Corinne Bailey Rae's music speaks to me. I find myself bopping my head to her tuneful songs, and her voice and lyrics leave the impression that she could be only a talented and insightful musician. She's not quite the big name celebrity, but she seems to possess a quiet confidence of a musician who lets her music speak for itself without any rabid desire for popular validation. I really admire that. It's more about expressing less about performing. But she's great performer too, I loved watching her live. For her latest album, she created six podcasts about her insights about being aware of ourselves, our surroundings and other deep meaningful things. Her approach is very feelings-oriented, as she is in the creative/artistic field, but for someone who prefers facts and is simply cynical like I am, the podcasts still resonated with me and I found them very valuable.
And here's her music video for Been to the Moon
Isn't it great?! The lyrics, the horns in the background and gold lasercut jumpsuit. Hello! She has an enviable fashion sense. MatchesFashion.com even interviewed her and she revealed that she's friends with Garance Dore, thus confirming her fashion cred, among many interesting tidbits. This is my favorite quote from the interview: "The shapes are very classic… but it doesn’t take itself too seriously and has a sort of strangeness to it, a kind of surrealness, and an awareness of uniform." Sounds like something right up my alley!
There are so many other reasons to admire Corinne Bailey Rae and I hope you check out her work and life.
I've realized that music is quite the propeller of consumer technology. Through the years, because of music people have all kinds of technology in their homes: vinyl records and record players, cassette tapes, CDs, iPods and MP3 players, and one main function of a smartphone and its data connection is to stream music. And that's just in the last 30ish years. Going further back in time, and adding the technology from musical instruments the list grows much longer. Growing up in a music and technology indifferent home (ie mother), I feel doubly missed out.
My first memory of music was music playing during car rides to school. Usually my mother would have the news on, which was beneficial for my smartypants reputation. To this day, I still get surprised when I am in someone's car and s/he plays and FM station. I feel like this is so silly, like I'm in a movie about American teenagers with James Dean complexes.
My mother didn't always turn to radio news. Eery Christmas, she'd play her tapes of Christmas-themed music. Some were actual liturgical music, but the one that stood out was the Carpenters Christmas Album. I still remember the cover: plain white background and a cartoon drawing of some people in red sleeping caps. The cartoon style reminds me of Dilbert: same squiggly lines, but more human-like illustration. Like as if you had a caricature portrait done. But in an old-timey style. Let me find a picture of it. Anyway, the music wasn't really that great. For Christmas music, it was pretty weepy and sad. It felt as if the singer had the Judy Garland treatment--drugs to wake you up, drugs to put you to sleep--and was shaken out of bed and forced to sing half asleep. What made it all the more memorable for the wrong reason was that my mom told me that Karen Carpenter, the singer with the sad voice, killed herself. She wrote her suicide note on a mirror with lipstick: "Nobody loves me." Merry Christmas indeed.
Oh oops, my memory conflated the elements of the picture. Taken from genekellyfans.com
1. Dan Smith's soaring voice 2. Classical string section 3. Clapping for percussion 4. The soft powder pink filter of the video 5. The time signature, I can't identify it (supposedly it's 6/8) but And the lyrics. The lyrics... They're so meaningful. Every single line.
When all of your flaws and all of my flaws Are laid out one by one A wonderful part of the mess that we made We pick ourselves undone
All of your flaws and all of my flaws They lie there hand in hand Ones we've inherited, ones that we learned They pass from man to man
There's a hole in my soul I can't fill it I can't fill it There's a hole in my soul Can you fill it? Can you fill it?
You have always worn your flaws upon your sleeve And I have always buried them deep beneath the ground Dig them up; let's finish what we've started Dig them up, so nothing's left unturned
All of your flaws and all of my flaws, When they have been exhumed We'll see that we need them to be who we are Without them we'd be doomed
There's a hole in my soul I can't fill it I can't fill it There's a hole in my soul Can you fill it? Can you fill it?
You have always worn your flaws upon your sleeve And I have always buried them deep beneath the ground Dig them up; let's finish what we've started Dig them up, so nothing's left unturned
Oooooh Oooooh
When all of your flaws And all of my flaws are counted When all of your flaws And all of my flaws are counted
You have always worn your flaws upon your sleeve And I have always buried them deep beneath the ground Dig them up. Let's finish what we've started Dig them up. So nothing's left unturned
Oooooh Oooooh
All of your flaws and all of my flaws Are laid out one by one Look at the wonderful mess that we made We pick ourselves undone
Because I've never had my heart broken, I've never loved and lost, and only imagined love from novels and movies and celebrity gossip, I've always fantasized heartbreak and its exquisite romantic pain.
