When I first started this blog… unbelievably just over five years ago… among all sorts of pronouncements of intent I promised music. At the time, I wasn’t aware that quite a lot of the music would end up being of my own invention. But, I forget sometimes to mention in passing what I’m listening to, and how it holds an important place in my work, as a background, but also as a thing of focus. Lyrics worm their way into my brain… my own lyrics sometimes answer them, agree with them, or say the same thing, but in my words, from my own unique angle. The rhythms aid stitching, also a rhythmic thing. Depending on the speed of my stitching, I change the music. Like a jogger. (yeah right!).
I am sometimes aware that either the path of my stitched lines is defined by the topline / melody… or that my choice of songs is defined by the path of my stitches. Some people are astonished by this, but it is a meditative thing almost… my body sways in my chair and my fingers push the needle in time… my brain meanders around the lyric, explores the pictures in my head. In the Songwriting Circle, we often talk about what we hear first. Other than the secondary choices of rhythm/sewing… if I’m just listening, it is always the words… always. But beyond that I can become obsessed by small snatches of a recording. There is a section of piano in Villagers’ track, “Dawning on Me” about one minute in if you are that interested… which makes me groan in a rather disturbing way… it connects with something in that gap between the physical and the emotional… I just love it.
So while the world goes to Hell in a Handcart, I have made a (metaphorical) den out of deckchairs and blankets on the back lawn. I have hit Amazon big time… Radiohead… Ray LaMontagne… Kings of Convenience… and a book on Frida Kahlo… and I’m staying in here with my sewing until either it all goes away, or I gather the mettle to cope…
…the good news is I will probably emerge with some new lyrics, and a sketch book with new tangents to explore…
Villagers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4EOvMQoW4k
and there’s a wonderful live acoustic version with harp instead….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLJYp7ICFRI
Radiohead: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTAU7lLDZYU&list=PLPy9EgpSI-411GhcaTb1-WXxojxAuRY5D
Ray LaMontagne: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IqCD7oNcQ4
