Senior Salon – Reminiscing

Since the lovely Bernadette, the author of Haddon Musings, started the weekly Senior Salon I’ve become rather more disciplined about writing something for my blog at least once a week, so that I have something new to share with the growing band who participate. There is much to be learned from sharing the experiences of others and I’m making some good new blogging friends. Do follow the link and you’ll see what I mean: after a day or two there are usually around 20-25 posts there. As well as posting something new to the Salon I’ve also got into the habit of looking through my previous posts and adding a link to one of my “golden oldies” each week. New followers won’t have seen these before and I like to think that they’ll enjoy them. I live in hope!

Having not been well for the past couple of days I’ve got a little behind schedule this week, so I probably won’t be posting the new piece I had planned for a day or two yet. But then I hit on the brainwave of adding a new introduction to one of those golden oldies – so here I am, combining old and new writing. Go me! The piece that follows was originally posted on 22 April 2013 in response to that day’s WordPress Daily Prompt. It was a natural prompt for me, as I love my music and it gave me a link between what music means to me and my original reason for blogging. As I write this I’m listening to the album again, and reminding myself just how much I like it. Seeing the band play live would have been special for me in any event, but as it was the first gig I’d managed to get to in over two years, after my depression time-out, that gave it a whole new dimension. I spent the evening wrapped up in the music, gazing wistfully at the fiddle player/singer, Miranda Mulholland, and wishing I was 20 years younger! I tweeted the band on my way home from the show to thank them for a great evening, and Miranda replied, for which I will always be grateful. Somehow, I don’t think I’d have got a personal reply from many bands!

The song Easy Come, Easy Go carries a simple message, but I think it is one that we all need to hear sometimes.

 

Daily Prompt: Earworm

The question posed in today’s prompt is “What song is stuck in your head (or on permanent rotation in your CD  or MP3 player) these days? Why does it speak to you?”

The song which I have played most since the album it’s on came out last summer is unlikely to be known by many. It is ‘Easy Come, Easy Go’ by the Canadian band The Great Lake Swimmers. Here’s the official video:

“Easy come and easy go

That’s what they say when they’re about to go broke

So try not to choke

And put your arms around me and don’t ever let go”

Have you even heard of them, let alone know their music? They have been together in various incarnations since 2003 and the album this song is on – ‘New Wild Everywhere’ – is their fifth. If you’d like to find out more about them they are at www.greatlakeswimmers.com

Apart from the fact that I love this band’s music, and this song in particular, there are two answers to the question about why it speaks to me. Firstly, the message is a simple one: “everything can be collapsing around you, but I’m here to look after you” – I know it’s more complex than that, but that’s what I take as the underlying message of the song. It’s a message I like and which I think we all want to have from a special someone if life reaches the point of being dismantled around us, as in the video, or should we be going through a difficult time. As you’ll know if you’ve read any of my previous offerings, I am in recovery from depression and started this blog to encourage others that things can and do get better. But I don’t just sail blithely through life, and I still have my black dog days. I had a spell of these last week and didn’t really start feeling better until yesterday morning. This was the first song I played – it is hard not to get carried along by the tune, and the words seemed comforting after a very rough few days. That’s what the song does for me.

The second level is that this band will always be special to me for a very personal reason. Before I was ill I used to love going to live gigs, usually at least once a month. I went through a period of nearly two years when I just didn’t feel like going to one – Great Lake Swimmers at Bush Hall in London, 26th November 2012, was my first after all that time. Being able to overcome my apprehension at going, on a horrible wet Monday night, to be part of a crowd and to enjoy losing myself in the music again is something that will stay with me forever. And just to prove I was there, a very quick snippet of ‘Ballad of a Fisherman’s Wife’ :

I hope you have a special song, piece of music, poem, painting or whatever that says something for you when you need a comforting ‘voice.’ Why not share yours via the comments box, it would be interesting to see what helps, comforts and encourages you.