To celebrate my 50th birthday I made myself a compilation CD of Life's Essentials - what have I learned in 50 years from the great university of music? This is the collection of 20 songs.
The anthology has spiritual 'bookends': it starts and ends on a metaphysical level: how many pieces of music are there where God actually speaks? I don't have any particular religious beliefs, but the idea of 'god' runs deeply through all human cultures and the first two tracks here feature the man himself (we might as well start at the top). The last two tracks are similar: the penultimate song takes us close to the brink (of what, 'nobody knows'), and the CD ends with a traditional spiritual song and a final "Amen".
The first 'movement' is about the hard realities of life: Time, Money, Freedom, abuse of language and power to manipulate people, misfortune, war. But in spite of the hardships people survive: the artist demonstrates the strength of the human spirit.
Many of these are "protest songs". Is all art a form of protest?
The Stationmaster's Song brings the collection round to a more individual level, beginning, as one should, with boy-meets-girl (in this instance 'anorak' gets girl!). The themes here are: youth, the passage of time, nostalgia, families, genetic predispositions and of course death.
Life's quest continues: we travel on, hopefully with a smile (a smirk or a grimace) on our faces.
| # | What | Who, When | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | God Shuffled his Feet | Crash Test Dummies 1993 | Flippant metaphysics - rolled towards some overwhelming question... - such as Do you have to get your hair cut in heaven? |
| 2 | Is It Like Today? | World Party - Bang 1993 | I can't think of many contemporary songs which start in ancient Greece. This one does, because it is an old question; and have we made any progress? Bang. Is that the Big Bang, or the one we're still waiting for? |
| 3 | Time | Pink Floyd 1972 | This alarm clock was set in the 6th Form common-room in 1977. |
| 4 | It's Money That Matters | Randy Newman 1988 | Randy Newman as always, charged with irony, but I'm pretty sure he's not the one wearing the red jump suit. |
| 5 | Teenage Wind | Frank Zappa 1983 | Frank Zappa as always, charged with sarcasm. That's right Frank: Freedom to do anything, Freedom from responsibility... and at whose expense? |
| 6 | The Wind | Cat Stevens 1971 | I listen to the wind of my soul... Can anybody hear that? Is anybody else listening? |
| 7 | Some Folks' Lives Roll Easy | Paul Simon 1975 | Not really sure that Paul Simon deserves this honour, but this is a line which frequently rolls into mind. |
| 8 | I think it's going to rain today | Randy Newman 1968 | Human kindness is overflowing, says Randy, but he doesn't like the look of the immediate weather forecast. |
| 9 | What's The Matter Here? | 10 000 Maniacs 1987 | Child beating. The challenge of civil courage. But I don't dare say... What we can't personally do, we can at least write about. Not surprising, perhaps, that this one was written by a woman (Natalie Merchant): uncomplicated, chatty, direct, right on target. |
| 10 | Pink Houses | John Mellencamp 1984 | The president of America does not live in a little pink house. I keep coming back to John Mellencamp - like an obstinate rock in the middle of the road. Not pretty. Hard. Right. |
| 11 | The Weary Cutters | Steeleye Span 1975 | The abuse of power, exploitation - it's an old story. In this case from a mother's point of view circa 1800. |
| 12 | Battle of Evermore | Led Zeppelin 1971 | Lord of the Rings. War: when there is no fleeing. |
| 13 | Evil Empire | Joe Jackson 1989 | You can't fight them with songs , says Joe; but they have to be sung. Thank you Joe for your tiny blow against the Evil Empire. |
| 14 | The Stationmaster's Song | Tim Woodhouse 1991 | The folk club at Beauchief. Before we get as far as 'metaphysics' we first have to get to physics. Tim tackles this perennial problem (especially for train-spotters?) with the wit and charm which surpasses commercial music. Treasure. |
| 15 | Bob Dylan's Dream | Bob Dylan 1963 | Lost youth. Brings tears to the eyes... |
| 16 | Coney Island | Van Morrison - 1989 | ...if that one didn't, this one will. |
| 17 | Your Dad Did | John Hiatt 1987 | ... and in fact we don't even need metaphysics. Life's truths are to be found in domestic daily family routine, simple, child-like. You know what's coming already. |
| 18 | Who by Fire | Leonard Cohen 1974 | This is performed here by Lhasa de Sela from a tribute concert to Leonard Cohen by Adam Cohen and others in 2008. You know what's coming .... |
| 19 | God Put a Smile Upon My Face | Coldplay 2002 | In this song, on the face of it, it seems that he just wanted to tell his wife he was sorry, but these twelve simple lines have so many echoes: the Fall, death, judgement, redemption. Nobody knows... The personal myth: 'blessed' by good fortune: God gave me style and gave me grace. And the answer? Your guess is as good as mine... |
| 20 | Travelling on For Jesus | Kate and Anna McGarrigle 1975 | Traditional finish: The Road - you already know where it leads. What more could one say? Amen. |