Music To My Ears

I was just going to write down some ideas that I thought would be nice to add into the piece thatI have been milling over in my head. The first idea that came to me when listening to the music while the group were making their 'homes' was how interesting it would be to use song lyrics in our piece. Perhaps due to the notion that when you hear a song lyric, it is often the case that you may recognise it but cannot pin point where exactly you heard it from, but it just reminds you of something, or a time, or memory you have. If anyone has the Damien Rice album O, there are so many lyrics intertwined about loneliness and connection with people. Here are some examples:

• "I remember it well, the first time I saw you head around the door" ("I remember it well")
• "Tiredness fuels empty thoughts, I find myself disposed, Brightness fills empty space" ("Eskimo", which led to me to thinking how to us, they live in a liminal space but for them where they live is "home")
• "The same old scenario, same old rain" ("Amie", which is a really beautiful song and explores the idea of nostalgia and reuniting, much what we long to experience when we feel homesick.

I also remembered this song by Train, called... 'Home Sick'!! I just think the lyrics kind of incapsulate all the feelings we've been trying to say about how we feel when we're away from home. Although this song probably takes a slightly different view to those which we've been discussing, in the way it looks very cynically at the idea of returning home in order to make the feelings disappear.

So you're tired of wakin up on empty
You left for something that ain't real
So you think a couple of familiar faces
Is gonna turn it all around
You wanna be where they still pump your gas for you
Where they remember your name
They think that you are some beauty queen
Or somethin' better
Where they remember your name
Ain't it good to think about the weather
Doesn't seem to be time for that no more
It's hard to hear when you're busy sayin what you want said
Well what you want said, it ain't clear
You wanna be where they still open doors for you
It's not hard for them to remember you at all
They light your cigarette and tell their friends
You used to love them
Where they remember your name
More forgiveness
More time away from feelin like you do today
More forgiveness
More time away from feelin this way
It's easy when you laugh, reminds you of you
It's easy when it's easy, it still ain't easy at all
So you're tired of wakin up on empty
You left for something that ain't right, ain't right
You wanna be where they still pump your gas for you
Where they remember your name
They think that you are some beauty queen
Or somethin better
Where they remember your name
More forgiveness
More time away from feelin like you do today
More forgiveness
More time away from feelin' this way

Just a final lyric, is from an artist called Shawn Colvin, where in her song she seems to talk about her ideal home where she says "And it feels like coming home". It's a really lovely song which is so simple as all it really talks about is the colours and her surroundings, but it's these simple things that she's taking note of that makes her feel at home.

I just thought that lyrics would be nice to include as it was so obvious from the discussion of songs that music holds so many memories for us which remind us of home. And I don't know if anyone feels the same, but when you hear these songs its you either have two reaction, the longing for home or the fondness as you relive memories.

Claire Stainer

PS. I have all these songs on CD, except Train "Homesick", if anyone is interested in listening to them, just ask moi!!