both sides now

If there were a soundtrack to my life, this classic song by Joni Mitchell would be one of the theme songs.

This is going out to all of you who've ever thought that the song is fundamentally pessimistic. You've only to watch Joni's performance in this video to see that it is anything but that. In the first place, the strings and trumpet soar with hope, not despair; and Joni's open-armed, jaunty smile at 'Something's lost and something's gained in living every day' is the final word on the invalidity (is there such a word?) of the pessimistic interpretation.

The song is a celebration of life, in the same way that the book of Ecclesiastes is a celebration of life, a humble admission that we cannot know it all, that ultimately, clouds and love and life remain a mystery to us, and that this is OK, that we don't need knowledge to celebrate with love, joy and gratitude all that we are given in life, and all that is taken from us too.
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the water is wide

Ah, the dangers of excessive time spent YouTubing. i seem to be on a bit of a spree today.

Here's a song i've loved ever since i first heard the tune in church several years ago - with Christian lyrics, of course, though i much prefer the traditional English lyrics featured here. My next encounter with it was on TicTacTone's website - it was somewhere in the soundclip archives, though i don't know if it's still there - and to this day, that is still my favourite version of the song: a haunting a cappella that hovered over still waters.

This version comes a very close second - i love the vocal harmonies against the guitars, and i love Sarah McLachlan's voice. What i like most about this song, though, is the quiet intensity of both the tune and the lyrics - it's so painful in its restraint. No loud hysterics, no melodramatic declarations - love, and be silent, indeed.

How perfectly suitable for people with a Cordelia complex.


The Water Is Wide
Traditional
This version: Indigo Girls, Jewel, Sarah McLachlan


The water is wide
I can't cross over
And neither I
Have wings to fly
Give me a boat
That can carry two
And both shall row
My love and I.

Love is gentle
Love is kind
The sweetest flower
When first it's new
But love grows old
And waxes cold
And fades away
Like morning dew.

There is a ship
That sails the sea
She's loaded deep
As deep can be
But not as deep
As the love I'm in
I know not how
I sink or swim.

The water is wide
I can't cross over
And neither I
Have wings to fly
Give me a boat
That can carry two
And both shall row
My love and I.
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up on the roof

[Whiney editorial comment:
Argghhh.... i can't post videos directly from YouTube anymore! i suspect it's got to do with my moving my Blogger account to Google. Sorry folks - due to this slight technological hitch, you'll just have to go to the actual YouTube page to watch the video. It's well worth the trip though. Trust me.]


'Up On The Roof'
Original singers: The Drifters
This version by: James Taylor, recorded specially for Sesame Street

i've known this song since i was in Primary school, thanks to a radio programme called 'Pedagogical Pop', which lived up to its name in that it really did aim to teach English through the use of pop songs. And i've always liked it. But it's only recently that it's begun to resonate. Lovelovelove that very urban longing that permeates every chord. And i love the way the set is designed to look like a roof (a very small roof, but a roof nevertheless) - check out the background on the video: you can just about make out the silhouette of a fake stageset skyline, with fake citylights flaring out into the distance. i even love the slight nasal quality of the guitars. And much as i usually prefer deep rich bass or baritone voices, James Taylor's rather nasal tenor actually works here.


When this old world starts a-getting me down
And people are just too much for me to face
I'll climb way up to the top of the stairs
And all my cares just drift right into space

On the roof, it's peaceful as can be
And there the world below don't bother me, no, no

So when I come home feeling tired and beat
I'll go up where the air is fresh and sweet
I'll get far away from the hustling crowd
And all the rat-race noise down in the street

On the roof, that's the only place I know
Look at the city, baby
Where you just have to wish to make it so
Let's go up on the roof

And at night the stars they put on a show for free
And, darling, you can share it, share it all with me
That's what I said
Keep on telling you

That right smack dab in the middle of town
I found a paradise that's just about troubleproof
And if this old world starts a-getting you down
There's room enough for two
Up on the roof...
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this is newness

If looking for a good Christmas poem was like looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack, finding a good New Year poem is like finding the proverbial camel to go through the eye of that other famous proverbial needle.

i still like this one by Sylvia Plath.

But that was last year's newness, and therefore not new at all; and because it is a new year, and because it's time to ring out the old and ring in the new, here's a new poem for 2007.


Days

What are days for?
Days are where we live.
They come, they wake us
Time and time over.
They are to be happy in:
Where can we live but days?

Ah, solving that question
Brings the priest and the doctor
In their long coats
Running over the fields.


(Philip Larkin)


PS:
Don't ask me why, for two years running, i've posted New Year poems by arguably the most miserable, depressive writers in the English language. Let's try not to make too much of it. :)
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