remember kissing on the cobblestones (this shouldn’t be hard work)
I’ve been pinging around a couple European countries for these last few weeks that I’d never been to before, across five borders and three currencies and at least five languages, with plenty of time to think. Trains are good for thinking, aren’t they? I’d missed the steady mechanical whoosh and the panorama of a thousand possible lives rolling outside the window.
The night I got home, I discovered this song from Ireland’s Villagers. Play count says I listened 22 times.
Not only does every lyric, every hard sentiment of this song sound like something I’ve thought (or wish I had the poeticism and clarity to think) in the last week–the video might be in the running for one of my favorite Blogotheque Take-Away Shows (which is a competitive landscape). This video is the perfect vehicle, the way it starts so sweetly and a bit restrained, pausing in the doorway of the simple empty chapel, and then a raising voice as Conor O’Brien moves into the reverberating center.
When you feel that fullness, you just know. I recognize the fondness behind his eyes as he sings about these memories. There are so many things reverberating in me, too, when I listen to this perfect summation of a song, but I’m weary of laying myself bare, or trying to do it without giving away too much.
So I’ll just beg you to listen. Maybe 22 times, if it grabs you too.
Hot Scary Summer (Blogotheque version) – Villagers
oh Lord
So you thank me for my hard work
but you’ve had it up to there
’cause this shouldn’t be hard work
but I’ll fight to care if you’d care to fight
Thank you for your hard work
but I’ve had it up to here
’cause this shouldn’t be hard work
least not the kind that makes us half a person, half a monster
stuck together in this hot scary summer
oh Lord
Remember kissing on the cobblestones in the heat of the night
and all the pretty young homophobes looking out for a fight
We got good at pretending, then pretending got us good
we’ve always been up against it but now it’s sad to see
we’re up against each other
in this hot scary summer
oh Lord
Ohh I live inside you and you live in me
and I live inside you and you live in me
Nothing’s gonna change that dear
nothing’s gonna change that dear
not even being apart
we travelled right to the heart
of this hot scary summer
oh Lord
Name: Heather Browne
please make a seasonal mix soon-they are very missed!
Hannah — May 20, 2015 @ 1:51 am
Heather – this Villagers record is fantastic. I wrote a review of it over at Stereo Subversion. Check it: http://stereosubversion.com/reviews/villagers-darling-arithmetic
John Barber — May 20, 2015 @ 6:28 am
Heather! Welcome back! I’ve missed your posts.
I saw Conor play solo in a tiny room in Duncan, Vancouver Island, a few years ago. He’s a mesmerising performer, for sure, and a lovely wee fellow!
David — May 22, 2015 @ 8:23 am
Heather great to have you back. Come back soon
Steve — May 22, 2015 @ 11:41 am
Heather… So great to see a post. I hope you’ll be back to doing more – and more of those spectacular Chapel Sessions. Plus, as Heather mentions above… We need more seasonal mixes. You have THE best taste in music. I know how hard life can pull on you, and it’s difficult to keep some things going. Hope you will find time. I know how important music is in your life. I love how you share it with us. This is THE best music blog ever. I re-read passages like favorite novels and stories. Because I know I don’t say it enough – “thank you times infinity!”
Chris — May 23, 2015 @ 5:28 am
We missed you! Thanks for posting.
Glenn — May 27, 2015 @ 8:51 am
Heather- I’ve been a huge fan of your site for so long and seen so many bands in my home town (Atlanta) due to discovering them on your site: Damien Jurado, Night Beds, Macklemore (In a venue with 50 high school kids a year before the Heist was released!), The Head and the Heart (twice!), Field Report, Phosphorescent, Tyler Lyle, just to name a few! And you have introduced to me so many other bands and artist that I hope to see in the future. I have even mentioned you at the merch table for several of these bands and they always have such warm words to say about you. And yet I never wrote or reached out to you to thank you, and I regret this. But better late than never right!? THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH….for the gift of your words, time, and love and passion of music:)
So now onto this post….I like everyone else was so happy to see a post from you after so long! I know life gets full, so thank you for taking the time to post even if its not as often.
So I am on my 5th of 6th listen and this song is truly beautiful and it really hit me. I don’t know exactly how this song spoke to you but I have recently gone through a tough breakup and even after over month I am suffering from such a deep longing. Even though I haven’t seen her in over a month I feel so close to her and it rips at my insides and I wonder if it will ever go away. We had such beautiful summer plans and now I am alone here in Georgia in this hot scary summer.
Michael — June 19, 2015 @ 8:34 am