Musical Musings

Lately, I've had to battle myself in order to be in a good mood.  This is not a common thing for me. I mean, we all have bad days, but I am usually one who can shake it off fairly quickly. But not recently. I've been dealing with a couple of personal things, things I'm not quite ready to talk about publicly, and it's just getting me down. I'm finding it hard to keep said things from taking over my mind. Like, 24/7.

I don't mean for this to become so cryptic, it's just an important piece of the Musical Musings puzzle. See, music, as I've mentioned many times before, is a major part of my life. And it often gives insight into my moods. For example, if I'm listening to Bon Iver, I'm probably stuck inside my own head. Or if I'm listening to The Avett Brothers, I'm probably in a happy place. So lately, I've been trying to trick myself. I have been playing music that makes me feel really happy, hopeful and takes me somewhere else.

I'll get to the point.

Right now, I cannot get enough of the song "We Are Young" by Fun. (feat. Janelle Monáe). It just fills my soul with joy! It's the type of song that makes me want to just dance around with my friends. So, I've been listening to it a lot. For the 3-4 minutes that it plays, I can escape my thoughts and just let the music lift me up. So, Brittany, Lindsay, Kim - I'm looking at you girls. Dance party circa Phil's Deck?

Edit: Some people have said they can't get the video to play. If you are one of those people, click here.

Musical Musings

I don't listen to a ton of "mainstream" music on the radio. Especially country. Quite frankly, I find most of the "new" country they play on the radio a bit repulsive. (Sorry.) But there are a few country artists I really love. I've purchased exactly one country album this year...and it's this one.

This song hits really, really close to home with me (pun intended?). I can't listen to it without tearing up. It's like she climbed inside my soul to write this song. (It's also refreshing that someone else feels this way.)

The House That Built Me
Miranda Lambert
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQYNM6SjD_o&ob=av2e

I know they say you cant go home again
I just had to come back one last time
Ma'am I know you don't know me from Adam.
But these handprints on the front steps are mine.
And up those stairs, in that little back bedroom
Is where I did my homework and I learned to play guitar
And I bet you didn't know under that live oak
My favorite dog is buried in the yard

I thought if I could touch this place or feel it
This brokenness inside me might start healing
Out here its like I'm someone else
I thought that maybe I could find myself
If I could just come in I swear I'll leave
Won't take nothing but a memory
From the house that built me

Mama cut out pictures of houses for years
From 'Better Homes and Garden' magazines
Plans were drawn, concrete poured, and nail by nail and board by board
Daddy gave life to mama's dream

I thought if I could touch this place or feel it
This brokenness inside me might start healing
Out here its like I'm someone else
I thought that maybe I could find myself
If I could just come in I swear I'll leave
Won't take nothing but a memory
From the house that built me

You leave home, you move on and you do the best you can
I got lost in this whole world and forgot who I am

I thought if I could touch this place or feel it
This brokenness inside me might start healing
Out here its like I'm someone else
I thought that maybe I could find myself
If I could walk around I swear I'll leave
Won't take nothing but a memory
From the house that built me

♥

Musical Musings

I haven't done a Musical Musings post in a while, because I don't want them to be a forced thing. Like, "Oh I have to do one every week." I want it to be when music hits me a certain way.

Sometimes I think my iPod can read my mind. It's like it knows exactly what to play (note: sometimes) exactly when I need to hear it. I've had this album since it came out in 2007 and I wore the actual disc out. I know every word to every song on the album...but have a few favorites. This is one of them. I hadn't heard it in quite a while because I'd taken it off my iPod. I decided to add it back on and am so glad I did.

The Minnow and The Trout
A Fine Frenzy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2_3feh6O4A

Help me out said the minnow to the trout
I was lost and found myself swimming in your mouth
Oh, oh, help me chief
I've got to plans for you and me
I swear upon this riverbed
I'll help you feel young again

Not your every day circumstance
The humming bird taking coffee with the ants and I said
Please, I know that we're different
But we were one cell in the sea in the beginning
And what we're made of
Was all the same once
We're not that different after all

Help me up said the eagle to the duck
I've fallen from my nest so high above
Oh, oh, Help me fly
I am too afraid try
Now saddled with a fear of heights
I'm praying you can set me right
Not your everyday circumstance
The elephant sharing peanuts with the rats and I said
Please I know that we're different
We were one cell in the sea in the beginning
And what we're made of was all the same once
We're not that different after all

We are tied in history
Wide-connected like a family

So please, I know that we're different
We were one cell in the sea in the beginning
And what we're made of
Was all the same once
We're all the same
We're not that different after all

This song strikes a chord with me. It's a view I've had for a long time - "we're not that different after all". I just find it to be such a good reminder and I'm so glad my iPod shuffled it into my morning mix.

Musical Musings

Let me start by saying, I have been in a pretty "Debbie Downer" mood the past two days. I'm dealing with some serious self-reflection and it's been tough going down that road...again. This song is one that really lifts me up and makes me look at the BIG picture. In fact, for a couple of weeks now, I've been meaning to blog about this song, but today feels right.

WARNING: If you have a problem with my hippy ways, stop reading now...because this song is all about loving everyone and being free. ;)

This song is by a Matisyahu. He is a Hasidic reggae musician. (Yes, you read that right.) And he is fantastic. Ryan actually introduced me to his music several years ago with his Live at Stubbs album and I was hooked. I've loved all of his stuff, but none more than this song. It gives me goosebumps head to toe. (As most songs I will share in my Musical Musings posts do.)

Matisyahu - One Day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRmBChQjZPs

Sometimes I lay
Under the moon
And thank God I'm breathing
Then I pray
Don't take me soon
Cause I am here for a reason

Sometimes in my tears I drown
But I never let it get me down
So when negativity surrounds
I know some day it'll all turn around
Because
All my life I've been waiting for
I've been praying for
For the people to say
That we don't wanna fight no more
There be no more wars
And our children will play

One day...

It's not about
Win or lose
Because we all lose
When they feed on the souls of the innocent
Blood drenched pavement
Keep on moving though the waters stay raging
In this maze you can lose your way
It might drive you crazy but don't let it faze you no way, no way

Sometimes in my tears I drown
But I never let it get me down
So when negativity surrounds
I know some day it'll all turn around
Because
All my life I've been waiting for
I've been praying for
For the people to say
That we don't wanna fight no more
There be no more wars
And our children will play

One day...

One day this all will change
Treat people the same
Stop with the violence
Down the the hate
One day we'll all be free
And proud to be
Under the same sun
Singing songs of freedom like

One day, one day...

All my life I've been waiting for
I've been praying for
For the people to say
That we don't wanna fight no more
There be no more wars
And our children will play

One day...

Musical Musings

Music is a really integral part of my life. It always has been. For as far back as my memory goes, I've been involved in some type of music. Children's choir at church starting at age 4. Musical theater and voice lessons starting at age 8. Middle school choir, followed by high school regular choir, show choir and drama. Community theater (for a few years) after high school. I even sang with a band for a year or so. Recently, I have not been involved in music first hand, but it is just as important to me now as it ever was. But I digress. This isn't about me, because these days it seems the musical impact is more from OTHER people's music than my own. This morning while driving to work, one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite singer/songwriters came on my iPod. It's one of those songs I get lost in. Like, the songwriter was hanging out in my soul when he wrote it. So, I've decided to share it.

Metal & Wood - by Tyrone Wells (Click to Listen)

Take all the metal and wood
Used in the waging of war
And teach the men who make those weapons
To build shelter for the poor

Take all the money we spend
On the way that we appear
Find the ones who die of hunger
And help them live another year

Before we fade away
Let's make a better day
This world will keep on turning
After we are gone, long gone

There was a forest I loved
Where the air was fresh and clean
We took the forest for a factory
So we could build some more machines

When I was young I learned to sing
And music blossomed in my soul
We took the music from the schools
And left the darkest, gaping hole

Where will our children be?
If they don't learn to see?
Millions of voices falling silent til' they're gone

When we were young
All the world was new
But soon we found
The childhood fairy tales were never true
And how the story ends
Depends on you
And me

Where will our children be?
If they don't learn to see?
Millions of voices falling silent til they're gone

Before we fade away
Let's make a better day
This world will keep on turning
After we are gone
After you are gone
After I am gone, long gone

Seriously, I got goosebumps just typing out the lyrics. And while all of it speaks of things that are in my heart, there is one part that makes me think. "Take all the money we spend, On the way that we appear, Find the ones who die of hunger, And help them live another year". I DO spend money on material things, and I'm not saying we shouldn't. I will always buy make-up, clothing and things of the like, but maybe I don't need to buy quite so much of it. Maybe that extra could be better used...

This may end up being a reoccurring post type. After all, my closest friends will tell you that my favorite thing to do in this world is to share music. It only makes sense for it to show up on my blog. :)

The Script – Concert "Review"

Last night, Brittany, Kim & I saw Irish band The Script at the House of Blues in Dallas. As previously mentioned, I’ve been to a LOT of concerts/live shows in my life. It’s just something I really, really enjoy doing. Some concerts left me wondering why I ever like that artist/band in the first place. This was not one of those times.

First, the House of Blues is an awesome venue because even if you are midway back in the room (like we were) it feels very intimate. Second, The Script is one of my favorite bands, so I walked in with pretty high expections...only to have them blown right out of the water. Danny O'Donoghue (the lead singer) would ask every so often for the house lights to be turned up so he could see everyone, and then he would thoughtfully sit on the drum deck and just grin from ear to ear looking at all the people there for THEM. Not only were his vocals absolutely flawless, but the energy of all 3 band members never dropped for a second as they danced around the stage and shared stories between songs. But what stood out to me the most? They were humble and appreciative. Danny O'Donoghue took the time to step down into the crowd to hug and high five as many people as he could reach and when the lights would come up it was obvious that all three of them were trying their hardest to make eye contact with every single person in that room.

I know I’ve really harped on their personalities and stage presence, so I should probably talk about the music now! I first heard of The Script close to three years ago. They were on XM’s The Pulse doing a radio interview before their album dropped so I listened to their totally sexy Irish accents all the way home. After a good 15 minutes of chatting they played the first The Script song I ever heard. “The Man Who Can’t Be Moved”. For me, this song felt SO personal…and I actually had to pull over on the side of the road because I was crying so hard. Yup. I’m THAT girl. I loved his voice from that very first moment…and I felt like that song embodied a very personal struggle that I felt when Ryan & I had broken up years before. At the time I first heard this song, Ryan & I were engaged and planning our wedding…but the song took me back to before fate brought us back together. Well, when they played that song last night…I’ll openly admit, I cried. In public. At a concert. For a few brief moments, there was no one else in the room. Hearing his pristine voice effortlessly sing every word, I couldn’t help but relate to Roberta Flack's “Killing Me Softly”…but in a good way.

I’ve really only talked about Danny, which is totally unfair because both Mark Sheehan (guitar) and Glen Power (drums) were also phenomenal. Mark Sheehan was hilarious and I don’t think he ever stopped moving! And I’m pretty picky about drummers…maybe because I’m married to a drummer (who has set his sticks down…for now), he always points out what makes a good drummer…good. Well, Glen Power was great.

Here are some pictures from the show:

Hugo - the opener

Me, Brittany and Kim.

We were SO ready for The Script!

The Script

Mark Sheehan

Danny O'Donoghue

(SWOON!)

Glen Power

My favorite shot of the night of Danny O'Donoghue

This was pretty awesome. When the lights went up, Mark Sheehan asked if he could take our picture. It was a really neat moment as they all stepped back to "appreciate" all of us. He then posted it on Twitter. :) Such a cool trio of guys.

So…taking this entire blog-novel into consideration, I think I can safely say The Script ranks in my top 5 best concerts ever. In fact, I think they have even broken into the top 3…