in my ears- edition one

I am one of those people you despise riding in the car with. Once I find a song (or songs) I connect to, I listen to them over and over.. and then over again. I listen to the same CD or playlist for at least a month, maybe longer.  I listened to Patty Griffin's '1000 Kisses' and John Mayer's 'Battle Studies' for the first four months that I lived here. 4 MONTHS- nothing else. The lyrics were so angsty and the rythyms so raw that I just couldn't relent.  And today, when I hear 'Rain' or 'Edge of Desire', I immediately get this sink in my gut and I think back to that winter and the long subway rides and the fear and unfamiliarity I felt towards this City.


It's a strange experience, really. I just feel like I have to let the words seep in to my skin. I don't feel right just listening and skipping through a playlist.. it feels disloyal and insensitive... both to me and the artists, I guess.  I'm like that about a lot of things.. most things, actuallly. If I don't feel a connection, I won't attach. Not to a friendship, a job, a relationship. In honesty, I can't even commit to the type of bagel I want in the mornings. But when I do find something real, oh boy. I hold on to it with everything I've got. I will not let it go. In fact, it usually takes me a bit of time to share it. I just want to hold it (whatever it is) and keep it safe and unrefined. I do this a lot with the songs that I'm listening to. I don't know.. I just want to hide them in between my ears, because I need to figure out what they mean before everybody starts interpreting and creating their own story. It's selfish and weird, but sometimes it's too good to share. And then other times, it's too good not to. 


I thought this might be a good home for those songs that beg to be shared.


So, I give you the song ringing in my ears lately: 'Poison and Wine' by The Civil Wars. A couple of months ago I read a listener's  review on youtube that summed up my feelings for this song so accurately, that I saved it to my computer: 

"..... Takes a lot to 'move' me. The emotion [in this song] is palpable, and evidently not bound by technological barriers.

Reminds a girl she's human. Thanks for that"

thanks, Joy and John Paul for reminding us.