"Oil & Water" Track #1: "Again"

 

There are not enough words in the English language to describe how much I love Lee DeWyze’s new album “Oil & Water”.

It’s one of those albums that play your heart strings from the beginning to the end with his soulful voice, honest lyrics and beautifully arranged melodies and harmonies.  Having followed Lee through his musical journey, I am so proud of him and this album. This album is just...HIM. 

 

I will try my hardest to limit each post to the chosen track because I can easily get distracted and go on and on about how much I love this album, SO….. Let’s talk about “Again” :

 

Track #1 on the album is “Again”;  At first listen to the lyrics, the story it tells is pretty obvious in my opinion, which is a hauntingly beautiful ode to the excitement and relief you feel when it’s time to go home.

 You know that feeling… you can be on the most amazing vacation or journey, but that last night, no matter how great of a time you had… you are excited to go home.

That is basically what this song makes me feel, but on a much deeper level. Not current home… but from the very first time I heard Lee sing this song live, It made me think of my childhood home. The two lyrics that pull me in are “Feels like home again” and “for a while, just a while let me feel at home again”

This explanation could also easily become a book, so I will give you the cliff notes version for those that are new here and do not know me. I was raised by my grandmother, she was my best friend and my childhood home has always been a sacred place to me. I felt safe there, it was my happy place and just the thought of walking through that door again feels like a giant warm comforting blanket wrapping around me.  I have explained many times that although I have a wonderful, happy life as an adult; that "home"feeling of your childhood is much different. It's the comfort you had before you had a job,before kids, before being an adult and having everyday work stress, before falling in love...it's a different feeling… 

There was nothing that had the same effect on me until Lee’s music. His voice and songs give me almost the exact same feeling…. Especially when it inspires me to create.

This is why the image that immediately came to me when hearing this song, is that very same house……

 

 It wasn’t a fancy house by any means…. It was a small ranch home that was built by my grandfather, doing his best to give my grandmother the old stone barn look she dreamed of. That was the place I felt the most loved “…For a while, for a while… Let me feel at home again….”  Sometimes the “home” feeling and the feelings the music gives me are so similar, that it overflows into my dreams. I have had more than a few dreams where I was showing Lee around that house…. Telling him all the stories and all the things that make it so special. ….. 

 

Now I will be tagging Mare in to talk about how the art and the song make her feel…….

 

 "When I listen to  Lee’s song “Again”, I picture someone sitting alone, lost in their thoughts, just trying to hang on. The guitar melody is what over-thinking and hanging on sound like to me…. He leaves it simple, letting the feeling of what those thoughts are come through as he thinks about them over and over “again”. His voice seems resigned with an echo of loneliness…. while the lyrics, his thoughts, are of a memory of where he feels most at peace, and desperately wanting to feel that again…. to breathe again. Even for just a moment.

Again. It means one more time. Whatever it may be, you want “it” again because of how it made you feel. A person, a place, a song…. a memory of something that takes you back in time. “I want to see you again.”…. “I want to be there again.”……. “I want to listen again.”….. “I want to feel that again.” It’s that one place that gives you peace, a connection, where you feel like you can be yourself. Where you are FOUND and where you are “home”. For Jenn, it is her grandmothers house, and that’s where this song takes her. Life is meant to be lived and we feel the ups and downs along the way. In that journey, we all have something that we hold on to that connects us to who we are, and when we remember it, when we think about it and when we feel it….it lets us feel at peace again…. one more time."- Mare 

Now, here is Danielle's take on the art alone: 

"This house makes me feel many different emotions. Currently, I feel sad because I miss this house. I miss the feelings associated with the house. It's not the house in it's physical sense. After all..a house is just a house. It's the people and the love that make it a home. 

Growing up, this house was my safe haven. I don't want to get too deep so I'll just say that this house was the ONLY place I felt safe as a child. 

This house gave me the love I craved. All of my happiest memories as a child occured within those walls. I knew in that house that I could be myself. That no one would judge me there (except maybe my sister...but hey what are sisters for right. Haha). No criticism zone...pure and true encouragement only.

 My heart aches to feel the warmth of that home, even if for just one more moment. " ..... And here are her thoughts after finally hearing the song: 

" While listening to "Again", I remembered a dream I had about the house, mom-mom and pop-pop.

 During the dream I was so incredibly happy but I had this sense that it would soon turn to grief as I knew in my heart that the moment would not last. In my dream I had no clue that they, like the house were now just memories etched on my soul forever; but I sensed it somehow. 

When I woke I felt sad but content. Sad for the obvious...I miss them terribly. Content because just for that brief moment in my subconscious...I was home again. I was in a place with people that truly embraced what a home is. The song, "Again" made me want to smile while crying." -Danielle 

So you see? the music...inspiring the art....making people understand both desperately then what they mean together.... That is why I do this! Hope you enjoyed our visual review of "Again" 

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Click here to hear "Again" : http://youtu.be/h5Mqh79DQro

Then go on ITunes or Amazon & buy the album!!!!

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Stay tuned for Track 2, which happens to be the title track "Oil & Water" 

-Jenn 

Ps... Please share...RT... Then share again :-) 

The Soundtrack of Me: My happy place

Hello!

So, this time of year gets a little hard for me because this is the time of year my grandmother started to get sick and be in and out of the hospital. This, on top of everyday stresses and the blues you get from the time change kind of put me into a funk.

Luckily, music is always there. No matter what life throws at you, no matter what mood you are in music makes it better. Have you ever heard a song that just opens a floodgate of memories of certain people, places, moments in your life or something that didn’t even have a big significance…but a certain song always reminds you of it? For me, this happens ALL the time.

I am a huge believer in everyone having a soundtrack to their life. I do not think people realize just how special every individual’s soundtrack actually is. It’s just as important as photographs or diaries. There is a quote I love from Maria Von Trapp;“Music acts like a magic key, to which the most tightly closed heart opens.” I truly believe that.

I am going to take you through some of my personal life soundtrack in this post. There are songs that make me happy, sad and the ones that comfort me. There is no surprise that Lee DeWyze has become a major part of my soundtrack, so I’ll only be speaking of a few of those today. It’s no secret that his voice inspires me and comforts me and I have this entire blog site dedicated to trying to explain that. This is going to be more of the musical side of me that you don’t already know.

You’ll find that I pretty much listen to ALL types of music. For Example, one of my favorite songs is “Regulator” by Warren G. ha-ha, shocked? I do not know of any specific memory attached to this song, but I have always loved it and I get happy inside when I hear it. Lol, true story.

Or, the song from the Dirty dancing soundtrack: “Be my baby” by The Ronettes. This song will always and forever remind me of one of my best friends that now lives across the country in LA. One of our friends had a juke box and this was on it. As soon as we’d get to the party we’d play this song and dance. Sometimes the guys would actually unplug it because we played it so much. It's  small things like that, which makes music so magical. To an outsider... that story may not be that interesting. But to me, it brings back memories of fun times and makes me happy when I miss her and wished she lived closer for when I need those late night marathon diner coffee talks we used to have.

Or of course people's wedding songs… that reminds them of the day they got to marry the person they love. Mine was “My Best Friend” by Tim McGraw. Not only does this song remind me of love and Mark, it now makes us laugh because when you are dancing to it and everyone is watching you… it’s the world’s longest song. Lol. We just kept whispering to each other laughing "omg this is the longest song ever…".

Not all music memories are happy though. Like anyone that knows me knows that I am not a huge Fleetwood Mac fan. I do not dislike them though;  I love their songs…I even like Stevie Nicks, but her voice reminds me of childhood memories that make me uneasy. Now, so you know, I was never in danger or anything like that when I say this, but When I was not at my grandmother’s house... I always felt uneasy. Her house made me happy, it was a comforting safe place to me, so the times I’d have to be away from her, the songs I’d hear there just made me think of how much I wanted to be at my mom-mom’s house. Know what I mean? So I love Stevie Nick’s songs and her style… but I can not listen to her sing. I do not like the place it takes me to. It's the exact opposite of when I listen to Lee.

Another one that is forever embedded in my memory was when I was in Junior high and my mom lived a block away from the school. We saw a kid get hit by a car right in front of her house. Later that night we had to go pick up my step dad from work and the song “Second Chance” came on by 38 Special. I remember sitting in the back of the car re-playing the scene of that poor boy getting hit, then feeling so much sadness for him.. All while this song was playing. Whenever I hear it, I think about that day. (For the record, fortunately, that boy was not killed)

You all know I ramble when I have lots to say! My thoughts are often jumbled in my head, bouncing all around. It's hard to write them out when they are constantly moving! The whole point of this post was to tell you that I made a playlist to listen to when I am sad and missing my grandmother! So, here it is! It is made of songs that hold a very special place in my heart and have the power to make me feel better and closer to her! Here is the list and the why’s. Ready? :

Track 1) Miranda Lambert “The house that built me”

This one is pretty self explanatory, I feel as though I could have written this song. It describes the home I grew up in, the feeling I have now when I miss it. I wish nothing more than that when it went up for sale, I was old enough to buy it. I’d love to live there now. Creating new memories. My grandfather built that house for my grandmother. It's always been a magical place, the world was never a scary place when I was in those walls.

Track 2) Cyndi Lauper- “Time after time”

My grandfather passed away when I was in 7^th grade, so by the time I moved away to art school it was just my grandmother and me for 6 years. This song was playing on the radio as I backed out of the driveway as she stood on the porch waving goodbye when I left for the next chapter of my life.

Track 3) Lee DeWyze- “Don’t be afraid”

Did you really think Lee would not make this list? This song kind of speaks to me as a comforting pep talk. Obviously being raised by a grandparent, you know that at some point they are going to pass. I started worrying about this after my grandfather passed away. I was petrified of what I was going to do without her. Heck, I STILL am. So not only do the lyrics fit, I get the bonus of his voice saying those words… win

Track 4) Steve Wonder- “I just called to say I love you”

This was my grandmother’s favorite song! My sister and I would call her and play it over the phone, get her greeting cards that played it and sang it to her all the time. I can not listen to this song without shedding tears. I love it and it makes me feel closer to her.

Track 5) Jack Johnson- “Breakdown”

I remember being at work one day listening to my iPod while my grandmother was in Hospice. At that time it was just us waiting for that sad call. She was ready to let go. This song came on shuffle and the lyrics just hit me. I started crying and I could not stop. It kind of made me realize that I shouldn’t be so greedy in wanting her to hang on when she was ready to let go. She wanted to. That is all I have to say about this song 

Track 6) Jamie Johnson- “In Color”

This song does not have a memory attached to it per say, but if you listen to the lyrics; I just put together an entire music video of my grandparent’s old photos…..

There you have it, it is not a long playlist, but it’s just enough to comfort me when I miss her and I’m feeling overwhelmed or down. I’d love to hear what songs you have attached to certain memories! Please post them below if you’d like to share!