Life is for the Living

A new song, and inspiring video, from the Ryan Michaels Band...

Hey, I would still like the song even were Ryan not a friend!
-- David M Gordon / The Deipnosophist

Sunday Afternoon

So there I was yesterday afternoon, quietly enduring a relapse of a medical problem. What should I do -- perhaps write a post re the markets and their current setups and patterns? But, no, not that, as I await your perceptions before I offer my own. (Hurry!)

Instead, I found myself listening once again to the phenomenally talented Rachael Yamagata. You likely recall her massively popular single, Worn Me Down, from her first CD, Happenstance. From then to now, Rachael only improved her talent; her song, Sunday Afternoon (from her new CD, Elephants...Teeth Sinking Into Heart), provides ample proof...

Sunday Afternoon

It’s a choice to stay
It’s a dream and I want to wake
You have blood on your hands
And I’m feeling faint
And honey, you can’t decide

I’m a drug you don’t wanna give up
Smoke your cigarette, make your love
You pour blood in my heart, I can’t get enough
I’m drowning and you can’t decide

It’s not about geography or happenstance
Your need to fly and take a chance
Your need to shine to emptiness
And float on high and forever dance alone
Your scared cuz I feel like home

I hear your voice
I knew right away
If you were here
What your eyes would say
I have blood on my feet
As I walk away
The rivers are red
It’s starting to rain
I’m not gonna live for you or die for you or do anything anymore for you
Cuz you leave me here on the other side
You leave me here on the other side
I won’t live for you or die for you or do anything anymore for you
Cuz you leave me here on the other side
You leave me here on the other side
I won’t live for you or die for you, do anything anymore for you
Cuz you leave me here on the other side
You leave me here on the other side
I won’t live for you, or die for you, or do anything anymore for you…

I’m not gonna shed one more tear for you
Shed one more tear for you
I’m not gonna shed one more tear for you
At least not till Sunday afternoon
Sunday afternoon…

Appreciation of music can fall on deaf ears; it need not follow that you like what I like. Nonetheless, everyone who appreciates music can appreciate talent, and Sunday Afternoon showcases Rachael's talent in klieg lights; its composition, arrangements, phrasing, and lyrics. (Many people, artists included, know how to 'open' a metaphor, but not how to 'close' same. Rachael does it brilliantly with her lyrics, "You have blood on your hands ... I have blood on my feet...") And then comes that killer final stanza with its haunting seque (lyrics and music). What a changeup! My sister says of this song (and video),

"I have watched several of her videos because I can't get enough of her music. I continue to be amazed at the power of her voice and her lyrics that come from a woman who looks like an innocent little girl."

Yep. Enjoy.

-- David M Gordon / The Deipnosophist

Two holiday songs

The holiday season is upon us again; shopping, partying, gift-giving, visiting with friends and family, all amid a sour and worsening economy and ugly financial markets.

Which all catches me in a reflective mood. What better method to capture my angst than with excellent music? The two original and amazingly fine songs below deal with the loss of love; both reach for redemption. No surprise, then, that each song was written specifically for the holiday season.

Brandi Carlile's song leaves us guessing if redemption is gained; the song by Over the Rhine (with the extraordinary vocals by Karin Bergquist) leaves no such doubt...

Brandi Carlile: The Heartache Can Wait

You're talking about leaving
It's right about Christmas time
Thinking about moving on
I think I might die inside

I'm thinking about years gone by
I'm thinking about church at midnight
I'm thinking about letting go
I think that might finally be alright
This is where we shine

Silver bells and open fire
And songs we used to sing
One more chance to be inspired
Is what I'm offering if love is not enough
Then stay with me because
The heartache can wait

It's not about hanging on
It's making my deal with God
If I could call one last truce
We've given it all we've got

Then I'm gonna catch my breath
And make it a long December
If we've got nothing left
This could be worth remembering
With a smile upon my face

Silver bells and open fire
And songs we used to sing
One more chance to be inspired
Is what I'm offering if love is not enough
Then stay with me because

Silver bells and open fire
And songs we used to sing
One more chance to be inspired
Is what I'm offering if love is not enough
Then stay with me because
The heartache can wait




Over the Rhine: All I Ever Get For Christmas Is Blue

Strings of lights above the bed
Curtains drawn and a glass of red
All I ever get for Christmas is blue

Saxophone on the radio
Recorded forty years ago
All I ever get for Christmas is blue

When you play my song
Play it slowly
Play it like I'm sad and lonely

Maybe you can solve my mystery
Wrap me in your arms and whisper
You miss me

Weatherman says it's miserable
But the snow is so beautiful
All I ever get for Christmas is blue

It would take a miracle
To get me out to a shopping mall
All I really want for Christmas is you

Let them ring the bells
They won't miss us
I'll be drinking down your kisses

Deep into the night we'll go stealing
Underneath a starry ceiling
Revealing
...

White lights on the Christmas tree
Thank God you are here with me
All I ever get for Christmas is blue
All I ever get for Christmas is blue
All I ever get for Christmas is blue.

Happy Holidays!
-- David M Gordon / The Deipnosophist

We interrupt this broadcast for a moment of beauty

I listen to a lot of music, and most of it is good, very good indeed; rarely, though, is it great, for the ages, Art. With a capital A. I consider Hem [to be] rara avis, as do may critics. Below is a snippet from Michael Hill's review of Hem's, Funnel Cloud:

“Hem’s third studio album, Funnel Cloud, features songs of such carefully crafted, dream-like beauty that it’s almost impossible to place exactly where they’ve come from or even in what era they might have been recorded. You can hear a subtle country twang, the storytelling simplicity of great folk music, a touch of Tin Pan Alley sophistication. They at times recall the emotionally stirring sweep of movie music from an age when the best pictures were shot in Cinemascope and orchestras crowded onto sound stages to perform the scores. These tunes are so immediately involving, sometimes so soothingly familiar, that you’ll insist you know them - and love them - already. Hem exists very much in the here and now, but always manages to evoke the timeless."

Yeah, you got that right. When I shared Hem with you 2 weeks ago, I selected a song from their first CD, Half-Acre, a slow moving ballad. I thought I would up the ante, and speed, with their song, Not California, and Sally Ellyson's big voice, and that mind-blowingly fantastic closing refrain...

Yes a moment of beauty, as we investors wait impatiently for tomorrow's close of business -- the final business day for redemptions at hedge funds. Thankfully, too, as forced, indiscriminate selling by hedge funds is the cause of much of the markets' havoc the past 2 months.
-- David M Gordon / The Deipnosophist

Music for the Weekend -- a-Hem

Ever hear of the band, Hem? No? Well their lyrics are genius, and frequently verge on poetry. Consider this sample:

The sidewalk bends where your house ends
Like the neighborhood is on its knees
You're surrounded by a chain-link fence
That keeps me out but lets me see

Well I come by most every night
The shutters pounding in the breeze
A clothesline strung like paper kites
That blow my words right back at me
(from Stupid Mouth Shut -- Hem)

The band has an alternative country feel to it, but they are far removed from traditional country music. In that way, they share a similar aesthetic to Brandi Carlile and Patty Griffin, two other astoundingly excellent musicians I have shared with you. The story behind the band's indefatigable quest to find their lead singer is enchanting. And then they found Sally Ellyson, whose vocal talent is truly amazing; she makes the music haunting, which is the best type of music (for me).

Many of you will recognize the band's song, Half Acre, which was used by Liberty Mutual Insurance for a commercial...

Half Acre

I am holding half an acre
torn from the map of Michigan
and folded in this scrap of paper
is a land I grew in

Think of every town you've lived in
every room you lay your head
and what is it that you remember?

Do you carry every sadness with you
every hour your heart was broken
every night the fear and darkness
lay down with you

A man is walking on the highway
A woman stares out at the sea
and light is only now just breaking

So we carry every sadness with us
every hour our hearts were broken
every night the fear and darkness
lay down with us

But I am holding half an acre
torn from the map of Michigan
I am carrying this scrap of paper
that can crack the darkest sky wide open
every burden taken from me
every night my heart unfolding
my home

Hem's most recent CD, Funnel Cloud, is widely considered their best to date, which is no wonder because the arrangements are lush(er), and Sally's voice soars with power. Listen to Not California or I'll Dream of You Tonight for two stunning examples.

Purchase @ Amazon

Lucky us, though; Hem will release a new CD early next year (2009). They can consider me, at least, to be a ready audience. I only hope their tour in support of the new CD brings the band somewhere close to me, so that I can enjoy them up close and personal.

Really, can contemporary music possibly get any better than this...?
-- David M Gordon / The Deipnosophist

Music for the rest of the weekend

Okay, I admit that current market conditions usurp my ability to post many items in a timely fashion -- but who cares about market-related posts when there is so much excellent music to share, and not enough weekends to share it all?! And even though this weekend now qualifies as half over (Really?!), what better time than now to share some fine, fun music?

I have listened to, and enjoyed immeasurably, Laura Marling's (My Space) debut CD, Alas, I Cannot Swim, for several months now...

The truth is that its many qualities keep growing on me. Does that not reflect a mature artist, one who wants her music to haunt you for months to come? (Rather than bop you over the head with the sheer power of her musical genius.) But can Laura be only 18 years old? Sheesh, a record contract with a major label, and a talent for catchy hooks so infectious that she actually down-plays them...

As was the situation with Amy MacDonald, I was hard-pressed to decide which song by Laura to share; in the end, I went with the first single, Ghosts. This song compares favorably with early Joni Mitchell, (in particular, Joni's For The Roses), a heck of a high bar to surmount, and which Laura hurdles with ease. Laura's writing displays an obvious playfulness, which the lyrics betray, as does her singing. Listen carefully to hear what I mean, albeit to other songs from her CD.

Ghosts - Laura Marling

He walked down a busy street
Staring solely at his feet
Clutching pictures of past lovers at his side

Stood at the table where she sat
And removed his hat
In respect of her presence.

Presents her with the pictures and says
These are just ghosts that broke my heart before I met you
These are just ghosts that broke my heart before I met you.

Opened up his little heart
Unlocked the lock that kept it dark
And read a written warning
Saying I'm still mourning
Over ghosts
Over ghosts
Over ghosts
Over ghosts
That broke my heart before I met you.

Lover, please do not
Fall to your knees
It’s not
Like I believe in
Everlasting love.

He went crazy at nineteen
Said he'd lost all his self-esteem
And couldn't understand why he was
crying, crying, crying, crying...

He would stare at empty chairs
Think of the ghosts who once sat there
The ghosts that broke his heart.
Oh the ghosts that broke my heart
The ghosts that broke his heart
Oh the ghosts that broke my heart
The ghosts the ghosts the ghosts the ghosts the ghosts the ghosts
The ghosts that broke my heart before I met you.

Lover, please do not
Fall to your knees
It’s not
Like I believe in
Everlasting love.

He says I'm so lost,
Not at all well
Ooooooooooohhh
Ooooooooooohhh.

Do as done and there is nothing left to be
Turned out I'd been following him and he'd been following me
Do as done after it was over
We were just two lovers crying on each others shoulder
And I said

Lover, please do not
Fall to your knees
It’s not
Like I believe in
Everlasting love

Lover, please do not
Fall to your knees
It’s not
Like I believe in
Everlasting love.

So, what do you think...?
-- David M Gordon / The Deipnosophist

THIS is the Life!

Amy MacDonald's debut CD, This is the Life, simply astounds me. I like every single track (I can recall off-hand only one other CD in which I like every single song), and marvel over each aspect of her many talents: writer, lyricist, singer, composer, arranger, and band leader. Oh, and humble; Amy seems like an especially fine person.

But her talent wow's me. My difficulty was which song to select from her fine, fine CD to reinitiate the "Music to kick-start the weekend" series, so I did the sensible thing: I selected the title track...

This is the Life -- Amy MacDonald

Amy's website: http://www.amymacdonald.co.uk/

An interesting review of Amy's CD ratifies my perspective, although I am very interested to read your comments.

Really, though, listen to the entire CD. Better yet, buy it, and enjoy one astounding moment after another. Thank you, Amy.
-- David M Gordon / The Deipnosophist

What is that song... and who is the singer?!

You probably wonder precisely that, if you have seen the General Motors/GM ad that airs during the Olympic Games. In fact, I know you do, because the hits to my blog have been fast and furious, after a search points users here.

Here...? To a blog that talks about investing? Yes, because I featured Brandi Carlile, her phenomenal talent, and that very song (The Story) almost 18 months ago. So music and investing are not dissimilar, after all; the quest is to know what the masses will want before they have even an inkling.

Want to know more? Then click on this link to read that old post.
-- David M Gordon / The Deipnosophist

Message From Your Heart

Talent, it seems, runs in the family.

Many readers will recall the insights of Scott Grannis, the Chief Economist at Western Asset Management. But the talent at Scott's family runs deeper; Scott's niece, Kina Grannis, has just won the Doritos competition; As a result, her winning song aired during last night's Super Bowl...

Kina now has a recording contract (with Interscope), and many other videos of her songs are available on her websites. I suspect we will hear more, much more, from Kina in the future.

Congratulations to Kina, and the entire Grannis family!
-- David M Gordon / The Deipnosophist