The World's Wolf (Riptide) (Happy Samhain)

This one is for my husband - we have been married for a whole year today and he likes this song. Here's to many, many more years with you, John- on the dark side or light, you're my left-hand man. I love you! (And happy Samhain!)

Come Back (Pearl Jam)

My first post covering a song by my favorite band, currently, the likes of which I can only describe as a long, sloppy music-kiss. I've been stuck on this song for weeks and it's about the only one that's graced my car radio for said duration as a result. I think this one wins the award for "most romantic song ever" in the list of Kala's Personal Favorite Songs Most Ever Spectacular. If you haven't listened to the original, please do. Eddie Vedder's voice will mesmerize you.

In my endless repeat playings of this song as of late, I've been experiencing what I can only describe as Stephen King's idea of "slippage". He refers to this phenomenon in his books several times to describe the feeling one gets when in the presence of a merging point of multiple worlds, accompanied by the foreboding feeling of a destiny in the throes of change, redirection, or ultimate obscurity. I've felt very out-of-body lately and for some reason this song has grounded me and has given my displacement and surreal mood a context. I don't know if this has anything to do with our approaching journey or not, but I feel that the world is at a powerful turning point hinging on humanity's ability to love and be compassionate towards one another. Aching, blind and persevering love paving the way to a better future.

Maben Blessings (Scarborough Fair - Simon & Garfunkel)

A gorgeous song made famous by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel. I could speak (write) for days on this song, the emotion, the color, the deep stirrings that it can evoke in one's soul and the questions about which it can leave one wondering. I have always loved this song and when I hear it now I am always reminded of my time in Ireland "near the sea strand", the Gaelic word for 'beach". Listening to this, I reminisce of that beautiful land with its rich and mysterious ancient culture.

Haunting, simple and beautiful - an ode to the dark half of the year that begins with the ebb of tomorrow.

Maben blessings to you. Peace and love.

Triple Goddess (Lightning Crashes - Live)

'Lightning Crashes' by Live is one of my favorite '90s alternative classics, right up there with 'Glycerine', as you may remember from an earlier post. The imagery in this song is spectacular, the chords simple but moving, and moving not only in an emotionally profound way but also moving in the sense of sweeping forward and upward and then settling back again.

I also love the fixation with the circular, or cyclical, nature of life represented in this song, metaphorically described as that sort of rolling motion of a thunderstorm coming in, in its peak of glory, like the breaking of a wave. The cycles of womanhood and the passing from maiden to mother to crone is an all too important theme in my life and my spirituality. The abstract description of the women in this song reinforce my idea that the mother is eternal in that into each daughter the mother is reborn. My mother is me and I am her. We make the frozen ground shake with life.

Thank you for your continued love and support, all of you.
Love & Peace.

Rare Bird (My Raven)

Dark bird,
Sweet bird,
Shadow bird;
My Raven.

Wise one,
Small one,
In shielding arms, a haven;
Dwells my Raven.

A beautiful song by Glen Hansard: "Rare Bird". I recommend listening to the original as well, if you haven't yet heard it! Epiphany worthy.

Coming Up Tails (The Scientist - Coldplay)

The song resurfaced for me over the past few days. I loved it when it first came out but due to relentless radio over-play it lost its glory for me, until now. It's crazy when you hear an old song again with new ears. Really "taking you back to the start", back to when it was new, exciting, and the opportunities were endless.

I will try to always look at things with new eyes, hear them with new ears, to not take anything for granted. To not let it be scenery. Certain things are just too special to let rest in the shadows.

Fireflies as Fire Flies (the 4th of July). (Kiss Me - Sixpence None the Richer)

Such a rich, simple, romantic song. Perfect for those lazy long hot nights of July. Fireflies and candle eyes.

This song reminds me to love, and to remember the little things that make love worth just everything. Bearded barley in a summer breeze. Secret tree houses. Open hands bathed in moonlight. The imagery just makes it. Love like youth. Love grows as we do but its richness and excitement in the beginning, it spawns these moments that we hold on to, these moments that then transcend time and become a part of us always. They become our metaphors for love itself. We hold on to that, and we never lose love. We become love.

My cousin Matthew married his beautiful wife Katreena two years ago tomorrow. They now have a beautiful son named Ace, and it seems that that's just what life is all about. Thank you, you two, for teaching me that very valuable lesson. I learned it the day you were married; on a small hill, in a small town, surrounded by loved ones. You are beautiful.

This song played at their wedding. Happy anniversary, to you and to everyone.

Don't Let the Days Go By (Glycerine)

This has been a favorite song of mine since before I can remember. Another one from my dad's '90s collection (I must be in a mood or something), it's always beautiful and I always seem to glean something a little different. And so I've read lots of fan interpretations of this song and they are all different, haha. What that says to me is that each person that listens to it can take from it what they wish, and normally it's based on their own life situation or perspective. Love songs like that. It's how we work through stuff. So the following is my interpretation, and I'd be very interested to hear anyone else's as well.

First off, this is a very sensual song, i.e., 'beautiful taste', 'must be your skin that I'm sinkin' in', 'now I can feel'; so obviously I choose to interpret it as a love song :). There are obvious issues between the couple, but it seems that they just love each other so much that it seems to pass over them after the initial emotional outbursts. The chorus is interesting to me, and my interpretation may be a little far-fetched, though poetic definitely. Glycerine as an explosive substance echoes what I've said about the 'emotional outbursts' and mirrors it in the general state of life on Earth, namely the Big Bang. Life is created, life is ended, the cycle continues. As far as we know, we only get one of these so we'd better heed Rossdale's warning of 'don't let the days go by' (basically 'cause everything can blow up in an instant). Love the little moments and always seek and come back to the 'strawberry fields', the surreality, the fantasy, even in the midst of turbulence in life. The 'bad moon's white again' but so what? She (or he) falls around me and it's all okay.

Of course there's an underlying lullaby of drug abuse, but that's specific to one kind of person but relatable, translatable to many.

Love it! Peace.

True Colors

This is another great song from my favorite era/genre of music, "Outside" by Staind. Thanks dad, for introducing it to me first.

Individual interpretation is one of my favorite things about lyricism.  This song has both a very obvious meaning and a deeper one for me. On the outside (no pun intended), it describes an exhausting relationship between two people, one that probably doesn't have much hope.

I changed a few of the chords from fifths to majors to inject hope into the song. The idea that even though there are moments when we can feel this way about something or someone, we persevere and it passes. We may always come back to this feeling, this frustration, but it's the times in-between that make it worthwhile. And while this is relevant in a lot of relationships, it's also relevant about life in general.

Life seems to be just a very long lesson in patience. And in patience and inner peace is where we find true happiness. The lyrics in this song describe perfectly some of the most common personality flaws in human beings, flaws that prevent us from achieving happiness, such as being "full of pride", the idea of "tasting what I can never have" translating to a human's natural urge to want what they can't or don't have, among plenty of others. There is frustration in life, there is hopelessness and wanting to give up but when we can "see through [it]", that's where the real beauty lies. I take Aaron Lewis' chorus line of "inside you're ugly, ugly like me" not to reflect a defective individual or a physically inferior individual but to simply state that we as humans can empathize with one another because we all have these inherent flaws. To "see your true colors", to rise above them, to reach one's potential. And while on the surface the lyrics seem to state a much different message, this is what I choose to infer from it on a deeper level. Hence, I love the dualism in the song: frustration on the surface and hope and inspiration lying beneath, whether he meant it that way or not. Just remember, "tomorrow'll be okay".

I love you all, persevere and find peace. Have a great day.

Save Your Soul

'Who Will Save Your Soul': probably my favorite Jewel song. And thank you to my Grandpa Weis for giving me this gorgeous guitar, as soon as I got it home I was picking out a few chords and running with them. It feels wonderful and at the same time awkward to be using a guitar. The sound is so much fuller, which I love, but my fingers hate me. Especially when I try to play the 'F' chord. We'll work on it.

A little background: I fell in love with this album (Pieces of You) when I was about 10 years old. I heard Jewel interview once and on this particular song she said that she thinks she sounds like Kermit the frog. I think that she was being too hard on herself, but I can get where she's coming from with the whole singing in the back of your throat thing. Then in the interview, she did an actual Kermit impression. Weird things stick with you.

So here it is! A classic!

Moon River - Andy Williams (Audrey Hepburn)

'Moon River' is a song composed by Andy Williams and made famous by its appearance in the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's, sung and played by Audrey Hepburn. It's just for fun :).

If you haven't watched the movie, I recommend it. It'll at the very least make you feel more sane about your own self.

"It's useful being top banana in the shock department." -Holly GoLightly

Peace & Love

'Daddy, Why Did You Eat My Fries?' - Marceline the Vampire Queen (Cover)

Let me just preface this post by stressing this most important fact: My dad has never eaten my fries without my consent. My dad would rather poke his own eyeball than make me cry. He is awesome, the best dad ever, and this song most certainly does NOT reflect our relationship. (I love you, dad! :))

That being said, this is a super awesome funtime song sung by Marceline, the Vampire Queen, from the Adventure Time series. It is severely lacking some sweet boxing beats originally provided by Jake, Finn's yellow stretchy dog; maybe someday I'll get there :).

So happy early Valentine's Day, love your dad (hopefully he's not sneaking your fries while you're listening to this), persevere through this seemingly never-ending winter, eat your peas, and stay happy.

Lots of love <3

Everybody Wants to Be A Cat

Because a cat's the only cat who knows where it's at.

This song is dedicated to my cat Richmond who passed away a couple of months ago. He was the best. He was a master of that feline beat, and everything else was obsolete. 

PS- Recently I discovered that 'Richmond' means 'Protector King'. Quite fitting, if you knew him. 

I Wanna Grow Old With You - Adam Sandler (Cover)

It's January, it's cold, and it seems that spring may just take a little too long in coming. For that, we need a little love.

This one is dedicated to my mom and her new husband, Brad. Consider it like a kind of wedding gift :). I wish you both all the happiness in the world on your new marriage, and feel very honored to be able to watch it grow as you do. I have all the faith in the world in your love for one another.

All my love,
Your Daughter

Stormy Weather - Lena Horne (Cover)

This is one of my personal favorites, and one of the first songs I started seriously practicing on the ukulele.

When I was in Ireland and the weather got really cold and depressing out, I watched a lot of movies from the local library. 'Stormy Weather' was one of them. It is an amazing film with an unsurpassable cast including Lena Horne, Fats Waller, Cab Calloway and others, and is kind of a narrative on the life of Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson. When Lena Horne sang this song near the end of the film, I loved it right away. If you haven't seen the film, do it!!!! It's wonderful.

I thought that due to this crazy weather we've been having, this song was fitting. :)

So stay warm, give hugs and kisses to your honey, and try to make the best of these crazy stormy times we're having!!

Much love and peace.

Pumped Up Kicks - Foster the People (Cover)

An awesome tune. One that I never really thought would work on the ukulele, but I was wrong.

I hope you all had an amazing holiday season and are having an easy transition back to the groove!

Much love.