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Modernism Monday: “Learn Me Right,” Birdy, Feat. Mumford & Sons

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When in the course of a human’s events it becomes necessary to assess the path one is on, and one finds that one is in a bit of limbo, it can be a bit disheartening.  A wise woman once wrote that, really, you should take heart during stages like this.  “What is happening is that your old self no longer fits with who are you are becoming. What seems to be a state of limbo, is, in actuality, a spiritual journey, and it can only be navigated by surrendering into the ‘not knowing.’ It’s about learning to be ok with vulnerability, letting go of control, and trusting your interior guide.”

Who has two thumbs and is really super bad at this?  Me!  Hooray!  But who has two thumbs and tremendous friends who know me well enough to keep me together?  Also me.  Suddenly, limbo doesn’t seem so bad.

WALK-UP WEEK! Funk Friday: “Goliath,” Monophonics

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Before Game 6 of the 1991 World Series, Kirby Puckett, center-fielder for the Twins and my childhood idol, gathered his teammates around for a quick talk before they took the field.  “You guys should jump on my back tonight. I’m going to carry us.”  Puckett made good on his promise.  The Twins had been behind 3-2 to the Atlanta Braves before Game 6, during which Puckett hit the game-winning home run and made the best outfield catch, against the center-field wall, possibly ever seen in baseball.  (Puckett, who was a very stocky 5’8″, had incredible and surprising athleticism.  What was so jaw-dropping about that catch wasn’t just the air he got, but how powerful his arm was.  Look how far he throws that baseball!  He totally windmills his arm around to get that distance.  Just amazing.)  That game propelled the Twins to a World Series win.

I miss you, Kirby.  Whenever I hear “Goliath,” I think of you.

Number 34 on his jersey, number 1 in your heart.

Number 34 on his jersey, number 1 in your heart.

WALK-UP WEEK! Throwback Thursday: “The Great Gate at Kiev,” Modest Mussorgsky

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You’ve been playing baseball since you were 20.  This is your last season before you retire; your knees and shoulder can’t take any more punishment.  Your team has finally made it into the World Series.  Tonight is the deciding game.  The bases are loaded.  You’re up.  You put on your helmet and walk to the plate.  This is your song.

WALK-UP WEEK! Worldly Wednesday: “Dougou Badia (feat. Santigold),” Amadou and Mariam

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Of all the songs on Walk-Up Week, this would be my own personal song.  I’ve used this song to push me through long runs and long rows.  I see no reason why it wouldn’t pump me up enough to clock one out of the park.

Sacred Sunday: “God’s Gonna Cut You Down,” Johnny Cash

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If the lyrics sound vaguely familiar, it’s because you might know the Moby version of this song.  I won’t link to it because I don’t want to dilute the effect of Cash’s interpretation, which I find to be an intoxicating combination of chilling, inspiring, heartening, and terrifying.  With all the horrific things going on around the world these days, even the most committed atheist wants some powerful entity, higher or not, to cut down those who do such terrible things.

Worldly Wednesday: “Narcissus is Back,” Christine and the Queens

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Achievement unlocked, Tune-Up fans.  Yesterday’s throw-down saw your Yankette come out on top.  Now, in the aftermath, this song comes to mind.  Christine and the Queens, aka Heloïse Letissier from Nantes, France, writes excellent, moody, atmospheric music to help you process life’s periodic weirdnesses.

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Talking talking your way out
While he’s still on the lookout
I lost my voice I think in colours
We make love a sorry hearse
I cry a thousand more mirrors
So that your eyes could get brighter
Obediently I bay a name
I share it with the wind I tamed
But can you see my heart (repeat)

Narcissus is back from underwater and kisses his lips again
Narcissus is back from underwater and kisses his lips again
Narcissus is back I shouldn’t bother I break the mirrors that I meet
Narcissus is back from under water and has his own lips to drink

The water, water, is so cold
It poisons anyone who calls
A loving hand, a daring kiss
Now watches everything you miss
It’s getting hard to look away
It’s not your office anyway
It’s much too easy to disperse
Et moi je prie pour une avers [I pray for the obverse]
Before you can see my heart
Narcissus is back (repeat 6)

Narcissus is back from underwater and kisses his lips again
Narcissus is back from underwater and kisses his lips again
Narcissus is back I shouldn’t bother I break the mirrors that I meet
Narcissus is back from under water and has his own lips to drink

Termagant Tuesday: “Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing),” Benny Goodman

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Oh it is so on right now.  Your plucky heroine is in full battle rattle* today (St. John’s knit sheath, 4″ snakeskin stilettos, graduated pearl necklace, eat it*).  I have a long-overdue throw-down with a local self-styled tough** and I’ve been waiting a mighty long time.  Yankette Smash!

*Yes, I know that’s a dated and lame phrase.

**Hey, Glass House, don’t you judge how I pump myself up.  At least it’s not Cheetos and Tang.

***I am fully aware this is one of those moments that Me In Twenty Years will look back on, and with a knowing chuckle, mutter, “God, I was so dramatic when I was a kid.”  Shut up, MITY.  No one cares.

Salubrious Saturday: “Tribute to Peadar O’Donnell/Takarasaka,” Jerry Douglas

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I may or may not be obsessed with the show “Hell on Wheels,” and by may or may not I mean am. If you haven’t seen it, I urge you to clear your schedule, get some snacks, and hie thee to a Netflix account. It’s fantastic. The show follows the adventures of one Cullen Bohannon, a Civil War veteran on the Confederate side whose family was killed by Union soldiers. The show begins with him hunting them down and the plot hinges on what happens to him in their pursuit.

Plot plot plot blah blah blah. The music is awesome and is so successful at putting you in the time period that you hear twangy guitars after the show ends, and walk around with a pretend six-shooter on your right hip. Never mind that the life portrayed in the show is awful. You want to be Cullen Bohannon.

The song “Takarasaka” puts me in that frame of mind.

Throwback Thursday: “Tant Que Vivray,” Claudin de Sermisy

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It’s Eduardo Antonello again!  Yay!  You might remember his Praetorious recording from a few Throwback Thursdays ago.  “Tant Que Vivray” is one of my most favorite French Renaissance pieces.    It’s just charming.

That's the chap.

That’s the chap.

de Sermisy wrote this piece in the 1520, during the reign of Francis I.  Francis was a serious patron of the arts (he acquired the Mona Lisa) and of scholarship, who apparently standardized the French language.  de Sermisy joined the court of Francis in 1515 and became assistant chapel master in 1533.  In an odd sort of way, we are listening to the same music heard by the (quite expired) king of France.  Wowie zowie.