Let the music set you free....
I was reading this book today:
As usual, I was struck by what an intense, creative and passionate writer Bruce is. Many of his early songs had a theme of redemption or of liberation. He's quoted as saying:
"For me the greatest pop music was music of liberation: Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, James Brown, Public Enemy, the Clash, the Sex Pistols. Those were pop groups that liberated an enormous amount of people to be who they are."
and..."Elvis Presley liberated our bodies, and Bob Dylan liberated our minds."
There's power in music. Both rhythms and lyrics can make you feel and think and want to do something - take some action, whether it be marching for peace, taking a drive, or making love.
I see a story forming as I hear the words and feel the emotion behind the music.
There are so many songs I could list that move me this way. Share some of your, okay? Here's a few of mine:
Imagine - John Lennon
Shooting Star - Bad Co.
Backstreets - Bruce Springsteen
Still, You Turn Me On - Emmerson Lake and Palmer
One - U2
Layla - Derek & the Dominoes
My Immortal - Evanescence
Grace - Jeff Buckley
Stagefright - The Band
Melissa - The Allman Brothers
Since I've Been Loving You - Led Zeppelin
My Aim is True - Elvis Costello
Rock and Roll Band - Boston
Jungle Love - Steve Miller
Just Like a Woman - Bob Dylan
Free Fallin - Tom Petty
I will Remember You - Sara McLachlan
Paradise City - Guns and Roses
The Weeping Song - Nick Cave
Breakin Me - Jonny Lang
The list would be endless. Even if I listed just the bands. I think everything I live must move me in some way, whether it's deep and profound or just silly and happy. Just a small sampling would include:
ReplyDeleteThe Beatles - "Across the Universe" and "Let It Be" (I used to have a cassette of these two songs over and over).
The Church - "Into My Hands"
The Clash - "Somebody Got Murdered"
Black Flag - "My War"
7 Seconds - "Young Until I Die"
Minor Threat - "Minor Threat" and "Salad Days"
Fugazi - "No Movement"
Ian Hunter - "Standing in My Light"
Pete Townshend and Ronnie Lane - "April Fool"
Nick Drake - "Pink Moon"
TV on the Radio - "Ambulance"
Death Cab for Cutie - "We Looked Like Giants"
Elliot Smith - "Fond Farewell to a Friend"
Limbeck - "In Ohio on Some Steps"
Rum Diary - "Mileage"
...see how carried away I got!
Off the top of my head...
ReplyDeleteDust in the Wind- Kansas
My Father's Eyes- Eric Clapton
Angel's Son- Sevendust/Strait Up
What's This Life For- Creed
Nothing Else Matters- Metallica
Bob, my list is never ending too as are the memories and emotions that go along with the songs.
ReplyDeleteBruce,
ReplyDeleteI'd choose two of those for my list too, can you guess which two?
I feel the same about music. Here's some of my personal favourites. Each has an attachment to some part of my life or just gets me in some way.
ReplyDeleteIdiot Wind - Bob Dylan
Piss Factory - Patti Smith (Listening to these songs is like getting kicked in the guts. So powerful).
Walk on the Wild Side - Lou Reed
Wide Open Road - The Triffids
Teenage Riot _ Sonic Youth
Atlantic City - Bruce Springsteen
Anarchy in the UK - The Sex Pistols
Powderfinger / Cortez the Killer - Neil Young
Dazed and Confused/Going to California - Led Zeppelin
Boots of Spanish Leather - Bob Dylan
Fake Plastic Trees - Radiohead
Drifting - Jimi Hendrix
Public Image - PIL
You Can Leave Your Shoes Under My Bed - Paul Kelly
New England - Billy Bragg
Oh God, I can't stop! I better leave it for now :)
OK< well I can sit here for hours putting in songs, but:
ReplyDeleteAllman Brothers - Mountain Jam - this brings tears to my eyes during the second part of the song...Duane's intensity on the slide is just so 'heart-wrenching'
Have You Ever Loved A Woman - D&TD
and
Watersong - Hot Tuna also brings out so much emotion in me
Hey anon, I love that Billy Bragg song too. Billy Bragg is one of my all-time favorites up until he got a bit erratic around Workers Playtime. I love those first several albums and EPs though. So straightforward, smart and honest.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Billy is great. He does a good love song too. Honest and real, but also very tender and pretty.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to add Bob Dylan's Just Like a Woman. It's a sentimental favourite because it features in my oldest memory, clinging to my mother's skirt as she danced around the kitchen to it when I was three or four. Gets me every time.
I was brought up on Dylan, and Patti Smith and Neil Young make up my personal Holy trinity. Oh, and Led Zeppelin. Well, Holy quartet then!
Like Bob my list would probably be endless but some of them are
ReplyDeleteJohn Lennon - Imagine
King Crimson - Epitaph
Animals - House of the Rising Sun
Bob Dylan - Masters of War
Bob Dylan - Ballad of a Thin Man
Pink Floyd - Echoes
Pink Floyd - Wots...Uh the Deal
The Doors - The End
The Beatles - A Day in the Life