Ain't no sunshine when she's gone

Lokys and I have been watching American Idol this season. In the final performance, Kris Allen (who would go on to win) did an excellent job with a song that has special meaning to me, Ain't no sunshine when she's gone.

I gave Vaiva an iPod nano as a Christmas present in 2006, and on the back is engraved "Vaiva: Ain't no sunshine when she's gone. . ." Among the performances I loaded on the iPod was Bobby "Blue" Bland performing that song. (This performance by Bill Withers is comparable.) At that time, Vaiva still was alternating, a month in Vilnius and a month in Durham, so my maximum sunshine was six months of each year.

Here is Vaiva opening the present.

She was surprised by the gift, but hasn't seen the engraving yet. Our tree is in the background, and the kisielius and aguono pienas are still on the dining room table.

Here are the lyrics:

Ain't no sunshine when she's gone.
It's not warm when she's away.
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
And she's always gone too long anytime she goes away.

Wonder this time where she's gone,
Wonder if she's gone to stay
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
And this house just ain't no home anytime she goes away.

And I know, I know, I know, I know, I know,
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know,
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know,
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know

Hey, I ought to leave the young thing alone,
But ain't no sunshine when she's gone, only darkness everyday.
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone,
And this house just ain't no home anytime she goes away.

Anytime she goes away.
Anytime she goes away.
Anytime she goes away.
Anytime she goes away.

What I'm listening to now

I was mowing the field with the iPod shuffle set to randomize, and first I got Janis Joplin singing "Me and Bobby McGee" (I couldn't find a decent link):

Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose
Nothin', don't mean nothin' hon' if it ain't free, no no
And, feelin' good was easy, Lord, when he sang the blues
You know, feelin' good was good enough for me
Good enough for me and my Bobby Mcgee

From the Kentucky coal mine
To the California sun
There Bobby shared the secrets of my soul
Through all kinds of weather
Through everything we done
Yeah, Bobby baby kept me from the cold world

One day up near Salinas, Lord
I let him slip away
He's lookin' for that home, and I hope he finds it
But, I'd trade all of my tomorrows
For one single yesterday
To be holdin' Bobby's body next to mine

Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose
Nothin', and that's all that Bobby left me, yeah
But, feelin' good was easy, Lord, when he sang the blues
Hey, feelin' good was good enough for me, Mm-hmm
Good enough for me and my Bobby Mcgee

Next up, Louis Armstrong, St. James Infirmary Blues:

I went down to St. James infirmary
Saw my baby there
She was stretched out on a long white table
So cold...so sweet...so fair

Let her go...let her go...god bless her
Wherever she may be
She can look this wide world over
But she'll never find a sweet man like me

When I die, bury me in straight lace shoes
I wanna a boxback coat and a stetson hat
Put a twenty dollar gold

piece on my watch chain
So the boys'll know that I died standing fat

What I'm listening to now

I switched my Pandora station to Leonard Cohen, and the first song that come up was There ain't no cure for love.

I loved you for a long, long time
I know this love is real,

It don't matter how it all went wrong

That don't change the way I feel.

And I can't believe that time's
Gonna heal this wound that I'm speaking of
There ain't no cure,
There ain't no cure,
There ain't no cure for love.

I'm aching for you, baby
I can't pretend I'm not
I need to see you naked
In your body, and your thought
I've got you like a habit
And I'll never get enough
There ain't no cure,
There ain't no cure,
There ain't no cure for love
. . .

I walked into this empty church, I had no place else to go
When the sweetest voice I ever heard, whispered to my soul
I don't need to be forgiven for loving you so much
Its written in the scriptures
Its written there in blood
I even heard the angels declare it from above
There ain't no cure,
There ain't no cure,
There ain't no cure for love

What I'm listening to now

Another piece found via Pandora, I Cried For You by Katie Melua.

Partial lyrics:

You're beautiful so silently
It lies beneath a shade of blue
It struck me so violently
When I looked at you

But others pass, they never pause
To feel that magic in your hand
To me you're like a wild rose
They never understand why

I cried for you
When the sky cried for you
And when you went
I became a hopeless drifter
But this life was not for you
Though I learned from you
That beauty need only be a whisper

I'll cross the sea for a different world
With your treasure, a secret for me to hold

In many years they may forget
This love of ours or that we met
They may not know
How much you meant to me

What I'm listening to now

Last month I mentioned listening to the Pandora internet music site, on a "Ennio Morricone" radio station. "Into the West" by Annie Lennox particularly caught my ear.

So I made a new radio station based upon that song, which has produced a suitably melancholy stream. I've been arrested by two songs, though they are not exactly on point.

The Promise, by Tracy Chapman.

Remembering
Your touch
Your kiss
Your warm embrace
I'll find my way back to you
If you'll be waiting
I've longed for you and I have desired
To see your face your smile
To be with you wherever you are

One Moment More, by Mindy Smith

Give me
Just one part of you to cling to
And keep me
Everywhere you are
It's just enough to steal my heart and run
And fade out with the falling sun

Oh, please don't go
Let me have you just one moment more
Oh, all I need
All I want is just one moment more
You've got to hold me and keep me

As time goes on, this just gets harder and harder.

Coincidence

Lokys and I watched a TiVo'd episode of Pushing Daisies last week. At the end, Kristin Chenoweth sang a lovely song that I sort of recognized but didn't know--I observed to Lokys that perhaps if they'd had her sing every week the show wouldn't have been canceled.

Here's the beginning of the song:

Close your eyes, give me your hand, darling
Do you feel my heart beating, do you understand?
Do you feel the same, am I only dreaming?

Next night we're watching another TiVo'd show, this one from Comedy Central, a standup routine that was originally filmed in 2001 of Zach Galifianakis. His final bit included an a capella version of the very same song, performed by the Night Owls.

As I seemed to be getting a message, I tracked down the song. It's Eternal Flame, by the Bangles. Original music video performance here.

Secret life

Mama loved Leonard Cohen, especially the song In My Secret Life.

I always thought that she saw her life in Lietuva as her crazy "secret life," where she worked undercover for various amounts of time, in between her full time job, being a mama.

When she was in the hospital, I played some Leonard Cohen from my laptop, including her favorite song, for her to sleep to.

What I'm listening to now

A week or so ago Liepa told me about www.pandora.com, the home page of Pandora Radio, a free music streaming service. At this site you create custom "radio stations" by specifying a musician or composer that you enjoy. Pandora then constructs a playlist of similar music, and the list may or may not include selections from the identified artist.

Why would record companies participate in this service? Not all do. But when a song is playing, you can click on it for more information, and then click to purchase it from Amazon or iTunes. So the service is really sales promotion. You don't get to pick what you listen to—well, you can, but then you just get a 30-second sample, just like iTunes. Also, you can't save and repeat a playlist, though you can give a thumbs up or down to specific songs. I find that songs repeat with some regularity.

I've created "radio stations" for Danny Elfman, Philip Glass, Randy Newman and Leonard Cohen, all very nice, but my current favorite is Ennio Morricone of spaghetti western fame. The selections tend toward dirges and slow movie themes. Through it I found "Into the West" from the end of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, sung by Annie Lennox. You can listen to this song here. [Link updated; the original link was removed for copyright claim.]

This song reminds me of the poem that Elona read at Vaiva's funeral (here), Gone From My Sight. A portion of the song lyrics:

What can you see
On the horizon?
Why do the white gulls call?
Across the sea
A pale moon rises
The ships have come to carry you home
And all will turn
To silver-glass
A light on the water
All souls pass

Hope fades
Until the world of night
Through shadows' falling
Out of memory and time
Don't say
We have come now to the end
White shores are calling
You and I will meet again

And you'll be here in my arms
Just sleeping