30 Posts of Truth-Part 13

A Band or Artist That Has Got You Through Tough Days (Letter)

Dear Queen (well that feels suitably weird),* 

I know that my choosing you will be a somewhat controversial choice as not everyone will understand just exactly why I love you. I know that some people (although I suspect they are in the minority) will say that they can't stand you and that you are terrible, but to those people I say pish, this is my blog and my letter, take your silly opinions elsewhere. Everyone knows at least one Queen song, don't they? I mean knows it well too, can sing along to all the words and everything. And I suspect a lot of people have a copy of your Greatest Hits buried somewhere on a dusty CD shelf because it's just one of those albums that everyone has, everyone knows, everyone enjoys. But that's not really what this letter is about.

I'm not really one who turns to music when I'm feeling emotional-I like to write sad poems and angry blog posts instead, but the few times I have really needed a song to fit a mood, I have always found one amongst your albums. There are so many songs that match so many emotions-not just the ones everyone knows but the ones that they don't, from the albums that most people haven't heard of unless you're a fan. And there's a song for every mood too-if you're happy, if you're feeling awesome and want to strut down the street, if you feel like crying, if your heart is breaking.

I didn't happen upon your music until I was 13 or so-and then I went to see a performance of 'We Will Rock You' on a school trip. All the songs were awesome but I can distinctly remember listening to the gorgeous version of 'No-One But You' (sung by one of my now favourite West End stars-Kerry Ellis) and feeling the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. It was really beautiful and moving and I decided that I had to know more of this band that I had never heard before, because the music was wrapping itself around my heart and making it beat just a little faster than before. 'No-One But You' was the first Queen song I fell in love with, but there have been many many more since. 

As a slightly older teenager, I had the song 'Someone to Love' as my ringtone because it was all I wanted in the world-someone to love me, someone for me to fall in love with. Talk about subtle hint to the universe, huh? That became 'my' song for a while, because I felt like it could have been written for me-the words were taken right out of my head. The opening line still gives me shivers, even now.

Even last year, when all the crap with my ex and my ex-best friend went down, there was a Queen song that knew how I was feeling. I must have listened to 'Too Much Love Will Kill You' a hundred times on repeat, bawling my eyes out and singing along. The lyrics 'torn between your lover, and the love you leave behind' have never felt more poignant to me and the song still settles an air of melancholy about my shoulders like a cape when I listen to it-but I don't mind that at all because it's gorgeous.

There are others too, of course-'You're My Best Friend' which reminds me of good times and great friends,
' '39', which me and my Dad sing along to in the car, automatically harmonising with each other and 'Love of my Life' which is one of my favourite favourite Queen songs ever because it's beautiful.

I really do think there is a Queen song to fit to any mood, to match any emotion, to make you cry if you need tears or make you laugh if you want to smile, and I love them, I love them all.

So to the legend that is Freddie, to Brian, to Roger and John-thank you. Thank you for your beautiful lyrics, for your foot stomping bass lines, for your epic guitar solos. Thank you for making music that gets into your heart and your head like nothing else, that pull on your emotions and that everyone, anyone could relate to. You might not have "got me through" the tough times so much, but your songs were the soundtrack to them, and a lot of the good times too. I can't believe that it's only been 10 years since I first got my own copy of your Greatest Hits because I feel like I've always known these songs-they've been the backing music to my life for so long that I can't understand how I've not known them forever.

I'm glad I found you when I did.

-Jenni-

*I'm deciding now that I am writing this as if 'Queen' were a singular person, to make my life easier, OK?

Five Minute Friday-Song

At the moment I keep getting stuck on a single song that I feel the need to play over and over again. The other day it was 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' by Bonnie Tyler-I just kept playing it on repeat and singing along ALL DAY. Then came the turn of 'Let’s Fall In Love' by Ella Fitzgerald-again it got put on repeat and I couldn't stop singing it. More recently when I was feeling miserable it was Poison's 'Every Rose Has Its Thorn'* because it has words that I can relate to almost too well. I don't know why I keep getting taken over with the urge to listen to only one song for an entire day, but it keeps happening, so I just go with it.

I love singing, I've always sung things-whether it's bursting into song because someone said a phrase that's also a song lyric or just generally singing along to my music late at night so my parents come and tell me off because they can hear me downstairs. It's probably annoying as hell if you're one of my friends and I interrupt our conversation with random music, but I love it. It always makes me sad when I have a cold because I can't sing all the time. I'm not really a very musical person-I don't have (as my bass tutor put it) an internal metronome and I couldn't tell you what a note was if someone played it to me if I tried. But song lyrics stay with me forever-once I've learned them, whether it was for a show or just by listening to them on repeat hundreds of times, I know them for good. I might not get the tune spot on but I will know the words!

Source: Open Clip Art Library

I am someone who connects to songs completely-there's so many songs that speak to me, and have done throughout my life. Whatever the situation, whether I'm feeling happy or sad, there's a song lyric that reflects this. Songs that make me cry, songs that make me happy, songs that just make me go “YES. This person understands.” I love them all! In a way I collect them-I remember | all the songs that have held significance to me over the years, even if they don't any more. There's songs that will always remind me of people and will invoke memories in me, both happy and sad. There's songs that I can't listen to any more without giggling because me and a friend have either turned them into a personal joke, or misheard the lyrics, or just had a good time whilst they was playing. Similarly, there's songs which I actively avoid listening to because I know they'll just make me feel upset. I guess I have a kind of Pavlovian response to songs-they will always make me feel the same emotions that I have subconsciously attached to them as when I first discovered them. I wouldn't change it though, wouldn't go back and have those lyrics mean nothing to me again, because they're all significant for so many reasons, so many events in my life. My songs are important to me, and always will have a hold over me, and I wouldn't be without that for anything.

-Jenni-

*My music taste is nothing if not eclectic!

| denotes where my 5 minute alarm went off

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Music, Makes the People, Come Together, Yeah

Or actually, in most cases, it doesn't. 

I came to the conclusion a long time ago (after many many arguments with my friend on the subject) that it's simply impossible for someone to have a bad taste in music. Yes, you can entirely disagree with them on the idea of what is good and what is utter tripe, but the whole thing is so subjective that you cannot tell them it's bad in the same way you can when someone has picked out a truly awful pair of curtains that don't match their room in any way. I personally have to confess I am a bit of a music snob, in that I don't really like most stuff that comes out nowadays. For every truly brilliant singer/song writer (like Adele) there's about 100 unoriginal tryhards sampling stuff or just repeating the same illiterate noises again and again (Ella Ella Ella Ey Ey Ey, for example) and to me it's just unbearable noise. But I'm not even going to try and start to convince you that I'm right and you're wrong, because people like what they like. And I have a weird taste in music, I will readily admit that. Most of the music on my laptop is from at least 20 years ago, and I bet most people haven't heard of a lot of it. Favourite band: Queen. Always will be. But along the years I have picked up/discovered a rather odd mix of genres and styles and I want to share the musical love and perhaps introduce people to some awesome tunes they've never heard before. I'm not saying you have to like them, I'm not even saying you have to listen to them. You just can't tell me that I have bad taste. Who knows, maybe you'll even enjoy them too?

Chairmen of the Board

I have to confess I love an awesome bass beat, and these guys are so funky that you can't help but sing/dance/toe tap along to their songs. I inherited the Chairmen off an ex-boyfriend, and I have kept them because the songs make me smile.

Everything's Tuesday-Chairmen of the Board

Bitter Ruin

I was introduced to these guys when the fab Tim Minchin tweeted about them, and as far as I am concerned they're just brilliant. In this Globalsoft world* of computer generated music and regurgitated lyrics it's really really awesome to find something different that stands out a mile. And boy do these guys stand out! I've never heard anything like it, but I LOVE IT.

Brand New Me-Bitter Ruin

The Zutons

I'm pretty sure almost everyone everywhere has heard the song 'Valerie' done by Marc Ronson + Amy Winehouse. But not many of them seem to know that before that it was originally done by a band called The Zutons. (And I much prefer the original if I am honest!) The Zutons were the first band that I really discovered for myself, I heard a song and bought their first album and it was brilliant. Their songs are really uplifting and jazzy (and sometimes really funny), and they are a modern band with a saxophonist in, and she's a girl. I can't see what's not to like!

Valerie-The Zutons
(Had never watched this video before, no idea why it's set in a prison but I giggled my way through it)

Caro Emerald

My Dad discovered this lovely lady for me, on Radio 4 one day. He bought the album and insisted I listened to it, and I am glad I did. Again, I love her because she's different, she's got a very 1940s feel to her music which I think is just fabbity fab and I really like her voice too!

That Man-Caro Emerald

So there's just a small selection of my weird music for you. Hope you enjoyed at least one of them!
How about you, what are your favourite bands/singers that no-one will have heard of? Send me a youtube link, I'll give them a listen. You never know, I might add them to my collection too!

-Jenni-

*If you get this reference you're a tiny bit awesome.