens for a reason”?

Eric Bachmann isn’t having it.

eric bachmann

With a self-titled release that signals a break from his snide and sneering Archers of Loaf and Crooked Fingers records of the past, Bachmann shows a newfound earnest directness in his lyrical approach.

“Mercy” bathes one such very direct message in early 60’s retro glory with an arrangement that’s equal parts Phil Spector and Four Seasons. While Bachmann reminds us that “there is chaos in the violence” and “there are those who suffer for no reason every day” the ultimate take-away message is to “fill your heart with love and cherish what you can while you are here”.

It’s what I’d call tough love.

Songs You May Have Missed #582

08 Apr 2016 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: ,

maura

Maura O’Connell: “Summerfly” (1989)

This haunting folk ballad certainly deserves recognition here, where one of our main objectives is to give wider appreciation to great but lesser-known music.

The only difficult decision involved which version of the song to recognize–there are at least three excellent ones.

Cheryl Wheeler originally wrote the song, although her version wasn’t released until 1991, two years after O’Connell’s.

Chanteuse Hayley Westenra also released an excellent recording of “Summerfly” in 2007:

In another younger day I could dream the time away
In the universe inside my room
And the world was really mine from June till September

And if it wasn’t really so I was lucky not to know
And I was lucky not to wonder why
‘Cause the summertime is all that I remember

A summer fly was buzzin’ every night when I was young
In the gentle world my childlike senses knew
And the world was just my cousin, and the wind was just the tongue
In the voice my lonely moments listened to

And I look at me today all the dreams have gone away
And I am where I never thought I’d be
Seein’ things I never thought I’d see happen to me

And I lay awake at night till the darkness turns to light
Hearin’ voices callin’ out my name
Callin’ over and again the same message to me

Cryin’ who’s your partner, who’s your darlin’, who’s your baby now?
Who wakes up at night to pull you in?
It don’t matter, you’ll just make him lonely anyhow
Don’t know why you even try to win

Cryin’ who’s your partner, who’s your darlin’, who’s your baby now?
Who wakes up at night to pull you in?
It don’t matter, you’ll just make her lonely anyhow
Don’t know why you even try to win

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