Posts Tagged ‘music listening’
Song Inventors
This morning finds me enrapt with a song on an album from 1974. It’s been around since I was 15 and I have heard it probably thousands of times over the years, but I never closely listened to it. The song is “Fountain of Sorrow” from Jackson Browne’s “Late for the Sky” album.
The song is 6 minutes and 42 seconds long which allows for a listener to easily get distracted from following each precious nuance of Jackson’s specific phrasing or the subtly of instrumental embellishments or background vocals. Those features are the underlying fabric of the more notable lyrics that interweave a mixture of simple and complex lyrics.
I visited the Wikipedia entry about the song and liked one reviewer’s description of it as “an intricate extended metaphor.” I also learned that the song is “generally assumed to have been inspired by” his relationship with Joni Mitchell. I didn’t even know they were a thing, but the word used was “brief.”
As often happens for me, I find myself dumbstruck by the invention of each brilliant aspect of a song that materializes from a person’s mind to become something significant and timeless.
The structure of a simple hit song that consists of a series of verses separated by a repeating chorus, sometimes augmented with a bridge interlude, seems so simplistic in comparison to successful songs that deviate from that basic structure.
In “Fountain of Sorrow,” I don’t know when I am hearing a verse, chorus or bridge. It just flows like a river.
Speaking of inventing a song, I saw that Joan Baez, who created her own epic relationship remembrance in “Diamonds and Rust,” recorded a cover of “Fountain of Sorrow” a year after it was released.
There are a lot of songwriters in the world. I am grateful for all of them. My appreciation goes to the next level when the creation of song recordings takes them to places of wonderment that didn’t previously exist. Each pause, every instrument, and every aspect of making a person’s idea into a musical “thing” that will last and last, that is the invention.
I don’t know why a single song will suddenly grab my attention after so much time but I thoroughly enjoy it when it happens.
It’s one of the few times I would ever welcome an “earworm” repetition of a favorite line or two.
Looking through some photographs, I found inside a drawer
I was taken by a photograph of you
There were one or two I know that you would have liked a little more
But they didn’t show your spirit quite as true…
written by: Jackson Browne album: Late for the Sky recorded: 1974
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Just Like
The Grammy Award for Song of the Year went to Bonnie Raitt on Sunday night for the title song of her latest album, “Just Like That.” I’m willing to bet that most of you haven’t listened to the song. I hope you will use five minutes of your time to listen while following the lyrics. She has written a precious heartstring-puller.
Before you decide to focus on the song, watch this video of her reaction to the announcement of her win and hear her acceptance speech:
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You can read the lyrics while listening to the song here:
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You might want to have a tissue handy.
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For Free
It has been a while since I became enamored with an entire album of recorded songs by a particular artist. With everything coming at us in streaming form these days, listening to a complete album seems a little archaic. Doing so throws me back to my days working in a record store and devouring music on vinyl LPs, one side at a time.
This month I was lucky to stumble upon news of David Crosby releasing his latest effort, titled “For Free.” I navigated to my Apple Music account for a listen and a day later found myself replaying the chorus of the opening song in my head as a pleasing earworm. I always take this as a good sign when I’m not yet familiar with a song but my mind is already hooked on a part of it.
Very often the song that does this for me aligns with the eventual “hit” song that ends up achieving radio play and wide popularity, but not always since my tastes are a little broader than average.
That pleasant looping refrain in my brain usually leads me to follow-up listening sessions and with “For Free,” doing so quickly hooked me on multiple cuts. I’m a fan of most music David Crosby has created and thoroughly enjoy the sound of his singing.
One aspect of his vocal sound on this album impressed me for the way it belies his age. David is almost 80 and can still sing like his younger self. At the same time, I detected occasional words with a pronunciation that hinted he’s not 29 anymore, but instead of that being an unpleasant aspect, I’m finding it more endearing and intimate when it occurs.
The lyrics are engaging, the musicianship inspiring, and David’s familiar singing voice a true gift to the ears.
His collaboration with Sarah Jarosz on the title track cover of Joni Mitchell’s song is a gem and provided my first introduction to her artistry. I’ll be exploring her recordings in the near future, for sure.
Several places throughout multiple songs I found myself enthused with the enticing momentum provided by a pleasing bass and drumset energy, for which I assume Crosby’s son James Raymond deserves credit as album producer.
I’m consuming this album in numerical order from beginning to end, on repeat. If you are a music fan with any appreciation for David Crosby, I invite you to give the whole album a full listen.
The old man turns 80 in August, for heaven’s sake. Everyone should hear what he is still doing at this age.
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Relative Something 