Alright, alright. Right now! Top 5 All-Time BEST female singer-songwriters, let 'em rapid-fire LETS GO:
1. Carole King
2. Joni Mitchell
3. Tori Amos
4. PJ Harvey
5. Fiona Apple
..........and, trailing in at a close 6th...no....more like 5 1/4, Regina Spektor. Not to mention Lucinda Williams. And Chan Marshall. And Imogen Heap. And Bjork. And Stevie Nicks. Dammit! Too many to list...
Been feeling pretty scummy the last week and a half. I won't go into much detail, but let's just say that I'm all tapped out. Running on fumes and whatnot. Usually, what I do is listen to some good 'ol wallow in my own misery music. Maybe gaze out the BART window on the way to work with a deep sigh, while "Sullen Girl" plays on the iPod.
How about this-
Top 5 songs to mope to:
1. "Obscured/Window Paine"-Smashing Pumpkins (depends on if I'm just depressed or slightly energetically depressed)
2. "Pretty Penny"- STP
3. "Orion"- Metallica
4. ANYTHING from Tidal by Fiona Apple
5. "Mystify Me"-Son Volt
*siiigh* ANYHOW.....this time around, in the midst of all my moping, I found this:
Actually, this isn't the video that I fell in love with, but embedding is disabled for it, so here's a link. This version is a bit mellower, and waaaaaay cuter. A field full of cute Reginas running around doing cute stuff!
This video inspired me to do two things. 1) Buy Regina's latest album "Begin to Hope". Now, I do like to say that I looove Regina Spektor. I have almost all the albums she's put out, save the two she put out after Soviet Kitsch. This album has been out for over a year and a half, and the only single I'd heard off of it until recently was "Fidelity". Apparently, it was named after "High Fidelity". Further proof that she and I should TOTALLY be friends. I'd pick a flower for her to wear in her cute hair every freaking day! But I digress once again. The other thing that video inspired me to do: Feel uplifted! I haven't felt uplifted by a song in a very long time. Truly uplifted. Like when I would listen to one song on repeat in my room when I was 15. In the last few days, I'm pretty sure I've listened to/watched "Better" upwards of 30 times. Getting dressed in the morning for work, I'm freaking Molly Ringwald in "The Breakfast Club". It may sound kind of stupid, but that song has helped me begin recharging. It's helped me put more care into myself, which in turn helps me care for others around me easier.
~If I kiss you where it's sore, will you feel better, will you feel anything at all?
~If you never say your name out loud to anyone, they can never ever call you by it.
These are the kinds of simple, straight-to-the-point lyrics that really get to me. Makes you start coaching yourself. -Can anyone else really help you feel better when you're hurting? Why do we think that we can't help ourselves? -Don't be afraid of putting yourself out there, even if it isn't easy sometimes. Granted, as a huge Tori fan, I also have a deep appreciation for obscurity and ethereal vagueness. Speaking of which, I went on a Tori YouTube rager last night (I have a current obsession with cute live music videos) fueled by my excitement that in almost a month exactly, TORI AMOS WILL BE PERFORMING 6-7 BLOCKS FROM MY HOUSE FOR 3 DAYS IN A ROW!!!!! And you know what? Judging from fan videos from recent performances in the UK, she's a fucking firecracker!!! (I have yet to get her new album...but I have a lot of reservations about it, being SO disappointed with her last album "The Beekeeper".) There is something baffling to me about disgustingly famous musicians. They play the same songs for years and years and years. I'm sure I'd get tired of playing the same songs for 20+ years. Shit, I don't play songs that I wrote 4 years ago. I can barely remember them, even. And when I do, I don't get more than halfway through before I start getting a bad taste in my mouth. Anyway, I was watching a video of Tori doing "Sugar" as Santa, one of her pretentious "alternate personalities" or something. The footage is awful, totally out of focus the whole time, so I won't subject you to it. But her band was TIGHT and her vocals were spot on. After all these years, I do think that "Sugar" live is one of the hardest songs for her to perform. The outro she worked up is amazing...her vocals soar. They really do. Of all the versions I've searched for and listened to, I think that there will NEVER be a better version of that song than the one off of "To Venus and Back" (1998), which, mind you, she recorded AT SOUND CHECK!!!
.....!!!!
Yeah. Fucking sound check, man. I woke up this morning (an hour and a half earlier due to the end of Daylight Savings and the lack of knowing that by my beautiful daughter) feeling better than I have in almost 2 weeks. I have the power to make it through every day the best person I can be. Yeah, I fucked up more times in one week than I would have liked recently, but there's nothing I can do about it now but accept it, accept the consequences that came along with them, and move forward as the best person I can be. And as long as I can remind myself that, whether it be through appreciating the color of the sky at dusk, or listening to some of my musical heroes, or whatever else the musical doctor ordered, then I think for now I do belong here. Right here where I stand. And you should do the same.
Because you belong here too.
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