Monday, July 16, 2007

What I'm (going to be) listening to right now

Awareness had a post today about the music of your life -- and I posted the following in response:


Many years ago, when I first got something approximating a walkman, I experienced, for the first time, my life with a soundtrack. And the soundtrack that day was Vivaldi's winter, from the Four Seasons. A marvellous discovery --- replaced gradually by a love, when I am in the country, of walking with the music of the world. In town, give me "Last train to glory" by Arlo Guthrie, or "The Mary Ellen Carter" by Stan Rogers.

In my life, with LOML, we have the theme from the Prairie Home Companion (the Tishomongo Blues, the real name of the song --- we think of it as "hear that old piano, from down the avenue"), the Jerome Kern standard "Folk who Live on the Hill": Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young's "Our House (is a very very very fine house)", etc....

LOML and I actually got permission from Garrison Keillor and the Prairie Home Companion folks to record the song from the show and play it as the first song at our wedding:-)

To this, Awareness responded by posting the last verse of Mary Ellen Carter. So, to all who've not heard of Stan Rogers, but like folk music, please, do yourself a favour and find and listen to this song. I call it my lifeblood song, the one I rely on when things get bad enough to need it. And I love to listen to it when things are good too --- and I can really belt out the line about "smiling bastards laughing at you everywhere you go"


Yours, in no need now, but prepared,
N.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice. I find I don't really have a soundtrack of my own but I can totally understand how certain songs bring up certain feelings. Thanks for visiting earlier.

awareness said...

Smiling here this morning.....I awoke to the song in my head!! I'm on the road today visiting clients in their homes.....rural driving.....backroads beauty of NB. Will put Stan on in the car as I drive and sing OUT LOUD!!

Enjoy your day......

Rise Again!!

Susan Helene Gottfried said...

Breadbox, just got your comment -- are you still in Pittsburgh? We ought to talk...

BreadBox said...

Susan: nope: moved down South (some couple of hundred months ago) and never managed to move back north... Still occasionally get back to visit, when I am in need a of a visit to the Strip district....
(for those visitors here of an unclean nature, the Strip is the wonderful market district in Pgh).

N.

OldLady Of The Hills said...

Thank you for your beautiful comment. I dearly appreciate it....
I have been enjoying your Bread Posts very much. And I have been surfing around and came across this post....I LOVE "The Folks Who Live On The Hill"...so few people know that song....It is amazing! And "Our House"....it too has special meaning for me for a few reasons...but the main one is, that I acted in a play many many years ago at The Mark Taper Forum, here in Los Angeles, and the Director, Eddy Parone, used that song almost like the theme music for the play...(The Play was called "L.A. Under Siege" by a wonderful writer named Mayo Simon. And part of the action of the play called for me to take my Brassiere off and appear naked from the waist up for a scene...I was the first woman to appear topless on the stage of that Theatre....a dubious distibctioon---nevertheless, a distinction of sorts! (lol).
I love that you got permission from Garrison K. to use their theme song in your wedding. It must have been a very special ceremony!

BreadBox said...

Naomi: glad you liked the comment! I'm a huge fan of the Tin Pan Alley style of music: Gershwin, Kern, Porter, etc. Awe heck. I'm a big fan of music in general. I just don't listen to much stuff that is more modern than say the 80's or so.

And I've never done naked on stage:-)

N.