Pussy Willows, Cat tails
I like to pick songs for people I'm really close to. Why? I do not know. Where? I cannot say. How? hmmm . . . I haven't decided yet.
Anyway, I'd like to record the songs I've picked for my parents and say why I've chosen them. We'll do my mom first.
This was an easy pick for my mom. I mean really easy. Okay, so lets hit all the points of why this song reminds me of my mother. Well, this song was written by Gordon Lightfoot, a famous Canadian. Though you wouldn't know it to look at her, my mom is a pretty hardcore Canadian. Her roots are very Canadian, and when you speak to her you can tell that that's just how she feels. When I read the lyrics, I feel like they describe the prairies of my youth and the small town my mother chose to raise me in - lovely. She was also a teenager during the sixties, and is a teensie bit of a hippy (not majorly, but just a little around the edges). Obviously, I never got to know my mother when she was young, but I like to think of her with long straight hair and wearing hiphuggers. She also plays the piano and she used to have me sing this song while she played. It was the most beautiful of all the songs we used to sing together, and very precious to me.
Okay now for my father.
Well, I didn't get along with my father very well when I was growing up, so I didn't think that I would ever find a song I thought was appropriate for him. I guess my angst levels were always running that high. But then when he died last year, I would listen to this song and it would remind me of his life. Like my mother, my father was also a child of the sixties, and though it wasn't as evident in his personality, he had a Beatles haircut until way after it was fashionable. This song is written by Marion Gold, who was a misplaced hippy left to make his name in the eighties. So, I like the first verse because I like to think that it symbolizes the professional trouble my father endured through the eighties. He had a great deal of trouble those years, and was very hurt by the different things that happened. He was so hurt (from what my mother tells me) that he seldom returned to work afterwards. The second verse symbolizes his impatience. My father was an extremely impatient man who always had to be on the go. Always going going going . . . The last part that I'd like to talk about in reference to him is the last line in the last verse "Now I wanna live forever". I don't think my father had any concept of his mortality. He didn't think he was ever going to die, regardless of how he treated his body. I heard him say more than once that he was going to live into his hundreds, yet he did die, and he died rather young.
The rest of the song I'll dedicate to my own feelings. Like I said, I really had a difficult time loving my father. He was a very difficult man, who seemed to have an impossible time expressing his feelings, unless he was impatient, or excited, or angry, or something along those lines. And I never really felt that he wanted to be close to me or have a good relationship with me. But the idea that's portrayed in this song implies that it doesn't matter how he feels/felt about me - I'm free to love him no matter what. I can remember that he wanted to be a good father to me regardless of what actually happened. He wouldn't have wanted me to be afraid of anything. It's very strange that I didn't feel like he supported me in anything that I did when he was alive, but now I feel like he supports me in everything. That he wants me to succeed. That he wants me to enjoy being alive. And now he's able to do and say all the things he was never able to do or say when he was alive. And for the first time in my life . . . I know he loves me too.
Anyway, I'd like to record the songs I've picked for my parents and say why I've chosen them. We'll do my mom first.
Pussy Willows, Cat Tails by Gordon Lightfoot
Pussywillows, cat-tails, soft winds and roses
Rainbows in the woodland, water to my knees
Shivering, quivering, the warm breath of spring
Pussywillows, cat-tails, soft winds and roses
Catbirds and cornfields, daydreams together
Riding on the roadside the dust gets in your eyes
Reveling, disheveling, the summer nights can bring
Pussywillows, cat-tails, soft winds and roses
Slanted rays and colored days, stark blue horizons
Naked limbs and wheatbins, hazy afternoons
Voicing, rejoicing, the wine cups do bring
Pussywillows, cat-tails, soft winds and roses
Harsh nights and candlelights, woodfires a-blazin'
Soft lips and fingertips resting in my soul
Treasuring, remembering, the promise of spring
Pussywillows, cat-tails, soft winds and roses
This was an easy pick for my mom. I mean really easy. Okay, so lets hit all the points of why this song reminds me of my mother. Well, this song was written by Gordon Lightfoot, a famous Canadian. Though you wouldn't know it to look at her, my mom is a pretty hardcore Canadian. Her roots are very Canadian, and when you speak to her you can tell that that's just how she feels. When I read the lyrics, I feel like they describe the prairies of my youth and the small town my mother chose to raise me in - lovely. She was also a teenager during the sixties, and is a teensie bit of a hippy (not majorly, but just a little around the edges). Obviously, I never got to know my mother when she was young, but I like to think of her with long straight hair and wearing hiphuggers. She also plays the piano and she used to have me sing this song while she played. It was the most beautiful of all the songs we used to sing together, and very precious to me.
Okay now for my father.
Flame by Alphaville
I've been searching
I've been searching for so long
Now I'm chasing the shadows away
I've been trying, yes I tried to find my way
No more crying in the make or break decade
There were times when I was down
There were times I felt so low
My whole life just seemed to be
A senseless quest for energy
But I carry your flame
All through my life, I'm a believer
Peace deep in our hearts, all things must pass
But we'll be together again
I've been walking
I've been walking in the rain
When the angel of my intuition whispered hello
Well I was quite surprised to face that kind of incarnation
Love comes always unexpected, love strikes blind and undircted
Love is the answer
Love is all we need my friend
Now you came and changed the weather
Now I wanna live forever
I carry your flame
All through my life, I'm a believer
Peace deep in our hearts, all things must pass
But we'll be together...
Well, I didn't get along with my father very well when I was growing up, so I didn't think that I would ever find a song I thought was appropriate for him. I guess my angst levels were always running that high. But then when he died last year, I would listen to this song and it would remind me of his life. Like my mother, my father was also a child of the sixties, and though it wasn't as evident in his personality, he had a Beatles haircut until way after it was fashionable. This song is written by Marion Gold, who was a misplaced hippy left to make his name in the eighties. So, I like the first verse because I like to think that it symbolizes the professional trouble my father endured through the eighties. He had a great deal of trouble those years, and was very hurt by the different things that happened. He was so hurt (from what my mother tells me) that he seldom returned to work afterwards. The second verse symbolizes his impatience. My father was an extremely impatient man who always had to be on the go. Always going going going . . . The last part that I'd like to talk about in reference to him is the last line in the last verse "Now I wanna live forever". I don't think my father had any concept of his mortality. He didn't think he was ever going to die, regardless of how he treated his body. I heard him say more than once that he was going to live into his hundreds, yet he did die, and he died rather young.
The rest of the song I'll dedicate to my own feelings. Like I said, I really had a difficult time loving my father. He was a very difficult man, who seemed to have an impossible time expressing his feelings, unless he was impatient, or excited, or angry, or something along those lines. And I never really felt that he wanted to be close to me or have a good relationship with me. But the idea that's portrayed in this song implies that it doesn't matter how he feels/felt about me - I'm free to love him no matter what. I can remember that he wanted to be a good father to me regardless of what actually happened. He wouldn't have wanted me to be afraid of anything. It's very strange that I didn't feel like he supported me in anything that I did when he was alive, but now I feel like he supports me in everything. That he wants me to succeed. That he wants me to enjoy being alive. And now he's able to do and say all the things he was never able to do or say when he was alive. And for the first time in my life . . . I know he loves me too.
posted by Sapphirefly at
6:30 p.m.
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