Art is the music we make from the bewildered cry of being alive. ~Maria Popova
03 Jul 2013 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: camera obscura, tears for affairs
Camera Obscura: “Tears for Affairs” (2006)
Tracyanne Campbell’s emotional delivery is enhanced with just the right measure of reverb to produce a brand of indie pop that goes straight to the heart.
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2012/07/24/songs-you-may-have-missed-151/
03 Jul 2013 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: jeremy fisher, sula
Jeremy Fisher: “Sula” (2007)
Another exercise in recreating the sound of a young Paul Simon and another chorus that invites you to sing along from Jeremy Fisher’s Goodbye Blue Monday LP of 2007.
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2012/03/13/songs-you-may-have-missed-49/
01 Jul 2013 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: i'm not the loving kind, mark lanegan
Mark Lanegan: “I’m Not the Loving Kind” (2013)
Mark Lanegan takes on John Cale’s “I’m Not the Loving Kind” on his upcoming covers album, Imitations, due out in September. Hide the sharp objects before you listen to Lanegan’s’s lamentation…
30 Jun 2013 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: rooney, stay away
Rooney: “Stay Away” (2003)
With “Stay Away” you can add the Raspberries to my previous list of bands from past decades that I hear echoed in Rooney’s propulsive tunes and harmony-laden choruses.
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2012/11/01/songs-you-may-have-missed-211/
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2013/03/16/songs-you-may-have-missed-363/
29 Jun 2013 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: gerry rafferty, mary skeffington
Gerry Rafferty: “Mary Skeffington” (1971)
Gerry Rafferty’s 1971 solo debut Can I Have My Money Back? has the blend of rock, folk and whimsy typical of McCartney’s work of the same period.
Slotted between his work as a member of the bands Humblebums and Stealer’s Wheel, Can I Have My Money Back? would be Rafferty’s last solo effort before his monster five-million-selling City to City, the album that knocked the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack from the number one spot in the US.
The version of “Mary Skeffington” appearing on the original vinyl album is sparer, with little accompaniment other than acoustic guitar. This more fleshed-out band version has replaced it on CD reissues and compilations.
Mary Skeffington was Rafferty’s mother’s maiden name. According to Rafferty’s Daily Telegraph obituary, he was born in Paisley, Scotland on April 16, 1947, and had a miserable childhood. “His mother would hide from his father to avoid being beaten when he came home drunk.”
This lends the song’s lyric a potent poignancy.
Mary Skeffington, close your eyes
And make believe that you are just a girl again
Go to sleep tonight, dream of days
When you had something there to light the way.
Remember a holiday in a north-of-England town
You slept in a room upstairs on a bed of eiderdown.
Mary Skeffington, when you wake
You mustn’t be afraid to face another day
Think of what you have, you’ll get by
You’ve always been a lady so hold your head up high.
Look back on a home where you spent the best years of your life
Remember the man who asked you if you would be his wife.
Mary Skeffington, close your eyes
And make believe that you are just a girl again
Go to sleep tonight, dream of days
When you had something there to light the way.
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2026/03/01/songs-you-may-have-missed-824/
26 Jun 2013 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: colin macintyre, mull historical society, the lights
Mull Historical Society: “The Lights” (2012)
Scotland’s Colin MacIntyre records by the name of Mull Historical Society, because it pleases him to do so.
His 2012 album City Awakenings is described as a love letter to three cities (Glasgow, London and New York) that have shaped him as an artist.
Every Moment Has A Song 