Monday, the fourth day of summer (or, to be technical, the fourth full day but fifth actual day of summer for those of us in the western half of North America, since our solstice came about an hour before midnight this past Thursday). It’s wet this morning. It was pouring shortly before I left the house, but merely misting as I drive into campus.
Cockburn pops up on this morning’s playlist (given 20+ of his albums in my music collection, the odds are in his favor) with And We Dance. A free-spirited love song with poetry-as-lyric:
Midnight flight
Midnight flight
Fullmoon light
Laughter in the air
It's a party all right
Slate-blue clouds
Iridescent sea
I'm heading for you
And you're headed for me
and we dance and we dance and we dance...
…and…
Paradox and contrast
Variety and change
History repeats
But it's never the same
We've got this time
We've got this rhythm
Till the whole thing comes apart
Like light through a prism
and we dance and we dance and we dance...
Followed by Before The Mountain from the wonderfully unique Largo album (Sadly out of print now). This is another oddly free-wheeling love song. If you can find a copy of this album, you won’t be disappointed. As the Amazon.com review of thalbum puts it:
Largo's concept is a heady one: A song cycle based on Antonin Dvorak's "New World Symphony," which was itself inspired by the Czech composer's love for indigenous American music of the early 20th century. But thanks to the songwriting savvy of mastermind Rob Hyman (of the Hooters) and the efforts of such special guests as Joan Osborne, Cyndi Lauper, and Taj Mahal, the concept never weighs down the music. Stylistically, the set ranges from the swamp-rock shuffle of "Disorient Express" to the poignantly soaring power balladry of "An Uncommon Love," with a real highlight coming via "Medallion" (which transposes Springsteen-styled workingman's rock to the life of a Pakistani immigrant cabbie). --*David Sprague*
Largo is as good a term as any for this morning, too. “(esp. as a direction) in a slow tempo and dignified style.”
Good, as they say, stuff for a Monday commute between the quarters.
Today’s full playlist:
- Zack Hexum: All I Want
- The Beatles: Yesterday
- Bruce Cockburn: And We Dance
- Largo: Before The Mountain
- Camera Obscura: You Told a Lie
Posted via Hermes.
