i will remember you
A lot of the music I like gets its power from innovation and an off-beat groove. A lot of speech we hear, especially in this political season, does what it does by playing fast and lose with ordinary logic and meaning.
So hearing this, by surprise, today, I was hit by the power of familiarity and lack of “groove”: a few notes, played straightforward and unembellished, that just says what needs to be said.
categories: music
posted by what at 06:10 pm
I’m thinking “From Here To Eternity”.. Hawaii.. Obama.
If I stop thinking, and listen to the reveille, I hear an inherent sense of loss, but also of promise.
Lyrical mood aside, but still on the subject of what feels genuine and what doesn’t, I was wondering about this election, and how the voices of your two Democratic candidates translate, once they travel across the pond and hit European ears.
(If this is too much politics for one music blog, please erase, what..)
I recently saw Hillary Clinton interviewed on a Letterman show from the night before Super-Tuesday. She gave out a really weird vibe. Like she would be this vulnerable, flawed, cool, brainy, geeky person if she let go for one second, but she never did. And so she came across as naturally introvert, not without a sense of humour, but someone who forced herself to play some sort of charade, and was smiling the strangest, most unnatural smile I’ve ever seen. She played her part really well, that’s not what I’m saying, she was just completely unrelaxed, and I ended up feeling sorry for her, oddly enough. In the debates I’ve seen, she seems really smart and capable. It’s just when she has to project some kind of social, bantering, personal side, she comes across as almost creepy. So is she this corrupt, power-mad person? It can be difficult to see and hear straight from over here, and the Clintons were always extremely popular. And is Obama as charismatic and believable as one is told? One of my weekly paper’s really excellent correspondents had a long article about how he’d gone to both Obama and Clinton election meetings, and he thought Obama was the best speaker he’d ever heard. And he had been so moved, although he couldn’t actually remember what had been said, he was still moved right at the moment he was writing the very article. And that’s someone who is normally very rational and concise. The journalist. So I just thought his take was an interesting one. Because it was about what felt genuine, and allowing that to play a part in your assessment.
So beautiful and sad — but the lullaby lyrics soften the pain –
Day is done,
Gone the sun,
From the lake, from the hills, from the sky.
All is well, safely rest,
God is nigh.
I sang this to all my babies.