This was the song that really made me sit up and take notice of Rufus Wainwright.
I remember the first time I heard it - I was in the car. It blew me away. I bought Release the Stars and this track became one of my compulsive listening tracks. I adore it, particularly the point, at precisely 3 minutes, when it just soars. Particularly these lines:
I've got a life to lead
I got a soul to feed
I got a dream to heed
And that's all I need
I love many many other Rufus Wainwright songs. It was between this one and Dinner At Eight to post this evening. There are similarities between the two and you can see how influenced he is by opera, can't you?
I remember the first time I heard it - I was in the car. It blew me away. I bought Release the Stars and this track became one of my compulsive listening tracks. I adore it, particularly the point, at precisely 3 minutes, when it just soars. Particularly these lines:
I've got a life to lead
I got a soul to feed
I got a dream to heed
And that's all I need
I love many many other Rufus Wainwright songs. It was between this one and Dinner At Eight to post this evening. There are similarities between the two and you can see how influenced he is by opera, can't you?
I'm still on my category glom. Coffee cremes ahoy! I'm glomming Cathy Williams with a strange fascination. The fascination is this: I read one of her books years ago - it was in one of those 3-in-1 Mills & Boon anthologies. It featured a spoiled-brat-heroine romance - possibly my least favourite character-types (although it's a close run thing with military-heroes). Nevertheless, I noticed the book and kind of filed the name away because I thought the sex scene was memorable and a bit more interesting than the usual. Anyhoo, recently, I picked up one of her books, The Italian's One-Night Love Child (that I subsequently passed to Laura V who mentioned it in one of her very interesting posts). And you know what was truly fascinating? I could have sworn it was a book written by my perernnial favourite, Lynne Graham! The style, the characters, even the phraseology (classic Lynneisms like impressed to death). Since then I've been glomming her a little and she does seem to have completely Lynne-Grahamed. Currently reading Rafael's Suitable Wife and it's holding true to form. I'm also doing a mini-Michelle-Reid-glom thanks to DA Jane's post on La Reid which prompted some fond memories.
On the single title front, I have lots of exciting recent acquisitions including Madeline Hunter's Lady of Sin, Anne Stuart's Shadows at Sunset (as recc'd by Meriam in one of her very rare forays into the world of romanceland) and a Cruisie I can't remember the name of - it has a wee doggy in it. She's a teacher. I read the first four pages. What else? Ooooh major acquisition: Heartless by Mary Balogh. It's OOP and the prequel to Silent Melody which I loved loved loved. Plus, it comes highly recc'd by Balogh Guru Janet Webb!!! (Guest posting here). I have been very naughty though - I spent ten-pounds-and-sixty-two-pence on this book. Eep! For an OOP romance novel! Luke better be good for that....
Maybe my category glom is something to do with the demands of real life? Work is, to use a charming Lola-ism, extremely very busy, Charlie.
Have a good weekend all. I will try to write a meatier and more engaging post about my reading experiences very soon.
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9 comments:
Somehow that song reminded me of this version of "Barbara". It was originally a poem by Jacques Prévert (translation here). Maybe it's because there are similar sweeping chords, and political commentary of some sort.
On the topic of music, and since you mentioned Charlie and Lola, the background music here is very restful, and you can design a virtual butterfly.
This is just a lovely song! I am going to get it on iTunes! And glom like you!!
Lovely song! Thanks for sharing. I saw him in concert years ago at college, before I knew who he was... kind of fun, but I wish I could have been more appreciative at the time.
Rufus is performing at the Sydney Opera House and was lucky to get tickets! Can't wait!
Janet W: Now that's a Rufus W song I've never heard. It's so clear he grew up elsewhere than the United States.
So NO pressure with Heartless or anything :( I hope you're liking it as much as I do. One lovely thing about Silent Melody is seeing Luke and Anna as married but not dead & pithed after their HEA ... you know what I mean!
"Now that's a Rufus W song I've never heard. It's so clear he grew up elsewhere than the United States"
Why? Bruce Springsteen wrote
Born down in a dead man's town
The first kick I took was when I hit the ground
You end up like a dog that's been beat too much
Till you spend half your life just covering up
Born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
They seem similar to me, because they're both protest songs which express dissatisfaction with the situation in the US at the time they were written. Springsteen's focus is on the effects of poverty and the Vietnam war, though, whereas I thought Wainwright might have been referring to attitudes towards homosexuality in the US in the line "Tell me, do you really think you go to hell for having loved?" It seems, though, from comments quoted on the Wikipedia page about the song, that it, like Born in the USA is perhaps an anti-war song (in this case presumably referring to the war in Iraq).
The US has "a long tradition of American protest music as old as the nation itself."
Janet W: Now that's a tough question Laura because I can't forget what I know ... and I know he grew up in Montreal (altho to an American dad, I think). Much like me: I'm a dual national.
I read into his presentation a sense of distance and perspective. I certainly am not implying that Americans aren't hard on their country, when they feel that's called for and Springsteen is a great example. I'm not sure I can be any clearer but growing up on a diet of singer/songwriters from all over the globe, there's a difference between Americans singing/writing about the US and people from another country. YMMV, of course.
This really does feel like an outsider song. (that is, outside America) I can't put my finger on why, but before I heard it, I actually thought RW was from America.
It quite put me in mind of that Blur song, Magic America.
Laura - what a lovely song/poem. And my littlest littley and I made a beautiful butterfly.
Carolyn -it's a great album. Sansoucci is great too. And Tiergarten. I'm probably spelling these wrong.
Kate - you lucky thing.
info-gen - you even luckier thing!
Janet - When I first heard it I assumed he was American but later learned he'd been brought up in Canada.
Laura again - you saved me quoting the very same words. I personally think it's a song about a lot of things the singer is unhappy about.
Janet/Laura/Carolyn - I think of it as both insider and outsider actually; someone who is of the place yet not of it.
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