{Tunesday}

I want to use Tunesdays as a way to show you the current songs that are soundtracking my life - lyrics that speak to me and melodies that move me. You won't find songs currently playing on the radio being featured on Tunesday: I never listen to the radio - I cannot stand the music that is being played at the moment and the inane conversations that take place on air. So I spend a lot of time listening to music that Ive gotten from other sources.


This week's song has become quite important to me lately, it's by Laura Marling called "Rambling Man". It's from her second studio album "I Speak because I can"{2010}. She's a folk singer from Hampshire in England.


There are a couple of things that strike me about this song:
- She's only 20 (turning 21 on the 1st of Feb) and yet her voice is so mature, so strong, so indicative of someone who's had a long, interesting life.
- I could listen to this song over and over again and never get bored. There are little surprises the whole way through
- I love it when the guitar kicks in - it makes me a bit giddy!
- I feel peaceful when I listen to this song, like I could curl up on a comfy couch, with a cup of hot tea, granny's quilt and my Frankie magazine.


Ive listened to her entire album, and all of her songs are so poetic. The melodies aren't complicated - I could probably play them on the guitar if I put my mind to it.


For various reasons, this song has been an important feature in my life recently. I always feel better after listening to this song. Those are the songs that Im listening to: ones that make me feel better - not worse, or drained, or upset or angry. I'm approaching music in much the same way that I'm approaching a few of the relationships in my life at the moment: if you don't make me feel better about myself - you're outta here. I wouldn't call it a New Year's resolution - rather a commitment to myself. I felt bad when I first decided a couple of months back that that was how I wanted to start 2011 - with people in my life who make me feel GOOD. I thought, I can't just turf people away - surely it's not that simple? But the more and more I read about other people's resolutions, the more I realise that there are a host of people out there who are actively spring-cleaning their relationships and friendships. If you don't make me feel good and add value to my life, then it ain't gonna work. Life's too short to feel bad.

Phew.  That's the first personal rant I think I've had on this blog - music can do that to a person!

xoxo,
Pippa