All this talk of great music has got me thinking (more than I should, perhaps). I love music. I can’t listen to music in bed at night because instead of going to sleep, I listen intently until the entire CD is though and only then can I think of sleeping.
What I love most about music is the moments where a lyric, song, or performance just hits you. I don’t think can’t describe the phenomenon adequately. I heard Sarah MacLaughlan say describe it once as ‘resonating with peoples souls’. Sounds corny, I know – but I don’t think that’s such a bad way to describing what it.
Sometimes it has as much to do with your own thoughts and environment as it does with the artists and music itself, but I don’t think that matters much. Sometimes it’s a song – any time you hear it – sometimes its one particular time or place you remember hearing a song. Perhaps I can better illustrate what I’m talking about with some examples from my own experience.
- The Tragically Hip’s performance of Nautical Disaster on Live Between Us. I never really liked the hip much. They always sounded like a sloppy bar band to me (in a bad way). However, when I first heard this song, and ever time since, I was totally captivated. I listened to, heard, and understood every word (or thought I did, which is good enough for me). The lyrics are brilliant and the chord charges perfect – you can feel each chord coming and it feels perfect when it does. There are lots of songs with brilliant lyrics and great melody – this one just hits me.
- The bridge in the song Transfiguration from Copyright’s album Love Story. The part of the song that goes “Love is divine; Love has its own design” and the musical phrases that follow. The chord changes are, again, perfect. It gives me goose bumps. Honestly.
- Hearing the opening vocal lines of The Garden Song by Sandbox on a great old stereo in the old CIMN closet in The Barn at UPEI. When his voice drops (“…bring you down…”) Steve Albini proves that he is worth $100,000 to record your record. This took on a whole new meaning after seeing them live.
- Listening to Heal from Catherine Wheel’s Happy Days as loud as possible in my bedroom on my beautiful old Pioneer 100 watt tube amp stereo when my house was empty when I was in high school. The guitar on the album reminds of a power of a giant church organ and needs to be heard very loud.
- Listening to Siamese Dream by the Smashing Pumpkins from start to finish at an almost uncomfortable volume. Mayonaise is one of my favourite songs ever. Again, church organ guitar.
- Skipping school and driving around in my parents old Saturn listening to my cassette of Poor Old Lu’s Straight Six.
- The songs Ugly and Enya by Age of Electric’s from their self titled album.
- Brighter Hell and All Uncovered by the Watchmen.
- Playing Street Spirit by Radiohead with my high school garage band (we never actually played in a garage – well once)
- My Boy by Eyes for Telescopes from their album Please Survive.
- Watching U2’s Mexico PopMart concert on MuchMusic (the Monteal concert was good too)
- The opening moments of Where the Streets Have No Name by U2 from both Joshua Tree and Rattle & Hum.
- The chorus from Satellite from Catherine Wheel’s Adam & Eve.
I hope you can understand what I’m talking about despite my description. It’s not just about great songs and albums, but moments when you notice how great an album is, or actually hear a lyric for the first time even when you’ve heard the song many times before, or something as simple as a melody, vocal or chord change.
Some of you have shared your concert experiences with us before, but I’d love to know what song or lyric or album does this for you? Why? Is it even music?
Songs with the goosbump factor:
The island band doesn’t get the bold treatment
when i heard a group of capebretoners singing along to “for sale signs” by the rudy huxtable project at both of their performances in pei in may, they became my favourite band.
slowcoaster covering “i saw the light” and then launching into their song “san simone” while yelling “downtown sydney motherfuckers in the house” transformed bar music for me forever.
it’s imposible not to react to pip skid chanting “white people, white people, throw your burning crosses in the air” in “true blue.”
the end of “season to leave” by the guthries has some great yelling of “what i need i will get, what i hate i’ll forget.”
“i know it’s over” by the smiths is the saddest song ever written.
“falling” by david lynch is haunting.
“the siren song” from the film “the wicker man” is hot. this is the type of song that makes you want to rip off your clothes and hump a wall.
“makeshift patriot” by sage francis. scary.
“god moving over the water” by moby.
– Cranking “Cinnamon Girl” by Neil Young: on grade 12 Friday Night drives around Truro 20 years ago.
Listening to “Superman” by Crash Test Dummies: on a slow rural train in Poland late on a fall afternoon with the light all honey coloured on the leaves turning colour as the tracks “S” through the hills.
The Ramones: anytime, anywhere.
Matthew Sweet’s opening of “Sick of Myself”.
Ska horn section breaks.
Also Superman by Crash Test Dummies, but for me it was after buying their tape after seeing them at the Winnipeg Folk Festival in 1990 when they were just breaking. Listened to the tape over and over again while driving across the praries to my [then] girlfriend’s parents house in Calgary.
Otherwise there was a mix tape that we always knew as the “Louis Tape” because Louis had created it for his [then] girlfriend before she and I set off across the country together from Ontario to BC, taking the US route through Duluth and across the northern states. It was the only tape we had. There was a lot of Penguin Cafe Orchestra, and a lot of other music that I’ve since forgotten (but remember every time I catch a glimpse of it somewhere). When Louis died of a heroin OD a couple of years ago, the first thing I thought of was that tape, and then of his giant convertible with the NWT polar bear license plates.
Most depressing of all was listening to David Ramsden sing New Years Eve when I was alone and living cold and snowy and unemployed and alone in Montreal on New Years Eve.
Pivotal teenage music moments:
Mary Clayton wailing in the bridge to the Stones’ “Gimme Shelter”. Also, the part in “Can’t You Hear Me Knockin'” just before it gets all jazzy and boring.
Acoustic guitar over the radio bit at the start of Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here”
“I Shall be Released” at the end of The Last Waltz
Van Morrison’s “Sweet Thing”, when the strings sweep in
Climax of Richard and Linda Thompson’s “Walking on a Wire”
And of course, the climax of “Bridge Over Troubled Waters” and the break in “Hey Jude”
Listening to Argyle Park‘s misguided in my parent’s 1993 Dodge Dakota while skipping school and exploring the backroads of PEI.
Getting to play the first two beats of “My Revolution” by Horton’s Choice Starts with a bass drum -> snare -> full rock band
Guitar solo in “Bubbles” by Mike Knott
Driving in previously said Dakota in Cape Breton (1996?) with Steve (of AOV) singing to “My name is Jonas” by Weezer.
Adam Again’s perfecta…. the whole thing anytime.
Old Field White Spruce recording “Lemonade” at the late Winwood Studios.
Blame and Christ Saves off of Grace Shaker by LSU
Many songs off of Undercover‘s Forum – especially “the moon and the blue around”, “Forum”, and “Union”.
Dan, what about Dressed To Kill?
That’s it, you’re out of the band.
traveling to switzerland this past May to see TOOL play in a tiny venue, performing “Pushit”. devastating.
St. Valentine’s Day– Drive. Drive were one of the best bands to ever come out of Newfoundland, and this is one of the best breakup songs of all time.
Heart of Saturday Night– Tom Waits. The whole album is great and possibly my favourite of his.
Graceland– Paul Simon. The lines:
Bacherlorette– Bjork. The strings section.
Wish You Were Her– Billy Bragg. The chorus. And the line about letting “her warm her feet on me”.
Last one for now: There is a light That Never Goes Out– The Smiths. I love the way that the strings section, the keyboard, and Johnny Marrs’ tremolo guitar works blend. And the part about dying in a smash up with your unrequited lover spoke to me for some reason when I was seventeen.
Cheers
My reveries were cut off by the demands of Lego and kids in jammies. I would add:
Elvis Costello’s first three albums: the mixing of Cole Porter lyrical control with punk anger. DNTO yesterday retold the story of how the back up band on the first ablum was not “The Attractions” but an early version of “Huey Lewis and the News”. “My Aim is True” is one of the greatest albums of all time. As EC was a former computer programmer, his angst ought to garner more attention ’round these parts.
Billy Bragg: the mixing of punk anger with folk music structures. I taught him how to play tavern shuffleboard in the old Pub Flamingo in Halifax where I sat in the bar at best table from noon to ten to hold the seats for friends when he played there in 1988. He took pity on the bar fly after his sound check.
Ben Foulds Five “Brick”: the exact feeling of dating someone far too long that everyone has felt but which I have never found otherwise set out in a song. Had it been available in the early 80’s things might have been accomplished from time to time with a lot less pain – “…let me just play this song for you…umm…I’ll be right back…”
The entire output of The Jam: political anger mixed with leaping guitarist and bassist playing Rickenbackers. Paul Weller is Bill Bragg’s pal. My buddy in London, England, late for work, passed a pub which sat under 100 where they were playing just one night all accoustic. One night I will alway regret missing.
Being in high school during the years of new Clash albums was a really good time to be alive and 17.
I remember having those sublime moments all the time when i was a teenager. maybe it was easier then, or i was more open. maybe it was the dark room and the headphones. i dunno. back then it was all artrock all the time.
When I heard the Carpet Crawlers off “Lamb lies down on Broadway” by Genesis. Not the first time… but about the third or fourth time. SSSSSZZzzzzap.
Peter Gabriel, when I saw him in concert the final moment of “Shoot into the Light”
Born to Run…the first Bruce Springteen album i owned. The track seemed so much more subtle than it’s title and chorus seem now.
Teenage Wasteland… Did you understand what Pete Townsend was saying, dude?! I mean *understand*! Man, did i ever think i did.
Then there’s a space of time filled up with moving to PEI. Holding on to all the music from my teenage years.
During the early eighties every month or so there was a dance the the Montage Dance Theatre, which burned down a long time ago. I remember Rella Bella with Faye Pound, Peter Richards (the same), Walter…The Rain Dogs [aka The Dogs] with Mike Mooney, Reg Balla, Cj Corrigan, Chas… Sean Ferris was in there too, and a bunch of other folks. Everybody danced. I don’t know what conjuction of circumstances brought those couple of years together…maybe it happens to everybody… but it doesn’t seem like it. There wasn’t any bitterness, or nastiness, or desperation. So sweet. The clumsy joy of dancing.
Sometime during all that came the high point of which was listening to this album from this band no one had ever heard of… the album was called Murmur. I had never heard music that sounded like this before.
I’m struck still, once and awhile. But I don’t trust myself when I feel moved by music. I’m afraid it just might be sentmentality or nostalgia.
thanks for the thread.
This morning in the shower I was reminded of “The Witch” by The Cult.
I do a superb rendition of it BTW.
Good stuff everyone.
A few more I’ve since thought of:
Ah, I find nothing so satisfying as a good nested unordered HTML list.
Just noticed: That’s the singer from Cake singing harmony in the song Fred Jones (part 2) on Ben Folds Rockin’ the Suburbs. Holy supergroup!
Vince, I’ve been storm-stayed in Cape Breton and have as of yet not read this thread. Dressed to Kill certainly deserves a revered spot on this list. Particularly for “I’m so Drunk”…..
Dave, do you realize that your post here bears a surprising resemblance to that of Catherine Hennessey?
I knew it was only a matter of time before somebody (Dan, Steve, Jevon or Dennis) added “Perfecta” to the list. I listened to Don’t Cry the day I found out Gene passed away. I cried.
Other bits of music that had an impact on me:
-“Blame” and “This is the Healing” by Mike Knott. Any version is good, but the stripped down acoustic version of “Blame” on Live in Nash Vegas is stellar.
– The Hip’s “Road Apples” album. I listened to it while I was flying back to Canada after my first semester of school in the United States. I was sitting in my window seat watching the sun shine through holes in the cloud cover. There were clouds above and clouds below, and late afternoon sunlight bouncing in between.
– The Braveheart Soundtrack. I listened to it while I read “Vimmy” by Pierre Berton and it was downright eerie how the tempo of the music melded with the tempo of the book.
-“Tuesday’s Gone” by Lynyrd Skynyrd. I’m not what you’d call a big fan of 70’s rock, but I love Dazed and Confused. “Tuesday’s Gone” plays at the end of the movie as the sun is coming up and everyone is going their seperate ways. The night before I graduated from university I was hanging out with a few good friends and we were making a banner to hang outside our little school…a goodbye from the class of 1999. As Mike and I drove back to the dorm in his 1973 Plymouth Fury the sun was coming up and “Tuesday’s Gone” came on the radio. It just felt right.
One of these days I’m going to learn how to format text, I swear.
So many to list.. here are a few that i could think of this afternoon…
Counting Crows – ‘Anna Begins’ – “and everytime she sneezes i believe its love..”
The Beatles – ‘A Day in the Life’ – Its the drums.. Just listen to the drums…
The 77’s – ‘The Lust, the Flesh, the Eyes and the Pride of Life’ – “and every single word makes me think i’ll live forever…”
Mike Knott – ‘Halo’ – “I don’t mind if your halo don’t glow like it used to glow I don’t care if you change your mind with every tempting road…”
Adam Again – Gene Eugene had one of the saddest voices.. ‘River on Fire’ – “What would you say if you knew what I was thinking?”… ‘Every Mothers Way’ – “A lie is ever near.. it digs into the sand…” – ‘Dont Cry’ – “Its wide and deep and fast asleep and now we say, say goodbye, dont cry..”
Jeff Buckley – ‘Lover, You Should’ve Come Over’ – “it’s never over, my kingdom for a kiss upon her shoulder…”
U2 – ‘Where the Streets Have No Name’ [From the live in Boston DVD] Bono quotes Psalm 116 just as the guitar riff is picking up.. then the song explodes… amazing..
Songs that always seem to make me stop whatever i’m doing and just listen and/or sing along, but mostly just listen (in some type of alphabetical order):
Ingrid Bergman by Billy Bragg (and Wilco) words by Woody Guthrie. A beautiful melody wrapped around beautiful lyrics. A song for stalkers?
My City of Ruin by Springsteen (from the concert for 9/11) Goosebumps and welling tears. I had never heard the song before and when it started that televised evening of tributes, it was like I was hit by a glorious truck full of emotion.
Headache by Frank Black. It’s not possible to play this song too loud.
Memories Of Us by George Jones. Frank Sinatra called him the second greatest voice in America. Corny nostalgic yearning, but sold so well.
Polyester Bride by Liz Phair. I’m already married, but I’d be willing to divorce if I could marry this song.
Thanksgiving by Loudon Wainwright III No one else I’ve ever listened to can make me laugh and cry at the same moment in time as easily and often as he can.
Lake Charles by Lucinda Williams. If I did marry Polyester Bride, I’d be very tempted to have an affair with Lake Charles. I love the simple harmonies in this song.
Nightswimming by REM. “a photograph on the dashboard taken years ago turned around backwards so the windshield shows every streetlight reveals a picture in reverse”
Words We Never Use by Ron Sexsmith. And absolutely every other song on this perfect album (self-titled). If you don’t know this album, get to know it.
Swamp by Talking Heads. What the fuh?
Tommy Gun by The Clash. There are so many Clash songs for me, but this one has such an angry high energy.
Anything by The Pixies. Show me a bad Pixies song. Go on, show me.
Nite Club by The Specials. Horns in Punk? And I thought that was illegal.
You’re The Best Thing by The Style Council. This, and the Jam!! Have to include this because it’s ‘our song’.
Johnsburg, Illinois by Tom Waits. Is there a more beautiful, more simple love song? Nope.
The Mayor of Simpleton by XTC. My favourite song from my second favourite band. This song always reminds me of a friend of mine.
In My Life by The Beatles. Recently voted the greatest pop song of all time. Who am I to argue.
Watching The Detectives by Elvis Costello, who has the best voice in all of pop music.
That’s some of them. Of course, the list is completely different next time I wrack my brain.
I look forward to sampling some of the opinions of everyone else.
Dennis- Dead aim with Lover, You Should’ve Come Over. (One of the most beautiful voices ever.)
And an addition to my modest list: God Only Knows– The Beach Boys from the album Pet Sounds. I feel the same way as the singer. (The Beatles may have been bigger than Jesus, but for a few minutes in 1966 the Beach Boys were bigger than the Beatles.)
Rob McD: you have half my records and the other half I want to get! Tommy Gun – I won Give ’em Enough Rope off the CBC in 1978 off the show ninety minutes with a bullet. I was 15. I have 3 copies now – a good lp, a party lp and a polish bootleg casette for the car.
Specials: though I am sure I have written it here before, a good pal says ska is the music they play on the planet of beautiful women. Have you heard the live 7 inch 45 Specials that had the radio version of “Too much too Young”? – best horns.
My list of music that has the *special thing* could go on forever – and actually changes constantly, but what i like even more is when the music I’m hearing, is thé perfect soundtrack to a current situation I’m in.
For example: this morning, all kinds of Good Things happened and as I drove home the radio played Dont worry be happy by bobby mcferrin. Or last week I drove on a completely deserted road in a forest and had Bjorks Oh so quiet on (Actually, there’s an example: the moment the trumpets start playing for the first time… *wow*).
Love it when that happens.
One more: Bridge over troubled water by simon and garfunkel. The violin towards the middle of the song, when it goes all skewy.
Last one:
Marvin gaye – I heard it through the grapevine:
the first line: “oooh, I bet you wonder how I knew”
Kristoff: is there any belgian music that has struck you? I am making a vast assumption from your internet address of course but it is interesting that most postings if not all including mine are of “popular” music as opposed to local music. To that end I would add being in the Lower Deck singing “Barretts Privateers” and “Farewell to Nova Scotia”, banging my mug on the table and singing along at the top of my lungs like all the other bluenosers – an event of rare cultural homogenaity. This was only topped by the moment late on a Friday in Kolobrzeg, Poland [where I taught English] at a mariners bar (the Joseph Conrad) when the guy with the guitar plucked “dee-dee-dee-diddy-dee-dee-dee” and the whole place irrupted in the Polish version of “Farewell to Nova Scotia”. I, properly supported by the mugs before me, stood in the back and started belting out the English version. The hall goes silent as I sing and I conclude by shouting “Jestem Novi Scotiak!” There is nothing like cheers from drunken Polish mariners. Later by way of futher celebrations, the gents shot of off shore flare guns inside the room just to see what it would be like to watch phosperous burn up close.
Alan,
Honestly enough not much has. While there’s a lot of talent in belgium, the main-stream here isn’t exactly a genre I could appreciate. It’s much alike and hardly refreshing.
There are belgian artists who sing in english (K-choice for instance) and recently there was someone named Filip Kowlier who sang in a very strong accent (our North) but made quite an impression. Even though I can’t understand half of what he’s singing about 🙂
From earlier (my mom her) days, there is good music though: Boudewijn de groot, Ann Christy (though these two weren’t from belgian but the netherlands)
Its too bad because we have a beautiful language to create it in.
A few new ones:
Brick by Ben Folds does it for me too. It such a sad song it almost makes me feel sick.
This is a thread that could run forever. Not a problem if it does. I failed to mention the accordian music I collect on a small scale. Sharon Shannon is an amazing Irish accordianist who I first heard playing in the sadly defunct Barrington Street Sam the record Man’s third floor. I just said to the clerk, who ever that is sell it to me. There is a point on her self titled first album in Queen of the West that she plays notes so rapidly that I do not know how she physically achieves it. My other favorite accordian moment is on Rod Stradling’s Rhythms of the Wold called The Trip We Took Over the Mountains/Pive when he lopes into the second melody that I just love. There is a calls of music around the house that we call rumpy-tum music that invokes small boat jaunting, snoozing, and retired men shopping in used book stores. [Ogg might add morris dancing, which, though likely more accurate, is something I can’t yet bring myself to associate with, still balancing this music as I do with my punk and ska.] A friends father, M.D.(ret.), when happened upon in a wine shop can be heard to be saying ‘rump-tump-tiddy-tum” quietly to himself, out of the sheer pleasure of the experience of anticipating a good roast and plonk. Only an accordian can capture that Poo-Bear-Now-Grown-Up feeling.
After watching this thread develop with nothing to contribute, I have finally found a song with amazing “musical transcendiness”. Whistle Song by Kent is a beautiful and melodic experience (for lack of a better word), but the really great part comes around 3:50, when the guitars come in. I can’t explain this, you have to hear the song to know.
Kent is a Swedish group, with a musical style much like Radiohead, but with more guitar.
And since I know at least one person here enjoys Radiohead, I post this for obvious reasons of relevance.
sharron shannon is the jimi hendrix of accordian players. i happened to see her play at party during the celtic colours festival in cape breton a couple years ago. on one of her albums she flawlessly breaks into a fleetwood mac song.
even better than shannon is john whelan (i think that’s the fucker’s name). he played a year after shannon at celtic colours. the dude played a jam session with gordie sampson on guitar. unfucking believable. the two of them didn’t even know each other, let alone play with each other before. one of the best performances i ever caught. pure magic.
another insanely brilliant musician on another instrument that’s usually as unbearable as an accordian is some guy named fred morrissey. he plays bagpipes like a maniac. sounds so fucking cool to hear live. he was also at celtic colours.
so were the chieftans, altan, some crazy banjo guy, dougie maclean (scotland’s finest songwriter) and many other artists capable of evoking moments of muscial transcendence.
I’m starting to worry that all that open minded music loving stuff is something most people just use a phase. I keep moving on while it seems others are content to keep up with the same ol same old. Basically, I don’t believe that you should ever turn off that valve marked “listen” if I had done that in 1989 Paula Abdul and New Kids may have been the best I knew. Anyway, what do you dare right, shut up mickey and say what the hell your gonna say.
Music Notes‘s life.
Revolver – nothing else needed to say.
Refreshments for teaching me that you can write all the political, environmental, “issue” related music you want, but sooner or later you’ll get famous for a song about drinking beer and robbing banks in Mexico.
Beulah – Three studio albums are a drive down Cali-Road, first stop: Fourtrack road, then across the tracks to grand sweeping, weezer with an ochestra avenue, followed by a drive into the sunset with some beachboy meets beatles in “The Coast is Never Clear”.
UNKLE – thom yorke lends vocals to “Rabbit in Headlights” I wept.
Richard Buckner – “Last Ride”
SPACEPOP (hc)- If I go home the demo tape is still in my parents glove box, I promise.
OLD FIELD WHITE SPRUCE – Using my political pull in the band to demand we never play, “Anne of Green Gables” ever again. Losing that battle and winning “the” battle. Did I mention I hate that song?
Remember the 80’s, well if you didn’t you will soon.
John Martyn – Cocaine – This guy is unknown but man can he tell you how terrible your life will be if you follow around morphine sue or cocaine lil’
ELO – That’s right ELO.
Songs I can’t listen to anymore:
“Ladies and Gentlemen We’re floating in Space” Spiritualized
“God only knows” Beachboys
“I Can Feel it” Sloan
“Evaporated” Ben.
“Floodlights” Gus
Keep it real, don’t keep it reality-based.
the unplugged in new yorks “About A Girl”By Nirvana,the way Kurt Cobain began the song with a good evening and “this song is off our first record…most people dont know it.”But Cobain took the song and made it in to a acoustic master piece which kurt,i think reliezed as he strumed the first cords in the opening of the song as the crowd began to cheer and Krist Novoselic came in with bass and then Dave Grohl came in with the light jazzy drums.This song has a sence of drama in it that Cobain put into alot of his songs,a perfect example is the guitar solo and how he Cobain got right back into the beat of the song and Opened a repeat of the first verse with a “i need a easy friend”.This song is one of a kind by a one of a kind band in Nirvana.
Tuesday is Gone and Freebird are the two saddest songs of all time. In addition to this, every time I hear either I am reminded of of one of my best friends that I watched die over the summer from alcohol poisoning. Not surprisingly, these are the only two songs ever written that get me to tear. While My Guitar Gently Weeps and Hide Your Love Away are close, but not the top.