Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday, where every American, no matter where they are, where they're from, what they believe, or what they look like can gather together in a spirit of goodwill and gratitude and eat wonderful food with family. I love the time spent gathering together, preparing the meal, and sharing stories (some for the first time some for the five-hundredth) over a meal together.
Thanksgiving also means that you can start listening to Christmas music!! Or at least start listening to it publicly =)
Unfortunately, while Christmas classics are wonderful, it can be way too easy to overload on the same 12 songs the radio plays ad nauseum in the next month or so, but that's why we have Musical Monday! (so we're not trapped by iHeartRadio's attempt to indoctrinate our tastes to a formulaic algorithm that makes it easier for them to make money off of artists)
Luckily, there's YouTube, Spotify and tons of other ways to create your own Christmas playlist. There are also independent media outlets like KEXP or RELEVANT Magazine that put out Christmas music you can freely stream. RELEVANT even allows you to freely download the entire two-volume album of Christmas songs!
This album is full of amazing new songs and wonderful reinterpretations of holiday standards. Volume one is a little more upbeat while volume two is a bit smoother and slower to allow for introspection. I've already downloaded and played these all several times and have some new favorites for Christmas seasons to come.
So the Paris attacks shook a lot of us this past Friday. Waking up to news of the Beirut bombing just that morning, and watching the news about Paris unfold from the office and the number jumping to over 100 by the time I got home lent some moments of not quite despair but certainly some anger, uncertainty, sadness, compassion, and other complicated emotions. They're still roiling in my stomach somewhere and I haven't quite figured them out all the way yet.
Personally, I don't think I can write anything better than my immediate reaction on social media: "So many terrible things in the world. Be humble, do good. Spread love and kindness. Pray for one another. Be patient. Give joyfully of your time and self to others."
But somehow I feel like that's not enough to encompass it all.
Since music and poetry can help express feelings, and since there are some very talented songwriters out there, I discovered this song their weekend and it has stuck with me, resonating in my thoughts. The slow crescendo and build through each chorus, the lonely bellow in the background, the soft twinkling, the pauses between phrases to allow the words to sink in.... it's all so well done.
No Hell is the first single off of Cloud Cult's upcoming album, and I discovered it on KEXP's Music That Matters podcast.
Cloud Cult: No Hell
Lyrics: Mama said the stars are the universe's eyes I can feel them watching over me most of the time
We grew up believing we could learn how to fly We came from the Earth, but we belong to the sky
I saw your soul without the skin attached You've got the guts of a coyote pack
We've been kissed, we've been cut But we do what needs the doing We're just rainbows dreaming we're human Please excuse the lights shooting out of my head I keep 'em in a cage but they come out when they see a friend You must be a friend
You're never really going to have control of it all So you best get cool with where your chips are gonna fall
We are the sun And mother's milk And cusswords And poetry
There's no use in running unless you run like heck The best things we've learned, we learned from the wreck
Jesus coming back as a woman this time Handing out hugs in the clinic line
And someone tell the devil we don't need no Hell We're all pretty good at beating up ourselves
As kids we believed that the angels talked Everything is magic until you think it's not
It's easy to be thankful for the things you've got It takes guts to give thanks for the things you've lost
And we grew up believing good wins over bad So you gave away your heart but the wolves attacked But then a bigger heart grew back
Please excuse the words coming out of my mouth I'm a happy man but there's some things that I need to get out I need to get out...
There's no use in running unless you run like heck The best things we've learned, we learned from the wreck
Jesus coming back as a woman this time Handing out hugs in the clinic line
And someone tell the devil we don't need no Hell We're all pretty good at beating up ourselves
