Yay for Good Music!

I've recently acquired a new iPod classic that I won't be able to fill by the time it breaks... It inspired me to completely organize my music collection both in hard copy and electronically.  Been ripping my entire cd collection to iTunes over the past few weeks.

One of my friends makes these awesome "Best of" cd's every year and I recently rediscovered this Nina Simone gem from his Best of 2006 album.  I love love love this song. 

Ain't Got No/I Got Life - Nina Simone

Ain't got no home, ain't got no shoes
Ain't got no money, ain't got no class
Ain't got no skirts, ain't got no sweater
Ain't got no perfume, ain't got no beer
Ain't got no man

Ain't got no mother, ain't got no culture
Ain't got no friends, ain't got no schooling
Ain't got no love, ain't got no name
Ain't got no ticket, ain't got no token
Ain't got no God

Then what have I got?
Why am I alive anyway?
Yeah, what have I got?
Nobody can take away

I got my hair, I got my head
I got my brains, I got my ears
I got my eyes, I got my nose
I got my mouth, I got my smile
I got my tongue, I got my chin
I got my neck, I got my boobs

I got my heart, I got my soul
I got my back, I got my sex
I got my arms, I got my hands
I got my fingers, Got my legs
I got my feet, I got my toes
I got my liver, Got my blood

I've got life , I've got my freedom
I've got life

And I'm gonna keep it
I've got life
And nobody's gonna take it away
I've got life

Rufus Wainwright c/o Leonard Cohen

I've heard there was a secret chord

That David played, and it pleased the Lord

But you don't really care for music, do you?

It goes like this

The fourth, the fifth

The minor fall, the major lift

The baffled king composing Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Your faith was strong but you needed proof

You saw her bathing on the roof

Her beauty

in the moonlight

overthrew you

She tied you

To a kitchen chair

She broke your throne,

she cut your hair

And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Maybe I've been here before

I know this room, I've walked this floor

I used to live alone before I knew you

I've seen your flag on the marble arch

love is not a victory march

It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

There was a time you'd let me know

What's real and going on below

But now you never show it to me do you?

Remember when I moved in you?

The holy dark was moving too

And every breath we drew was hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Maybe there's a God above

And all I ever learned from love

Was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you

It's not a cry you can hear at night

It's not somebody who's seen the light

It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Yeah Elton (and Bernie)

If you know anyone who has gone through addiction treatment, they might have an anchor.  When trying to give something up, having something (for women frequently a piece of jewelry) that you can touch or look at to remind you to stay on the straight and narrow can help calm you down when you get into a tizzy.  For me, my anchor has always been music, and a few songs in particular.  I know when things are getting rough, I can always listen to one of these songs and it will help me feel better, or if nothing else, take my mind off whatever is bothering me.  Been listening to this song all morning while working... although the lyrics have not been particularly relevant to any situation in my life, I love the key and chord progressions and it's a song about making a positive life change when you feel like you can't.

Someone Saved my Life Tonight

When I think of those East End lights, muggy nights
The curtains drawn in the little room downstairs
Prima Donna lord you really should have been there
Sitting like a princess perched in her electric chair
And it's one more beer and I don't hear you anymore
We've all gone crazy lately
My friends out there rolling round the basement floor

And someone saved my life tonight sugar bear
You almost had your hooks in me didn't you dear
You nearly had me roped and tied
Altar-bound, hypnotized
Sweet freedom whispered in my ear
You're a butterfly
And butterflies are free to fly
Fly away, high away, bye bye

I never realised the passing hours of evening showers
A slip noose hanging in my darkest dreams
I'm strangled by your haunted social scene
Just a pawn out-played by a dominating queen
It's four o'clock in the morning
Damn it listen to me good
I'm sleeping with myself tonight
Saved in time, thank God my music's still alive

And I would have walked head on into the deep end of the river
Clinging to your stocks and bonds
Paying your H.P. demands forever
They're coming in the morning with a truck to take me home
Someone saved my life tonight, someone saved my life tonight
Someone saved my life tonight, someone saved my life tonight
Someone saved my life tonight
So save your strength and run the field you play alone

Nature - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

As a fond mother, when the day is o’er,


Leads by the hand her little child to bed,


Half willing, half reluctant to be led,


And leave his broken playthings on the floor,

Still gazing at them through the open door,


Nor wholly reassured and comforted


By promises of others in their stead,


Which, though more splendid, may not please him more;

So nature deals with us, and takes away


Our playthings one by one, and by the hand


Leads us to rest so gently, that we go

Scarce knowing if we wish to go or stay,


Being too full of sleep to understand


How far the unknown transcends the what we know.