Already Friday. The week went by in a blur. Monday I was post-vaccine foggy and achy, and Tuesday through Thursday I worked insane hours. Sleep was scarce. Doing anything beyond work was scarce. But…I made it to the other side, and now it’s Friday.
Time for some music.
Give Me Five – April 9, 2021
Listen (and follow along for April’s GM5) on Spotify and YouTube
Song 1: “Bittersweet Me” by R.E.M.
“I couldn’t taste it.
I’m tired and naked.
I don’t know what I’m hungry for.
I don’t know what I want anymore.”
I picked a random playlist from the vast collection I have, and this was the first song to play. I forget how much I love R.E.M.’s 1996 album, New Adventures in Hi-Fi. Today, I remember.
This song is resonating hard with me today, especially after the week I’ve had.
Do you have a favorite R.E.M. album? Is there one that you think is underrated, and that you sometimes forget how much you love it?
To hear more R.E.M., and to help support their music, go here.
Song 2: “Rocket Man ” by Elton John
“And, I think it’s gonna be a long, long time,
’til touchdown brings me ’round again to find,
I’m not the man they think I am at home –
Oh, no, no, no,
I’m a rocket man.”
Oh my stars, I love 70’s Elton John music so much. The songs, they are embedded deep in my soul, in my DNA, in all that what has made me stuff. I don’t remember hearing his music in our house growing up. I don’t think my mother was much of a fan. She told me that my dad was, though, so maybe that’s why she never played him.
Somehow, though, I found the songs, and albums, on my own – at a young age – and fell in love with them. I never grow tired of hearing those songs.
Today I wanted to hear this one.
To hear more of Elton, and to support his music, go here.
Song 3: “Southern Nights” by Whitney
“Southern skies.
Have you ever noticed,
Southern skies?
It’s precious beauty,
lies just beyond the eye.
It goes running through the soul,
like the stories told of old.”
It really wouldn’t be me if there wasn’t a cover song in the Give Me Five song selections, now would it?
I remember my grandmother playing Glen Campbell’s version of “Southern Nights” when I was a kid. I loved it, learned the lyrics, and sang-a-long.
Digging Whitney’s version today.
To hear more from Whitney, and to support their music, go here.
Song 4: “Call Me a Fool” by Valerie June, featuring Carla Thomas
“Yeah, but they call me a fool.
Darling, they call me a fool.
For your love, baby.
And I’ll be a fool any time.
And I’ll be a fool any time.
Any time for loving you.”
This is so beautiful.
I can’t stop listening to it.
The whole new album is fantastic.
To hear more of Valerie June, and to support her music, go here.
Song 5: “Voices Carry” by ‘Til Tuesday
“He wants me, but only part of the time.
He wants me, if he can keep me in line.”
My first introduction to Aimee Mann, one of my all-time favorite singer-songwriters.
I remember the video playing on MTV all the time, in 1985. I loved it, and loved the song, and album, too.
C’mon. You know you want to press play, turn up the volume, and sing-a-long. “Hush, hush…keep it down now…voices carry.”
To hear more Aimee Mann, and help to support her music, go here.
