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Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024

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Music Notes

by Amethyst Snow Angel

Rated: 13+ · Book · Music · #2313403

A blog about music from my unique perspective (also a spot for some poetry I’ve written)

A blog, generally about music, usually for projects hosted by Jeff

. I may also write about the 48-Hour Media Prompt Challenge if I don't feel like writing a story or poem inspired by the given song. Other bits of poetry or different topics of discussion might end up here as well.

Show Recent Comments

10 Most Recent Blog Comments:

SAD Holiday Potato

Oct 15, 2024 at 12:09pm
In response to "500 Miles (I'm Gonna Be) (ID cover)"

That was an amazing performance. Dan certainly has a sense of showmanship..

1 Like

Merry QPdoll

Oct 12, 2024 at 8:00am
In response to "I Heard It Through the Grapevine (CCR)"

I've only known the Marvin Gaye version. I have to say that CCR did it justice. The drums and that bass. So cool.

Excellent choice!

1 Like

♥HOOves♥

Oct 12, 2024 at 7:45am
In response to "I Heard It Through the Grapevine (CCR)"

Great song choice! There is also a version with Gladys Knight and the Pips that may or may not have been the first one. It was the first one that I heard.

1 Like

Dave Ryan

Oct 11, 2024 at 8:19am
In response to "If I Had a Hammer"

Puff the Magic Dragon is a great song for traumatising the kids. There's nothing like a happy ending, and that one is definitely nothing like a happy ending.

1 Like

Merry QPdoll

Oct 10, 2024 at 7:57am
In response to "Fast Car (Jonas Blue cover)"

This is great! I love this song and have heard a couple of different versions, but I've never heard this one. Thank you for sharing.

1 Like

♥HOOves♥

Oct 9, 2024 at 9:07am
In response to "Fortunate Son"

Love Centerfield and Have You Ever Seen the Rain, also!

So many wonderful songs!

1 Like

♥HOOves♥

Oct 8, 2024 at 9:00am
In response to "I Won't Back Down"

Great song choice!

1 Like

Merry QPdoll

Oct 8, 2024 at 6:15am
In response to "I Won't Back Down"

I like Tom Petty, too. My favorite song is Mary Jane's Last Dance. However, I like the message of I Won't Back Down. It's a fine choice.

1 Like

tracker

Oct 7, 2024 at 12:23pm
In response to "Creeque Alley"

This is when I like AI. The song is a story about when the group was formed. It was released when I had first started college. Where? In California! Good choice of song.

1 Like

Merry QPdoll

Oct 6, 2024 at 7:58am
In response to "Three Little Birds"

It's been a long time since I've heard this song. I don't know if I've heard it from beginning to end. I think it's just been in pieces in different instances. Thank you for sharing. I don't have a playlist, but the song is fun.

1 Like

December 27, 2024 at 4:06pm

#1081602

Ordinary Human, by OneRepublic

My twelfth and final track for "12 Days of "Christmas""

is not a Christmas song, nor is it associated with anything relating to a December holiday. Yet I knew it would be one of my choices right from the beginning of the month when I prepped this list.

OneRepublic released Ordinary Human in 2014, as part of the soundtrack for the movie The Giver, based on the book by Lois Lowry. With a low, throbbing backbeat opening, soaring choruses, and an eerie reverb throughout, this song has all the feels while providing a fascinating and transcendental theme.

I remember the day I discovered it: Mom and I were spending the winter in Naples, FL, and when I found Ordinary Human I put it on repeat about a million times, bringing it in the car with me as we drove around sightseeing. I was in awe. I still am; I'm getting chills listening to it right now.

One of the endearing features is how Ryan Tedder opens with a slightly gravelly note, as if he hadn't cleared his throat properly. He climaxes to his signature crystal clear melisma flawlessly, while giving the song a reassuringly relatable and accessible feeling. I enjoy singing it to myself; it has a surprisingly easy melody.

An interesting aside about Ryan's voice… just a couple days ago, after writing this up, I saw a snippet 1R shared on X where he laughs about a habit he used to have, during the Counting Stars era, of modifying his voice by lighting a cigar and "intentionally inhaling, which you're not supposed to do," to make himself cough and give his voice a "rougher, warmer" sound. At first I'm like

and then I'm like "aha!" because that's the exact type of note he strikes on the opening words of Ordinary Human, which is from this era. I never realized he also sounds that way on the opening of Counting Stars.

Now to explain why I associate Ordinary Human with Christmas. The bridge and finale goes "there'll be peace in the city tonight, but when I'm gone, I hope they get it right." If that isn't a picture of the Nativity and the Ascension all at once, I don't know what is. The overall theme of an "ordinary human" bringing salvation by his very nature, or alternately an ordinary human humbly acknowledging his ordinariness and learning to seek salvation by reaching upward instead of inward, are both concepts which run deep throughout Christian doctrine. I believe Ryan Tedder was aware of all this when he wrote the song, because he grew up in a Pentecostal home with a preacher grandfather, and he has drawn upon the basic worldview assumptions of Christianity frequently in his lyrics over the years.

A big shout-out to Jeff

for getting this up and running at the last minute while juggling all manner of other projects. I had a wonderful time sharing some of my favorite seasonal music with you, and I hope you liked it as much as I did.

This is a perfect song to end my holiday soundtrack series with. Enjoy the goosebumps

Words: 532.

Bonus excerpt (under two minutes) where Ryan Tedder shares how Counting Stars was made and mentions "the cigar technique:"

Full video (14 minutes) from Vanity magazine where Ryan Tedder discusses the art of music production for Counting Stars as well as another song:

2 Like • Comment

December 27, 2024 at 2:31pm

#1081599

Joy to the World (4K+C)

My eleventh track for "12 Days of "Christmas""

is a classic which has been covered and rearranged hundreds of times over the centuries. I chose For King and Country because I like their calm, clear, unexaggerated voices and I feel they approach it with proper reverence and respect. I do enjoy almost every other rendition of Joy to the World I've ever heard in public; it's the kind of timeless spiritual carol which is a relief to the ears in between Santa Baby and Rocking Around the Christmas Tree. I always marvel at the tenuous balance between spirituality and secularism, which dual spectacularly with each other during the holiday season.

Now, I'll have to admit this Joy to the World does bear the "softly bombastic" stylistic fingerprint of 4K+C specifically and contemporary Christian music generally, but perhaps that's a good thing. I generally prefer songs with styles and voices I recognize to material from "out of the blue." Knowing the artist gave me something to go on so I knew I would be less likely to waste my limited music time listening to versions I might not like. As I said, I'm fussy. The audio boundary is a line I take great care to draw, because my default environment is usually quiet.

At any rate, enjoy

Words: 221.

2 Like • Comment

December 27, 2024 at 6:56am

#1081580

Go Tell It On the Mountain (4K+C)

My tenth track for "12 Days of "Christmas""

is from Australian brothers For King and Country and their holiday album A Drummer Boy Christmas..

I like the way Joel and Luke Smallbone bring in their wives to sing with them on some of their work. It's something not many pop artists do.

When I went to pull up the YouTube video for this entry, I found 4K+C released a new version of it this year... Featuring country singer Gabby Barrett

I'm impressed with her song The Good Ones, but I don't think much of her as an artist for the same reasons I don't like country music generally (a long story...) I'll stick with the original version.

One of the reasons I like 4K+C is their calm, harmonious voices. This quiet harmony is exemplified on both Go Tell It On the Mountain and my next track choice, their Joy to the World.

This carol generally is one I wasn't familiar with growing up, but as I encountered it more recently I was drawn to the melody. Being fussy, I'm pretty sure this is the only rendition of it I like, however. 4K+C have emphasized what makes it special without letting it become repetitive or monotonous.

Which for some reason reminds me, I never did find a version I like of "do you hear what I hear." I tend to lump these two songs together because I never heard of either of them until a few years ago. I like the lyrics to "do you hear what I hear," with the talking animals visiting the king, and the melody is good, but I haven't had time to look into finding a good one. Maybe next year when we do this, I'll have found one for us.

In the meantime, enjoy Go Tell It On the Mountain

.

Words: 304.

2 Like • Comment

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