ten (theme: gotta have more harmonica!)

[amethysting.livejournal.com]

Star Position
Marcellus Hall
The First Line
2011

I think some times the harmonica is a bit underrated. 
People think of the harmonica and think, "Hmph, not cool man, not cool."
I think the harmonica is kind of nifty.  It's a fun word to say.  It makes a strange sound--kind of like the air being let out of something.  Plus, plus, there are those awesome harmonica holders musicians can wear so that they can play guitar and the harmonica SIMULTANEOUSLY (see photographic evidence below).

This theme was influenced by Bob Dylan.  I've been listening to Bringing It All Back Home, which stars Bob's raspy voice and...the harmonica!  Taking a break from Bob, with the iPod on shuffle, "Star Position" came on and started up with that harmonica and friendly beat.  A beat that made me want to smile and bob my head and body up and down the street.  Next thing I know, I'm smiling wider and surpressing a laugh as I walk past the dry cleaners, defunct depanneur and Pizza Pizza on the last stretch on my way to work.  And I thought, OH MY GOD, JILL HAS TO HEAR THIS.

"If you're single you can sleep in the star position...
...Buy a ticket you can go now
No one has to know...
...You don't have to smile and fake it
You can take the entire blanket"

Hahaha, funny AND TRUE.  I just like the fact that this song came as a total surprise.  I downloaded the album from Magiska and I think the album was tagged singer-songwriter, folk.  But then this little snarky gem floods into my headphones and I don't know what to make of it.

Halfway through the song, he mentions "seeking possible romances", but that could lead to:

"Backseat driver, armchair general
Very harmful and not so helpful
In the theme park eating fast foods
But you were in one of your moods"

Haha, I died, and thought yeah man, I so do not have to relinquish my TV remote to an "armchair general".  And I'm pretty happy about that.  And the "one of your moods"...it just makes me think of the times I've been out with some of my friends and their boyfriends and how that little shift in mood (over something that doesn't seem like THAT big of a deal) can sort of hang over the entire outing like smog in Mexico.  That mood can make the fast food taste bad, man. 

I enjoy the "ohhhh ba bas" (nice, old school background vocals there) and that rocking harmonica solo towards the end.  I love "like a Nagasaki of the soul"; the way he drags out Nagasaki and the way the words sound when they are sung together.  Love me that tambourine--and the fact that it's the last little rattle at the end of the song.

ten. [THEME: gotta have more harmonica!]

[cabaretlights.livejournal.com]

Isn't She Lovely
Stevie Wonder
Songs in the Key of Life
1976

♥: This community is changing the way I listen to music. I am loving discovering all these new songs -- you haven't posted any that've left me underwhelmed -- and I am loving how I listen so carefully to every song, to see if it will be a good one to post one day. It's like slow food for the musical sect: I am savouring every note. Part of this savouring is helped by the accompanying post. I find myself looking forward to your reasons for choosing the song about as much as I look forward to the song itself -- the story behind the music means everything, sometimes.
This is one of those times -- because all this discovery and savouring is great, but the preamble leads to this: sometimes the discovery pales in comparison to the rediscovery.

When you posted the picture of that infernal instrument, these exact words went through my mind: "OH WHAT THE HELL STEPHANIE" (said with a grin and much love, of course, because half the fun is working to fit these themes!). My mind continued with "I feel like I don't have a single song in my library that even has a harmonica in it."
And then, my mind started randomly playing strange notes in a high-pitched tone ----- which ended up being the harmonica solo from Stevie Wonder's Isn't She Lovely (though I didn't realize it until much later).

This song, you see, was one of my dad's favourites.
I have to set the scene a bit: picture a father who, even when strapped for cash, always had to have the latest audio equipment. In our basement, we had an entire room devoted to The Sound System (I wasn't allowed to touch the CD player until I was in high school. BIG DEAL.). My dad and I would sit on the couch and quietly listen to his favourite albums all the way through (one of my earliest memories is listening to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon at 4 years old). He taught me to appreciate music for music, not background noise -- to be, I guess, mindful of it.

Looking back, it actually shocks me how many of those Sound System Room memories have been dredged up by remembering Isn't She Lovely: we spent a lot of time there. When V got old enough, she joined us, too, and the three of us would sit and listen to Vivaldi or Leonard Cohen or demos from my dad's most recent signed artist. Eventually, V and I started dancing -- which ended up turning into huge, elaborately-costumed dance shows we'd present for our parents on weekends (a dark secret: I have ten-year-old choreography to most 70s psychedelic rock songs).

ANYway, the point of all this is not so much the harmonica, or Stevie Wonder, or even this song itself. I like this song a lot, but it's serving a purpose: the accompanying post. In a very meta way, this song [well, this community] has brought back memories I haven't thought of in years -- since long before my dad peaced and left all his music-love for me to continue (CHEESY, WHATEVER.). Music has some crazy, crazy power -- that you can post a instrument, that my head can almost instantly pull up something long-forgotten but played by it, and how epic the memory trips can be as a result.

But maybe most importantly: this song is about how much a father loves his daughter, and my dad played this for V and I so often it's become a subconscious memory. So play on with your annoying harmonica, Stevie, and thanks for reminding me of what I'd forgotten.

P.S. I HOPE THIS WAS NOT, LIKE, TOO ~HEAVY~ but it's YOUR THEME'S FAULT, MAN. :D

[note: I'm not using the version on the Musicquarium album, but I had to include that picture because that is the first album cover I remember from my childhood. I mean I stared at those fish ad infinitum, dude. But the version -- with the crying baby -- is like...not enjoyable, hah.]

[note II: I feel like V and I had choreography to this song, too. Ohhhh boy.]