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Subject: navy-soup-digest V2 #117
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navy-soup-digest      Friday, September 17 1999      Volume 02 : Number 117



                                In This Digest:
                               -----------------
  Favorite song (WAS: Re: blue parade, the song)  ["Tab Siddiqui" <fumblefan]
  Re: Favorite song        ["=?iso-8859-1?B?Sm9yZGFusg==?=" <jbimm@home.com>]
  Re: Favourite song.           ["Christine Evans" <evans_ent@email.msn.com>]
  Re: Favourite song.                  [James McGarry <jmcgarry@uoguelph.ca>]
  Re: Favourite song.                                    [Songbird22@aol.com]
  Re: Favourite song.                                    [Songbird22@aol.com]

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 14:46:03 PDT
From: "Tab Siddiqui" <fumblefan@hotmail.com>
Subject: Favorite song (WAS: Re: blue parade, the song)

I wrote, and Chris replied:

>>What, actual Sarah content?  Oops, sorry. ;-)  Hell, can we just >>say 
>>that the entire *album* is like that?  But while we're on the >>subject, 
>>let's start a new thread - what's everyone's favorite song >>off "Blue 
>>Parade", and why?  Hard to choose, isn't it? :-) (BTW, >>I'm not going 
>>first... <g>)
>>
>
>As mystical as Awake Soon is (a la Fauré?), I still really like the >Blue 
>Parade. And second to that, the ever-famous Twin Moon..
>
>Each song, however, has an element that adds to the album.

While it's marvellous to see this thread take off (hey, the rest of you, 
whaddaya waiting for?? ;-)), I'm sure we're all going to fall into the trap 
of "Well, I love 'Twin Moon', but then there's the majestic beauty of 'Blue 
Parade', and...", so try and pick *one* song off the album, people, *one*, 
and explain why that one is particularly interesting or special to you. :)

Jenn wrote:

>hey i don't contribute much to this list... but wanted to put in my >2 
>cents here.
>
>am i the only one who loves "my invitation"?  i'm not really sure >why, i 
>guess i like the soft self-reflection of it, and feel it >close to my 
>heart.

See, now that's the type of response I'm talking about. :)

I dunno, "My Invitation" is lovely, of course, but I think it's actually the 
only song on the album that doesn't really grab me as much as the others, 
for some reason.

I actually prefer the more "rockin'" ("Now we're gonna get a little raucous! 
  Uh, no, not really - raucous in not in my vocabulary." - Sarah Slean, 
Taste of the Danforth Festival, '98 ;-)) tunes on "Blue Parade", just 
because they bring a lot of the passion in Sarah's vocals to the fore and 
allow her backing musicians to really let loose.  I don't know about the 
rest of you, but I was pretty taken aback at just how hard Sarah and her 
band literally "rocked out" at the first release party show - they were 
loud, they were wild, and they were *raucous*! ;-)  It seemed rather, I 
don't know, *different*, from Sarah's usual solo or smaller-band gigs, but 
it definitely took the songs to a new level altogether.  That being said, my 
favorite (if I had to pick *one*, and I guess I do <g>) is "Playing Cards 
With Judas", just because I waited so damn long for her to actually put that 
song on a CD! ;-)  I love everything about it - the little intro, the way 
the strings just melt together with the rest of the instrumentation, the 
last chorus where she keeps singing the lines over and over...

Okay, now I just want to go home and listen to "Blue Parade"... ;-)

- - Tab :)


______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

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Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 18:08:22 -0400
From: "=?iso-8859-1?B?Sm9yZGFusg==?=" <jbimm@home.com>
Subject: Re: Favorite song

When I first gave Blue Parade a listen, the night after the first release
party show, my first favorites were "Blue Parade" (probably because I'd
already heard it when Sarah played Streetfest) and "High".  I like the album
version of "High" but hearing it live, there was no comparison.  I really do
prefer the live beginning to the album version's beginning.  As I continued
to listen to BP other songs began to jump out at me, namely "Twin Moon"
(which is a great nighttime tune) and more recently "Play Cards With Judas".
I really like the way the song seems to "come together" out of chaotic noise
at the beginning.  It really is a great tune.  Another thing I really enjoy
is the holistic feel the album conveys.  It seems to flow together to become
one big musical experience.  That's just my take on the album.

After writing all that I really need to listen to BP!

see ya,

Jordan

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 19:05:11 -0400
From: "Christine Evans" <evans_ent@email.msn.com>
Subject: Re: Favourite song.

Hello All,

    To keep Tab's thread threadin'...

    I would probably fall prey to the, "Well, the lyrics and interpretation
of '_____' is beautiful, but on the other hand, the harmonies on '______'
are beautiful, but on the other hand..." So I will not do this. I will
clench my teeth and select a favourite song from an absolutely amazing
album. (Flawless?)

    It would have to be between 'Playing Cards with Judas'... that little
piano trill at the beginning, the absolutely pulsing chorus. The first time
I heard Sarah play it, I was grinning from ear to ear. I don't know, it just
sounded perfect. A very sensual song, for some reason - I don't know. Does
anyone know what I'm talking about? :-) It's the song that I find myself
rewinding the most on my walkman and blasting it to unhealthy volumes while
commuting back and forth and forth and back on the subway.

    And it's a tie! I equally love 'Before Your Time'... just
heart-wrenching. Beautifully written, with such an incredible opening
line... "Who wants a genius any way?" An excellent song to just sit and t h
i n k to... and of course, I'm also obsessed with Glenn, so it's got that
little extra added incentive for me. :-) But all around just a wonderful
song. Very introspective. Very personal. It got to me a big way.

    Like Tab, 'My Invitation' doesn't give me the same ultra-incredible
feeling like the rest of the songs on the album do... although I still love
it! It's just difficult ranking which song you like BEST (because I like all
of them). Any way, maybe it's the kind of repetitive melody on 'My
Invitation' (you know, the whole, "You are what they call the human season"
thing), but the lyrics are absolutely astounding to that song. I absolutely
adore them... I have them written out in huge black letters on my drafting
table. Wow. Got me right *there.*

    So yeah. Playing Cards With Judas and Before Your Time tie for Best Song
for me. Although I wish (IwishIwishIwish!!!!) that somehow, by some magical
force of nature... considering that Sarah wrote it just 4 days before the
August 12th show... I wish that 'Last Year's War' were on the album. *Sob!*
That song absolutely wins hands down for me.

Love you all,
- - Christine Evans :-)
evans_ent@msn.com
http://www.angelfire.com/id/thepiano/index.html

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 23:33:24 -0400 (EDT)
From: James McGarry <jmcgarry@uoguelph.ca>
Subject: Re: Favourite song.

On Thu, 16 Sep 1999, Christine Evans wrote:
>     And it's a tie! I equally love 'Before Your Time'... just
> heart-wrenching. Beautifully written, with such an incredible opening
> line... "Who wants a genius any way?" An excellent song to just sit and t h
> i n k to... and of course, I'm also obsessed with Glenn, so it's got that
> little extra added incentive for me. :-) But all around just a wonderful
> song. Very introspective. Very personal. It got to me a big way.

   I'm with you! There's so much about this song that's appealing from the
subject matter (until mid-high school I rarely listened to anything that
wasn't classical and the Goldberg Variations was likely my favourite
album...) to the execution this song is just so beautiful. Its personal in
a bigger way though, its, maybe I'm reading too much into it, but its
this-is-me-and-I-know-its-you-too feel is an extended personal to
like-minded people. When I think of so much that humanity has done wrong
and then I think of Glenn Gould and the way his body moves and his eyes go
all funny when he sits at the piano... ...that we can produce as a race
someone who can see and interpret and share that sort of beauty. Well,
that goes a long way for me to forgiving our mistakes as a species. 

  That question, "Who wants a genius anyway?..." Without really intending
to goes to the root of what it is to be human. We should want that genius,
that shaman musical or otherwise to connect us to the beauty and the
passion of the world. And it begs other questions like if we don't want
this, _why_ not? I could go on for hours about why this is such a good
song...

> force of nature... considering that Sarah wrote it just 4 days before the
> August 12th show... I wish that 'Last Year's War' were on the album. *Sob!*
> That song absolutely wins hands down for me.

Yeah, clearly its the best thing she's ever written. It _is_ Sadness. And
yet I think this is also clearly a promise of more to come. 

   I love Elliot too. It's a wonderful little cabaret song. It almost
should be in French. And contrary to what Mme. Slean says, its not
stocatto enough to be Piaf-ish... its more Brel-like. Interestingly enough
I'd say "Last Year's War" has a lot in common with "Ne Me Quite Pas". I
get that same chilling sadness with each. 

  And "I Want to Be Brave" that's was an unexpected jem. Passionately
executed despite some tomfoolery on Sarah and Hayden's part. Its part of
the charm. I'm afraid to move during this song for fear I'll disturb
something...

   Its interesting to note that my four favourites are some of her most
recent works. Its not that I've heard the other songs so many times I'm
accustomed to them. I still swoon over "Twin Moon" and I miss her 'girls',
"Sadie" and "Elaine"... and "Ogoni Star" deserves to be preserved on disc
somewhere... ...its just that I think she's improving as a songwriter and
arranger in leaps and bounds. I wanna see what's next. (Saturday!!)


James.
P.S. If Sarah works on changing around a piece of music by herself, does
that me she's the lone arranger?
==========================================================================
James McGarry				| jmcgarry@UoGuelph.CA
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Being a hero is about the shortest-lived profession on earth." 
- - Will Rogers
==========================================================================

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 23:49:47 EDT
From: Songbird22@aol.com
Subject: Re: Favourite song.

Christine writes:

<<     It would have to be between 'Playing Cards with Judas'... that little
< piano trill at the beginning, the absolutely pulsing chorus. The first time
< I heard Sarah play it, I was grinning from ear to ear. I don't know, it just
< sounded perfect. A very sensual song, for some reason - I don't know. Does
< anyone know what I'm talking about? :-) It's the song that I find myself
< rewinding the most on my walkman and blasting it to unhealthy volumes while
< commuting back and forth and forth and back on the subway.
 
Totally!! I LOVE this song. i have an awesome video for it running in my head 
when I hear it (wish I could sketch it out and present it to her or something 
cause I think it would rock ;) )... I love the beginning, the little like, 
"check" thing and how the strings come in and also the very end, the 
strings... This song just ROCKS and it's very metaphorical and full of 
meaning...

>     And it's a tie! I equally love 'Before Your Time'... just
> heart-wrenching. Beautifully written, with such an incredible opening
> line... "Who wants a genius any way?" An excellent song to just sit and t h
> i n k to... and of course, I'm also obsessed with Glenn, so it's got that
> little extra added incentive for me. :-) But all around just a wonderful
> song. Very introspective. Very personal. It got to me a big way. >>

Me too, Glenn rules (reading a GREAT book on him, tho I've been reading it 
for a few months now, I seem to start and then get too busy to finish)... 
Oddly enough, the book inspired me to start writing this song about him sort 
of, back in January, and there was a line about "pills" and "madness" which 
reminded me of Sarah's "pills" and "anger" line... hmm. Maybe she read the 
same book I'm reading. ;)

I think Playing Cards with Judas and, actually either Bonnie's Song or Blue 
Parade all tie for my favo(u)rite :)

Jessica
www.aquezada.com/jess

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 23:53:53 EDT
From: Songbird22@aol.com
Subject: Re: Favourite song.

James writes re "Last Year's War":

<< Yeah, clearly its the best thing she's ever written. It _is_ Sadness. And
<< yet I think this is also clearly a promise of more to come. 
  
Hmm... maybe because I haven't heard this in it's entirety yet... but... a 
friend sent me a line from this song... and it didn't seem particularly sad 
or meaningful, but then again, it was only one line... What exactly was this 
one about? Just wondering... 

Jessica
www.aquezada.com/jess

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End of navy-soup-digest V2 #117
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