The Big Question

Question yourself. Post your own answer. Give to receive.

Friday, July 29, 2005

Fourteenth Question

What specific song/musician/group, etc. has touched your life at one time or another? Please elaborate.

17 Comments:

  • At 11:36 AM, Blogger sttropezbutler said…

    Judy Garland.
    Hey I'm a gay man of a certain age aren't I.

    David Bowie.
    Thin White Duke. Never seen anything like it in my life.

    Bette Mildew
    See above underJudy Garland...and Ms. Mildew gives great stage!

    Laura Nyro.
    Pet Shop Boys.
    Dusty Springfield.
    Patti Smith.
    Peter Allen.

    I know that is more than one..but hey..like I said..I'm a man of a certain age!

    STB

     
  • At 11:41 AM, Blogger Bent Fabric said…

    21 Things I Want in a Lover by Alanis Morisette.

    Do you derive joy when someone else succeeds?
    Do you not play dirty when engaged in competition?
    Do you have a big intellectual capacity but know
    That it alone does not equate wisdom?
    Do you see everything as an illusion?
    But enjoy it even though you are not of it?
    Are you both masculine and feminine? politically aware?
    And don't believe in capital punishment?

    These are 21 things that I want in a lover
    Not necessarily needs but qualities that I prefer

    Do you derive joy from diving in and seeing that
    Loving someone can actually feel like freedom? are you funny?
    la self-deprecating? like adventure? and have many formed opinions?

    These are 21 things that I want in a lover
    Not necessarily needs but qualities that I prefer
    I figure I can describe it since I have a choice in the matter
    These are 21 things I choose to choose in a lover

    I'm in no hurry I could wait forever
    I'm in no rush cuz I like being solo
    There are no worries and certainly no pressure in the meantime
    I'll live like there's no tomorrow

    Are you uninhibited in bed? more than three times a week?
    Up for being experimental? are you athletic?
    Are you thriving in a job that helps your brother? are you not addicted?
    ...curious and communicative...

     
  • At 11:52 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    My life is a soundtrack and picking any one song would seem to diminish another. In this present moment the song is R.E.M.'s "Everybody Hurts"

    So, hold on...

     
  • At 11:56 AM, Blogger nancy =) said…

    hmmmm...music is such a huge part of my life that i could go on forever here...but to be considerate of the space here i will narrow it down to 2 songs..."i get up i get down" by yes...when i was about 13/14 i would listen to this blasting thru the headphones nonstop...the vocals/organ are incredible to me, even today...next is "bad" by u2, but only the live version from "wide awake in america"...incredible lyrics sung with incredible passion...and then it goes on and on, from miles & coltrane to yoyo ma to janes addiction/rhcp/pearl jam when i fly on my bike...saw yoyo ma front row center recently...i was only about 4 feet from him...when it was over i felt like moses when he came off the mountain with the tablets...incredible...

     
  • At 12:00 PM, Blogger nancy =) said…

    p.s...if i was stranded on a desert island with only one cd, it would be george harrison's "all things must pass"...ok ok i'll stop now!!...peace...

     
  • At 1:34 PM, Blogger I n g e r said…

    Bill Evans--his performance at the Village Vanguard the night I was born includes a rendition of My Foolish Heart that... ach, bliss. I heard that song in Harlem one memorable New Year's Eve, and every time I hear it I remember a sweet first love. It's all about love, anyway.

     
  • At 1:49 PM, Blogger SassyFemme said…

    Black Butterfly by Deniece Williams.

    Long story.... As a beginning freshman in college I was shy, unsure of myself, and had close to zero self esteem. I thought I was stupid and ugly, and all sorts of other horrid things. (Looking back now on pictures I know I wasn't ugly, but as a teen I was horrible on myself and really truely believed I was ugly.) In an all women college environment I totally blossomed. I started to believe that I was attractive, and smart, and I learned how to speak up for myself, I rarely felt shy. It was basically the year that I blossomed into a self confident, outgoing, young adult. I had an RA who became a friend, and sometime towards the end of the year she told me about the song, and gave me a copy of it, with the words written down, and a little personalized note saying how much it reminded her of me. It made me stop and think, and look at myself. I didn't see the changes I was going through. It kind of slapped me upside the head to see that I was more than "okay."

    Morning light, silken dream take flight
    As the darkness give way to the dawn
    You’ve survived, now your moment has arrived
    Now your dream has finally been born

    Black butterfly sail across the waters
    Tell your sons and daughters what the struggle brings
    Black butterfly set the skies on fire
    Rise up even higher so the ageless winds of time can catch your wings

    Ooh...ooh...

    While you slept, the promise was unkept
    But your faith was as sure as the stars
    Now you’re free and the world has come to see
    Just how proud and beautiful you are

    Black butterfly sail across the waters
    Tell your sons and daughters what the struggle brings
    Black butterfly set the skies on fire
    Rise up even higher so the wind can catch your wings

    Let the current lift your heard and send it soaring
    Write your timeless message clear across the sky
    So that all of us can read it and remember when we need it
    That a dream conceived in truth can never die
    Butterfly

    ‘Cause now that you’re free and the world has come to see
    Just how proud and beautiful you are

    Black butterfly sail across the waters
    Tell your sons and your daughters what the struggle brings
    Black butterfly set the skies, set them on fire
    Rise up even higher so the ageless winds of time can catch your wings

    Fly
    Butterfly
    Yeah, yeah, yes
    Fly

     
  • At 7:18 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Thank you sassyfemme for sharing your poignant and powerful story and song.

     
  • At 12:38 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Many groups, many songs. Sarah Groves, whom most of you probably do not know, recorded her song "Remember Surrender" within the last.. five or six years. A very simple song about Salvation, and the words of the chorus,
    "Why can't I live there an make my home, in sweet surrender;
    I want to do so much more than remember."
    Very gripping when first I heard it. Bought the CD shortly thereafter. Unfortunately, most of her other songs were'nt all that great.

     
  • At 4:16 PM, Blogger Ace of Spades said…

    Meliisa Ethridge, all of her songs are good. Went to her concert and it was great. 4th row back.
    Also Simple Plan- Perfect. The song says it all.

    Hey Dad look at me
    Think back and talk to me
    Did I grow up according
    To plan?
    Do you think I’m wasting
    My time doing things I
    Wanna do?
    But it hurts when you
    Disapprove all along


    And now I try hard to make it
    I just want to make you proud
    I’m never gonna be good
    Enough for you
    I can’t pretend that
    I’m alright
    And you can’t change me


    ‘Cuz we lost it all
    Nothing lasts forever
    I’m sorry
    I can’t be Perfect
    Now it’s just too late
    And we can’t go back
    I’m sorry
    I can’t be Perfect


    I try not to think
    About the pain I feel inside
    Did you know you used to be
    My hero?
    All the days
    You spent with me
    Now seem so far away
    And it feels like you don’t
    Care anymore


    And now I try hard to make it
    I just want to make you proud
    I’m never gonna be good
    Enough for you
    I can’t stand another fight
    And nothing’ alright


    ‘Cuz we lost it all
    Nothing lasts forever
    I’m sorry
    I can’t be Perfect
    Now it’s just too late
    And we can’t go back
    I’m sorry
    I can’t be Perfect


    Nothing’s gonna change
    The things that you said
    Nothing’s gonna make this
    Right again
    Please don’t turn your back
    I can’t believe it’s hard
    Just to talk to you
    But you don’t understand


    ‘Cuz we lost it all
    Nothing lasts forever
    I’m sorry
    I can’t be Perfect
    Now it’s just too late
    And we can’t go back
    I’m sorry
    I can’t be Perfect

     
  • At 2:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    "At This Moment" by Billy Vera

    One night when I was very drunk, and in a period where I felt like the bottom was about to fall out of my life (I was submitting a resignation letter to my boss the next day), "At This Moment" came on, and I cried for a long time - mourning a good career move that had turned bad, and unknowingly freeing up room in my heart and mind to change for the better.

     
  • At 3:28 PM, Blogger nancy =) said…

    this week it is simon and garfunkle...i am a rock...the sound of silence...incredible stuff...peace...

     
  • At 5:30 PM, Blogger Elizabeth Taylor said…

    Elliot Smith...the man just speaks to me.

    And that song by the Waterboys -"Fisherman's Blues." It's absolutely the best song I've ever heard... it's so good it actually hurts.

    And there are a few from Radiohead - "I Might be Wrong" and "There There" and "High and Dry"...and "Let Down."

    There are more but those are the ones that come to mind right now.

     
  • At 9:28 PM, Blogger sdk said…

    Lorrie Morgan wrote If You Came Back From Heaven. I sang that song at my mother's funeral. (I choked, pretty badly. It's hard to sing when you're sobbing).

    That song is the closest song to my heart in the whole wide world.

    sdk

     
  • At 11:18 AM, Blogger crappyjazz said…

    angel, sarah mclachlan - particulary bad time in my life ... sorry, i won't elaborate ... but a friend took me to see her live ... i had always loved her music but never heard her live

    i was astonished at the power in that woman's voice that is missing in the recording ... she sat the piano and played angel without the band and sang like i've never heard anyone sing ... it finally made me cry over something i should have cried about before ... not just me, other people sitting around us were crying too ... at the end she said "that took more out of me than usual" and left the stage for a few minutes while her band played the intro to her next song ... i'll never forget it

     
  • At 10:09 PM, Blogger Stacy said…

    Steadily, for the last almost 10 years, Fiona Apple. We are about the same age, and apparently going thru the same seasons of life at the same time.

    Her latest CD has a song that perfectly describes my relationship with my mother, one of my many therapy-needing ails. I really listened to it this week right before my session with Dr. Shrink, and I realized that the whole song is where I want to be..."Oh Well".

    Oh Well
    Fiona Apple
    Extraordinary Machine

    What you did to me made me see myself something different
    Though I try to talk sense to myself
    But I just won't listen
    Won't you go away
    Turn yourself in
    You're no good at confession
    Before the image that you burned me in
    Tries to teach you a lesson
    What you did to me made me see myself somethin' awful
    A voice once stentorian is now again meek and muffled
    It took me such a long time to get back up the first time you did it
    I spent all I had to get it back, and now it seems I've been outbidded
    My peace and quiet was stolen from me
    When I was looking with calm affection
    You were searching out my imperfections
    What wasted unconditional love
    On somebody
    Who doesn't believe in the stuff
    You came upon me like a hypnic jerk
    When I was just about to settle
    And when it counts you recoil
    With the cryptic word you even love belittling
    Oh what a cold and common old way to go
    I was feeding on the need for you to know me
    Devastated at the rate you fell below me
    What wasted unconditional love
    On somebody
    Who doesn't believe in the stuff
    Oh, well

     
  • At 8:16 AM, Blogger DayDreamer said…

    Metallica - Nothing Else Matters.
    There was a time when the only thing that got me through the day was this song. I was going thro a fairly depressed time and I remember having to stop what I was doing, go and playing it, and then I had enough in me to carry on for a few more hours until the need arose agin.

    There are many, many songs I love and have identified with over the years, but this was absolutely vital to me at that time.

     

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