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| Colin Hay |
This is a tough one to pick of course, but I first heard it just over a year ago and I’m yet to get tired of it. I’ve put it on every compilation CD I’ve made since then and so I think it deserves this place. It’s as good as anything else I might pick anyway. Fans of ‘Scrubs’ might recognise this song from that programme. Zach Braff seems to be a huge fan and Colin Hay’s even made a couple of cameos in the show. Colin Hay, by the way, is the songwriter from ‘Men at Work’, the 1980’s Australian band. I don’t think you’d guess this from the song. I don’t really have much else of his, though his song ‘I just don’t think I’ll get over you’ is also a huge favourite of mine. Oh – and Johnny Vegas picked this as a ‘desert island disc’ last year too.
I suppose I love everything about this song and performance. It’s a lovely, clear, resonant, and strong guitar sound, a simple accompaniment but with enough going on to keep you interested. His voice sounds great, husky and warm with that hint of vulnerability. The melody is just gorgeous and I think it’s lyrically wonderful. It just sums up that feeling that I sometimes get of life not having really started and that you’re just waiting for the pieces to fall into place and then you’ll start heading in the right direction. I’ve not heard a song catch this feeling before. Oh – and I can also just about sing along and play a very simplified version on my guitar.
That’s how it sounds to me anyway. Your ears may hear something quite different and if they do that’s fine by me J
I’ve always loved acoustic songs, just one singer and a guitar. Maybe it’s because my dad’s played for as long as I can remember and so it’s some of the earliest music I heard. Whatever the reason I think there’s something about a song sung straight that’s very affecting and touching. Even a pretty average song can be given an honesty and resonance that a more polished and buffed up production can never manage. I’d cite the Jose Gonzalez cover of the 80’s Kylie Minogue/SAW song ‘Put your Hand on your Heart’ as an example of this. Here are both versions...
The Kylie version’s fun for dancing to on a Saturday night but the Jose Gonzalez version carries much more emotional weight. With Kylie’s version, you sort of know that the guy will tell her he loves her, he’s just bad at saying how he feels. Jose’s sounds like the plea of a man who knows a relationship’s ending. Desperate.
I remember one night at University, a few of us had walked the long walk from ’Cuths’, my bailey college, all the way up the hill to ‘Van Mildert’, the most outlying of the Durham Colleges, to watch our friend Marcus conduct the University Symphony Orchestra. Marcus had been unsuccessful in his attempt to become the conductor for his final year and so this was his conducting swansong. We sat though an excellent evening’s music, all of which escapes me now, except for a new piece by a student called ‘The Timing of an Egg’ which I’m afraid to say left us somewhat baffled, played by a very accomplished orchestra. Afterwards we made our way back down the hill through the dusk to drink Saturday night beers in the College garden and someone (Max I think) got out his guitar. Max’s jazz stylings were as accomplished as ever but then someone (a visiting friend of James) played John Lennon’s ‘Working Class Hero’. I don’t know that everyone fell silent but the chatter seemed to fade and then there was suddenly an audience listening in. It caught the mood of the people there in a way that the orchestra just couldn’t. I’ve always found this to be the way of things ever since. One person with a guitar can whisper in your ear but a large group can only shout at you.
Funnily enough it’s only just occurred to me, all these years later, that he was trying to mock us Durham University posh kids. Or thought he was. We were a more mixed bunch than he gave us credit for. And Lennon was hardly from the rough side of Liverpool.
And as a footnote, ‘Waiting for my real life to begin’ was a song a girl I had very strong feelings for played me as her favourite. I think I gave her a lot in the time I knew her and would probably have given her everything, had she wanted it. This is all she gave me. Not a bad gift though. I’ll keep it close.
On a clear day, I can see a very long way.
David Millington
1st April 2011
Nottingham
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