Morning Song

“…even though I know there’s hope in
every morning song
I have to find that melody alone…

 …have to sing —
the melody —
alone”

 I think love and a broken heart are the number one most popular themes for songwriting. We have all experienced a broken heart in one way or another.  In the Avett Brothers Morning Song, I think they are not only singing about a broken heart, but the fact that we actually need to find our own happiness before we can make someone else happy. That there is “hope” at the start of every new day (“every morning song”), but you have to find what it is for you specifically…you “have to find that melody alone.” Maybe this all sounds way too analytical, and maybe I am totally off base about the meaning of their song, but The Avett Brothers are great songwriters, and their lyrics are very thought provoking.

Morning Song by The Avett Brothers

In my image, the girl is alone. There are many podiums where others have sung to her in the past, but they are gone now. It is up to her to find that “melody alone.”

I really like the studio cut of this song better than their live versions (even though those are more personal) because on the studio cut, they have a chorus singing at the end; a chorus of their friends and family.  Some of which they will never be able to gather together again since one of the chorus members was their aunt who passed away after the song was finished.  That part really resonates with me and it really adds another dimension to the end of the song.   This part of the song is what I had in my head when I created this image.

So listen to the studio cut and turn it up at the end.  Thanks Avett Brothers!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Te6_NTeY4Y&feature=player_detailpage

Ladybird

…and you don’t know how to leave…
and you don’t know where to fly
and you don’t know what you feel
but you know it’s not satisfied…

Ladybird – Natalie Merchant

To me, Natalie Merchant’s new song Ladybird is sort of dark and desperate, but also one of hope. The tale of someone who is no longer loved or no longer loves someone, and feels trapped. I tried to portray the sadness of this song with the darkness of my image, but I also wanted to depict hopefulness at the same time by showing that the bird has left her nest, getting ready to fly. Although she hasn’t flown away completely, it is a beginning, a start. The lost feathers are all the things that she has “got to lose.”

Natalie hasn’t put out an album of all original material since 2001, and I was so excited to listen to it after I heard this track on #mvyradio. Another elegant, so feminine song from her and her unmistakable voice hasn’t changed a bit. Thank you Natalie!

Listen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta4rHfgxarI&feature=player_detailpage

 

Better Than

“Better than being some fool’s bride
Better than pretending to know what’s wrong and what’s right”

Better Than – Lake Street Dive

Sometimes you just have to do what your heart tells you instead of your head, you just need to do what feels good instead of being logical or practical; sometimes, in the long term, the latter might end up being disastrous. That is what I tried to depict in this image from Lake Street Dive’s song Better Than. To me, the song is simple, it’s better to ignore what you know is right, to do something that you know is wrong. It is possible that what seems right, could turn out horrible in the long term. Of course we don’t have the privilege of knowing that ahead of time, we just have to take a leap of faith.

The image shows the “bride” running away from the fool. We can’t see him, (oftentimes, we don’t see a fool for what he/she is until it’s too late). His hat appears all around her, trying to remind her that it is the logical thing….but is it? She’s decided it isn’t, and so she runs away.

The Lake Street Dive members met at the Conservatory of Music in Boston. They have been making music for over a decade and are really becoming noticed, selling out venues and touring Europe. I am dying to see them perform live – just waiting for them to come to Columbus!!

Check out Rachael Price’s unbelievable voice. This is a bit of a mellow song, but the band can really belt it out! Thanks Lake Street Dive!!!!

 

Ghost on the Shore

“…every eye on the coast every morn’ will remember
the sight of the ghost on the shore…”

Lord Huron’s haunting lyrics to the song Ghost on the Shore.  I see the ghost as a woman, standing on a rocky shore, where “all who sail off the coast” see her.  With her billowing cape, she sings to the fishermen.  The song tells of the watery graves that lie under the earth and how the spirits come back to haunt the shore.

Ghost on the Shore – Lord Huron

“Under the waves in the earth of an age
Lie a thousand old northerners’ graves
Deep in the night when the moon’s glowin’ bright
They come rising up into the night”

Although their latest album came out in 2012, and I didn’t discover it until the following year, they are definitely on my list of favorite bands of 2013.  Listen below to how to their lyrics paint pictures as their sound flows around you, and definitely check out their entire cd.  Looking forward to a lot more from them and hope they continue to make music!  Thanks Lord Huron!