Showing posts with label Folk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Folk. Show all posts

Wednesday, 17 July 2013

Oats in the Water, Ben Howard

I want to avoid posting songs that aren't a few years old. Most new music that sounds great now doesn't hold up well to multiple playings over the years.

This song is an exception to this "old song rule" - it was released in November 2012 - and I hope I won't be doing this too often. In fact, I want to promise myself that in a year or two, if this song doesn't still sound great, I'll delete this post.

It's a great song for a melancholy, rainy evening. The music and lyrics build up into an emotional intensity that you can bite into. I've looked around for a commentary to the poetry but haven't found any. Please do point me in the right direction if you find some. It seems to talk of loss and separation:

"Go your way,
I'll take the long way 'round,
I'll find my own way down,
As I should."

I'm hoping there is meaning there and not just a bunch of words that sound good because the music is nice.

"And hold your gaze
There's coke in the Midas touch
A joke in the way that we rust,
And breathe again."

Monday, 15 July 2013

Pay Me My Money Down

This song and the others in this album - The Seeger Sessions - are an an unusual example of Bruce Springsteen playing someone else's material.

This one is a foot-tapping, sing-along, folksy, fun song with recordings dating as far back as the 1950s. But I guess the reference to 'Mr Gates' and 'haul money in crates' is the Boss' variation. There are a few of nice stretches of solo instruments: violins, a trumpet (very short) and an accordion (nice long one).

Enjoy, the Boss:


Hat tip: Bonny Mukerjea