Peep, peep…

The spring peepers can barely wait for the snow to stop falling. Last Monday, we got dumped on with a foot of wet, slushy snow. Monday night the peepers began their annual chorus. One day, just as quickly, it’ll end. They’ll be replaced in the late summer by the sounds of bullfrogs.

I think I’ll end this blog with this, the sound that will send me off to sleep for the next few weeks.

Spring peepers 

87/100 – Wild Horses

Wild horses couldn’t drag me away
Wild, wild horses, we’ll ride them some day

I guess we’ll all probably pick a favourite Stones song. I pick this one, in memory of a sweet moment on the dance floor in grade 12.

Wild Horses

Don’t Cry for me Argentina

Evita.

This is the one musical I can’t miss whenever it’s playing nearby. I’ve forgotten how many times I’ve seen it. School productions, professional productions, community theatre – yeah, I even watch Madonna give it a shot. This woman’s life fascinates me.

Don’t Cry for me, Argentina 

Cell Block Tango

Songs I’ve watched my daughter sing on stage.

She was uncomfortable with the lyric “Single my ass”, but when it came time for the curtain to raise, she swallowed her 11-year-old nerves and sang it. Loud.

(They didn’t dress quite this sexy…)

(Is it just me, or are these women TOO skinny?)

Cell Block Tango

Whiter Shade of Pale

Did I actually beat everyone to this? (I haven’t done a very good job of keeping up on all the blogs lately.)

I know it was a monster hit for Procol Harum, and I love their version of it, but I’m a huge fan of the Annie Lennox version too. (It’s a weird video, isn’t it?) This Sarah Brightman cover doesn’t really do anything for me.

12 Days of Christmas

By Bob and Doug MacKenzie.

This weather is making me feel all Christmassy.

Link 

Donkey Riding

What can I say? I’m in a Great Big Sea mood.

Way hey and away we go
Donkey riding, donkey riding
Way hey and away we go
Ridin’ on a donkey.
Was you ever in Quebec
Launchin’ timber on the deck?
Where ya break yer bleedin’ neck
Ridin’ on a donkey!

This song always gets people out of their seats. The sound isn’t the greatest on this, but it’s a fun video taken by a fan in the audience.

Donkey Riding

Ordinary Day

Great Big Sea

And I say way-hey-hey, it’s just an ordinary day
and it’s all your state of mind
At the end of the day, you’ve still got to say,
it’s all right.

Among those of us who love this band, the opening morse code riff of this song is as instantly recognizable as the funky chord at the beginning of A Hard Days Night.

I try to see GBS whenever they’re in town.  I just know that one of these days their wives are going to lay down the law and put an end to their touring schedule. Their CDs are all great – every one of them, but these guys really shine when you get to see them live.

Ordinary Day

80-Solsbury Hill

Peter Gabriel

Climbing up on solsbury hill
I could see the city light
Wind was blowing, time stood still
Eagle flew out of the night

I’ve been touched by a lot of music, but I wonder about people who really think an artist is singing specifically to them. Like when I heard John Lennon chuckling over the fan who wrote to tell him he’d BEEN to the exact spot, that hole in the ocean, and had SEEN the glass onion. How weird and creepy.

Still, I was feeling very low when I bought this Peter Gabriel album, and listened to it over and over. I don’t remember what I thought the words meant, or how they specifically applied to me, but I do know one day I felt better, and knew everything would be okay, and it happened while I was listening to this song. So thank you, Peter.

I didn’t call him up and suggest a rendez-vous, but this song will always be way up there on my private list of important songs.

Solsbury Hill

79 – Paint it Black

Rolling Stones

I see a red door and I want it painted black
No colors anymore I want them to turn black
I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes
I have to turn my head until my darkness goes

In my memory, Guy and I are driving home from University, and he has his cassette player cranked up. We’re both bellowing out this song, except I’m singing it wrong, and Guy, polite as can be, doesn’t correct me. It was only years later I realized they weren’t singing, “I see a red dog and I want it painted black…” I guess door makes more sense.

Is it just my faulty memory? Wasn’t it the Dead we were listening to? Until about 20 minutes ago I would have insisted it was, but if google is any kind of authority we were in fact listening to the Rolling Stones.

Paint it Black