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30-Day Song Challenge Day One

Why, hello there!  Bet the two of you who have been keeping track didn’t think you’d ever see anything new on here again!  And with Facebook and Tumblr and Twitter and all those other ways of socializing on the web, I honestly didn’t expect to spend anymore time on this page.  But I’ve still got a soft spot for blogs, and when this 30-Day Song Challenge intrigued me enough to try it, I thought I’d revisit our little Just Giblets page and give it a shot.

I’m really terrible with most memes, and I usually never do them, but I enjoy reading them, and have been particularly inspired by Howard’s answers to this challenge over at the Web Pen Blog, so I thought I’d give it a go.  I can’t promise that I will be consistent and post every day for the next thirty days, and I reserve the right to change my response to any particular day’s question five minutes after I’ve posted.  Still, let’s see how this works out, shall we?

So, day one is simultaneously the easiest and most difficult:  Your favorite song.  Everyone has a favorite song.  In fact, everyone probably has several favorite songs.  I have had many over the years, but as far as I can tell, my current favorite song has actually been locked in place for several years, and it’s the first song that pops into my mind when someone asks me what is my favorite song, so I’m going with it.

Kate Bush – Hounds of Love

Kate Bush is without question my favorite musical artist, so it’s appropriate that my favorite song be one of hers.  That said, Hounds of Love didn’t emerge as my favorite song until relatively recently even thought it was released as the title track of Kate’s fifth album in 1985. It was the album’s third single released in the UK on February 24, 1986 and climbed to #18 on the charts.

The driving drum beat and the rhythmic strings propel the song along musically and perfectly underscore the lyrics which use the analogy of a fox hunt to tell the story of a woman who is afraid of surrendering to love with elegance. The lyrics are elegant in their simplicity and their creativity. It’s a perfectly constructed song.

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Promises, Promises

Promises, Promises was more delightful than I had imagined!

Going in, I was most scared for Sean Hayes, but dammit, the boy can sing! (He does mug a bit in the middle, but not all the way through.)

Kristen is miscast. She’s neither young enough nor vulnerable enough. But she sounds great!

“A House Is Not A Home” has no place in the musical and should not have been added, but “I Say A Little Prayer” is a nice way to give Kristin a big number early on and helps even out the ballad/uptempo balance for her.

The male dancers are great! Very athletic and joyful.

But the biggest surprise was Katie Finneran! She was my favorite part of Wonderfalls on TV, but damn. She steals the show in the first scene of Act II. She should get another Tony for this performance.

Finally, I’m very glad that no one wore pink and orange together. I was worried when I saw the show logo. That color combination nearly made me ill in the Sweet Charity revival.

P.S. I was so excited by the music that I had to go home and download two Jill O’Hara albums. She was the Fran in the original show and I have always dug her voice.

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Powerfully Moving; Simply Beautiful

My friend Bruce was visiting a few weeks ago, and while he was working on his laptop in the next room, he started playing a song which prompted me to comment, “Ah, Rufus Wainwight…” to which he replied, “No, Matt Alber.” Well, I was surprised, the vocal resonance and song stile was very similar to Rufus, especially from that first, self-titled album. A few minutes later a video popped up in my e-mail, and I got to see Matt performing in the video for his song, “End of the World.” Now music often moves me to tears, but rarely does video. In this case, both aspects of this beautiful song got me choked up. From the longing melody to the simple visual of streaming sunlight, “End of the World” is one of those song/video combinations that knocks it out of the part. Almost every image, from the way the barber tips Matt’s chair back to the look on his face halfway through the film, takes my breath away. I don’t want to say anything else so you can experience it yourself, so take a look.