Wednesday, December 06, 2006

When your heart takes over

Let's state the obvious first, as a sort of pre-requisite: there's lots of music. Lots and lots. More than you can imagine actually. About everything. Ever.

Songs about strangers on trains that we are immediately drawn to; trees and bushfires; politics and religion; glaciers and hurricanes and tragedies; tears and sadness and deaths in the family; parents that left before birth, promises that were never fulfilled; the 'what if's and 'but's and everything that could've been done differently, and everything that might never have happened, and everything that despite our prayers and wishes never did; the money lost on the bus; the gambling debts that ruined a marriage. Songs about distance and time and space and the big fuck-off "WHY?!... Why are we here? What's our purpose? Who is my God and what of my life and when was I most pure and where is hell?"

And there are a lot of songs about love. But this one. It's summed up in the words that emerge through the laughter at the end: "Oh God". It is one of the most elegant, sad, delightful little songs I have ever heard. It's poorly recorded, and it's casually performed, and it's so so unbelievably fucking heartbreakingly beautiful.



Elizabeth Frazer and Jeff Buckley

All Flowers In Time

4 comments:

Dan said...

Nice song, thanks.
Two of my favourite vocalists...

Midori said...

I wonder where this recording came from, do you know? I didn't realize they had recorded any music together. I wonder what the story is behind the recording. If you have any information, I'm curious, thanks.

Laila Castro said...

i love this post of yours.

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much for writing such beautiful words about that fantastic song. I read that last night, while listening to the song and drinking a glass of wine and it got me all teary-eyed.
Great blog :)