Bathe me in the saltiest of tears

Like most old coots, I sing along only to the songs of my youth, but when my nibling introduced me to this song, I am compelled to warble it.

I love bright pop-py songs with dark shades in their lyrics.

Decadence in times of trauma

Many are going through this pandemic with severe hunger of the skin variety. This video is a paean to a time that many long for; when we can reach out to embrace each other without paranoia or guilt of the non-cheating variety.

Stay safe, everyone.

Wash your hands.

Keep your distance.

Wear a damn mask when you are out and about.

Comfortable echo chamber

I'm listening to Jeff Buckley's Grace for the 8th or maybe 12th time today. For some reason, his eponymous hit never really hit my radar as a teen except for his cover of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah.

The chords of the opening trills are distinctive of songs written and produced in the 90's. His varying octaves flowed effortlessly as he sketched a tale of farewell. His enunciation leaves much to be desired, but there's no mistaking the visceral passion that passes on through the vibrating sound waves.

How magical it is that sound can still touch your soul even after the emanator is long dead and gone.

Grace's melody triggered reminiscence of my teenage years. It was a time when I lived comfortably inside my head, with no urges to spill my latest thoughts and ideas across social media. I never even had a proper diary. I sometimes wonder why I'm compulsively sharing ideas and information as I do now, when I once was quite happy keeping them all to myself.

My head is a comfortable echo chamber that filtered intense emotions through books and music. It is powerful protective mechanism; perhaps one of the reasons I have been accused of being dispassionate and untouched by base emotions. The echo chamber made distancing myself from things that can hurt me reflexive.

But this comfortable echo chamber has another side effect: it made me more empathetic.

It's hard to hold on a good grudge when you can pretty much put yourself in your antagonists' shoes and understand that their lashing out at you isn't personal but rather driven by feelings of rage, impotency and fear caused by someone or something else.

I'll still look on it as a blessing.

"Grace"
by Jeff Buckley

There's the moon asking to stay
Long enough for the clouds to fly me away
Well it's my time coming, I'm not afraid to die
My fading voice sings of love,
But she cries to the clicking of time
Of time

Wait in the fire...

And she weeps on my arm
Walking to the bright lights in sorrow
Oh drink a bit of wine we both might go tomorrow
Oh my love
And the rain is falling and i believe
My time has come
It reminds me of the pain
I might leave
Leave behind

Wait in the fire...

And I feel them drown my name
So easy to know and forget with this kiss
I'm not afraid to go but it goes so slow

First posted on Cowbird.

Just Love and Joy

A beautiful tribute by Brittany Howard to her Daddy.




If you still have your Daddy, please cherish him. Those like me can only count the minutes for our energies to reunite in love and joy one day.

I also like how the video showcased beauty in the mundane, joy in the ordinary, and a slice of black Southern life that isn't about drug, violence, or racism.

One more ear candy goodness from her for the road.

 

Haunted by Sea Maidens

This song is used as part of the spiritual healing ritual based on the tale of the fisherman who lost his heart to the sea princess. Traditionally this was used for treating what now would be called post traumatic stress disorder; to revive the spirits of someone who has had a traumatic experience.

In other words, traditional Malay medicine use music and song and dance to heal psychological illness. Pretty progressive, don'tcha think?



Enjoy.

Mellow yellow

It's Ramadan. No eating candy in daytime (for those observing it) but no one said anything about ear candy, right?

For those who like psychedelic, Beatlesque groove, have a try.



Wondering what on Earth did you just watched? Get some explanation here.

I've got a thing for Julian Lennon since this song came out when I was in high school. Evocative, mellow, heart rending.



Enjoy.

Fill the tub, lean back, and relax.

I came across this band on the NPR Tiny Desk contest highlights. Just delicious. Have a listen.



*sips a chilled drink and let the mellowness envelops*

Have a great weekend, y'all.

Walking down the lane of sappiness.

I grew up with Disney. My favourite towel as a child was a pale blue terrycloth with the whole cast of Aristocats featured on it. I cried when my mother declared that it had gotten too threadbare and  ratty, and she transformed it into a gombal (Javanese for rag for wiping or foot mat).

When I was ten, I persuaded my father to buy me the VHS tape of Disney Halloween cartoons and proceeded to watch it every morning after sahur until it was time to get ready to go to school. I love me some dancing skeletons. I guess that explains my penchant for Goth motifs and dark thoughts.

One of the few nice things that the girl who taught me what a sociopath is ever did was lend me her Disney Cinderella picture book. She knew that I liked it and used it to manipulate me to do what she wanted. I'm cheap, you can bribe me with books. Yup, that also happened when I was ten.

During school holidays, the local television station would put up old Disney films catered for teenagers; a number of them featuring barely-not jail bait Kurt Russell. Truly wholesome stuff, with barely any nod to sexuality, unlike the current Disney fares.

But the only Disney song that I liked and could caterwaul along to is this one. My sister bought me the VHS tape of the film after my third form exam and I was enchanted. I think it was Beastly Prince's library that cinched the deal for me. Who cares about dancing candelabras and singing teapots when you have that biblio collection?



Anything after the Beauty and the Beast is met with sincere disdain. It started with Aladdin. That was around the time I became an absolutely insufferable hipster about music. They played the theme song on rotation until I was sick. Also because it was associated with a terrible time in my life. No, let's not go there.

I detested Pocahontas. I hated that they made it a romance. Hello? She was a child when she met John Smith. If they had anything romantic going on, it was child abuse. Not to mention that he brought her back to England to be paraded around like an exotic animal. She died of small pox in a foreign land, away from her people. That ain't a romance. That's slavery.

But what about Finding Nemo, asked some of my pals. It's a cute tale about a fish and his pals. Ellen DeGeneres is in it! You want me to believe that a saltwater fish survived the sewer system to get back to Daddy? Pull the other one.

I am okay with Mulan. I took my niece to watch Malefiecent (I kept looking at my phone throughout the film).

I guess I am a kind of an old coot.

The Joy of Melancholia

Mellifluous and delicious.



We are all biased to think that the music of our teens and young adult to be the creme de la creme of listening pleasures. Research have shown that our music preference is pretty much imprinted during our teenage years. These aren't necessarily the pop hits of the day, I was imprinted with an appreciation for 60's bubblegum pop, thanks to Radio 4.

Mr Buckley has been dead for some time now, snatched by Death at 30. But his voice, the melody he penned, the lyrics he sang still touch the souls of his listeners. God knows I've put this damned thing on replay for the dozenth time.

Enjoy.

Smack

I love French pop artists. They make cool songs and wacky videos. (NSFW)

It Ain't So Neat to Admit Defeat

Once upon a time, my only understanding of who Bob Geldof was from the tabloid's gleeful reports of how his wife ran off with Michael Hutchence, the sex machine frontman of INXS, who then died of auto-erotic asphyxiation in a hotel room. Then I heard this song when I was 17 and it became my favourite shower time karaoke. The appeal of Mr Geldof became apparent.



Look at all the Children of the Corn in the school. There's a reason the scariest films feature kids as the malignant forces.

It was reported that Mr Geldof was inspired to pen this song by the first modern school shooter, who incidentally, is a female.  Brenda Ann Spencer was sixteen when she opened fire on a school in front of her house with a .22 calibre rifle, a gift from her father (it would have been better if he'd given her the radio she wanted). Brutal or mental, she's serving 25 to life and her next parole hearing is in 2019.

As adorable as Mr Geldof's anthem is, I think that Tori Amos' cover of the song is better at expressing the narcissistic drive of the anarchy perpetrated by Ms. Spencer. If I had listened to this version at 17, I may actually have gone stabbity stab at my boarding school. Or build a pipe bomb.



You can sing along to the song with the words below:

The silicon chip inside her head

Gets switched to overload.

And nobody's gonna go to school today,

She's going to make them stay at home.

And daddy doesn't understand it,

He always said she was as good as gold.

And he can see no reason

'Cause there are no reasons

What reason do you need to be shown?

Tell me why?

I don't like Mondays.

Tell me why?

I don't like Mondays.

Tell me why?

I don't like Mondays.

I want to shoot

The whole day down.

The telex machine is kept so clean

As it types to a waiting world.

And mother feels so shocked,

Father's world is rocked,

And their thoughts turn to

Their own little girl.

Sweet 16 ain't so peachy keen,

No, it ain't so neat to admit defeat.

They can see no reasons

'Cause there are no reasons

What reason do you need to be shown?

Tell me why?

I don't like Mondays.

Tell me why?

I don't like Mondays.

Tell me why?

I don't like Mondays.

I want to shoot

The whole day down.

All the playing's stopped in the playground now

She wants to play with her toys a while.

And school's out early and soon we'll be learning

And the lesson today is how to die.

And then the bullhorn crackles,

And the captain crackles,

With the problems and the how's and why's.

And he can see no reasons

'Cause there are no reasons

What reason do you need to die?

Tell me why?

I don't like Mondays.

Tell me why?

I don't like Mondays.

Tell me why?

I don't like Mondays.

I want to shoot

The whole day down.n see no reason

'Cause there are no reasons

What reason do you need to be shown?

Tell me why?

I don't like Mondays.

Tell me why?

I don't like Mondays.

Tell me why?

I don't like Mondays.

I want to shoot

The whole day down.

I want a perfect soul

When I first heard this on the radio, my first thought was: YES.



This song is my personal anthem; it resonates with my psyche, illuminates the darkest corners of my soul, voices the dreams I left unsaid. It has been many years, but my Pavlovian response to the opening chord remains the same.

This version by Scott Bradlee and co may not have the same shadowy depths but it's still delicious and hits the gut with a punch.



Happy Monday, y'all.

Coulrophobic no more

I've always found clowns creepy. No, I never saw or read It. I just don't like the idea of people whose faces are disguised from me; it rouses such violent impulses in me. Heck, I'd decap Ronald McDonald given the opp.

But this video goes a long way to make me look at grease-painted jesters with a little more equanimity.





But I still doubt I'd date one.

Dance! Dance! Dance!

The weekend is on the doorstep, people!



Let's boogie!

Ripping classics

The best of both worlds, indeed.



AC/DC "Thunderstruck"



Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit"

Wicked cool cellists are wicked.

Lay back and relax

This is the soundtrack for you to lay back, sip a beverage of your choice and just chill.

*takes another hit of the joint*

White boy got soul

An FB friend introduced me to John Newman. It's been ages since I  hear a white boy got soul (Justin Timberlake don't count). John's raspy baritone brings to mind stuff like Living in a Box's Room in Your Heart, definitely a lovely stroll down memory lane of halcyon high school days.












Enjoy and have a great weekend!

In the mood for ...

... steampunk!

I want to shoot ...

... the whole day down.



Too bad if you like the Boomtown Rats original. I think Tori's version wins cos it makes you want to take a razor to your jugular more than the bratty original version.

Have a great week ahead, everyone!

Anthematic: Gone Away

My Brightest Diamond's Gone Away + Sherry Thomas book (any) = cry fest.

When you read, do you have a soundtrack that plays through your head? I do, especially if the story is truly engrossing and compelling.

This is why I love authors like Carrie Vaughn and Kim Harrison; they share the soundtrack to which they write the book du jour.

Fabulous way to discover new music, yo.