So we all know I can cry big ugly tears over music/songs/lyrics.
Almost every musician I know can also do an odd high-pitched laugh that is born from complete awe and admiration of something they hear. It's something that is absurd, really, but the most common reaction to some kind of musical brilliance is to laugh. And it's a great sound. Sitting in a roomful of musicians and listening to Pino Palladino's basslines on The RH Factor's Hard Groove album was one of the coolest things I've ever experienced. Just laughter. It's almost like we don't know how else to express ourselves in those moments when we're amazed.
I also tend to get a big, wide, ridiculous smile on my face. Probably the biggest kind of smile you'll ever see from me. Teeth and all that.
Very, very rarely will one song elicit all these responses from me. Very rarely.
Slow Dancing in a Burning Room is one.
And this: Patty Griffin - Let Him Fly (Live)
Let Him Fly was the first Patty Griffin song I ever heard, and it was like something shifted in me. Literally, something changed. I wasn't the same after that. I think I've listened to this song a thousand times (no joke). Often imitated, never duplicated. This song is just so, so damn perfect. Literally, one of the most perfectly constructed songs I think I've ever heard.
Youtube just took me to this live version, and I had a little moment in my office. Smiling, but tears in my eyes, then I laughed a little. My best friend, who works in the same office as me, walked by and asked if I was okay.
More than okay.
This woman changed my life. I will never forget sitting in my basement apartment in Toronto, my computer set up in the little corner in my bedroom, listening to this song for the first time.
I know I talk about Patty a lot. Don't expect that to change.
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music,
patty griffin,
pino palladino,
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Jazz guys are the best for this. Actually I am kind of convinced that they are the best musicians to listen to anything with. They'll just call out when someone lays down a wicked solo or hook or riff or pretty much anything...and it's amazing. I actually think that jazz musicians are going to save the world, but that could just be wishful thinking.
Her songwriting keeps blowing me away. It borders on being objective: These are just great songs. The guitar riff at the beginning is perfect.
I think Joe has a lot of that as well. The first time I really heard "Outlaws" (which, if you haven't heard yet you should check out) I was driving and had to pull over, I just couldn't handle it.
The two of them on stage in Vancouver. It's going to happen, unfortunately it probably won't be soon.