My thoughts on music

I said that my music tastes deserved an entire post, so here goes. Well, I’m doing a page instead. I think I’ll sort by genre, and sub-sort by artist.

Celtic: This is my favorite genre by far. I’m being a little general here and including Scottish and Irish music here.

-Dougie MacLean: My favorite artist ever. He is amazing and stunning and has a powerful voice and incredible accent. Do I sound a little obsessed? Oh, I am. But not like girl-fawning-over-hot-movie/music-star because Dougie (pronounced DOO-gee, not DUH-gee) is like 50. No, I just adore his music. I suppose I should explain a little bit more why I like his music. Okay. Dougie grew up and lives in Scotland (Perthshire, I believe). He writes most of the songs he sings, so they come from the heart. His voice is really striking, but his lyrics run deep. It’s like he heard them from the depths of his soul. They hold so much truth even though on the surface, they just seem like a confusing jumble of a story. His songs have messages, but they aren’t preachy. It’s more like… I guess I could describe it as teaching by example. They don’t say “do this, do that.” They sometimes tell a story, or he’s just singing about life. And there are so many songs of his that I haven’t even begun to decipher. Like “Pabay Mor” or “Mary, Queen of Scots.” My favorite CD of Dougie’s is “Who Am I,” and I think my favorite song is “Hide in the Wind.” His most famous is “Caledonia,” but I love them all! If you go on YouTube, you can find some Dougie songs. I’m not sure exactly why Dougie’s songs have hit my heart so deeply, but I guess it’s just because they are full of truth, and they’re deep – not shallow like a lot of pop songs. So I really, really recommend listening to Dougie MacLean. I promise you it’ll be worth it. [His website is dougiemaclean.com.]

-Celtic Woman: A very good group of women (who would’ve thought?) who sing both modern and older Celtic songs, including Dougie MacLean’s “Caledonia.” My favorite song of Celtic Woman’s, though, is “You Raise Me Up.” Whenever I hear this song, I always think of my best friend and how she’s always there for me. Just like the lyrics go “I am strong when I am on your shoulders; You raise me up to more than I can be.” And it’s true. I know I can’t really understand just how lucky I am to have her, but I try. She’s always got my back; if I called her sobbing at 3 in the morning, she’d wake up just to listen to me. (And believe me, she is a late sleeper!) Although I’ve tried to tell her, I don’t think she knows just how much she means to me. So I really like “You Raise Me Up” because it helps remind me of all I have and all I can be.

Folk: Celtic is really a sub-group of folk, but I separated it because I think of it as an entirely different genre.

-Darryl Purpose: A fairly good folk singer. Modern. His songs are sometimes a little confusing. It often takes multiple listens to get the gist of the lyrics, but I like them anyway. My favorite album of his is “Same River Twice,” and my favorite song is either “Last Great Kiss of the 20th Century” or “What Was I Thinking.” We also have his album “Crooked Line,” but I prefer the first. Let’s see… It’s mostly guitar and his voice, with background instruments. “Last Great Kiss” is a really good song, although when I was a little younger I didn’t like it much. Now I like it a lot, and I understand it more. “What Was I Thinking” is really fascinating. It starts “I see paintings in the sink; I see dishes on the wall.” It’s all about perspective and mime-to-mime and… you’ll just have to listen. My explanation doesn’t do it justice. Oh, one more good song of his is “Cherokee,” which is narrated by a modern-day Cherokee, and how his reservation has become a tourist spot. It’s really quite powerful. [His website is darrylpurpose.com.]

-Joan Baez: I don’t listen to her as much as I used to, but she’s still pretty good. I have 2 CDs of hers, and a lot of the songs aren’t written by her, but I still like her voice. One of my favorite songs that she sings is “In the Quiet Morning,” as well as “Pack Up Your Sorrows.” I don’t have a ton to say about her, but you should listen to her. I’m going to start listening to her a bit more, and then I might have some stuff to add.

-Simon and Garfunkel: Okay, I’ll admit it. I’m not a huge Simon and Garfunkel fan. In fact, there are some songs I just won’t listen to of theirs. But there is one song that often makes me teary when I hear it. It’s called “For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her,” and I love it. I’ve just always had this beautiful image from that song of the couple walking across a field holding hands and it’s snowing but they’re warm because they’re together and it’s perfect and makes me almost cry.

-Peter, Paul, and Mary: This is a really good group, but the name is a funny sort of misnomer. The members are Peter Yarrow, Mary Travers, and Noel Stookey. =) I guess they didn’t think “Peter, Noel, and Mary” sounded as good. They did a lot of songs by other writers like Bob Dylan and at least one by John Denver. I really like “Blowin’ in the Wind,” which was actually written by Bob Dylan. I also like “If I Had a Hammer” and some of the songs they do on this PP&M Campfire Songs CD I have. “Weave Me the Sunshine,” for example, is really good. =)

Country:

-Taylor Swift: I know I’ve talked a little about her before, but I really really like Taylor Swift. I’m actually listening to her CD right now. (The one of my sister’s that I mentioned in the post “So random it doesn’t deserve a title.”) I really like her song “Mary’s Song (Oh My My)” because it’s really sweet. All of her songs are about love (or lack thereof), but they’re excellent because they’re true. It’s not some 40-year-old man whining about his wife leaving him, but a real teenage girl singing striking songs about jerks and cheaters and some nice, loving, sweet guys, too. “Our Song” is excellent; when I first found out that Taylor Swift sang it, I was surprised because it sounded like someone older. I also like “Invisible” (sad, but very good) and “Perfectly Good Heart.” Honestly, I like all her music. I just love how real it feels to me, especially because I’ve gone through and am going through similar situations in my life. So it’s more here-and-now, touching me because it’s realistic and feels like she’s just a good friend.

-John Denver: I love John Denver. He’s awesome. The only CD I have of his is “The Best of John Denver,” and it’s got a lot of good songs. For one, “Seasons of the Heart.” I never used to understand it, but once I finally listened to the lyrics, I realized how incredibly sad it is. I cry (or almost cry) every time I hear it. I also love “Annie’s Song” and “Perhaps Love” and “Love Again.” Yes, he sings a lot about love. I also like one of his really famous ones, “Rocky Mountain High.” My favorite line has got to be “He knew he’d be a poor man if he never saw an eagle fly!”

Classic Rock:

-Phil Collins: Umm… Phil Collins. Tarzan. Brother Bear. Amazing. Need I say more? Well, I suppose I ought to if I’m going to have him on here. I like all of Phil’s music. We own one of his CDs (Serious Hits Live!), and I got another one out of the library (Testify). “Testify” has some incredible songs on it! “Come With Me” is one of my favorites. It’s really sweet; if only Phil wasn’t so old… jk!!! Seriously, I’m kidding. I like the music, but he’s 57 (I don’t know that by heart, I just looked it up). No, but a lot of his songs are love songs, and some of them make me almost cry — honestly!

Soundtrack: I’m a musical theatre freak, and these are just a few of the ones I like.

-Phantom of the Opera: Oh. My. This is the best movie ever!!! Unfortunately, the music isn’t very excellent if you haven’t seen the movie. So, me, I love the music because I know what it’s talking about. It’s like that for a lot of musical soundtracks; if you don’t know what’s going on at that point in the movie/play, then the song doesn’t mean a whole lot to you. I love the song “All I Ask of You,” but I wish it was Christine and Erik singing it, not Christine and Raoul… It’s really poignant, and it’s incredibly sweet. I love every song that Erik (the Phantom) sings because of his voice. It’s soo powerful, and so deep and strong… And when he goes higher on some songs like “Music of the Night,” it doesn’t lose any of its strength, but it becomes softer and gentler and sweeter. The Erik that nobody else ever sees. It’s nice to see more than one side of the character, just through his voice.

-Les Misérables: Wow. Jean Valjean… Eponine… Javert… [For the uninitiated, those are names of characters with amazing voices.] I love the wide range of songs, from questioning to angry to poignant to boisterous to melancholy. As for male voices, Valjean and Javert have incredible powerful ones. The sound is coming from so deep in their throat, and it holds an incredible amount of strength. When they’re singing together/back and forth, it’s incredible! And for females, Eponine tops the list with that pained, almost whining quality of her voice. That doesn’t sound appealing, but I just don’t know how to explain it. It’s like… you can hear her past in her voice. Does that make sense? Fantine follows Eponine; her voice isn’t quite as incredible, but then again, she’s only in one — no, make that two — songs. Cosette’s is okay, but it’s kind of like that of the early Disney princesses – high pitched and dainty. Whereas with Eponine and Fantine, you can tell that their lives haven’t been all cream and sugar. That’s what makes them so good.

-Lion King: I love love love the voice of the adult Simba on this CD! By the way, I’m talking the Broadway version, not the animated Disney version. In the song “Hakuna Matata,” when it changes from Young Simba to the adult Simba, his voice just blows me away. My favorite songs are “Shadowland,” sung by Nala and the lionesses, and “Endless Night,” sung by Simba, and (of course) “Can You Feel the Love Tonight,” sung by Simba and Nala. Nala’s voice is also incredible. You know how there are some songs that you sing with your vocal cords and others that you sing with your heart? Well, those 3 songs I just mentioned are sung with the heart. By Nala and by Simba and, when I’m singing along, by me. I’ve basically memorized all of the Lion King songs; they’re totally worth it.

So that pretty much wraps it up for my music tastes. I may end up adding more genres and/or artists as time goes on, but those are the only ones that I’m going to talk about for now. As I’m guessing you could see, I’m a sucker for love songs. Give me any sweet love song and I’ll either cry, sigh, or melt. It has to be a sweet one, though!

Musically,

Stargrl