The Singer and You

Key of Zed, the duo of Mike Charko and Keith Shields, has just released a new original single. For fans of Blue Rodeo and a few other bands, you will recognize the references to a few other songs in the lyrics. See how many you can catch. (At a later date I will release an annotated version of the lyrics that will identify the references.) The story of this song is that the woman in the Blue Rodeo song "Try" is now older and more introspective and the lyrics are her answer to the man who said those words to her.

The Singer and You

(Lyrics and Music by Mike Charko and Keith Shields; copyright SOCAN)

(Listen here) 

Blue Rodeo on the stereo

(And) teardrops in my eyes

Reminding me of five days in May

And how I said I’d try

Was it just bad timing?

Or something I should have done?

That keeps me looking through the crack in the window

And wishing for the sun

And the singer and you and the devil too

They want to tell me what I should do

They want to tell me what I should do

Right is right and wrong is wrong

With every move I made

I couldn’t be what you wanted me to be

Every time you played

Old songs, rehearsed to a tee

Left no room to breathe

And the spirits of tunes - left unsung

Like the ghosts in me

And the singer and you and the devil too

They want to tell me what I should do

They want to tell me what I should do

Guitar solo:

Bridge:

Bop shoo bop bop bop she bop

Bop shoo bop bop bop she bop

Bop shoo bop bop bop bop she bop

My solo written by you

Was singing the blues

How could I get the rhythm from you?

There’s nothing left to do

Rising star or wounded heart?

Were you teaching me to fly?

Could the bad inside of me

Really be the lie?

And the singer and you and the devil too

They want to tell me what I should do

They want to tell me the things that I should do

Bop shoo bop; bop bop she bop

Bop shoo bop; bop bop she bop

Bop shoo bop; bop bop she bop

Bop shoo bop; bop bop she bop

Bop shoo bop; bop bop she bop

Bop shoo bop; bop bop she bop

Marc Martel, The Impersonator

Marc Martel is one of those guys for whom I have the greatest of respect. He is talented beyond the level of many in the music industry and has made music with a diverse group of people. This Christmas, I am glad to see him making music with Michael W. Smith and Amy Grant. They have put together a Christmas album and are following it up with a limited tour in support of the album.

Of course, Martel has made music with many other artists including Jason Gray, Buddy Greene, Plumb, Scott Mulvahill, and Ron Block of Alison Krauss & Union Station. But beyond collaboration and Christmas music, Marc Martel was formerly the front man for CCM band downhere and leads his own Ultimate Queen Celebration, where he impersonates Freddie Mercury with great panache.

His first solo album: Impersonator contains the following title song. The entire album is filled with great original songs that speak of life on the road and the challenges of sounding like (and even looking like) another famous singer. Perhaps the most tragic song on the album is this title song. In it, he recognizes the value of impersonation but also laments that his own voice and personality gets lost in the music. And he finds himself saying that, “you would not have me any other way.” Read and listen to the words below.

Marc Martel – Impersonator

I wonder if my own eyes would recognize
Whatever I become when I live your lies
I should've made a break, for the fire escape – warning signs I didn't take
And all the things you bought – just to break

But I am the impersonator
You can be the reason for my insanity
I am the impersonator
I give you everything you want from me
Whatever makes you happy

What's done is done, this is what I become
And now you would not have me any other way – so why stay?
Let me go on, like nothing's wrong, just to keep you holding on
A flash before my eyes as I fade away – and I fade away

I am the impersonator
You can be the reason for my insanity
I am the impersonator
I give you everything you want from me
Whatever makes you happy

And so I, I put on my show with my life
I wear the weight of my disguise, to drown out the silence
So you never read the signs
I lose myself to have you, and you don't even have a clue
I am the shadow, who keeps you in the light

And I am the impersonator
You can be the reason for my insanity
I am the impersonator
I give you anything you want from me, but you know
I'll never make you happy
Whatever makes you happy.

Songwriters: John Randall Fields / Lily Kershaw / Marc Martel; © Strawberrius Music.

In Another Light

One of the greatest songwriters of the past 50 years is Wayne Kirkpatrick. I have sung his praises before. To my knowledge he has only produced one solo album, entitled, The Maple Room, and from that album comes the song, “In Another Light.” Although the song is obviously written about a marriage relationship (“Hey, that’s my ring on your finger”), perhaps it has something to say to all of us about seeing things in another light. How often do the “shadows of our yesterday” get in the way of our love for one another? Don’t we sometimes need a new perspective that “tends to the wounds of the past” but looks beyond the wounds of the past. In marriages and other relationships there will always be “demons that rummage through the past of what” we’ve done to each other. In a highly polarized, easily wounded atmosphere, life might be better if we took a step back and looked at things in another light.

On his Facebook page, Kirkpatrick says that he has been “married since 1985 to the same girl I went to high school with and we are still rockin'!” So, despite the challenges noted in this song, he seems to know how to navigate the ups and downs of married life. Take a listen to the song and see if it rings true in one or more aspects of your own relational life.

In Another Light

Words and Music by Wayne Kirkpatrick

Standing like statues

Stubborn unmoving but breakable

You say there’s nothing wrong

But that look is so unmistakable

Angry and wounded

Well I’m sure your reasons are justified

You’re searching for changes

Oh, but there are quite a few you’ve yet to realize

And you would see things differently

If you chose to look at me

In another light

Shadows of our yesterday,

Bow to love and melt away

In another light

Changing the angle

Well baby that could be our only chance

Some new perspective on it

That tends to the wounds of our circumstance

Cause I feel like screaming

Damned if I don’t, damned if I do

Chasing those demons

That rummage through the past

Of what I’ve done to you

You would see things differently

If you chose to look at me

In another light

Shadows of our yesterday,

They bow to love and melt away

In another light

Hey, that’s my blood on your sabre

Hey, that’s my voice in your dark

Hey, that’s my ring on your finger

Hey, that’s my love in your heart

That’s my love in your heart.

You would see things differently

If you chose to look at me

In another light

Shadows of our yesterday,

Bow to love and melt away

In another light

In another light.

Yeah, in another light.

In another light.

And, in another light.

Maybe a love should be strong enough to look beyond the past.

Oh, our love should be made to last.

Five Minutes

Gretchen Peters writes songs that tell stories and offer insight into the human condition. “Five Minutes” is an example of a song that tells the story of a broken and flawed woman.

Five Minutes

(words and music by Gretchen Peters)

(From the album Hello Cruel World)

(Listen to it here) 

I've got five minutes to sneak a cigarette

Five minutes to myself

Back behind the screen door of Andy's luncheonette

And I ain't got time to worry 'bout my health

My boss Andy says I smoke myself to death

Andy he reminds me some of you

Back when you were Romeo and I was Juliet

West Texas Capulet and Montague

Now I don't think too much about you anymore

We weren't much more than kids

It was nearly twenty years ago I shut and locked that door

Now I've got five minutes

Not much time to reminisce

Most nights I come home from work and I pour a glass of wine

Sometimes it's three or four before I stop

And Jessie makes a sandwich if I sleep through suppertime

And she leaves me on the couch to sleep it off

Now Jessie just turned 17 and she's wild as she can be

And there ain't nothin' I can do

Last weekend she ran off to meet a boy in Tennessee

Just like I used to run to you

I gave her hell when she came home this afternoon

Mascara runnin' down her face

Seems like history repeats itself, and it ain't up to you

And in five minutes

Your whole life can change

Andy he's good to me, and I can see it in his eyes

He'd love to take your place

But somethin' deep inside me just withers up and dies

To make love to him and only see your face

Somehow I've let myself go gently down the stream

A fine example I have set

Between the working and the livin' and the ghosts that haunt my dreams

I've got five minutes and I'm gonna smoke this cigarette

There is so much I like about this song, but perhaps my favourite is the ambiguity in the line that says, “Most nights I come home from work and I pour a glass of wine, sometimes it's three or four before I stop.” We get the impression that there is a problem here. Through the rest of the song, we see history repeating itself in her daughter and we see both women drawn to men who are not good for them. They are lost and need to find a clear direction in their life.

From my Christian worldview I can’t help but think of flawed women in the Bible and how Jesus sees them and shows love toward them. Perhaps the woman in “Five Minutes” is a bit like the Samaritan woman in the fourth chapter of the Gospel of John. Both women seem to be searching for something more and looking in all the wrong places. The human condition is difficult. We are prone to wander from the better paths and stray so easily into destructive paths. There seems to be so little time in life to ask the important questions and find the true path and so we muddle on in the way we have always lived. Perhaps even the author of “Five Minutes” is searching for something more.

“…those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” - Jesus (John 4:14).

Hello Cruel World

I just discovered the Essentials album by Gretchen Peters. She has written songs for Bryan Adams, Martina McBride, Faith Hill, and many others. "Hello Cruel World" is one of my favourite songs on the album. It is full of angst and tensions of good and evil. It makes one think about the struggles of this world and the struggle of light and darkness, Jesus and the devil. The piano and strings are beautiful, she sings one of the sweetest "oohs" in all of pop music, and the bass line is melancholic. Enjoy this song and meditate upon the goodness of creation and The Fall.

Hello Cruel World

(Words and Music by Gretchen Peters)
(Listen to the song here)

haven’t done as well as I thought I would

I’m not dead but I’m damaged goods

and it’s gettin’ late

I’m a rusty hinge, a squeaky wheel

at the bad end of a shaky deal

cursed by the hand of fate

and ooooooh – I’m a very lucky girl

yeah ooooooh – hello cruel world

I’m a ticking clock, a losing bet

a girl without a safety net

I’m a cause for some concern

you don’t live this long without regrets

telephone calls you don’t wanna get

stones you’d rather leave unturned

but ooooooh – the grain of sand becomes the pearl

yeah ooooooh – hello cruel world

some folks go the easy route

numb the pain or put the lights out

either way they got to go

me I’m gonna stick around

in for a penny in for a pound

cause I hate to miss the show

and ooooooh – I’m a very stubborn girl

yeah ooooooh – hello cruel world

hello cruel world

©2011 Circus Girl Music, administered by Carnival Music (ASCAP)

Cuddy Cavalcade

He may have a “Skyscraper Soul” but his music continues to reach new heights. Jim Cuddy came to Calgary on March 1 and brought with him, in his own words, a "cavalcade of stars." Cuddy gave plenty of space to his two sons who featured in two or more songs each. They are up-and-coming musicians who will blaze their own trail, but the proud father has given them a platform to allow the Canadian public to get to know them. They show great promise. Barney Bentall was also brought on stage to join the Jim Cuddy Band for a few songs and added much to the show.

Cuddy did a great job of featuring his new album as well as playing old standards from his Blue Rodeo music. The new music was sufficiently familiar to the audience as each concert ticket sold included a digital download of the album "Constellation." I might have liked to see a few more songs from Light That Guides You Home and Skyscraper Soul, but the Calgary audience was pleased with his Blue Rodeo selections. I was continually impressed by the level of professionalism of The Jim Cuddy Band. They are an outstanding collection of musicians who bring their best to the game at every concert and they were a pleasure to watch. Anne Lindsay, the only female member of the band, is a virtuoso violinist, and Colin Cripps and Bazil Donovan (both members of Blue Rodeo) are musicians with many years of studio and road experience.

Jim Cuddy is a Canadian treasure whose music stands the test of time. The concert was one of the best I have ever seen.

Favourite Moment:
Anne Lindsay featured in the song "Five Days in May." Lindsay (violin), Steve O'Conner (keyboard), and Colin Cripps (guitar) filled in the parts that one would have thought might be missing without Greg Keelor on this amazing Blue Rodeo song.

Coals and Water

Coals and Water

(Performed by Angel Snow)

(Music and Lyrics by Angel Snow)

(Listen here)

Fortune tellers dancin' 'round inside my head
I'm tryin' not to lose everything she said

Even so in standing at the foot of my bed last night
This mountains gettin' higher with every step
I'm trying not to lose everything I've kept

Captured by the fortune tellers in my mind


Ooohh, they always come back again
Every time freedom tries to pull me out
They suck me back in
Oooohh, we gonna' let that fire burn you
Tell me how you’re gonna' walk on coals and water too

Can you taste these words fallin' from my mouth
"Ain't old fashioned love what it's all about?"
I heard an old black man shout Christmas eve

Should've known better than to run to you
My heart started talking to me way to soon

Damn those fortune tellers in my mind

Oooohh, they always come back again
Every time freedom tries to pull me out
They suck me back in
Oooohh, we gonna' let that fire burn you
Tell me how your gonna' walk on coals and water too

Tell me how you gonna’ walk on coals and water too

The Greatest Showman

The Greatest Showman (2017)

(Directed by Michael Gracey; written by Jenny Bicks and Bill Condon)

(Spoiler alert: if you want to be completely surprised by the themes contained in this film, see the movie before reading this blog.)

Those who regularly read this blog will not be surprised to hear that I enjoyed another musical. The Greatest Showman is top-notch musical entertainment and leaves one with things to consider. The whole time I watched the show I felt drawn to finding a community theatre company in which I could sing and act. I wanted to be Hugh Jackman as much as he wanted to be P.T. Barnum. As I left the theatre I was reminded of the realities of life that would get in the way of such aspirations, but I suspect that musicals like this do inspire others to act, sing, dance, write stories, and compose music. Such movies are good for our collective consciousness.

The movie tackles several contemporary themes as it follows the life of the man who invented “showbiz.” The theme that is perhaps most prevalent is the idea that every life matters and that our differences should be celebrated. I found that the actors, director, and producers did well to make this an important theme without clobbering the audience with the concept. Yes, there are moments when Lettie Lutz (the bearded lady) is overpowering with the message of celebrating differences; but there are also times when we see that P.T. Barnum and others who revered diversity were flawed and simply enjoyed a good “freak show.” The film is accurate in recognizing the struggle we all face in embracing those who are exceptional.

The movie also contemplates questions about status and station in life. Barnum is shown to have been born into poverty and low social-standing and he is always on a search to achieve a greater status. He is never satisfied with money or fame as long as he is treated as a lesser citizen. Never is this clearer than in his interactions with his wife’s parents and their high-society friends.

This naturally leads to introspection about the question of “when is enough, enough?” Capitalism, and the search for a good life with sufficient wealth is seen to be in conflict with diversity, status, and satisfying relationships. Of course, these questions also affect two significant love stories held within the movie. Barnum’s quest for status, fame, and money get in the way of his relationship with his children and his wife, Charity. Meanwhile, Phillip Carlyle, who comes from a wealthy family of high social-standing finds it hard to leave behind the adoration of high-society to fully embrace his love for Anne Wheeler, a common trapeze artist in the circus.

The singing, dancing, lyrics, special effects, and colours of the movie are all well-done. I encourage you to see it for yourself and let me know your reactions.