Went to a concert! Yays!

My dad and I went to see Hawksley Workman Friday night. He's a fantastic pop-rock artist with great lyrics and weird, interesting twists and turns to his songs. And though he expresses himself in odd ways, the songs are about experiences we can all relate to.

He sang 5 of my favorite songs! Here they are, in case you wish to dabble a little...

We'll Make Time

Cartier asked various artists to write a song about love. When he submitted this they were like "Um this wasn't the kind of love we were thinking of."  ...But the song is brilliant! It's about trying to keep a relationship going for the long haul (you know... like the kind of watch Cartier makes!) There are all kinds of analogies with watches and plays on time. And the beat of the song itself sounds like a watch ticking. What's not to love??

I know we're corny, old fashioned

Is forever really true?

But when I say that you're for me

And baby, baby I'm for you

And though the grass is always greener

but you still have to cut it

And the scars you get together

Are the scars you really covet

Your Beauty Must Be Rubbing Off
He said it's about fear--his fear of flying, fear of marriage, fear of having kids... all rolled into one song where the narrator imagines his wife dying in a plane crash!
So let me say you look lovely in all of this
And let me say that the death that I fear
Could in part be a fear that I'd lose you just as I found you


You Me and the Weather
I love the way he keeps kicking the song into a higher range.


Piano Blink
Written while running away from Amsterdam after an affair that quickly went south.
Let's say we're happy even though
Let's be happy even though 
We know we're both done trying

   

Expected + Unexpected

 

What I find as a writer is that I celebrate the little things that happen between the big events. ...It’s the big shit that you can do without. It’s the tiny stuff, like the way humans are when they think they aren’t being watched or when they’re at rest, that’s really fascinating. Hawksley Workman

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My dad was listening to an interview about music and the brain and apparently one of the things that makes music pleasurable is a combination of the expected and the unexpected. We've been thinking about this in relation to all the arts and have decided: 'Tis true. You're going along with a song, or movie, or book and you think you know what's going to happen next and them: Zing!

It's Canadian Music Week so I thought I'd share one of my favorite artists who demonstrates this principle. His songs never quite go the way I expect them to, so they're interesting to listen to over and over. He's also a fantastic lyricist--comes up with great images, a mixture of bombastic and silly.

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I’m very inclined to want to celebrate things that are wonderful; to me it’s exciting. The guy who poured my basement is so passionate about pouring basements. We would talk about all of the required things in a great basement and he had equipment that he had shipped in from the U.S. It shot lasers and made the slope towards the drain just perfect. And to me, people who love and are passionate, it makes me excited. Hawksley Workman

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You needn't sample them all. But I know some writers have trouble finding Soundtrack Music, so I put a little description of each song. If you'd rather just play them in the background as you internetize, I put them on a playlist:

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Piano Blink My favorite song, about the end of a relationship. 

Some things don't softly go
But it's over now
(Somebody gonna hurt somebody)
It's over now
(Somebody gonna hurt somebody)

You, Me and the Weather Another melodramatic love song. And a good example of the unexpected, when he reaches up into his falsetto, and the way he keeps cranking up the key.

Hey Hey Hey (My Little Beauties) A sweet little philosophical song. I like the child-like kerplunk of it, and the final line: "Hopeless isn't true."

One certainty of living

Is that you're gonna die

So why not stand in awe of it

Instead of asking why

Your Beauty Must Be Rubbing Off Workman's rah-ther obsessed with sex and death.

so let me say that you look lovely in all of this
and let me say that the death that i fear
could in part be a fear that I'd lose you, your just as i found you

Jealous of Your Cigarette On the rock side... he's jealous of her cigarette, cause she wants to suck on it, and not him. Did I mention the other thing I love in a songwriter is humor?

Winter Albums in 2011

Well it's time to compile my best of books and music lists. I also tracked which movies I watched, on IMDB, so I can do movies too.

I usually do a Favorite Christmas Music but I'm purposely not buying much, not trolling iTunes in my usual fashion. (If you don't shop, you aren't tempted to spend money.) But I have some rather thorough previous lists, if you're interested. And if you love a song, but have no movies, use zamzar to lift it off youtube (if available.)

I've only bought two wintry albums and haven't imbibed them enough to give reviews. But here's a song from each...

Hawksley Workman's Full Moon Eleven

Here's his excellent cover of Bruce Cockburn's "On the Coldest Night of the Year". I like it better than the original. I just uploaded it, and apologize if it disappears or something.

Kate Bush's 50 Words for Snow

Here's a song from the point of view of a snowflake. Ya... cause that's the way she rolls.

Speaking of Kate Bush, I only recently discovered that she released another album this year: Director's Cut. It's basically a bunch of covers of her songs... by her. It's really good! Here's the official video for "Deeper Understanding" starring Robbie Coltrane.


And it seems her youtube page also released a bunch of old videos I've never seen.
Just being alive, it can really hurt
These moments given, are a gift from time

   
I had a head cold this weekend, so this post is about all I can muster. Off to bed now...