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Friday, September 21, 2012

Go Ahead, Music, Make My Day

First: Moey's daughter, Laura, 16, has recorded a great single. She's the awesome singer who entered a contest at the mall at the last minute and won a chance to meet Justin Bieber. I'm proud of Lulu and wish her a smooth road to the top of the charts. Here's the link to her song on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/over-you-single/id563953582?ls=1

Second: I am so into the Saw Doctors, the Celtic-based rock band from County Galway. Our friends Anne and Michael--as newlyweds--discovered them in NYC. I am so grateful we know this music now, too, having seen the band up in the Cape Cod Melody Tent in summer 2011.

I've been playing their music on my laptop while I work...it works really well that way!!!!!!!!!

This YouTube video shows them very young singing "N17." Per wikipedia: "The N17 road is a national primary road in Ireland...It begins in County Galway and ends in County Sligo."



I love the lyrics. They make me think of my grandfather, Jim, and his brother and sisters leaving Galway for America [to become chauffeur, gardener, nurse] and of my Figgy, who loves riding the 66 bus to NYC. I told her one day she will remember the 66 this way--riding it on the road with her thoughts and dreams. I also love the phrase "stone walls and the grasses green." I'm yearning to travel to Ireland, where I've never been.

Well I didn't see much future
When I left the Christian brothers school,
So I waved it goodbye with a wistful smile
And I left the girls of Tuam.
And sometimes when I'm reminiscing,
I see the prefabs and my old friends,
And I know that they'll be changed or gone
By the time I get home again.

Chorus:

And I wish I was on that N 17
(Stone walls and the grasses green)
Yes I wish I was on that N 17
Stone walls and the grasses green
Travelling with just my thoughts and dreams

Well the ould fella left me to Shannon,

Was the last time I travelled that road.
and as I turned left at Claregalway,
I could feel a lump in my throat.
As I pictured the thousands of times,
That I travelled that well worn track,
And I know that things would be different
If I ever decide to go back.

(Chorus)


Now as I tumble down highways,

Or filthy overcrowded trains,
There's no one to talk to in transit
So I sit there and daydream in vain.
And behind all these muddled up problems
Of living on a foreign soil,
I can still see the twists and turns on the road
From the square to the town of the tribes. 


Good night.

TCOY
  1. Kept my food diary and made turkey sausages for breakfast. The protein  helped, I think.
  2. Listened to a supportive podcast. 
  3. Put on a nice top and skirt and earrings to work on an assignment at home. 
  4. Planned to get, and got, a nice hot mocha this afternoon at Red Eye Cafe on Walnut Street in Montclair. Excellent, excellent.
  5. Walked Sug around block once.
  6. Went to see "The Master" at the movies with H. Really good, and I mean incomparable,  acting. As I sat in the dark theater, I wondered how hard I would have to work as a writer to write nearly as well as Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix acted. I wondered how they managed to pour their hearts and souls into those roles without looking back. The fear, the strength, the vulnerability they must have felt. The fierceness and passion. The total immersion. I am in awe of them, and inspired. God, or fate, or destiny, gave them gifts and they used them, pushed through them, into, over and beyond them. If they had the gift and didn't use it, that would be a loss for the rest of us. Do I possibly have stories to share with the world? Could I possibly discipline myself to hone my words and my work? A big dream, I know. But what is the line between dream and reality?  Just read on imdb.com that both went into rehab for addictions. Artists seem to suffer and struggle a lot--yet that darkness and depth gives them fertile ground to dig their heels into. When you have been in the gutter you have compassion and insight. I know I am a wreck, or a major work in progress, but seeing this beautiful work tonight makes me realize that one can recover and work hard/do well.
  7. Bought red bell peppers and baby cucumbers on way home to have healthy snacks on hand.

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