It's Sunday, and raining. I like to play this one a lot. It reminds me of how communication can break down between people, but I feel like there's an element of hope to it. Leonard Cohen did a fine job, Jeff Buckley perfected it. Rufus Wainwright and KD Lang have both done a superb job. KD's performance for the Olympics, unrushed, drew the Hallejulah didn't she?
I've played this twice in public:
- Once at the Dominion Pub at the Corktown Uke Jam where the whole room sang hallelujah together. It was so beautiful that it made me feel like my soul was floating above the room.
- Once at the Harp in Port Credit after Paul passed away. Barely knew the guy but I can recognize a spirit who affects people around him.
When I sing it, I like to strip it away and let it just be honest and vulnerable, the way I think it's intended. So this is just me, my feelings, my uke and my voice.
I put a low G on my Fluke uke. I think it makes it sound better.
Hallelujah - Leonard Cohen cover / Jeff Buckley version by iloveuke
Amber
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Impromptu meeting results in awesome jam - Great DJ by the Ting Tings
Coming home from work tonight, I bumped into Katie literally outside of the front door of my apartment. Katie is another 3rd of the Corktown Ukettes (this is a working name). We're booked to play at a couple of weddings. If any of you reading wants 3 girls playing the ukulele at their wedding, then get in touch with us.
Katie and I had an impromptu jam on the ukes. We covered quite a few greats songs, but a slow jam of the Great DJ by the Ting Tings was by far the most awesome.
For this track, Katie is on vocals. I took out my Hagstrom acoustic guitar and Katie played my Kala kitchen uke. This was probably our third time every playing it, so it needs some polish.
We both thought it turned out pretty freakin' sweet.
Great DJ - Ting Tings Cover by iloveuke
Hope you enjoy it.
This is what my photo sounds like
My facebook picture translates into the key of Bm, two grand pianos and an acoustic guitar.
http://music.almerblank.com/synthia_tracks/783
I like it actually. I think that sounds like me.
http://music.almerblank.com/synthia_tracks/783
I like it actually. I think that sounds like me.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
In Your Room
I wrote this song and dedicate it to friends of mine who are on introverted side of life, who have to be careful not to isolate themselves.
Last year, a friend of mine had a neighbour that died. A recluse. The neighbour was in her 80s, and the realty company was throwing out all of her belongings. They couldn't reach anyone who knew her.
No way I thought. Someone knows her. No person lives alone on this planet, we are a part of one another and we affect one another. On a quest to find out who she was, my friend and I embarked on a mission to find her family and friends. The door to her apartment was left ajar and we went inside to seek more information so that we could make phone calls to find out.
Apparently the realty company had already thrown out half of her belongings, but you could hardly tell. The place was filled to the bring with "stuff" - books, pamphlets, calligraphy tools, lots of empty notebooks, curled up papers, and there was a layer of brown dust on everything, the kind that comes from years of no one touching it. It was as close to a haunted house that I had ever seen.
The night we went into the apartment, I felt an energy. A presence, like someone was watching me as I got into bed that night. It felt so eerie that I tried channelling my friends and family on the other side to tell them to tell her that I was a good person.
Armed with 2 photo albums, we finally tracked down her distant family, who lived in Ottawa. We found out that her name was Karen. As her family explained it... "Karen was a gentle and caring person who also lived very quietly and without many friends."
I think those of us who are on the introverted side of life have to guard against isolating oneself too much. Take your retreat, lick your wounds, but don't forget to come back out to live with other people.
This is one of the only songs that I've actually finished writing so the lyrics are below. There were some sirens outside when I was recording it so I decided to leave them in rather than to start again, and I put a Sixties shimmer on the voice to try to bring it a bit closer.
It goes out to Karen Coulthart, who worked 25 years for the Ontario Government, who had also been trained as a nurse, sponsored 2 children from World Vision Canada, loved her mother Pearl, and died in December 2008.
In your room by iloveuke
--------------------------------------
In Your Room
In your room the shadows are silent
the noise outside so loud and so violent
and your dreams they seem so far away
And who are you to want it all
that you have so much that you cannot fall
you don't have the strength to tear down all the walls
In your room there are a lot of books
of adventures that you never really took
it's easy to read but hard to really live
And who are you to want a life
Avoid the struggle, avoid the strife
You give up your dream and you accept your destiny
In your room dust bunnies don't hop
the clock is ticking you wish it would stop
your life is on hold until you can figure it out
And who are you that time should stand still
you'll take yourself another pill
put it off one more day and another and another
In your room where your thoughts are so loud
you never share, never speak them aloud
they scream inside and they never really stop
and who are you to want inner peace
keep it all inside, never release
never express it just bottle it upinside
In your room where no one goes
you think of the past and all you chose
love seems made for someone else
And who are you to want love like that
you'll get yourself a domestic cat
who comes when you call it or maybe not come at all
Fear it keeps you pinned down low
the sun may shine but nothing grows
if you don't make yourself a change then
the world turns with out you
You don't tear down the wall you loosen up a few of bricks
open it up just a little bit
it's not like the walls are really going to protect you
you're over thinking everything
just let life go to see what it brings
it's all what you make it mean inside your head--
In your room the shadows are silent
the noise outside so loud and so violent
and your dreams they seem so far away
Last year, a friend of mine had a neighbour that died. A recluse. The neighbour was in her 80s, and the realty company was throwing out all of her belongings. They couldn't reach anyone who knew her.
No way I thought. Someone knows her. No person lives alone on this planet, we are a part of one another and we affect one another. On a quest to find out who she was, my friend and I embarked on a mission to find her family and friends. The door to her apartment was left ajar and we went inside to seek more information so that we could make phone calls to find out.
Apparently the realty company had already thrown out half of her belongings, but you could hardly tell. The place was filled to the bring with "stuff" - books, pamphlets, calligraphy tools, lots of empty notebooks, curled up papers, and there was a layer of brown dust on everything, the kind that comes from years of no one touching it. It was as close to a haunted house that I had ever seen.
The night we went into the apartment, I felt an energy. A presence, like someone was watching me as I got into bed that night. It felt so eerie that I tried channelling my friends and family on the other side to tell them to tell her that I was a good person.
Armed with 2 photo albums, we finally tracked down her distant family, who lived in Ottawa. We found out that her name was Karen. As her family explained it... "Karen was a gentle and caring person who also lived very quietly and without many friends."
I think those of us who are on the introverted side of life have to guard against isolating oneself too much. Take your retreat, lick your wounds, but don't forget to come back out to live with other people.
This is one of the only songs that I've actually finished writing so the lyrics are below. There were some sirens outside when I was recording it so I decided to leave them in rather than to start again, and I put a Sixties shimmer on the voice to try to bring it a bit closer.
It goes out to Karen Coulthart, who worked 25 years for the Ontario Government, who had also been trained as a nurse, sponsored 2 children from World Vision Canada, loved her mother Pearl, and died in December 2008.
In your room by iloveuke
--------------------------------------
In Your Room
In your room the shadows are silent
the noise outside so loud and so violent
and your dreams they seem so far away
And who are you to want it all
that you have so much that you cannot fall
you don't have the strength to tear down all the walls
In your room there are a lot of books
of adventures that you never really took
it's easy to read but hard to really live
And who are you to want a life
Avoid the struggle, avoid the strife
You give up your dream and you accept your destiny
In your room dust bunnies don't hop
the clock is ticking you wish it would stop
your life is on hold until you can figure it out
And who are you that time should stand still
you'll take yourself another pill
put it off one more day and another and another
In your room where your thoughts are so loud
you never share, never speak them aloud
they scream inside and they never really stop
and who are you to want inner peace
keep it all inside, never release
never express it just bottle it upinside
In your room where no one goes
you think of the past and all you chose
love seems made for someone else
And who are you to want love like that
you'll get yourself a domestic cat
who comes when you call it or maybe not come at all
Fear it keeps you pinned down low
the sun may shine but nothing grows
if you don't make yourself a change then
the world turns with out you
You don't tear down the wall you loosen up a few of bricks
open it up just a little bit
it's not like the walls are really going to protect you
you're over thinking everything
just let life go to see what it brings
it's all what you make it mean inside your head--
In your room the shadows are silent
the noise outside so loud and so violent
and your dreams they seem so far away
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