Between the rising temps and another Gather discussion that had me thinking about the music of summer, I have to ask:
What music makes you shiver?
I clearly remember the first time I heard Guns N' Roses' "Welcome to the Jungle." I was driving down I94 one blistering day and popped my new "Appetite for Destruction" cassette into the player. The tape clicked into play and then... a moment... and there it was, that opening. It sounded like something someone would play going into battle, falling down fast but nimble. Aggressive, roughly graceful. The howling & wailing rising over it. I got a shiver in the neck and felt that sharp sting of hard rock n' roll. Windows down and the hot air filling the car couldn't warm my chills.
There are plenty of other songs - from many music genres - that give me that feeling of electricity or even deep and unsettling chills. Share what music makes you shiver, and let's keep our cool.
________________
Julia Schrenkler
Interactive Producer
Minnesota Public Radio
American Public Media
Objects in Mirror
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Comments: 40
Enough said, Peter.
Good point about mood. Sometimes external setting and internal forces can change the way music reaches us. But now I'm curious...which Donna Summer song, Jennifer?
Saw them perform it once and almost passed out from the awesomeness.
In the mid-80's The Del Fuegos played the First Avenue Main Room. The Del Fuegos a few weeks earlier ripped into The Replacements in music mag, maybe Spin or NME. When the video curtain was being pulled up to start the show it stopped half way up. Then, louder than any show at First Avenue, the D.J. played "Left of the Dial" at full volume and left the screen halfway up. When the song was over, they lifted the screen up all the way and the lead singer for the Del Fuegos looked humbled, realizing who's house he was in.
That must have been somethin' Winston. And now I must listen to "Left of the Dial" because I haven't heard it for over a year or so.
Great story too.
Lyrics:
If my senses fail, stay with me 'til they go
'cause I don't want to be alone.
Greetings in Braille, they'll describe everything,
colors aren't everything.
And if you see me down at the liquor store,
please don't tell my dad.
And if you see my dad down at the liquor store,
don't tell me anything at all.
And the people you brought
are just drainpipes bringing trash to the ground.
And the memories are just picture cards,
one night stands and breakdowns.
And you were cold, tired and old as you'd ever looked that night.
And we were warned, yeah.
We were warned not to stay out too late.
But some things were worth getting in trouble for.
So now that you finally failed
just like you said you would, down to the last detail.
Well, if living's such hell, here's to your dying days.
You won't have to be afraid.
And the heroes you met were just fiction,
yeah, with high expectations.
And your friends grew up faster than you got successful,
told you to keep it up. Good comes to those who work.
And the stories they told you were true, babe.
Your mom really went crazy.
But that doesn't have to be you.
No.
And I miss Tara and Melissa, Allen and John.
And you'll never have friends like you did when you were young.
But our bodies were pulled away and swept out to the sea
and I'd call and say hi if I thought you'd remember me.
cause some things are worth leaving old memories for.
If my senses fail, stay with me 'til they go
'cause I don't want to be alone.
Greetings in Braille, should describe everything
'cause you can't see anything from here.
From here, you can't see nothing at all.
Laura, I don't think anyone could argue with the way those lyrics could wipe someone out.
And a p.s. for Matthew P: a coworker dropped a Tool file for me, I'm listening now.
J. S. Bach
Louis Armstrong from the 1920s
Tina Turner from the early 60s
Howlin Wolf
A little *Beau*, anyone? I can't give you ice when all I hear is heat. Listen to this performance on A Prairie Home Companion, scroll down half way through the show to Tasso/McGee's Reel. Even Garrison agrees the audience needs to "cool down" after that number.
"At Last" ~ Etta James
The haunting soundtrack from "March of the Penguins",
and almost every song from "The Phantom of the Opera"
Eva Cassidy: Red Red Rose,
,
Eva Cassidy New Album Announcement
"Scarred" by Dream Theater always seems to.
"Sometimes" by Ours by does as well
"Bravado" by Rush too
There's a laundry list of songs from Marillion that would qualify..suppose just from BRAVE:
"Runaway" "the middle section of "Hard As Love" and without question "The Great Escape"..the whole "Falling From the Moon" section:
II. Falling From The Moon
Don't ask me why I'm doing this
You wouldn't understand
You're asking the wrong questions
You couldn't understand
A bridge is not a high place
The fifty-second floor
Icarus would know
A mountain isn't far to fall
When you've fallen
When you've fallen from the moon
There's murder on the street
I'm ashes on the water now, somewhere far away
I have fallen, fallen from the moon
and "Made Again" as well.
Regarding Honesty, briefly - there is a well known story on Eva. During a brief period she was part of the jazz group Pieces Of A Dream - even recorded one album with them. She delivered high quality vocals but was unhappy I believe because she was not being honest. For Eva, honesty was singing the song the way she felt it. In the jazz group, everyone else was able to show their honesty as they could improvise. Eva's job was different - she had to deliver vocals just as if she was delivering milk - on time and at the right temp. without fail. An ABC NightLine program devoted to Eva claimed the music didn't work but I believe it did. I think that Goodnight Manhattan (one of two vocals recorded with the group) is a fine vocal - just not for Eva herself and thank goodness she had the wisdom to part ways with the group. Otherwise all we would have had of her recordings would be the occasional vocal track on a few jazz albums all arranged by someone else.
Goodnight Manhattan<,
ABC Nightline On Eva<,
I'm not sure I get the chills thing either -- music doesn't strike me that way. but maybe examples of the same thing you're getting at: for lhearing someone live, Linda Ronstadt was singing Blue Bayou, paused and we thought she was going to wrap up the song -- she sang the last verse in Spanish. I was surprised that the Ryman still had a roof on it after that, both from Ronstadt's singing and the audience's response. This was during the Western Wall tour with Emmylou Harris. Recorded, Cathie Ryan's What's Closest to the Heart. A song that comes across to me as an invitation to risk of all sorts, and a side of Ryan's music melodically that she doesn't often visit, too.
I echo Scott's choice of Eva Cassidy but have a different link to share:
Eva Cassidy's original arrangement of Somewhere Over the Rainbow
From the very first time I heard Eva Cassidy sing, I was stunned and captivated. Her musical selection, original arrangements, range, enunciation, sustaining notes, phrasing, rich timbre and vocal acrobatics are exquisitely overwhelming. Her power and softness are a constant marvel. Her delivery is perfection.
The sheer beauty of her music reaches very deep inside me and yet simultaneously transports me far beyond myself.
Starting from about the 3:50 mark of Eva's delivery, my body goes into those shivers you speak of and my heart and soul follow.
I agree with what's been said about her voice. What a nightengale.
The new "Somewhere" album will consist of never before released songs from the "Eva Cassidy archives". Eva wrote the lyrics for the title song "Somewhere" and Chris Biondo, her longtime friend and producer wrote the song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VATmgtmR5o4
FLOYD here
& The Lizard King Still Rides the Storm
it's so nice:D
"O Death" by Ralph Stanley