Thursday, July 17, 2008

Song of the Day Catch-Up

Well then Pete. I guess I'll have to do a few songs to make up for my time away from the computer  :P

Today's song has been inspired by a study avoidance prompted SeaChange marathon... classic show :)
So today it's Colin Hay's 'Death Row Conversation'

You can have a free listen at www.last.fm/music/Colin+Hay/_/Death+Row+Conversation

A moment of your time now
As mine is closing in on me
A simple farewell rhyme to
Anyone who hears me

I have walked in shadows
I have walked in blindness
My life now lies behind me
I have only one tomorrow

My name is Jake
I have made more than one mistake
Where I lost all sense of good reason
Now my time has come
There's nowhere I can run
Oh Lord, please give me courage

The Sister she's my saviour
She's my one and only friend
I know I do so love her
She says that she will miss me

Tomorrow they will burn me
They say that it will cause no pain
But what greatly concerns me
Is who of them would really know

Thy Kingdom come
Thy will be done
On Earth as it is in Heaven
With one more setting sun
And dinner just for one
Oh Lord, please give me courage

And as the night grows darker
My fear it now surrounds me
I wish I could be stronger
Oh Sister can you hear me

Take this wretched soul
Try to make it whole
It's true I have been a sinner
I know I've done wrong
And all I have is this song
Oh Lord, please give me courage

Thy Kingdom come
Thy will be done
On Earth as it is in Heaven
Now my time has come
There's nowhere I can run
Oh Lord, please give me courage


A little sad, but it's a song that seems to really strike something within me when I listen to it, maybe it's just the combination of Colin's voice, a voice that seems to have lived a lot, and the basic guitar accompaniment. Anyway, I like it, so have a listen and let me know what YOU think.

The second song, is from the AWESOME Fred Smith, called 'You And Me'
Written about when he was in Bougainville, it really reminded me what a personal sacrifice he made going over as a civilian to do his part in restoring peace, and that while his is a great story about the power of song to communicate, that it wasn't all happy happy joy joy campfire singing. Anyway, beautiful song, fascinating man.

Young people these days burn their CDs
They're dropping their 'H's, dropping their 'E's
They don't go up drinking in proper bars
And are deeply suspicious of men with guitars

So I took this job, that's what I did
There's gotta be a better way of making a quid
Than playing the pub circuit and selling CDs
Full of songs about you and songs about me

See the sun come on the Buka Passage
Could be six weeks 'til you get this message
I spent last night drinking with Tor
Down at the Kuri Village Resort

Remind me never to drink with Norwegians
It causes the boys to doubt my allegiance
I tell it's better than drinking with Swedes
And thinking about you and thinking about me

The wash-wash Marys are sweeping the floor
A flak jacket hangs from a nail on the door
As the years go by the problems here grow
But the milk of kindness still seems to flow

And it's there in their laughter, there in their eyes
Even the killers here are nice guys
There's a grace and a softness that sets me at ease
So far from you and so far from me

Like I wrote in the Cit-Rep I've got a hunch
That the Deputy Governor has gone out to lunch
And he won't be back 'til June or July
Someone saw him setting off for Hawaii

In a boat with his guards and his number two Mary
I tell you that bloke, he's worse than Wayne Carey
He oughta no better at sixty three
Better than you and better than me

Out on a Sunday under coloured umbrellas
The girls with the girls, the men with the fellas
Shirts and collars and frocks and sarongs
And everyone's out in their best pair of thongs

Down to House Lotu they walk hand in hand
To pray to a God that was brought to their land
God is hope, and hope is free
I'm hoping that you are still hoping for me

Well the Colonel got busted and Jim's been sick
I had to ask William to stop being a prick
It happens each day 'round a quarter to three
Like a gentleman's version of PMT

Some nights I work through 'til after twelve
See your photograph blu-tacked to the plywood shelf
Slip under my mosquito net and drift out to sea
Dreaming of you and dreaming of me

Well I heard that Ted's finally fixed up the Bedford
While I'm out here pretending to be Robert Redford
And all my friends getting on with their lives
Raising a family and keeping a wife

I know life's never a walk in the park
And we live as we dream, alone in the dark
But right now I could use your company
Send this letter with love, to you from me


(some of the words are guesses, I apologise for any mistakes)
Check it out at http://www.last.fm/music/Fred+Smith/_/You+And+Me


My last song is 'Song of Peace', as sung by David LaMotte

This is my song oh God of all the nations
A song of peace for lands afar and mine
This is my home, the country where my heart is
Here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine
But other hearts in other lands are beating
With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine

My country's skies are bluer than the ocean
And sunlight beams on clover leaf and pine
But other lands have sunlight too and clover
And skies are everywhere as blue as mine
This is my song oh God of all the nations
A song of peace for their land and for mine 

Just a short one, reflects how I'm feeling at the moment about some world events
Dave's done some amazing work for peace and towards a better world, so I applaud him (plus he's genuinely a nice guy)

Not sure where you can listen to it, but on itunes there's a short clip

My gosh Mikaela!
We have been lazy!
Well you can stop tightly gripping your key boards in adrenalin filled suspense, my thousands of faithful subscribers, for here lays the song of the day for 17th of July, 2008...
Ben Folds- Landed



We'd hit the bottom
I thought it was my fault
And in a way I guess it was
I'm just now finding out
What it was all about

We'd moved to the west coast
Away from everyone
She never told me that you called
Back when I was still
I was still in love

'Till I opened my eyes and walked out the door
And the clouds came tumbling down
And it's bye-bye goodbye I tried
And I twisted it wrong just to make it right
I had to leave myself behind
And I've been flying high all night

So come pick me up
I've landed...

The daily dramas
She made from nothing
So nothing ever made it right

She liked to push me
And talk me back down
'Till i believed I was the crazy one
And in a way
I guess I was

'Till I opened my eyes and walked out the door
And the clouds came tumbling down
And it's bye-bye goodbye I tried
Treading the sea of a troubled mind
I had to leave myself behind
Singin' bye-bye goodbye I tried

If you wrote me off
I'd understand it
'Cause I've been on
Some other planet
So come pick me up
I've landed...

And you will be so
Happy to know
I've come along
It's over

And I opened my eyes and walked out the door
And the clouds came tumbling down
And it's bye-bye goodbye I tried
Down comes the reign of the telephone czar
It's okay to call
And I will answer for myself
Come pick me up...
(Ba ba's)
Come pick me up...
Ba ba's..
I've landed.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Song of the Week

Today I'm actually putting a relatively mainstream song in. wow.... haha
It's "Space They Cannot Touch", sung by Kate Miller-Heidke

How's my luck
But somehow I'm with you
Let's leave now
Let's leave them,
their point of view
My favourite place is me and you

I wake up in the darkest night
Watch you breathe in shadow light
A perfect world lies next to me
And I don't need to sleep to dream

I just hope I am good enough to keep you

Morning sun warms our skin
And distant sounds
The day begins
Soon their world will come calling for us
But this is the space they cannot touch

I just hope I am good enough to keep you



From Wikipedia -

Space They Cannot Touch is a love song that is popular in the repertoire of Brisbane singer and Sony-BMG artist Kate Miller-Heidke. Released independently on her EP Telegram in 2004, it received considerable airplay on the Australian youth radio network Triple J and has become a centrepiece of Miller-Heidke's concerts. In November 2005 it was included in EMI Australia's summer anthology Coastal Chill 6. Posts to Miller-Heidke's website indicate that it has also had some popularity as a wedding song.

Space They Cannot Touch was written by Keir Nuttall, guitarist with Kate Miller-Heidke's touring and recording band Transport.

The song was re-recorded for Kate Miller-Heidke's debut album Little Eve, released in June 2007.



What she can do with her voice is pretty amazing, I remember seeing her perform on TV and they said that she trained as an opera singer. This is my song for this week, I listened to it several times in a row on a long plane flight, and it just seems to be great mood music

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Song of the Day

Today's song: 'Crying in the Chapel' by 'Don McLean' (Written by Arthur Glenn, made famous by Elvis, but I like this version better)

You saw me crying in the chapel
The tears I shed were tears of joy
I know the meaning of contentment
Now I am happy with the Lord

Just a plain and simple chapel
Where humble people go to pray
I pray the Lord that I'll grow stronger
As I live from day to day

Well I searched and I searched
But I couldn't find
No way on Earth
To find peace of mind

Now I'm happy in the chapel
Where people are of one accord
Yes we gather in the chapel
Just to sing and praise the Lord

Well you'll search and you'll search
But you'll never find
No way on Earth
To find peace of mind

Take your troubles to the chapel
Get down on your knees and pray
Take your troubles to a chapel
And you'll surely find a way




I love the gospel feel, and honest purity of Don McLean's version. He seems to really feel it.

As it says on Wikipedia -  "Crying in the Chapel" was a song written by Artie Glenn for his son Darrell to sing. Darrell recorded it, while still in high school, in 1953 along with Artie's band the Rhythm Riders. It became a local hit and publishers got hold of it and it went nationwide. That same year the black group, the Orioles, recorded it, and it became a major success.

On Oct. 30, 1960, Elvis Presley recorded a version of the song during the sessions for his RCA Records gospel album, His Hand in Mine. It was not included in that album, but rather was held back by RCA and finally released as an "Easter Special" single (447-0643) in April 1965, and hit #3 on the singles chart, the greatest chart success for Presley over a six-year span. It was later included as a bonus track on Presley's 1967 gospel album, How Great Thou Art.

The song was redone in the 1980's by Allies, a Christian band, on their 1989 album "Long Way From Paradise". While a little more contemporary, it still evokes the same feeling as the Elvis Presley version."

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

I once played this song on trumpet with a piano accompaniment for a soirée, it wasn't as long, but it was all about playing it really beautifully. It's got such a beautiful melody, and the chords were so fantastic. So listen to as much as you can manage! It's a great piece!

Gabriel FAURE': Pavane, Op. 50

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Not so much a Song of the Day

A little treat :)
My favourites from the past few days

I know the Prelude was from before, but I couldn't resist


 and the Bourree from the 3rd suite is cool too


And of course from Bach's Brandenburg Concerto



Plus I came home to see Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2 playing on Ovation, with Arkadi Zenziper playing the piano, with the St. Petersburg State Orchestra and conducted by Vladislav Tschernushenko and fell in love with it. This version isn't as good (in my opinion anyway) but it's still the same piece of music :)




Completely unrelated, I was browsing youtube after and found an awesome video of Liz Frencham and Mic Conway recording 'Paper Moon' (cool song, cool people)


And another of Liz and Vince Bradley mucking around with their version of 'Baby It's Cold Outside'

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Song of the Day

Four songs today - in keeping with my theme, I couldn't have one without the others 

These songs have been on a special playlist on my ipod for awhile now, and were brought back to mind by photos I saw today of the rows upon rows of war graves in just one cemetery in France, from WWI. There was a picture of a gravestone on one of the sites, just showing the epitaph at the bottom - 'Till we meet again Father'. These songs just highlight for me the pain and loss of all wars and battles. 

The first, a song by Bruce Watson - 'Trenches'

There are trenches in the hills by Sarajevo
Where soldiers hunch against the wind and snow
Their eyes, their guns sparkle in the red glow
Of the houses burning in the town below

Their hearts are filled with pride
Their minds are filled with hate
God is on their side
They fight for glory, land and state

There's a trench in a field by Sarajevo
Where a mother lays her precious child to rest
He was looking for his father from the window
When a sniper's bullet took him in the breast

She mouths a silent prayer
She shivers in the frost
The countryside is bare
There's no wood for a cross

There are trenches that will rend the hearts forever
Of the women raped in anger and disdain
By the soldiers, who in peaceful times could never
Have believed they'd be so eager to cause pain

When purity is all
For women and for race
To the victor goes the spoils
To the victim sheer disgrace
 
There are trenches between people in the Balkans
Of ethnic pride and history's tie to land
But wherever hearts are cold and lives are broken
We all must see the blood on our own hands

From our shanty towns of shame
To the famine's cruel decay
Between us and them
We build trenches every day
Trenches every day

His website is: http://www.geocities.com/brucewatson1/


The second is Fred Smith's 'Kusi & You'

When Kusi and you were leaving for Bougainville
Part of the 2nd Battalion from Lay
I felt so proud, my husband the soldier
Working for peace in a land far away

I didn't understand about the Pangoona thing
Who's Francis Ona, what's BRA?
But I understood that you are a soldier
As you marched like a soldier from the barracks that day

I said I love you now
More than I ever did
Wish you weren't leaving, I wish you could stay
But I understand that you are a soldier
You are a soldier, you fight for your pay

When I got your first call, you'd made it to Buka
Were heading down south on a chopper that day
Four weeks then past, til you called me from Aranwa
Something had happened, you seemed so far away

And so I said 'Hey what you doing'
And you got all secretive
Government work, you said it's classified
Well let the Government know
It's your woman you're speaking with
Does the Government know of the nights I have cried

I'll bet I love you now
More than I ever did
I need you now, more than I could ever say
And I don't understand
Just what you're doing there
But you are a soldier, you fight for your pay

And the day that you left, was the first of December
Said you'd be home by the first of July
But I had to wait til the third of October
Just for this letter, it says that you died

It tells me you fell in the BRA ambush
Fought til the end, til you ran out of rounds
But Kusi just told me, that wasn't what happened
He said one of their men turned your claymores around

And I need to know
There was some better reason
Need to now, that it wasn't in vain
But the Moresby politicians
Seem to change every season 
This hole in my heart now, seems to remain

Because I love you now
More than I ever did
Need you now, more than I could ever say
I need to know
There was some better reason
Than you are a soldier, who died for his pay


Fred wrote this during his time in Bougainville working for DFAT, singing songs in Pidgin 
you can listen to a little at http://payplay.fm/iaincs (it's well worth listening to the snippets of his other songs)

The third - 'Were You There?' by Martin Pearson & the MP3

Were you there in Washington
When the eagle spread his claws?
Sat down with the lion-heart
To flout their own damn laws

Were you when the order came
Aboard an east-bound transport plane?
Where Jordy prayed to Jesus
To the Jesus he knows well
Who's words of peace will rule the Earth
When Allah's blown to hell

Were you there in Baghdad
When the bombs lit up the sky?
Did your spirit turn away
When you saw that child die?

Did you hear her mother cry
The self same tears as you and I?
And the bombers pray to Allah
And Allah knows them well
And Allah's words will rule the Earth
When Jordy's blown to hell

Were you there in Canberra
When the phone calls came?
Calling obligations in
Without a trace of shame

And another long sad day goes by
Too many tears we've yet to cry
And we pray to Gods and Saviours
Oh but surely we can tell
Their words will ring, in an empty world
When we're all blown to hell


and the final song, Martin Pearson & the MP3's version of 'Masters of War'

Ah you masters of war
You have built all the bombs
You have built the death planes
You've built all the guns
You hide walls 
And you hide behind desks
I just want you to know 
That I've seen through your masks

You've never done nothing
But build to destroy
You play with my world 
Like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand 
And you hide from my eyes
Then you turn and run faster 
When hard bullets fly

Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
Well war can be won
You want us to believe
But I've seen through your eyes
And I've seen through your brain
Like I see through the water 
That run downs my drain

You fasten the triggers
For others to fire
Then you sit back and watch
As the death count gets higher
For threatening my babies 
Unborn and unnamed
You aint worth the blood 
That runs in your veins

And I hope that you die 
And your death will come soon
I will march by your casket 
In the pale afternoon
And I'll watch while they lay you 
Down on your deathbed
Then I'll stand by your grave 
'Til I'm sure that you're dead

(Harmonica solo)

Let me ask you one question 
Is your money that good?
Will it buy you redemption? 
Did you think that it would?
I think you might find 
When death takes it's toll
All the money you've made 
Won't buy back your soul

Ah you masters of war 
You have built all the bombs
You have built the death planes 
You've built all the guns
You hide behind walls 
You hide behind desks
I just want you to know 
That I've seen through your masks
All you masters of war, masters of war

phew.... it feels good to get that one off my chest...
You can check out Martin at www.7thdimension.com.au/index.cfm?artist_details=4

I'll put some more related links up when I can be bothered finding them, but for now, reflect and enjoy