New Year’s Eve’s Top 5 Music Obsessions feature some wonderful women in music, a newish track from a group I loved as a child, and a new discovery band of mine. Part of my resolutions is to write more and get back to growing lyriquediscorde. Look for some new features along with the regulars, like the daily Top 5 Music Obsessions. I’m always hungry for new music so please email with recommendations – lyrique.discorde@gmail.com.
I love new years, first days, and fresh starts. They are definitely my jam. My new paper journal and daily organizer are itching for their first markings. Writing by hand is another one of my resolutions, along with getting back to my novel. On the more personal side, I’m looking forward to a new year with my family, and the man I love. I have huge hopes for 2019 and am going to do what I can to keep those hopes, and my optimism intact. The last few months of this year have been rough ones, but every day is a new chance to change.
All we can really do is our best. All we can really do is decide to make things better, and try try try…keep trying…and then try some more. That’s what I plan to do in 2019.
That and obsess over tons and tons of music. Who’s with me on that?
Top 5 Music Obsessions – Monday, December 31, 2018
Lyriquediscorde
1. “Siren” by Kailee Morgue
from the single, “Siren” (2018)
“There’s a bright side,
to every wrong thing,
if you’re looking at me through the right eyes.”
One of my daughter’s favorites, Kailee Morgue is on heavy rotation whenever she takes over my car stereo.
Indie pop goodness that is reminiscent of Banks’ first album (Goddess), Billie Eilish, and early/mid-career Madonna (especially in style and sensibility – check out the video above and see if you “see” it).
Kailee also reminds me of my daughter (who introduced her music to me), especially in style (visual and musical). Kailee describes herself as an introvert, who is the second oldest of six kids. She credits her music love to Stevie Nicks, Gwen Stefani, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, and many many more. She picked up her first guitar at ten years old and started to post tracks on Soundcloud in her teens (both things are also similar to my daughter – guitar and Soundcloud postings alike).
2. “Ghosts” by Laura Marling
from the album, Alas I Cannot Swim (2011)
“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.”
I’ve loved Laura Marling’s singing, songwriting, and vocal sound ever since I heard the song (and the Ryan Adams mention) “New Romantic”.
“Ghosts” was the next song I heard, and with this one, I was hooked on Laura’s music. And hey, she has a very cool first name, too. “Ghosts” is the opening track off of Laura’s 2011 album, Alas I Cannot Swim. It is a realistic track about the complications of loving someone who isn’t quite over a past heartbreak.
Although we all have those kinds of ghosts inside of us, some seem more affected by the echoes of past break-ups. They are haunted by their heartbreak, and the person, or persons, who hurt them seem to carry a power over them, even if years have passed since they were together.
I’ve tried to put all my ghosts to rest, or at least I think I’ve made peace with them, finding closure and letting them go. I think it is vital to do that before you love someone new because it hurts to be with someone who hasn’t let the past go, and who gets wrapped up in the ghosts from their past. If it happens. If you fall in love with someone who is still so haunted, the best you can do is hang on tight, be patient, remember they are just ghosts, and not people still in their life, and try try try not to get hurt by it. That last part is so hard though as it does hurt your heart…a lot…but try.
“Ghosts” (live) by Laura Marling
3. “Silent All These Years” by Tori Amos
from the album, Little Earthquakes (1992)
“Excuse me,
but can I be you for a while?
My dog won’t bite if you sit real still.
I got the Anti-Christ in the kitchen yellin’ at me again.
Yeah, I can hear that.
Been saved again by the garbage truck.
I got something to say,
you know,
but nothing comes.
Yes,
I know what you think of me,
you never shut up.
Yeah, I can hear that.”
This song is everything I was in 1992. This song is everything I was for most of the ’90s really. This song is everything I was in my twenties, and into some of my thirties, too.
This song. This album. Tori. Sometimes I think I wouldn’t have made it through 1992 without it, or the 90’s, or my twenties, and some of my thirties. I still play it and feel it to my bones. That said, I’m grateful that some of this song is no longer applicable to my life, but it is still my history. And yes, it is still sometimes my present, too.
Our stories and our histories are always with us. They are in our blood, our DNA, our voice, and the way we see the world. Our stories and our histories are part of the way we love, too.
This song, and the album Little Earthquakes was life-changing, and life-affirming, to me. It felt like a buoy being thrown out to a girl who was drowning. I’d never found a song, or album before that time that I understood so deeply, to my bones deeply, and also felt so understood within. I clung to this song for dear life at the age of 23, and now, at the age of 49, I still feel it, and understand it, “to my bones” deep.
“Silent All These Years” is the third track on Tori’s 1992 album, Little Earthquakes. It was initially a B-side of Amos’ debut solo single, “Me And a Gun.” The decision to release it in the UK came after Radio One named it “Song Of The Week.”
It was Amos’ first chart entry in the UK peaking at #51. Nine months later, after the success of “Winter,” it was re-released this time reaching #26. In the United States, it was released on cassette as her first single. (from Songfacts)
Tori said on VH1 Storytellers that she originally wrote this song with Al Stewart in mind to sing it, and her then-boyfriend Eric Rosse, who was producing some other songs Amos had composed, heard it and told her, “You’re out of your mind. That’s your life story.”
“Silent All These Years” (live) by Tori Amos
4. “Me and Magdalena” by The Monkees
from the album, Good Times! (2016)
“Me and Magdalena,
We’re driving south through Monterey,
as the sun is slowly sinking,
into a distant ocean wave.
And, I don’t know if I’ve ever loved any other.
half as much as I do,
in this light she’s under.”
This is such a romantic song, the kind that makes my heart both melt and ache. It makes me miss driving to San Francisco with my love. It makes me long for us to be able to take another trip…soon.
I loved The Monkees as a young girl. I’d sing-a-long to “Daydream Believer” and “The Last Train to Clarksville” during the summer while listening on my transistor radio, or in the car with my mom singing-a-long with me. Later, I’d fall for their version of “The Whole Wide World”, and “(I’m Not Your) Stepping Stone”.
I had The Monkees Greatest Hits on vinyl, and later on cassette. I played them both to death (or to life, depending on your perspective). I was slow to find The Monkees’ 2016 album Good Times! But, once I found it, I was blown away. This is a great album, different, unexpected, brilliant.
“Me and Magdalena” is so beautiful. It reminds me of some of Simon and Garfunkel, Dawes, and even a little like Death Cab For Cutie/Ben Gibbard. The track also reminds me of the song “Josephine” by The Wallflowers.
Even though original member of The Monkees Mike Nesmith declined to tour in support of the album, Good Times! — he left the band a few years back — he does appear on the album, The Monkees’ first since 1996. In fact, he sings lead in this song, “Me and Magdalena.”
“Me and Magdalena” was written for The Monkees by Death Cab For Cutie’s Ben Gibbard (which explains my ear hearing Death Cab/Gibbard in it).
“Me and Magdelena” (live) by The Monkees
5. “The Oil Rigs at Night” by The Delines
from the album, Colfax (2014)
“And every time I’d see his sister,
or his mom would stop by,
I’d feel like I was cutting in,
or being cut by a knife.
To live without love is easier,
than lying day and night.”
The Delines are a new discovery of mine. I found this track – “The Oil Rigs at Night” – in a Spotify Discover Weekly Playlist a few weeks back, and have been obsessed with it ever since.
It reminds me a bit of Bob Dylan, if Bob made out with Edie Brickell and Beth Hart, in terms of storytelling. Bridging an unseen gap between country and folk, “The Oil Rigs at Night” is full of folk sensibilities, folk with an edge. Indie Folk Rock, or something similar.
This song feels like the end of a long road trip, and fits in perfectly with Cowboy Junkies’ song, “200 More Miles”, and “Call Me On Your Way Back Home”, by Ryan Adams.
“The Oil Rigs at Night” (live) by The Delines
Top 5 Music Obsessions – Week of December 31, 2018
