Becky has written a great post on music she loves. It got me thinking about songs that can change my mood in an instant, put a smile on my face or take me back to another time.
One of those singers is, funnily enough because there are very few French artists I love, Raphaël. I love his songs, his voice and the words. One of my favourites is Ne partons pas fâchés (Let's not separate angry). It's a typical guy statement - let's not part angry, it's not worth it - but his voice and the melody are so beautiful and upbeat that I forgive him, like I forgave my unrealiable boyfriends in my youth. He sings of of how beautiful he finds the girl, of how he wants to take her to the sea, of how there's nothing else to do but drink, of how he's sold his motor bike. It's his voice and his elfin face that gets me I think, and the song reminds me of being at university, of being young and that mad love you feel for guys at 20 when you stay up all night and decide to drive to the beach at 5 a.m. and you're high on nothing more than youth and alcohol and finally being with the person you have been obsessing over during all those lectures. Before infertility and losing babies and diabetes and making sure there is an apple juice in my handbag and that I have my insulin. Before all of that, when a day can suddenly turn into something magical just because a guy speaks to you. Or is that just early love?
My latest love is Paolo Nutini's song Candy. There's something in that song that could make me leave everything and take off in Paolo Nutini's car, driving into the distance, anywhere, as long as it takes us days to get there. Even if he does have the odd clunky line like "I'm just a stain on your bedsheet and you're my diamond in the rough". His voice just melts me.
Maybe I love these two guys' songs because they somehow encapsulate something of the guys I have lusted after. They have a bad boy quality mixed with a boyishness which gets me every time. It's probably why I love Macy Gray. She sings about loving the bad boys, about how she knows she shouldn't yet she does. And she has that great voice.
My mother loves music. We would dance to Buddy Holly and she would tell me how only the bad boys liked the Rolling Stones, and she would look like a different person, jiving away and singing all the words. Maybe that's why we love certain songs; because they evoke a younger emotion or time in us, they remind us of happy, carefree times. Ok, I am stopping now because I just sound old and care worn. Time to go to bed, and maybe listen to Raphaël on my iPod.
There is nothing quite as amazing as listening to an old song and remembering way back when. I love music and I love scents for the same things.
xoxo.
I'll have to check out the music you linked to.
Posted by: Aunt Becky | August 22, 2009 at 08:15 AM