THE MAGIC OF MUSIC

I’m sure most of you will be familiar with the memorable and imaginative video where Christopher Walken is sitting slumped and tired in a chair in the foyer of a hotel only to be shaken from his slumbers by the music that is Weapon of Choice by Fatboy Slim.  Next thing you know he is tap-dancing and flying his way through the hotel with the biggest grin on his face….and then as the song ends he finds himself sitting back in his chair with the same tired look on his face as a few minutes earlier.

The tap-dancing and aerial acrobatics were of course all in his mind – it was his imagination running away as the magic of music took his mind off whatever had been troubling or tiring him and made him ecstatically happy for a few short minutes. If it wasn’t for my self-imposed policy of not posting anything from youtube I’d have it embedded at this juncture of this post.

The point is….I had my own Christopher Walken moment on the way to work yesterday.

I was sitting on the train yesterday morning, tired and worried a bit about how much I have on my plate just now and also still trying to think what to do next with the blog feeling grateful that S-WC had come up with the goods.  I’ve the music on shuffle hoping that I might get inspired but all the songs seem to be stuff I’ve written about before or else aren’t all that worthy of spending time writing about.

Then….there’s a little bit of flamenco guitar that I know lasts precisely 56 seconds for it is the intro to a song which is one of my favourites from one of my favourite bands.

I smile.

And just like Christopher Walken, I am shaken from my slumbers.  The next two and half minutes of music have me imagining that I am running up and down the crowded carriage grabbing  fellow passengers and getting them to dance with me; that I am singing the lyrics at the top of my voice and that when the trumpet solo comes I should be blasting it out as the train staff put down their ticket checking machines and join in on percussion. Such is the power of this:-

mp3 : Tindersticks – Her

It’s from the band’s debut release – a double album – back in 1993.  It’s just one of a number of stunning bits of music that Tindersticks recorded with their first six albums after which the band broke-up.  The reformed line-up a few years later saw only around half of the members get together and while it’s been decent enough in places, the music since has seemed less special.

As Her bounced around my head I knew I had a blog piece ready to go with the Christopher Walken comparison. But one thing that was different is that as my happy song came to an end, the next track on random play began.  The smile didn’t leave my face as it revealed itself as one of the greatest cover versions of all time and a track which was part of the  recent Saturday singles series.

mp3 : Paul Quinn & Edwyn Collins – Pale Blue Eyes

I came to work feeling a lot better, switched on the PC and typed all the words you’ve just read.

Enjoy