Tracy Chapman ~ Mountains o' Things

The mind is a mysterious thing, indeed. Tonight, meandering through non-essential stories on the web something I ran across sparked Tracy Chapman's "Mountain o' Things" and it has been playing on a loop since. Like so many of Tracy Chapman's songs, the rhythm, the intensity of her presentation and the rawness of her voice can grip you and hold on, and if so it may take a while for the lyrics to really sink in. Due to the trigger story some lines particularly resonate tonight:

Good people are only
My stepping stones
It's gonna take all my mountains o' things
To surround me
Keep all my enemies away
Keep my sadness and loneliness at bay ...  

And then, there's of course the last lines:

I'll be dreaming, dreaming... dreaming...

"Mountains o' Things" was included in her debut album which was released more than 25 years ago ... and even after all that time the song still speaks volumes and doesn't appear to have lost any of its pertinence ~

Mountains o’ Things

Tracy Chapman

The life I've always wanted

I guess I'll never have

I'll be working for somebody else

Until I'm in my grave

I'll be dreaming of a live of ease

And mountains Oh mountains o' things

Fever Ray - Mercy Street

The first song by Fever Ray I remember hearing was "If I had a heart" ~ a song that's certainly worth sitting back and listening to. I've listened to it many times and still get drawn in by it ...

For today, though, I've picked out "Mercy Street" originally by Peter Gabriel. I wouldn't have thought that it is possible to love both the original and the cover but this one has me convinced -

Mercy Street

By Karin Dreijer Andersson

Disturbed - The Sound Of Silence

I'm generally not fond of heavy metal or alternate rock which is why my alarm radio is tuned to a station essentially playing nothing but (It is not easy to pry me from my bed in the morning so music and a DJ against my grain is a tremendous help :P). Generally, I'm also not fond of cover versions of a song especially when the original carries a big heap of meaning to me (just a personal preference of course) - don't mess with something that's perfect (in my view, that is). So this one is totally astonishing and unexpected ...

Disturbed, a heavy metal band from Chicago, has done a cover of Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence" which I discovered -how else- because it played on the alarm radio one morning. It had me wide awake and singing along in my mind about four bars in ... And while I still dearly love the original I think that David Draiman's voice and interpretation fits perfectly ~

The Sound of Silence

By Johnny Keating

Hello darkness my old friend
I've come to talk with you again

The Highwaymen - Highwayman

The Highwaymen: Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson ~ legends each one on his own. I love their songs, the guitar score, the voices, and particularly the sentiment of this particular song ... 

I'll be back again, and again and again and again and again ...

Highwayman
Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings

I was a highwayman
Along the coach roads I did ride
With sword and pistol by my side

Phil Collins - In The Air Tonight

At one time, this song featured prominently as an option for “Our Song” ~

... bongos - just barely there - inviting - swaying - close your eyes and get ready to be carried away into the land of dreams -

I can feel it coming in the air tonight,
I've been waiting for this moment all my life,
Can you feel it coming in the air tonight?

~ Phil Collins - such velvet voice, such a sweet slide - rocking - gently - until the verse hits home ...

Well if you told me you were drowning I would not lend a hand.
I've seen your face before, my friend, but I don't know if you know who I am.

"Our Song" material?

Era - Cathar Rhythm

When it's all about the rhythm and the chant, and less so about the lyrics, the Cathar Rhythm of Era (acronym for “Enminential Rythmn of the Ancestors”) is just the thing ~

Don't you come back now
Don't you turn your eyes
And if you dare to look
I'll be waiting

Maire Brennan - Against the Wind

It's the rhythm: demanding, pushing, driving, irresistible ... Inevitably, a foot or a finger, or the head counts out the beat with other parts of the body soon to follow. It is easy to imagine breaking a new path carried forward by a rhythm akin to that of "Against the Wind" by Moya Brennan ~

A wall strong in numbers
Burns the midnight candle