Hello 2019, is that New Starts and Good Luck in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me? I’m sure glad to see you. Though there were some amazing things that happened in 2018, and some lovely memories, I am ready for it to be in the past. The last few months of the year got rough in ways I didn’t expect, and it took a toll on me. But, I’m still standing, as Elton John would sing, and I’m ready for 2019 to be better, and for me to be better, as well.
My resolutions are written. My wishes have been made. Music is playing, and I’m so very hopeful. So, bring it on, 2019. My 50th year (come March) on this earth. I’m planning on it being the best year yet.
“Laura” by Bat For Lashes
from the album, The Haunted Man (2012)
Song of the Day
“When your smile is so wide,
and your heels are so high,
you can’t cry.
Get your glad rags on,
and let’s sing-a-long,
to that lonely song.
You’re the train that crashed my heart.
You’re the glitter in the dark.
Oh, Laura,
you’re more than a superstar.”
What’s in a name, and what does it say about who you are, or who you will become as your life unfolds? A name is chosen by someone else. Then how does that name become what we are? Does our name define us before we’re even aware of it? Or do we mold our name into part of who we are as we get older? Do we grow into our name? Does it become us, or do we become it?
As someone who’s named three children, I’ve wrestled and wondered on this for a long, long time.
I have a theory that I’ve built on over the years that my first name (Laura), whenever used fictionally or artistically (films, books, song titles, song lyrics, TV, etc.), it is always associated with death and/or loss. Music especially seems to use the name for both scenarios, or for insanity (loss of sanity is still a loss).
From my namesake movie (see pictured), Laura, the noir tale of a detective that falls for the presumed dead Laura whose death he is investigating, to Laura Palmer, found dead and wrapped in plastic in the pilot of “Twin Peaks”, to the Bat For Lashes song “Laura”, about a Laura who is past her prime, and past her sanity.
“Laura” is the fifth track off of Bat For Lashes third studio album, The Haunted Man, released in 2012. It was written by Natasha Khan and Justin Parker. The song debuted on the radio when Zane Lowe played it on the BBC Radio 1 show, as part of the “Hottest Record in the World” series, in July of 2012. (from Wikipedia)
Khan composed the song with Justin Parker, the co-writer of Lana del Rey’s “Video Games.” She told Mojo magazine:
“I’d written all the other songs for the album, but the label was giving me a tough time about there not being any singles. I didn’t want to go down the obvious pop route and I noticed there were no piano ballads this time – mainly because I’d bored myself to death doing dark, subversive piano songs. I’d heard the Lana Del Rey stuff and noticed the quality of the writing, and I’ve always liked ’70s singer-songwriter things, so I decided to ask Justin to help me write something that was more of a conventional ballad. We worked on chord structures and other elements, winding our way around each other until we had a really strong piece of songwriting.”
“Laura” (live) by Bat For Lashes
What songs share your name? Do they embody who you are? Do they feel like a mantra or a theme song? Or are they completely different than who you see yourself as?
Happy New Year’s everyone! Here’s to a fantastic, musically obsessed 2019 and here’s to another year at Lyriquediscorde!
lyriquediscorde 