Some songs are magical the first time you listen to them. You have to find out who the song is by and what album and why you've never heard it before because this is what's been missing in your life all this time. Other music requires time. It may take only a second listening or several more, but then it's just as good as other music you love.
Guster was like that for me. Laura came home from a John Mayer concert freshman year of college and told me I HAD to download music from Guster because she'd just seen them live and they were amazing. Laura and I generally have the same taste in music, so I found some Guster. On first listen, I was unimpressed. It sounded.... flat. But I kept the music on my winamp playlist and they came on in the background while I was studying. After a few weeks, I found myself singing along to these Guster songs. I looked up, surprised, when I realized I was doing it and I realized I liked the songs. Not just liked, loved. I could play them over and over and over again, singing along. Guster tends to sing with 2- and 3-part harmony and so I found various melodies and harmonies to enjoy. The bongo drums from Lost and Gone Forever were magical too. These guys love to sing.
Lately, I've found the same with Mieka Pauley. I went to a Josh Joplin concert with Toby and Erich several months ago and she opened at Eddie's Attic. She was amazing live -- just her and her guitar. And her cover of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah was aweinspiring. I'm not kidding -- I was floored. I bought her album and a separate CD of some acoustic versions of songs but when I listened to them in my car they didn't compare to the live performance to me. The magic was missing. I loved parts of them but.... they didn't speak to me the same way. I'm stubborn, however, and put her entire album on my iPod and stick it on sometimes when I'm proofing something at work. It was like falling in love with Guster all over again. She's playing in my office right now and I love the songs -- how familiar they seem, the rhythms, the different tones of her voice, etc. I LOVE her now on her album just as much as I loved her in person.
This is a good lesson to remember in other areas of life. I've learned to like all sorts of foods that used to be anathema to me: avacado, sushi, green peppers, spicy things, shrimp, just to name a few. They were the same way they had always been; I just took the time to become aquainted with them.
I need to remember this with people I don't like. You never know when you will discover someone magical.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment