Recently in Music Category

I hated Ronan Keating’s version of Iris, and was prepared not to give the album it was on a listen.

Then I heard someone singing the song “All Over Again” from said album and so I Googled it and found the original version (there are at least 4 others Ronan did with different duet partners):

I quite like Kate Rusby’s voice and I enjoyed it the most about the song. The lyrics are crazy cheesy, though, and if I hadn’t loved hearing the person sing it, would probably have ignored it if I’d heard it on the radio.

So can I do it? Fall all over again? I don’t know anymore. And the lyrics from Falling Slowly just play over in my head: “I don’t know you, but I want you all the more for that.” But right now, I’m just happy being happy.

Turn down the light, turn up the radio.
There's a fire in your eyes, and its keeping me warm
Hold on to me like it was yesterday,
When we both felt our spirits collide

I remember the moment, being struck down by lightning
Since the first time I saw your face, and you smiled
Come and lay down with me
Fill the space that's between us
Feel the magic that keeps love alive
This time, can be like the first time
Close your eyes and soon we'll be there
No man could ever guess what you're feeling
Turn a spark to a flame,
Make a wish, close your eyes, won't you start all over again.

Just like the first time that you touched my skin,
All over again
I tasted heaven take me there again,
All over again
Your smile
Your touch,
Your taste,
It turns me on and on and on,
That I fall in love with you,
All over again

Come and step through the stars,
Take a ride though the universe.
As long as we're here, lets take this whole thing in

What I'm trying to say,
Is that you are so beautiful
Let me say it, all over again.
'Cos this time can be like the first time,
Close your eyes, but you'll soon will be there
No man could ever guess what he's feeling,
Turn a spark to a flame,
Make a wish, close your eyes, won't you start all over again.
[Repeat chorus]
Your smile,
Your touch,
Your taste,
It turns me on and on and on.
That I fall in love with you,
I keep falling in love, with you.
All over again
All over again
All over again.

I confess – I tend to judge songs by their titles. And Marit Larsen’s new single, If A Song Could Get Me You, was too cute-sounding to resist.

But then I caught her homemade video for the song, which she shot in a subway station.

It’s so cute my blood sugar levels rose.

Strangely appropriate though, because I have a massive crush on someone which is, of course, plainly ridiculous. Because I’m pretty sure it’s one-sided. It’s probably just a side-effect of too much mental chemistry.

But crushes can be mad fun so long as they don’t border on psychotic obsession. Instead, I’ve gotten plenty of ideas for songs and have figured out what I’m going to do in 2009 career-wise as well as my gameplan for 2010. So though my mad attraction is unrequited, I’m still inspired in good ways. (Yes, Sivin, that’s a good thing)

I could try with a waltz
I could try rock'n'roll
I could try with the blues
If a song would do

I could sing it high or low
When I let you go, you know
I thought it was for the best
Now it is so obvious

So here it is, here it goes
I could try it rock'n'roll
A change-your-life-forever-tune
If a song could get me you

I could make it high or low
Sing it on the radio
If that is what I need to do
If a song could get me you

I could run for miles and miles
I'd take off and I'd start flying
I could cross land and sea
If you'd just believe me

I should not have hurt you so
This old house is not a home
Without you here there's no use
I've got no time left to lose

So here it is, here it goes
I could try it rock'n'roll
A change-your-life-forever-tune
If a song could get me you

I could make it high or low
Sing it on the radio
If that is what I need to do
If a song could get me you
If a song could get me through
I'd sing my way right back to you

Tell me how to make it right
Tell me now, I'll start tonight
I know I could make it last
I swear to you that if I knew
What I was getting myself into
I wouldn't answer to my fears
I'd never leave you standing there

Just look at me

If you'd only see me
I would prove my love for you
I could swallow half the moon
Just tell me where, tell me when
I will have you back again

So here it is, here it goes
I could try it rock'n'roll
A change-your-life-forever-tune
If a song could get me you
I could make it high or low
Sing it on the radio
If that is what I need to do
If a song could get me you

So here it is, here it goes
I could try it rock'n'roll
A change-your-life-forever-tune
If a song could get me you
I could make it high or low
Sing it on the radio
If that is what I need to do
If a song could get me you

Stumbled on James Morrison’s new album Songs for You, Truths for Me. I confess to a weakness for blue-eyed soul and now I half-regret not seeing him play at Live Out Loud last year.

You Give Me Something was his first single off the album Undiscovered. There’s his distinct voice, the hooky melodies and how his songs don’t sound overproduced. And of course, what I adore most – emo titles such as Nothing Ever Hurt Like You.

So here’s You Give Me Something. Yep, James has definitely given me two albums to savour for the week.

Listening to old school R&B. Toni Braxton’s He Wasn’t Man Enough for Me is a favourite. I love the beat and at the same time, the cattiness of it is delicious.

Sadly the song also hits a bit too close for me. Too many times I get insecure women accusing/waging war thinking I want their men.

And I never thought I’d be able to say to a woman “I’ve already had your man” with absolute sincerity. But yeah, now I can.

The cattiest line:

”Well, I think it’s time you know the truth

I think he’s just the man for you.”

Ouch.

My rule is – if he loves me, he wouldn’t swap me for someone else. So you take my man (happened), you keep him and good riddance.

They always come back, the sodding dimwits.

November’s starting out amazingly – what with a glorious NaNo kickoff meetup as well as Barack Obama’s monumental win in the US presidential elections.

I just feel happy today and as an expression of joy, here’s Regine Velasquez’s lovely cover of Stevie Wonder’s Overjoyed.

Joy. Something so rare in these dark days.

"Overjoyed"
Over time, I've been building my castle of love
Just for two, though you never knew you were my reason
I've gone much too far for you now to say
That I've got to throw my castle away
Over dreams, I have picked out a perfect come true
Though you never knew it was of you I've been dreaming
The sandman has come from too far away
For you to say come back some other day
And though you don't believe that they do
They do come true
For did my dreams
Come true when I looked at you
And maybe too, if you would believe
You too might be
Overjoyed, over loved, over me
Over hearts, I have painfully turned every stone
Just to find, I had found what I've searched to discover
I've come much too far for me now to find
The love that I've sought can never be mine
And though you don't believe that they do
They do come true
For did my dreams
Come true when I looked at you
And maybe too, if you would believe
You too might be
Overjoyed, over loved, over me
And though the odds say improbable
What do they know
For in romance
All true love needs is a chance
And maybe with a chance you will find
You too like I
Overjoyed, over loved, over you, over you

This song is more appropriate in light of certain recent events than I'd like. But it's still the best song I know to describe particularly acrimonious splits. When I've reached my limits, I have a tendency to just sever ties and walk away. It's easier than trying to mend hurts or breaks.

But sometimes there is no fixing things. You say things that just spill out at the wrong time, to the wrong person and there's no going back. No do overs. No resets. But by itself, it's still a beautiful song with its sparseness, its simplicity. "Leave," he sings. Because you can't bear to be near the person, you just want the person out of your sphere so you can attempt to rebuild, regroup and recover.

The best cover I've found is this rather slow and sweet rendition which starts off so quietly before the control breaks, and it just becomes an anguished, strangled cry.

The original by Glen:

I can't wait forever is all that you said
Before you stood up
And you won't disappoint me
I can do that myself
But I'm glad that you've come
Now if you don't mind

Leave, leave,
And free yourself at the same time
Leave, leave,
I don't understand, you've already gone

And I hope you feel better
Now that it's out
What took you so long
And the truth has a habit
Of falling out of your mouth
But now that it's come If you don't mind

Leave, leave,
And please yourself at the same time
Leave, leave, Let go of my hand
You said what you have to now
Leave, leave, Let go of my hand
You said what you came to now

Leave, leave, Leave, leave,
Let go of my hand
You said what you have to now
Leave, leave...

I don't know how my friends stand me when I'm such a love junkie. Always falling in some mire, oblivious to my own misery the way a moth would ignore its burning wings just to creep closer to the flame.

But despite my propensity for trouble, and my penchant for a lack of self-regard, they do try very hard to keep my body and mind safe and sane. That's why I'm tickled to listen to Dave Barnes's Stay Away. It's about a man warning a known heartbreaker to stay away from his friend. And I've been on the side where you see someone going somewhere you know is really bad. A friend's responsibility is to warn loved ones from harm and even if the warnings are ignored, to then stay around to pick up the pieces.

She hangs up the phone and she
Lays wide awake
Holding onto the heart you, again will break
It’s not that she’s innocent
And she’s not been defiled
Yes she picks up the phone, well
It’s you who dialed
And I know she tells you to stay
But please, stay away
Stay away
Stay away
I know this is heavy
I know I seem mad
But you’re the one who laughs and runs while
She’s standing sad
We both know where this is going from your history
She again will fall in love
You again will leave.
And I know she’s telling you to stay
But please, stay away
Stay away
Stay away
She wears her heart on her sleeve
Yeah she’s crying her eyes out to me
Heaven or hell she will go through
Depends on you
Depends on you

I love Sharleen Spiteri's voice. In Demand is likely my favourite Texas video, and one of my favourite music videos ever just for yummy Alan Rickman.

The song's probably the catchiest diss song I know.

"Now I've got someone who cares for me
He wrote my name in silver sands
I think you know you've lost the love of your life
(and you said) I was the best you've ever had
Because I'm in demand
You're thinking of the way you shoulda held my hand
And all the times you said you didn't understand
You never had our love written in your plans
But now I'm in demand"

I admit it.

I have appalling, atrocious taste in music.

Bubblegum pop, boybands, kitschy daft one-hit wonders. Yep, that sounds like my playlist.

Though I also have an aversion to certain popular bands and a marked inability to appreciate supposed ‘good’ bands.

Confession No.1: I fell asleep listening to OK Computer.

Confession No.2: I do not get Oasis and prefer Ryan Adams’s version of Wonderwall. But Don’t Go Away is a sentimental favourite, so sue me.

Confession No.3: Hearing Richard Ashcroft singing The Drugs Don’t Work while I was still clinically depressed made me cry. In earnest.

Confession No.4: I am unable to fathom the supposed genius of Pete Teo. Or Jerome Kugan. Or “insert critically acclaimed local singer-songwriter” here.

Yes, I am a music pariah who should never be allowed to review music. But to make up for my aural shortcomings I do attempt to locate and listen to supposedly ‘good’ music.

This week I stumbled upon Spiritualized, a space rock band whose album Ladies and Gentlemen we are floating in space is supposedly one of the most brilliant albums ever.

I am attempting to listen to it but somehow the jangly jazz/garage/spaced out drugged out junkie sound…I’m not feeling it.

But I nominate the track Broken Heart as most wrist-slashingly depressing song about a breakup I’ve ever heard. There’s J.Pierce’s half-dead faltering singing, the atmospheric strings in an arrangement that seems almost too full-blown for a breakup song, dammit and the lyrics that funnily remind me of a funeral hymn.

Do not listen to this song while consuming alcohol.

 

Though I have a broken heart
I'm too busy to be heartbroken
There's a lot of things that need to be done
Lord I have a broken heart
Though I have a broken dream
I'm too busy to be dreaming of you
There's a lot of things that I gotta do
Lord I have a broken dream
And I'm wasted all the time
Ive gotta drink you right off of my mind
I've been told that this will heal given time
Lord I have a broken heart
And I'm crying all the time
I have to keep it covered up with a smile
And I’ll keep on moving on for a while
Lord I have a broken heart

It isn't often I tell my friends to go watch a play, especially not something local. Too much overacting, horrible enunciation (I will never get over a certain thespian saying "CHAL-dren" instead of "chill-dren") and the feeling that the players are acting, instead of becoming, their characters.

But if you have a heart at all then I'd suggest you let Footstool Players remind you about that "Crazy Little Thing called Love".

They're making the rounds at churches right now because their roots are in Christian-themed theatre, but this particular show isn't about faith - it's about love. And few things are as universal as the feeling that inspires more songs or works of art than any other emotion.

It's a series of rather poignant sketches that alternately poke gentle fun at relationship cliches, or paint pictures of hurt, loss and longing. They also have the nifty addition of songs to create a sort of musical flow between the sketches, to help create the mood.

One sketch that bothered me, yet at the same time rent the edges of this jaded heart to shreds was Word Picture acted ably by Ee Soon Wei and Adrene Wong. Soon Wei has a slight lisp, which could have proved distracting but instead added a touch of vulnerability to his silently hurting career man character. I applaud Adrene's daring tackle of dialogue which is a little unrealistic in its verbosity - the metaphors seem too carefully written to be believable but in the end, it's not the words but the general feeling conveyed. It's real in the sense you really feel the hurt, you see the gulf they unwittingly put between them and you want them to build the bridge they need to cross it and find each other again. Oh, my poor, poor heart got such a workout at the end of it.

Thankfully not all the sketches are as emotionally-wrenching as that one, with plenty of room for brevity and laughs.

So do yourself a favour and catch the Footstool Players at KLPAC next month.

Dates and ticket prices are below:

6–8, 13–15 November 2008 @ 8:30 pm
8–9, 15–16 November 2008 @ 3:00 pm
Tickets: RM30 adults / RM20 students, senior citizens and disabled
Tickets available from: KLPac Box Office Tel: (03) 4047 9000
Actors Studio at BSC Tel: (03) 2094 0400/1400
Tickets on sale from late September. Check www.klpac.com for details.