Pax Plena

  • Song of the Week: Kissing a Fool

    Perhaps it’s the rainy weather here in Boston, but this week’s song of the week continues a succession of mellow songs performed by dynamic artists. The Pax Plena song of the weeks comes to you direct from modern crooner Michael Bublé and is titled Kissing a Fool.

    One of the most redeeming qualities about the song is its smokey, lounge quality feel. Written by George Michael in the late 80s, the song takes listeners back to the dive bars and cramped stages of the Jazz age complete with soaring lyrics and sparse percussion. One can almost see tuxedo-clad men with a glass of scotch listening in on a summer’s evening.

    The opening strains in the Bublé version, begin with a lead bass intro which is joined almost immediately in whisper by vocals. Bublé’s voice, however, is quick to showcase exactly why he is every bit the crooner he purports to be. Rest assured, in this song, the quietest sounds never become a bore. Bublé’s range is disparate, covering everything from the delicate lines preceding the opening chorus to the vibrant peak near the final repetition. Through its unique blend of instruments, trumpet, piano, and percussion most prominently, the score ably presents Bublé’s voice by striking a nice balance between accompaniment and instrumental musicality.

    The song itself traverses a wide range of emotions from hope, to despair and ultimately toward faith in faith. But its theme is fairly well contained- love sought, love lost and the personal introspection which invariably follows. The central idea seems to be the inability of lovers to commit and specifically in the inability of one to withstand outside pressures for want of mutual matters of the heart.

    The video below plays the song in its entirety. If you can over look the silly video on which someone has decided to affix the song, you’ll find the performance most enjoyable. Lyrics follow.

    Kissing A Fool

    You are far
    When I could have been your star
    You listened to people
    Who scared you to death
    And from my heart
    Strange that you were strong enough
    To even make a start
    But you’ll never find
    Peace of mind
    Till you listen to your heart

    People
    You can never change the way the feel
    Better let them do just what they will
    For they will
    If you let them
    Steal your heart from you
    People
    Will always make a lover feel the fool
    But you knew I loved you
    We could have shown them all
    We should have seen love through

    Fooled me with the tears in your eyes
    Covered me with kisses and lies
    So bye
    But please don’t take my heart

    You are far
    I’m never gonna be your star
    I’ll pick up the pieces
    And mend my heart
    Strange that I was wrong enough
    To think you’d love me too
    You must have been were kissing a fool
    You must have been kissing a fool

    But remember this
    Every other kiss
    That you’ll ever give
    Long as we both live
    When you need the hand of another man
    One you really can surrender with
    I will wait for you
    Like I always do
    There’s something there
    That can’t compare with any other

    You are far
    When I could have been your star
    You listened to people
    Who scared you to death
    And from my heart
    Strange that I was wrong enough
    To think you’d love me too
    You must have been kissing a fool
    You must have been kissing a fool

    You must have been kissing a fool

  • Song of the Week: Wasted

    The Pax Plena song of the week comes to you via country music Grammy Award winner (and Native Oklahoman) Carrie Underwood and is titled Wasted.

    Most analyses of this song seem indicate that it is rooted in the dark theme of alcoholism. This assumption certainly isn’t a stretch given the title but more than this the song is apt for any circumstance in which the will to live outweighs the will to mourn. It embodies a classic notion of personal resolve that an individual can recover from wasted years, from being jaded, even from depression through a personal decision to live again.

    Musically, there are various elements at work which make the song a powerful piece not the least of which being Underwood’s voice which is at times both soaring and contemplative- an atypical combination, indeed, for country music. Speaking as a fan, country music often inhabits the extremes of the style spectrum. It tends to be either really up-beat or fairly mellow. This song in particular seems to meld the two well.

    The video below is a performance of Underwood’s hit. It has been hailed by critics as one of the best country music videos released in recent years. Shot in black and white, the video tells the story of two lovers, their break up, and how the situation is ultimately resolved.

    Enjoy!

    Wasted
    Standing at the back door
    She tried to make it fast
    One tear hit the hard wood
    It felt like broken glass
    She said sometimes love slips away
    And you just can’t get it back
    Let’s face it

    For one split second
    She almost turned around
    But that would be like pouring rain drops
    Back into a cloud
    So she took another step and said
    I see the way out and I’m gonna’ take it

    I don’t wanna’ spend my life jaded
    Waitin’ to wake up one day and find
    That I’ve let all these years go by
    Wasted

    Another glass of whisky but it still don’t kill the pain
    So he stumbles to the sink and pours it down the drain
    He says it’s time to be a man and stop living for yesterday
    Gotta face it.

    Cause’ I don’t wanna’ spend my life jaded
    Waitin’ to wake up one day and find
    That I’ve let all these years go by
    Wasted

    Oh I don’t wanna’ keep on wishing, missin’
    But still every morning’ the color of the night
    I ain’t spending no more time
    Wasted

    She kept drivin’ along
    Till the moon and the sun were floating side-by-side
    He looked in the mirror and his eyes were clear
    For the first time in a while

    Hey, yeah,
    Oh, I don’t wanna’ spend my life jaded
    Waitin’ to wake up one day and find
    That I’ve let all these years go by
    Wasted

    Oh I don’t wanna’ keep on wishing, missing
    But still every morning’ the color of the night
    I ain’t spending no more time
    Wasted

    Oh, I don’t wanna’ spend my life jaded
    Waitin’ to wake up one day and find
    That I’ve let all these years go by
    Wasted

    Yeah, yeah
    Oh I don’t wanna’ keep on wishing, missing
    But still every morning’ the color of the night
    I ain’t spending no more time
    Wasted

  • Song of the Week: Chattanooga Choo Choo

    The Pax Plena song of the week hearkens us back to a bygone era of contrasting simplicities- when good and evil were objective and when America could fight a war on two fronts and win with only good ole’ American resolve.

    The year was August 21, 1941 less than four months before America’s entry into World War II and the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. Glen Miller’s orchestra had just ushered in a brand new era of big band swing and its new hit Chattanooga Choo Choo was the hottest song going. Fresh off the silver screen and into the radios and theaters of audiences across North America, the Milton Berle film Sun Valley Serenade introduced our swing classic to the world.

    The song is about a train trip taken from New York City to Chattanooga, TN back when Chattanooga was the kind of town folks ought to visit- when some three railways catered to the city’s transportation needs. It explores a now lost mode of travel and an increasingly passé notion of commitment. But the music will be as familiar to listeners as any sound of Americana- which only reinforces the view that the song has become somewhat of an American institution unto itself.

    Chattanooga Choo Choo melds the breezy vocals of Tex Beneke (who would go on to provide the vocals for most of the Glen Miller Orchestra’s biggest hits) with the big band sound of trombone, trumpet and tenor sax melody. Most notably, the background accompaniment infuses the opening strains with train engine sounds which help to blend seamlessly lyric and score. Like most swing songs, the tune is played to an up beat rhythm just right for dancing. If anything, the song was marketable in the Rainbow Room’s golden age.

    Listening to the song some 65 years later, the ultimate contribution it makes to the lexicon of music is its sentimental recollection of America’s lost innocence. It calls to mind the days before Islamofascism, the War on Terror and even the Greatest Generation. It conjures up memories of a time when the mere mention of satin and lace was enough to raise eyebrows, long before the days of quick flights, 24-hour news cycles and even shorter marriages.

    The link at the bottom provides a brief You Tube video from Sun Valley Serenade and features the song as performed back in 1941. Enjoy!

    Chattanooga Choo Choo

    Pardon me, boy
    Is that the Chattanooga choo choo?
    Track twenty-nine
    Boy, you can gimme a shine
    I can afford
    To board a Chattanooga choo choo
    I’ve got my fare
    And just a trifle to spare

    You leave the Pennsylvania Station ’bout a quarter to four
    Read a magazine and then you’re in Baltimore
    Dinner in the diner
    Nothing could be finer
    Than to have your ham an’ eggs in Carolina

    When you hear the whistle blowin’ eight to the bar
    Then you know that Tennessee is not very far
    Shovel all the coal in
    Gotta keep it rollin’
    Woo, woo, Chattanooga there you are

    There’s gonna be
    A certain party at the station
    Satin and lace
    I used to call “funny face”
    She’s gonna cry
    Until I tell her that I’ll never roam
    So Chattanooga choo choo
    Won’t you choo-choo me home?
    Chattanooga choo choo
    Won’t you choo-choo me home?

    [Link]

    Photo courtesy of Classic Photos.com

  • Song of the Week: Somewhere in Between

    Taking a brief interlude from country and blue grass groups, the Pax Plena song of the week comes to you courtesy of alternative music group Lifehouse and is titled Somewhere in Between.

    Through minor chords and repetitive melody, the song commends an obvious sympathy for anyone living amid one of life’s crossroads and waiting for the next steps to become clear. It’s mellow tenor communicates that the ultimate message of the song is as much one of grace as it is one of transition. The unspoken lesson seems to be that time has a way of effecting the change for which we wait. We initially reach a point of questioning, “why am I losing sleep over this” until we arrive at the conclusion we are “somewhere in between.” This place has many locales be it in between anger and forgiveness, sorrow and joy, or tumult and peace. Still, during these periods we find grace through the Philippians sense of working out our own salvation as we confront the obstacle in debating “what is real and just a dream.”

    In some sense, our entire lives are devoted to this Pauline task. Desmond Tutu told me at breakfast many years ago “There’s only one way to eat an elephant- one bite at a time.” This maxim is true for life. It is a point both obvious and inevitable in the song but it’s instructive for anyone waiting, praying, seeking or yearning and finding themselves somewhere in between.

    Somewhere in Between

    I cant be losing sleep over this, no I can’t
    And now I can not stop pacing
    Give me a few hours, I’ll have all this sorted out
    If my mind would just stop racing

    Cause I cannot stand still
    I cant be this unsturdy
    This cannot be happening

    This is over my head but underneath my feet
    Cuz by tomorrow morning I’ll have this thing beat
    And everything will be back to the way that it was
    I wish that it was just that easy

    Cuz I’m waiting for tonight
    Then waiting for tomorrow
    And I’m somewhere in between
    What is real, and just a dream
    What is real, and just a dream
    What is real, and just a dream

    Would you catch me if I fall out of what I fell in
    Don’t be surprised if I collapse down at your feet again
    I don’t want to run away from this
    I know that I just don’t need this

    Cause I cannot stand still
    I can’t be this unsturdy
    This cannot be happening

    Cuz I’m waiting for tonight
    Then waiting for tomorrow
    And I’m somewhere in between
    What is real, and just a dream
    What is real, and just a dream
    What is real, and just a dream

  • Song of the Week: Much Too Young To Feel This Damn Old

    The Pax Plena song of the week comes to you courtesy of country music legend Garth Brooks and is titled Much Too Young To Feel This Damn Old.

    It pretty much sums up life as a twenty-something but no one can sing it quite like Garth.

    Much Too Young To Feel This Damn Old

    This ol’ highway’s getting longer
    Seems there ain’t no end in sight
    To sleep would be best, but I just can’t afford to rest
    I’ve got to ride in Denver tomorrow night

    I called the house but no one answered
    For the last two weeks no one’s been home
    I guess she’s through with me, to tell the truth I just can’t see
    What’s kept the woman holding on this long

    And the white line’s getting longer and the saddle’s getting cold
    I’m much too young to feel this damn old
    All my cards are on the table with no ace left in the hole
    I’m much too young to feel this damn old

    The competition’s getting younger
    Tougher broncs, you know I can’t recall
    The worn out tape of Chris LeDoux, lonely women and bad booze
    Seem to be the only friends I’ve left at all

    And the white line’s getting longer and the saddle’s getting cold
    I’m much too young to feel this damn old
    All my cards are on the table with no ace left in the hole
    I’m much too young to feel this damn old

    Lord, I’m much too young to feel this damn old