11/15/12

I have something of a penchant for songs that compare men to alcohol. It's a characteristic that lives in me somewhere next to the part that thinks dark, dingy alleys are romantic. Criticize, roll your eyes, it's true.

Don't listen to this album much anymore. Reminds me of freshman/sophomore year of college - whoa, that was awhile ago. But this hook got stuck in my head somehow this afternoon. Definitely a trendy album at the time that probably won't have much staying power as the years go on (could we say that for anything that was featured in an Apple commercial, maybe?), but it sure set a scene or two. Girl can sing. She's also Canadian.

Yeah. Those boys that are like liquor. Not a bad comparison.

"He's my Brandy Alexander, always gets me into trouble..." ~Brandy Alexander
Feist, The Reminder

8/21/12

A Pandora find from today...something about this song makes me think of someone heading west. Maybe it's the harmonies, slightly Southern-gospel, mixed with syncopated string-plucking, echoing like howling desert wings. Maybe the simple train allusions.

Mission accomplished in updating a retro tune and making it accessible to new audiences (the original is soooo 60s hippie-chick, if you're into that). It's got a little more sultry soul, without sacrificing a delicate dignity, and it works.

Original or updated, the song tells a familiar story. I like that it describes a very specific moment that says so much about what's to come, a moment full of hype and overanxious nerves. Do we ever know what draws us to someone, in a moment or after years? Not really ever, no, but that feeling lurking somewhere past your lungs will send you all kinds of places, if you're willing to listen.

"Travelling north, travelling north to find you
Train wheels beating, the wind in my eyes
Don't even know what I'll find when I get to you
Call out your name love, don't be surprised

It's so many miles and so long since I've left you
Don't even know what I'll find when I get to you
But suddenly now, I know where I belong
It's many hundred miles and it won't be long
Nothing at all, in my head, to say to you
Only the beat of the train I'm on
Nothing I've learned all my life on the way to you
One day our love was over and gone

It's so many miles and so long since I've met you
Don't even know what I'll say when I get to you,
But suddenly now, I know where I belong
It's many hundred miles and it won't be long

What will I do if there's someone there with you
Maybe someone you've always known
How do I know I can come and give to you
Love with no warning and find you alone?

It's so many miles and so long since I've met you
Don't even know what I'll find when I get to you
But suddenly now, I know where I belong
It's many hundred miles and it won't be long

It won't be long
It won't be long
It won't be long"

~Train Song,
Vashti Bunyan, as covered by Feist and Ben Gibbard, Dark Was the Night compilation 

11/17/08

Sheer loveliness in her performance, I love the movement of this song as well. It's got a beautiful structure, because it just builds and soars so well. Chilling song structure #3!