Every once in awhile I start to wonder how long I can keep up this Song of the Day thing. On the one hand, I wonder if I’ll run out of songs to feature. On the other hand, I wonder if I’ll run out of things to say about them.
Now, given the extraordinary number of songs in the world, I’m probably just fine on the first count. Having something worthwhile to say… that’s a trickier proposition.
But usually when I start worrying about that, I’ll come across an artist such as Beth Orton and I’ll marvel that I’ve managed to highlight more than 400 songs without once featuring her on the blog. And then I’ll feel better about my long-term prospects.
Beth Orton is a fine representative of a pretty sizable sub-section of my music collection… artists who have impressed me for an album or two but not enough to make me an active follower. I pull out their albums once in a great while, enjoy the hell out of them, wonder why I don’t listen to them more often, then shelve them for another great while. I could live without them on my CD shelf but I don’t see why I should have to.
Orton is a British singer-songwriter who is among the pioneers of a style of music referred to as “folktronica.” Think an English Carole King on acid. Her debut album, Trailer Park, is split between lovely melody-rich acoustic ditties and extended trip-hop wankery (fortunately there are more of the former). I just skip the long, boring stuff and enjoy the short and sweet stuff.
‘Live As You Dream’ is one of the shortest and sweetest tracks on the album and the sort of song you feel like you’ve heard somewhere before. Tucked away gems like this one should keep me blogging for a long time to come.
You’ll know when you’ve seen it through
Yeah we live as we dream alone
But that’s not all you’ve ever known
Stop, look and listen I can find you
I’ve been standing right beside you
You don’t have to remind me
I know and I won’t let go
And if you’ve taken me for someone who cares
Well there’s a dream I know we both have shared
If I talk to you after all’s been done
Then I know we’ll find home wherever we’ve gone
You’re not the only one…
But there’s something I wanna show
Though I’m not sure that I should do so…
Now I live all our dreams for free
But that’s not all that ever could be
Stop, look and listen I can find you
I’ve been standing right beside you
You don’t have to remind me
I know and I won’t let go
And if I’ve taken you for someone who cares
Well there’s a dream I know we both have shared
If you talk to me after what’s been said
Then I know there’s a home wherever we’re led
You’re not the only one…
You’re not the only one…
And if you’ve taken me for someone who cares
Then there’s a dream I hope we both can share
If I talk to you after what’s been said
Well, you have made this home wherever we’re led
You’re not the only one…
You’re not the only one…
We live as we dream alone
But that’s not all you’ve shown
We live as we dream alone
And that’s not all we’ve known
As we dream alone
That’s not all you’ve shown…
Meet Me In Montauk 
I have no doubt you’ll have plenty to blog about, and when you have nothing to meaningful to say, we’ll add our meaningless “insights.” Now how do I know this song? It’s so familiar. Was it in a film or tv show? I’m off to search…
though I do think this song, and your commentary about it, makes a good case for the iTunes revolution. Why do you need to have a CD taking up space in your shelf that contains a bunch of songs you skip. Why not download the few gems you love, plunk them into your iPod, where they’re far more likely to show up on shuffle mode, enabling you to listen to them more frequently than once in a great while? Just saying.
I have done that with other albums… sold back the physical CD and held onto the digital copies. Although for some weird reason I keep the digital copies of the songs I don’t like, too!
Orton and Amy both make a good case for the iPod, as I have enjoyed hearing some of Orton’s songs while shuffling around in my (as in your) collection. She sometimes reminds me of Sarah McLachlan, which is a good thing. I guess I haven’t heard her more annoying or boring material, or if I have, I just hit that little skip button on my iPod.:)
This is a great little song. Just the kind of thing I’d like to run across in shuffle mode. I have to tell you, I hear a lot of Sinead O’Connor here. As far as the song itself, I don’t know it at all but I do like it. 🙂
My search was fruitless, but I know that I know this song from somewhere… HELP!
It doesn’t seem to have been included on any movie or TV soundtracks. Maybe I put it on a mix tape or CD for you.