Our Hearts Long to Sing a Melody

A little poem, from me to you.


Our Hearts Long to Sing a Melody
To be read aloud.

Our hearts long to sing a melody

our bodies can follow

 

The dropped beat of an averted gaze

A mother who won’t hold the hand of her child

Heart fibers pulled tight as an unplucked string

 

Oh, under the most silent tongue

there is a song to be sung

 

Listen to the naked hum of a voice awaiting harmony

 

There is no instrument that is not meant to be played

There are no notes that do not match some other

 

All our songs, these unstopped ears:

I will seam my voice to yours,

hold the rhythm, match the chorus,

clasp your hand

and pulse with melody

 

21% of My Posts

Tonight I am re-reading the writing I did on this blog. For over a year it sustained me in a time of creative drought. It pains me that I haven't had the time to engage with this blog, but at the same time, I want to acknowledge that I have been investing my energy in other areas: getting involved in my Union, and trying to rally community engagement around issues in education so that we can take it back from the corporate interests that dominate the profession. I've also been trying my hand at other types of writing.

I'm not sure how long it will be until I return this way whole-heartedly, though it is never far from my mind. Therefore, I share with you the blog entries I am most proud of (in chronological order). Most of them relate music to my life on a personal level, a few of them are intellectual, analytical. All of them reveal a piece of my heart.

The Joshua Tree

Grace

Suburban War: All My Friends, I Love You

Pulling the Pin

Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea

Record Store Day

Let England Shake

(Cheesy) Pop Songs of the 80s Sing Stories from My Life

Orpheus Holds My Mirror, OR Hell and Affirmation

She is Not Here to Make You Laugh

Counting Back the Years

Ryan's 30th Mixtape

Music is Not for Spectators

The Distance Between

Let's Get Physical 

Dress

Influences: Jarvis

I get pretty excited when I hear a song and think, "I know who was listening to this!"

I've been spinning Dream Academy's first album (side 1 in particular) a bunch in the last month, and one day it just hit me...Jarvis Cocker must have listened to this singer!

While it's true that Pulp predates this 1985 Dream Academy song, Pulp's first album, "It", doesn't feature the vocal swagger and nuance of the more familiar "His 'n' Hers" material onward (Pulp's second album came out 1986) though you can hear that Jarvis is leaning in that direction.

Take a moment and listen to "This World" below. Note the breathy vocals that transition into a full-throated chorus, the way Nick Laird-Clowes plays with the rhythm of the words, making them staccato or stretching them. Nick isn't afraid to go for "whoa whoa whoa" bridge, either. These are all very BJE (before Jarvis era) Jarvis-sounding vocals.

Now listen to a bit of this track, and you'll hear what I'm talking about! Try not to get too distracted by Jarvis' dance moves ;)

As a footnote, the lyrics to "This World" have seriously Pulp-like lyrics as well. Great minds?

Also, I must now go watch Pulp videos...! 90s rock videos forever!