I’ve been hooked on Marianne Faithful’s new album. Easy Come, Easy Go, for the soundtrack of my morning walk.  Here’s  “How Many Worlds,” by Brian Eno.

I also really adore the version of, Oh Baby, Baby by Marianne and Anthony Hegarty of Anthony and the Johnsons. Her voice is probably not to everyone’s liking but if it is to yours, buy the album.

And, for those too young to remember Marianne, here’s a taste of the early Marianne Faithful (written by Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Andrew Oldham) from the soundtrack of my youth.

My day has gotten off to a screwy start as my Internet connection was down when I woke up and just now came back on.  I was planning on taking care of some online stuff (especially finishing taxes) so this screwed everything up.  So, I probably won’t have much time to do much blogging today.  Besides, nothing really seems to be getting under my skin, or making me exceeding excited.

In the meantime, I leave you with a video by my friend, LA singer song-writer, Claire Holley.

Also, FYI, Image Journal has just named Claire “Artist of the Month,” saying that she:

writes songs that are literary, playful, meditative, and earthy. A native of Mississippi, she owes much to the southern tradition of storytelling, and just as much to the southern tradition of charm, which is to say of knowing how much is too much and how much is enough, of finding just the right blend of mystery and brass, seductiveness and self-deprecation. With spare, delicate arrangements and a frank, lovely, and versatile sound, she sings deceptively simple songs about love, motherhood, and family life. Hers is a value for the ordinary pleasures as well as the profound questions. Both as a lyricist and a singer, Holley is an exemplar of the value of not overdoing it. Though gifted with a mighty voice, she uses it with restraint and without affectation, and her lyrics seem so effortless at first that you can almost miss their weight. Many of her original songs sound like they might be traditionals, with the stripped-down diction of the oldest American music and the beauty of Shaker furniture, but all bear Holley’s distinct stamp: a spareness that is at times eerie, at times sweet, always full of grace.

Well at least the Antwerp Central Train Station.  To me there is something both infectious and spiritual about this.

Barry Taylor points his readers to a song, by Nick Cave, that I thought I’d share with you as it touched me this morning. (And, don’t think I don’t know that posting this right after the video below makes me seem a bit schizophrenic.)

I’ve been busy cooking and not taking much time to read my normal reading so I’m not into posting much to the blog.  I will however leave you to listen and watch one of my favorites, Joan Osborne, sing a song from my long lost youth. I love her roughness and her growl.

On Sunday I posted some Bruce Cockburn lyrics (with new lyrics by Barry Taylor) and here’s a video of Bruce singing his song.

MYSTERY

You can’t tell me there is no mystery

Mystery, mystery

You can’t tell me there is no mystery.

It’s everywhere I turn.

The love of God it gives me vertigo

Vertigo, vertigo

The love of God it gives me vertigo

And fills me up with grace.

This feast of beauty can intoxicate

Intoxicate, intoxicate

This feast of beauty can intoxicate

Just like the finest wine.

So all  you stumblers who believe love rules

Believe love rules, believe love rules,

Come all you stumblers who believe love rules

Stand up and let it shine

Stand up and let it shine.

And don’t tell me there is no mystery

Mystery, mystery

And don’t tell me there is no mystery

It overflows my cup.

(Words and music, Bruce Cockburn, additional lyrics, Barry Taylor)

• Randall Balmer on The Daily Show, about God in the White House. (Click on the Randall Balmer segment in the “Coming Up Next” box.
• Paul Krugman on the impact of the centrist cuts in the stimulus plan. 600,000 fewer employed Americans. DAMN! I could be one of them.
• I know this is not the point of this NY Times story, but I thought it was interesting (in a weird sort of way) that Mike Tyson was once married to the sister of Michael Steele, the new GOP head.
• SNL’s Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi press conference. Sometimes we have to laugh at ourselves. “Maybe if we spent more money on education and sex ed the next generations won’t have so many stupid people…”
• Brad Gooch on Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns, two artists whose work first got me interested in contemporary art.  In fact my first piece of real art I ever purchased was by Rauschenberg.
• And then there’s The Grammys tonight. I won’t watch but am always interested.