Song Stuck In My Head This Week - 21st November '10 - Bob Dylan - You're Going To Make Me Lonesome When You Go

I will state upfront in this week's blog the following facts. Fact 1 - In my head has actually been the cover of this song by the talented Mr Nick Stephenson( http://www.myspace.com/nickstephensonmusic/ ) but sadly there's not a copy of him singing it online. Fact 2 - The version you CAN listen to isn't Bob Dylan either as I couldn't find a copy of him singing it online to share. Instead it's a very good cover that I felt captured the 'feel' of the song that I found on youtube.

Though I've had some great times in Seattle, Trenton & LA since I left San Francisco, something of that time still keeps lingering with me. I think that, not since my first US visit when LA captured my attention, have I ever been somewhere that has affected me in quite this way. Both the atmosphere of the city and the people I met there struck a chord with me and this song, even though it was me who was leaving, sums up my sense of loss I felt when I left.

The song comes from Dylan's 1975 'Blood On The Tracks' album which is seen as one of his best. Though some people believe the works on this album to relate to Dylan's separation from his wife Sara, Dylan himself says they were inspired by the short stories of Anton Chekhov.

For me, it just reminds me of a special time and a special person who's left an indelible mark on my life and who made me lonesome when I had to go.

Hope you all enjoy it and please hunt down the original as well as checking out the great music Nick Stephenson has to offer!! Catch you all next week for my last blog from the US.

Bob Dylan - You're Going To Make Me Lonesome When You Go

I've seen love go by my door
It's never been this close before
Never been so easy or so slow
I've been shooting in the dark too long
When something not right it's wrong
Yer gonna make me lonesome when you go.

Dragon clouds so high above
I've only known careless love
It's always hit me from below
This time around it's more correct
Right on target so direct
Yer gonna make me lonesome when you go.

Purple clover Queen Anne lace
Crimson hair across your face
You could make me cry if you don't know
Can't remember what I was thinking of
You might be spoiling me too much love
Yer gonna make me lonesome when you go.

Flowers on the hillside blooming crazy
Crickets talking back and forth in rhyme
Blue river running slow and lazy
I could stay with you forever
And never realize the time.

Situations have ended sad
Relationship have all been bad
Mine've been like Verlaine's and Rimbaud
But there's no way I can compare
All those scenes to this affair
Yer gonna make me lonesome when you go.

Yer gonna make me wonder what I'm doing
Staying far behind without you
Yer gonna make me wonder what I'm saying
Yer gonna make me give myself a good talking to.

I'll look for you in old Honolulu
San Francisco, Ashtabula
Yer gonna have to leave me now I know
But I'll see you in the sky above
In the tall grass in the ones I love
Yer gonna make me lonesome when you go.

Song Stuck In My Head This Week - 15th November '10 - Joanna Newsom - On A Good Day

San Francisco, as I said last week, is a fascinating place which made me do a lot of thinking and self-analysis. It also needed a special 'soundtrack' to it. I totally overhauled my mp3 player and was playing songs that fitted in with the surroundings really well, however the song I ended up with stuck in my head was one that my friends kept playing and singing regularly.

Until recently I'd never heard of Joanna Newsom but San Francisco changed that. The 28-year-old singer/songwriter from Nevada City, California, has a beautiful and haunting style as well as being a talented harpist and my friends in San Francisco all love her. 'On A Good Day' features on her third studio album, 'Have One On Me', which was released at the beginning of this year.

This song is one that has captured a moment in time for me. It will always remind me of happy times with the lovely people I've gotten to know in San Francisco and I'm definitely going to check out more of Joanna Newsom's music.

Hope you all enjoy it!

Joanna Newsom - On A Good Day

Hey hey hey, the end is near
On a good day you can see the end from here
But I won't turn back, now, though the way is clear
I will stay for the remainder

I saw a life, and I called it mine
I saw it, drawn so sweet and fine
And I had begun to fill in all the lines
Right down to what we'd name her

Our nature does not change by will
In the winter, 'round the ruined mill
The creek is lying, flat and still
It is water though it's frozen

So across the years and miles, and through
On a good day, you can feel my love for you
Will you leave me be, so that we can stay true
To the path that you have chosen

Song Stuck In My Head This Week - 7th November '10 - Bat For Lashes - Sleep Alone

It was only when her most recent album came out that I started to appreciate the music of Natasha Khan, aka Bat For Lashes. Oddly enough we both went to secondary school at the same time in the same town (though different schools) and, while I didn't skive off school to listen to music, from what I've read about her our experiences at that age were somewhat similar. However, while I have drifted through life and I'm still trying to work out where I'm going, she seemed to know what direction she wanted to go in and got a degree in music and visual arts before taking on a job as a nursery school teacher while she wrote and recorded her debut album 'Fur And Gold' which gained her a Mercury Music Prize nomination in 2007.

'Sleep Alone' was the third single from her second album 'Two Suns' and it was the song that totally captivated me and made me want to check out her work further. While walking the streets of San Francisco this last week it has been the song that I keep going back to as it feels comforting. It has an other-worldy quality to it that sucks you in and wrapps you up in the melody.

I've been feeling very solitary in San Francisco for the most part though not in a lonely way. I feel like I'm working out who I am while I'm here and what I want in life. Coming to terms with my conclusions may take a little longer but I'm starting to feel like I don't need to be in a relationship to be happy and nor do I feel like I would be much good at relationships either as I'm too selfish and not a great communicator when I'm actually really interested in someone. I communicate better when I don't seek anything from someone emotionally. 'Sleep Alone' has helped me ease through this decision and actually has made me feel comfortable with it all.

I really love this week's song and all the work by this artist and I hope you all enjoy it too!!

Bat For Lashes - Sleep Alone

You know my darling;
I can't stand to sleep alone.
No sweetheart in the dark to call my own,
You're my own, you're my own.
I can sing it I can groan.
But the darkness is a stranger,
And I'm lonely, lonely, lonely, low ...

Last night's parties and last night's horror show.
Smiling and whirling and kissing all I know!
Give my soul, give my soul,
Sing it free across the sea!
A lonely spell to conjure you
But conjure hell is all I do.

Lonely, lonely, lonely!
Cause my mama told me,
The dream of love is a
Two hearted dream

Lonely, lonely, lonely!
Cause my mama told me,
The dream of love is a
Two hearted dream ...

The say for every high high
There must be a low, low, low
For every sun ascending
A lonesome moon will grow, grow, grow, grow
Drive my heart, drive my heart
Into the fire of a burning heart's desire!
A lonely spell so you be seen,
Do you hear me coming from my blue dream?

Lonely, lonely, lonely!
Cause my mama told me,
The dream of love is a
Two hearted dream

Lonely, lonely, lonely!
Cause my mama told me
The dream of love is a
Two hearted dream...