with doubt the vicious circle...

Because the Night

Patti Smith & Bruce Springsteen , Composers

... songs to live by ...




10,000 Maniacs





Bruce Springsteen





Patti Smith Group

If we believe in the night we trust

*

Great lyric. A song with fire.

I want to know...

Take Me to the River

Al Green & Mabon Hodges, Composers

... songs to live by ...




Talking Heads, with Adrian Belew

Live in Rome





Warren Haynes (of Gov't Mule) and Grace Potter





Al Green

Take me to the river
And wash me down
Won't you cleanse my soul
Put my feet on the ground

*

There are plenty of great recordings of this song - Annie Lennox, Foghat, Tina Turner... But no matter who sings it, I always want to find a floor and move. Or, at least, imagine there's a floor, and move anyway.

does anybody have any questions...

Life During Wartime

Talking Heads

Burned all my notebooks, what good are notebooks?
They won't help me survive
My chest is aching, burns like a furnace
the burning keeps me alive

steal away my mind...

hot, hot music...

If you haven’t heard this music, you need to get out more. Definitely musicians to live by.



E.M.D. (Eat My Dust)

David Grisman Quartet






Patrick Meets the Brickbats

The Jerry Douglas Band







White Freightliner Blues

New Grass Revival

there will be a show tonight...

Three of my favorites from The Beatles...





1. I Want You (She's So Heavy)

           - from Abbey Road






2. Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!

           - from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band






3. Happiness Is a Warm Gun

           - from The Beatles (White Album)

lots of lovely desert...

A Night in Tunisia

Dizzy Gillespie & Frank Paparelli, Composers

... music to live by ...




        - as Another Night in Tunisia

The Manhattan Transfer, with Bobby McFerrin & Jon Hendricks

        - from their Vocalese recordings






Elvin Jones Trio






Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Charles Mingus & Max Roach

        - live, Toronto, 1953

(...as strong a group of musicians on one stage as is possible)

*

According to Allmusic.com, the song has been recorded by various artists or released in separate format at least 797 times. And I’m sure there are others.

It is, absolutely, on my short list of necessary songs.

those winds sure can blow cold...

Four Strong Winds

Ian Tyson, Composer

... songs to live by ...




Neil Young, with Willie Nelson





Johnny Cash





Ian Tyson

Four strong winds that blow lonely
Seven seas that run high
All those things that don't change come what may.

*

This song makes me want to pick up a guitar and play. I first learned it through Bobby Bare’s recording. That led me to Tyson. A song, deep in my well. And my well’s a little dark these days.

habitual ritual...

Grace Jones

Corporate Cannibal

... a song we are living by ...

i’ll give you uniform chloroform sanitize homogenize vaporize you

*

Thanks for the post, Collin.

and the livin' is easy...

Summertime

George Gershwin, DuBose Heyward, & Ira Gershwin, Composers

... music to live by ...



Janis Joplin, Big Brother and the Holding Company





Keith Jarrett





Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong

One of these mornings
You're going to rise up singing
Then you'll spread your wings
And you'll take to the sky

*
A phenomenal composition from Porgy and Bess that has been in my body all my life. I included Jarrett’s version – he was a keyboardist for Miles Davis – because his performance is incredible.

The other two need no comment.

writing the words that no one will hear...

Eleanor Rigby

John Lennon & Paul McCartney, composers

... music to live by ...



Aretha Franklin





Godhead





The Beatles

All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?

Magnificent lyric and chord strucutre. Haunting melody. A perfect poem.

finding beauty in the dissonance...

Schism

Tool

       - from Lateralus

... music to live by ...

I know the pieces fit
’Cause I watched them tumble down
No fault, none to blame
It doesn’t mean I don’t desire to
Point the finger, blame the other
Watch the temple topple over
To bring the pieces back together
Rediscover communication

*

There are many paths that lead to great art. Here’s one.

three voices in search of a song...

Hallelujah

Leonard Cohen, Composer

... music to live by ...




K D Lang





Jeff Buckley





Leonard Cohen

I did my best, it wasn’t much
I couldn’t feel, so I tried to touch
I’ve told the truth, I didn’t come to fool you

A powerful lyric and melody ... Some songs sing themselves. This one does.

Clavierübung...

Goldberg Variations, 1-7

J. S. Bach

Performance by Glenn Gould

... music to live by ...

no way to slow down...

Locomotive Breath

Jethro Tull

... music to live by ...

*

He hears the silence howling --
catches angels as they fall.

the fire I breathe...

Because the Night

Patti Smith

... music to live by ...

some fire...

Mediterranean Sundance

Paco de Lucía    Al di Meola    John McLaughlin

– a live version of a di Meola composition

...music to live by...

*

Three of my favorite guitarists. If you’ve never heard their brilliant Friday Night in San Francisco, consider it a must. Astounding performances.

till my soul gets it right...

Galileo

Indigo Girls

... music to live by ...

Galileo’s head was on the block the crime was looking up the truth as the bombshells of my daily fears explode i try to trace them to my youth then you had to bring up reincarnation over a couple of beers the other night now i’m serving time for mistakes made by another in another lifetime...

*

A song that proves the absolute necessity of determination.

see how they fly...

I Am the Walrus

The Beatles

... music to live by ...

Sitting on a cornflake, waiting for the van to come.
Corporation tee-shirt, stupid bloody Tuesday.
MAN, you been a naughty boy, you let your face grow long.

*

Simply put... This song is one of the finest of all possible musical moments.

storms out on the ocean...

Virtuoso guitarists Russ Barenberg & Bryan Sutton played the Down Home last night (Johnson City, TN). Great, great show. Can’t begin to give words to the beauty of all those melodies. Did not want them to quit.

Late, Barenberg performed a solo version of “St. Anne’s Reel,” a fiddle tune, that was addictive.




St. Anne’s Reel

Russ Barenberg (guitar), Aly Bain (fiddle), Jerry Douglas (dobro), Todd Parks (bass)

[ – from the Transatlantic Sessions ]

hope you're not lonely without me...

Society

Eddie Vedder, from the soundtrack, Into the Wild

You think you have to want
more than you need
until you have it all you won't be free

*

A powerful story - and one that is absolutely misunderstood by many. Sean Penn's film captures the force and scope of Jon Krakauer's book. I really go for this song.