for a little history of the song, see this wiki page.
And who are you, the proud lord said, that I must bow so low? Only a cat of a different coat, that’s all the truth I know. In a coat of gold or a coat of red, a lion still has claws, And mine are long and sharp, my lord, as long and sharp as yours. And so he spoke, and so he spoke, that lord of Castamere, But now the rains weep o’er his hall, with no one there to hear. Yes now the rains weep o’er his hall, and not a soul to hear.
here’s a great acoustic version of “It is Well with My Soul” by Daniel Martin Moore.
When peace like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well, with my soul.
I’ll be spending the long weekend with my family, hoping to enjoy some time outdoors, some time spent on more coats of varnish on my Sunfish wood parts, and just general relaxation.
in honor of today’s date, here is a song titled “Leap Year” by a band called +/- (Plus/Minus). I don’t really know a whole lot about the band – but it is once again a band I was introduced to by WOXY.com.
She says, “Here is someday. We’ll find some way.” Nothing’s put upon me
Search lights, helicopters Sound the all clear Someone’s pulling me in
She smiles and I leave my feet She tries to bring the world out of sleep
All my indecision Lacking vision She holds a skeleton key
Leap year in our own way Armistice Day She is everything
She smiles and I leave my feet She tries to bring the world out of sleep
Everything She said, “Here is someday. We’ll find some way.” And pulled me in.
I previously covered the train ride to Toronto. after our dinner at the Chinese restaurant, my parents took our three boys back to the hotel, and my wife and I jumped back on the subway to head back to Union Station, followed by a short walk after that to the Air Canada Centre (where the Toronto Maple Leafs play hockey) to see the concert. my wife had bought the tickets a few months ago as my birthday present – but the 2 closest shows were either Chicago or Toronto, and my parents love to visit Toronto so they volunteered to join us and watch the boys during the concert, and then spend a few days sight-seeing with us.
concert tickets and a transit day pass
we missed most of the opening band, but I had never heard of them (Wye Oak) so I wasn’t too upset. the 2nd opening band was Neko Case – she and her accompanying band were pretty solid, but I only knew two of the songs they played (Hold On, Hold On & Red Tide).
after a brief break, the headlining show came on stage – it was The National, probably my favorite band right now. I can (and do) listen to them almost every day – I have all of their albums loaded onto my little iPod Nano, and I can just set that on random and listen all day.
the National live at the Air Canada Centre
here’s a photo I snapped with my iPhone – it’s a tad grainy, but you can see the large projector screen they had set up behind the stage, to show video of the band members playing live or in this case, random video shots that went with the song. I believe this was during their song Abel.
I kept track of the songs – noting at least the main lyrics in case I couldn’t remember the song title, and then figured out the correct songs when I got home. here’s the setlist:
Runaway
Anyone’s Ghost
Mistaken for Strangers
Baby, We’ll be Fine
Bloodbuzz Ohio
Slow Show
(Drum solo) Squalor Victoria
Afraid of Everyone
Conversation 16
Son
Apartment Story
Abel
Sorrow
I Need my Girl (live debut of a new song)
England
Fake Empire
Encore
Rylan (live debut of a new song)
Mr November
Terrible Love
Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks (acoustic, no microphones)
it was a fantastic concert, I knew all of the songs – except for the 2 new songs, and it was pretty awesome to be at the concert where the 2 new songs made their live concert debut. my wife doesn’t listen to The National as much, but she said she did recognize about half of the songs, and she enjoyed the concert as well.
I got lucky with my iPhone, and the 2 songs I tried to get video for were the 2 new songs – the video quality isn’t great, but the sound quality was surprisingly awesome. in lieu of me trying to upload them to Youtube, though, here’s a live video of the new song “I Need my Girl”, unveiled on Q Live in Toronto at the Glenn Gould Studio on the same day as the concert we attended.
That came just in time for The National to unveil two surprises — a new song, I Need My Girl, and the addition of Canadian Owen Pallett, whose syncopated violin perfectly complemented the finger-picked guitar and heart-breaking lyrics (Pallett should definitely be featured on the studio version of this track when it’s recorded for the next album).
today’s tunes is a double-shot, first featuring a song from Ray LaMontagne – a pretty sweet live version of “You Are the Best Thing”.
2nd up is a new song from Lisa Hannigan‘s new album Passenger (I’ve posted about her before here and here), where she does a duet with the same Ray LaMontagne, a song called “O Sleep”.
today’s tunes is yet another great song I found via WOXY.com (the now extinct independent radio station from Cincinnati, Ohio). the song is “Asleep at the Wheel” by the band Working For a Nuclear Free City (WFANFC). this version was recorded live in studio for WOXY.com as part of SXSW 2008 in Austin, Texas.
40 years ago today, Led Zeppelin released their 4th studio album, which has come to be known as IV. these days, I have pretty varied musical tastes, but Zeppelin is still my favorite…. they are the best rock and roll band ever.
the album has “Stairway to Heaven”, probably their most famous song, as well as “Black Dog” and “Rock and Roll”, but for today’s tunes I’ve chosen instead “When the Levee Breaks.”
today’s tunes is for my brother Q. he showed me this song a few weeks ago and said it should be my song to get pumped up for sailing. for some reason, the song has been stuck in my head for the last few days… the song is weird but it grows on you.
(I guess you can’t watch it embedded here… click through to watch it on Youtube.)
for today’s tunes, a catchy tune from Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (CYHSY) titled: “Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth”. the video was made by some students, but it’s not really clear who they are or where they are students, but it’s pretty creative:
Just listen to me I won’t pretend to
Understand the movement of the wind
Or the waves out in the ocean or how
Like the hours I change softly slowly
Plainly blindly oh me oh my!
CYHSY is yet another indie band that I discovered several years back listening to their Lounge Act podcast from WOXY.com while living in Cincinnati. they have a very distinct sound, and the lead singer’s voice is… well… interesting. the band’s music grows on you, though, really it does. the band’s 3rd album, Hysterical, is set to release soon (September 2011).
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