Today was a beautiful Canadian spring day. The snow is all but gone. Only stubborn pieces of ice remain. There are many ways to know spring has arrived in Canada, I am frequently discovering these little seasonal idiosyncrasies. Today it was the realisation that my winter boots were too heavy and I was dragging my feet sluggishly. Time for sneakers.
2 more days and my semester officially ends. They are followed by a brief interlude where pieces of my soul are slowly extracted over a painful period of time known as “exams”. I am completely unprepared, as usual I am waiting for the last minute to begin my 200 meter dash to the finish.
I am utterly jaded. Not enough TV. I am pop-culture famished. I’m still listening to Jack Johnson’s In Between Dreams, but I’ve found this album is too summer-y and it’s going to put my nostalgia in over-drive. So at night I’m switching to something a bit mellow-er. Cover songs. That’s right, I figure nostalgia can only be fought with nostalgia (fire with fire) but in small doses of course.
My weapon of choice currently is Johnny Cash and Eva Cassidy covers. Cash did really cool versions of U2’s “One”, Nine Inch Nail’s “Hurt”, Tom Petty’s “Won’t Back Down” and Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m On Fire”. He’s got that deep voice that cuts through the melodic vocals and right to the point. Seems to work beautifully. I believe he covered Hurt after his wife died. He died several months later I think. The music video is probably the most powerful and meaningful video I have personally ever seen.
Eva Cassidy has one of the most beautiful voices I’ve ever heard. Cassidy died of cancer in her 30’s and never saw her song’s get any recognition till after her death. She reminds me of Joni Mitchell for some reason. Great covers include: Sting’s “Fields of Gold”, John Lennon’s “Imagine”, Billy Wither’s “Ain’t No Sunshine”, and a beautiful cover of Cyndi Lauper’s “Time after Time”.
If this whole “fighting nostalgia with nostalgia” experiment goes awry and back fires, I’m going to have to find some other outlet to vent out my frustrations. Hello World.
“What have I become? My sweetest friend.
Everyone I know goes away, in the end.
And you could have it all; My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt”
