Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 1:55 am Posts: 9080 Location: Londres
I'm bringing this back, cos I'm bored and being reflective.
I presume we've all sat at our parents' lap at the age of 3 to watch The Wizard of Oz. And I don't think I'm too far off the mark in suggesting the majority of our parents played us Louis Armstrong's What A Wonderful World at a similarly early stage in our lives. These, of a time of purity, free from the complications of growing up in this complex world, are the moments you cherish for life. If someone compiled a dictionary that used songs to define words, you'd find Over The Rainbow and What A Wonderful World right next to 'purity'.
I found this dual cover by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole back in 2002, a time when I was making huge musical discoveries on a fledgling RM. Only I didn't do it here- it was from watching the end credits of an episode of ER, when Anthony Edwards' character was being killed off. It's not supposed to be like this- you grow up, and you find new things to be moved by. Not relics that you've cast away through the rebel without a cause years as a teenager.
Iz's cover defies that. The voice, so heavenly serene, sends you to another world, another time, not so much picturing the imagery conveyed through the words, but to those initial memories of life, to the long forgotten feeling of pure joy as a child. A time when the most mundane situations would make you giggle anyway, such as the way an unclouded human mind works, because it's all new and we're naturally curious. A time when we've yet to be fucked over by anything. But back to the cheeriness!
Clear your thoughts. Click on play, then close your eyes. Just sit back, and mouth along to the words, cos you know you want to.
RIP, gung gung, miss you heaps.
-------
It's really not a song I like to analyse too much. They're meant to be experienced. For emphasis, I'm going to throw this in- it's only been viewed 36 million times or so.
Post subject: Re: SOTM 56: This one's for Gabby...
Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 5:23 pm
Got Some
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 10:08 pm Posts: 1467 Location: Sarasota, Florida Gender: Male
To me, these are the kind of performances that are present when there is honest-to-God passion and no false pretense in the performance. It happens all the time from artists -- some with more success than others. But it's performances like these where the world just seems to stop and everything around that could confuse and distract you just disappears. It's the pin needle dropping in the silent room. It's the person who delivers a speech so clear and inspiring that all seem uplifted for having heard it.
For as hard as I am in so many different ways, I just cry when I hear performances like this. The contexts, the feelings, and the purpose is all there; sometimes the performance quality doesn't even matter.
Beautiful, gorgeous. Hallelujah.
_________________ So it's Barack Obama now? Good luck.
Post subject: Re: SOTM 56: This one's for Gabby...
Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 12:26 am
Yeah Yeah Yeah
Joined: Tue Nov 23, 2004 6:28 pm Posts: 5361 Location: St. Paul Gender: Male
This is definitely one of those songs that, if you hear it in the right "mood", can bring you to tears.
While I don't have any sort of specific emotional attachment or memory to the tune, I have found myself disappointed when I've heard it on TV. I have to agree with the above post... this song and the performance are about as pure and genuine as you can get. And the beauty of it is that it's all just so fucking simple. So whenever I hear it used for a commercial or trailer or some such, the presentation just seems to go against everything the song makes me feel.
Post subject: Re: SOTM 56: This one's for Gabby...
Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 10:52 pm
Force of Nature
Joined: Sat Feb 02, 2008 10:10 am Posts: 952
Fucking weird, I actually came on the OB forum to make a post called "Surprise Buttsex Moments in Music" where you happen upon a song that completely, unexpectedly blows you away.
I found this song LAST NIGHT, when reading the transcendent "Wonderful Wizard of Oz" comic prompted me to Youtube this song for Eva Cassidy's version. That one also involves an artist with a heavenly voice who died way too young, and for years I thought the power and raw emotion with which she delivered "Over the Rainbow" could never be matched. After typing it in expecting to see her pop right up at the top, I saw another video and went, "fourteen million views on a version from someone not on an Idol show? I gotta see this." There was a moment of brief recognition at the start, since I'd seen the "ooooh" part pop up in commercials here and there, and then I got flattened. The last time I'd been so moved by something without having the mindset for it beforehand was six years ago, when I went to laugh at Johnny Cash's cover of Hurt and ended up walking away after having the decapitated head of my musical presuppositions handed back to me on a silver platter.
It would be pretty ripshit to see Ed uke up and take a shot at this arrangement in honor of this man the next time he's in the Islands. He's got a little bit of experience already on Eastern heavy guys with heavenly voices whose talent is shamefully absent from the West until long after their deaths.
Eva Cassidy's equally moving and eternal cover:
And an example of the top-notch artwork from the comic series that led me to randomly find the gem that is the song in question yesterday:
My girl told me about this and I had to download it ASAP. I have to say that it is just supremely nice; I have no qualms and will listen to it at any time. I'll most likely hear it again as my fiance and her father dance in 16 months.
_________________ absinthe makes the heart grow fonder And so it goes...
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