Music

Every Sunday after Mass my Dad and I would sit on the dining room floor listening to records. Always Simon and Garfunkel’s Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme album which included the lyrical Scarborough Fair and my favorite Homeward Bound.

In the 1960’s seeing the weirdly disembodied faces of Frank Sinatra and Count Basie on the album cover of It Might As Well Be Swing lying on our red carpeted floor. I have an image of my parents dancing to Fly Me to The Moon across that same red carpet - real or imagined, I’m not sure.

Regretting forever the time I did not turn my car around and go back to visit longer with my father who was in a short-term rehab facility after surgery for cancer. Getting into the car, cranking up Little Feat’s live version of All That You Dream (probably the best lead-in build-up to any song anywhere, anytime).  The slightly lost look on my father’s face up against the self-imposed work deadline. My gut told me to turn around but the deadline won out. I would do it differently if given another chance. Songs do that, remind you of the regrets, the wished for do-over’s.

Recently I went to the Dublin Ohio Irish Festival specifically to see the incredible Eileen Ivers. But an unexpected surprise happened, the discovery of a band called Slide. Their singer Dave Curley’s version of The Maid of Culmore was a gift.  If you are not Irish or part-Irish, that band, his singing, that song will make you long to be.

Download The Maid of Culmore at:www.slide-ireland.com  
Album: Slide BEO-Live

When my father was going through cancer treatments, I would drive him to his doctor appointments. Every time we got to the end of his street he would say, “Hey instead of going left (towards his Doc) let’s go right to Jersey to see your Aunt Jill" (his much loved sister). The other day I was on my way to my own doc appointment, one that always makes me nervous - when I turned on the radio and Homeward Bound was playing.

Sampling from Beth’s IPad:

Chasing Strange - Lizz Wright

The Needle and the Damage Done - Neil Young

Soul Cake - by Sting

The Maid of Culmore - Slide, sung by Dave Curley

These Days - Jackson Brown

The Way you Look Tonight - Frank Sinatra

Classical Gas - Mason Williams

County Line - Pousette Dart Band

Moondance - Van Morrison

Don’t you Worry ‘Bout A Thing - Stevie Wonder

A Taste of Honey - Lizz Wright

Blackbird - Sarah McLachlan version

Ohh Ooh Child - Valerie Carter