#sundayrevival Lazy days - Robbie Williams

Lazy days - Robbie Williams

Lazy days are the best, and when they are spent in good company they're even better! Should I add anything more? Well, this song is quite great too, of course! Happy Sunday to you all!

#sundayrevival Unravel - Björk

Unravel - Björk

Scrolling down my Facebook feed (as I do multiple times every day, damn me) I found an article posted on Janis Joplin's page about 10 of the most difficult songs to sing; apart from feeling satisfied as I could count 7 of them among my favourites, I couldn't do without noticing that n°1 was one of my favourite Björk songs, namely 'It's oh so quiet' and I watched the live video featured in the article, a (great) performance of the song she delivered at Jay Leno. Given that I had already posted the song on the blog in its early days, I went on looking for something else to feature this sunday, and I decided to look back at what I was listening to 5 years ago, back to my June 2011 playlist. And what do I find there? Well, if it isn't Björk herself..! And with one of her best songs, probably my absolute favourite of hers. I think the poetry in the lyrics (and melody) of 'Unravel' is unmatched by any other song of hers, and that's a quite remarkable thing to say. I take my leave to this first week of June 2016 with this gem, which I hope you will appreciate as much as I do!

#liveweek Blood roses (live in New York) - Tori Amos

Bloos roses (live in New York) - Tori Amos

When I started the #liveweek, the first performance that came to my mind was, obviously, my favourite live concert ever (I just wish I could go back in time and be there...), i.e. Tori's concert for RAINN in early 1997, right after the release of her third album 'Boys for Pele' and after one of her abortions. This is the only concert whose videos have given me feelings (let's say chills) comparable to those that one can get at live events. I can only imagine what would've been like to be there for real! Anyway, this is one of the most powerful songs composed by Tori, one I cherish and tend to listen to only during particularly black moments of my life, as it helps me gather all the negativity and channel it away. This live performance in particular is incredible in my opinion, the drama of it increased by the suffering Tori herself is feeling due to her inability to give birth, a strong feeling that she is channeling towards the audience, and that is amplified by the fact that the concert is in support of RAINN, an organization supporting victims of rape. abuse and incest, an organization that Tori is part of because she went through an episode of abuse herself when she was young. I don't think I can describe with words the feelings that this song generated and still generates in me, but I tried! I think you had better just go and listen to it and, while you are at it, listen to the whole concert, I promise it's a great, great use of your time!
With this I put an end to this first #liveweek, I'm happy about how it went through, so I might consider doing it again sometime in the future! I'm sorry to leave you on such a sad note, but music is feeling and feelings are not always good in themselves, yet I think it's good to let them emerge and to live them fully, whatever they are. Because it means we are alive.

Together again - Janet Jackson

Together again - Janet Jackson

Here I am, back from my road trip! We came back yesterday and after a walk through my hometown I had dinner and then went out again. Before reaching home we visited Bellinzona, one of the bigger towns in the Italian part of Switzerland, a place I've never dreamed of visiting but I was very glad we did, as it is a very nice place, with a historic city center and it has three castles just above downtown where you can climb up to and have an amazing view of the valley below! All in all I'm very glad and happy about the whole trip, now I have to put myself back into the framework of going to work next week. Good luck to me for that (and to all the other people who share my fate)! About this song, it just happen to play as I was driving back home after leaving my trip mates at the station and I thought it was a good one to share with you, so (with a little delay) here it is!

#sundayrevival Waiting underground - Patti Smith

Waiting underground - Patti Smith

I've had this song in store for you since yesterday, so this post would exist even if I stayed in bed all day today, but what a nice day today has been instead! I woke up and decided to abort my trip to the Sacrario del Monte Grappa, which was my main trip plan for the past week and has instead been postponed (you can enjoy this beautiful picture of it anyway!) because I wanted to take it easy today and not spend 3 hours in the car to go back and forth, especially given that I had other things to do! So I went to the mall/supermarket and bought a few (nice) things to eat, then got back and for the nth have been struggling with my old mac charger, which (I decided) has finally failed me. So here we go, on the road again to give a win to my parents and go buy an original replacement, and in the meanwhile I also bouth a CD (U2's Joshua Tree, which I've been looking for at a decent price for a long time) and a t-shirt I really like! And this second trip, in the car, singing loud and being kissed by the sun, really boosted my mood, plus my purchases added on that and well... even if my driver didn't even start in today's F1 Gran Prix, I'm happy anyway!!

Don't be stupid (you know I love you) - Shania Twain

Don't be stupid (you know I love you) -
Shania Twain

Sometimes playing random playlists looking for stuff that was on my head when I woke up (and I have no idea why) and finding something totally different... ain't a bad thing! Tell that to the me that was dancing convulsively like a maniac in the car driving out of work!! Pleasure end of a nice day that saw me sitting in meetings acting kind-of-like a project manager no-later-than 16 (working) days in the job!! Not bad guys, not bad!!

Gone - U2

Gone - U2

I have recently compiled a playlist with my favourite U2 songs and every time I play it with shuffle mode on, this song pops up. It did now and it somehow seems to make a lot of sense.

"I'll be up with the sun, I'm not coming down."

Pop is a weird U2 album for me: it is not at all among my favourites, but there is a triplet of songs (Staring at the sun + Last night on earth + Gone) that I really really like, and that I've been liking since I approached the album.

"You wanted to get somewhere so badly you had to lose yourself along the way."

Gone in particular has always meant something special to me, I probably didn't understand what and why until now. Or maybe I still don't! It's weird how your relationship with a song changes and evolves with time, whenever you have this "illumination" moments and it seems like you're understanding each other better than before... one of the reasons why I love music!

" 'Cause I'm already gone, felt that way all along.

Closer to you every day, I didn't want it that much anyway."

#90smusic Truly madly deeply - Savage Garden

Truly madly deeply - Savage Garden

Here we are with the second post of today, even if it's tomorrow already... (and we're also getting back to solar time, to add to the confusion)! Anyway, here I am! Today has been a full day too, but not nearly as full or exhausting as yesterday has been. The "good" news is that my stomach ache has quite completely gone away, while the sore throat has come in, calling for a coming flu/cold/whatever/Ihatewinter hallelujah! That was unavoidable methinks, and actually I'm been kind of jinxing it to myself in the last few days, saying that I never happened to me in recent times to get through to November without a flu/cold/whatever/Ihatewinter, and I think it's not gonna happen this year either, yay! Anyway, now I really have to focus a little bit on my thesis, which I have been pretty much neglecting today, and then off to bed. Not before posting another 1990s masterpiece though! I have been anticipating this in yesterday's post by mentioning a couple of the adjectives in the title of the song, so here it is in full glory! Enjoy!

#sundayrevival You might need somebody - Shola Ama

You might need somebody - Shola Ama

I am stupid, you know me and know that by now... I wanted to post before midnight so that I could really celebrate the blog's birthday well, but of course I noticed the time just as midnight struck... whatever, I'll keep this post as Sunday 19's post (it's a sundayrevival, it couldn't be otherwise)! This is one of the songs I have loved since I was little, one (of many) that I only rediscovered some years later, when I really started listening to music! I'm sure you are all gonna love it, so stay tuned for the birthday post, which is going to come before the end of the day, I PROMISE!

Little Amsterdam (live) - Tori Amos

Here we are! The day has finally come, I couldn't wait any longer! In a few hours I'm gonna be enjoying a (hopefully) great gig with my dear Tori and I must say I'm very excited about it (if ever you haven't noticed yet)!! She's been singing some of my favourites in the past dates and the new album is quite interesting too, so let's hope for a charming setlist!! Whoever has seen her live at least once or twice will know that her setlist is always very much different from one night to the next and this tour hasn't been different as of now, so fingers crossed! I am really at a loss now, wouldn't know exactly what to post... or maybe I do. Hoping that this will be a kind of lucky charm, I'm gonna post a song out of my favourite concert ever (too bad I was too young to experience it for real, but the videos are so powerful themselves!), that is the redhead's performance in New York for RAINN in early 1997. My suggestion for you is to go watch the whole thing), it's worth it! Happy concert (to me tonight and to you for whenever you're gonna go to your next one)!

#sundayrevival : Don't say nothing - Patti Smith

I'll leave you with yet another pearl in this gloomy end-of-holidays sunday. I've gone back listening again to one of Patti's latest albums and I realised that there are few songs on this one that I really like but that have never had the chance to get enough of my attention. This is not one of them. Or, at least, to this one I have devoted a good deal of attention and love, I still don't know if it's enough!
And I just realised that this is the first Patti Smith post on the blog. Shame on me for waiting so long!

I actually made up my mind about formalizing the #sundayrevival theme for the blog, so expect more of my own personal classics to come!
Have a good end of holidays and be strong!