Who Can Resist - My Top Music Picks This Week!

This week has been quite pensive for me, music-wise. I guess my taste is a bit varied - a little of this, a little of that.. but that's what makes it cool, right? Right? Here are the songs I hummed all week-

Birdy - Skinny Love:
I fell in love with Bon Iver's Skinny Love on the album, 'For Emma, Forever Ago'. But Birdy's take is simply exquisite! And the "my-my-my" chant just does something fierce to my heart!

Birdy - Skinny Love

Ed Sheeran - The A Team
Ed Sheeran's success story is one you tell to your children, so they never give up. And this carrot-haired dude has the talent to make it last! The A Team made me think of that movie I didn't like in 2010 - what was it called again? Oh, the A-Team!!! But its not reminiscent of that one-beautiful words, a beautiful song - dark and light all at the same time and oh, so so real and graphic in its visual imagery!

Ed Sheeran - The A Team

The Weeknd - The Birds (Pt 1)
Now, if only all guys were this honourable! Lines like "So don't you fall in love/Don't make me make you fall in love/Don't make me make you fall in love with a nigga like me/ Nobody needs to fall in love/ I swear I'm just a bird/ I swear I'm just another bird" make me want to thank his lips in gratitude. Flyaway little bird, thanks for warning me in advance... And with a beat that lush, who can resist you, Abel? certainly not moi!!!

The Weeknd - The Birds (Part 1) -not official!

INSANE LYRICS: Train - 50 Ways to say Goodbye
And the insane lyrics of the week spot goes to Train for " 50 Ways to Say Goodbye". Track 5 on the richly crafted seventh studio album, "California 37", this song discusses a real life issue we've all faced (probably) - how do we tell our friends she/he left!?! Such a bummer, really - but here are some 'awee' ideas from the track (I numbered the lyrics for emphasis!) -

"That's cool but if my friends ask where you are, I'm gonna say:

1. She went down in an airplane

2. Fried getting suntanned

3. Fell in a cement mixer full of quicksand

Help me, help me, I'm no good at goodbyes

4. She met a shark underwater

5. Fell and no one caught her

6. I returned everything I ever bought her

7. She was caught in a mudslide

8. Eaten by a lion

9. Got run over by a crappy purple scion

Help me, help me, I'm no good at goodbyes

10. She got lost in the desert

11. Drowned in a hot tob

12. Danced to death in an east side night club

Help me, help me, I'm all out of lies , and ways to say you died..."

So, that's just twelve ways - I'm thinking of another 38! Isn't it funny how she "got fried getting suntanned" and "danced herself to death at an east side night club"? Pat Monahan is killing me, mehn!

Train - 50 Ways To Say Goodbye

Model Behaviour: Memories of Carefree Days

It's scary how uptight and reserved  boring I have become now. Not so far away, in Legon, not that long ago.... I was free, uninhibited and a water sprite! What could have happened to the girl that loved statues and water. What could have changed between then and now? Oh, I know! I finished school, moved to the city, got a job, work 8 - 6, in traffic 6-8am, 6-8pm....

Teacher, May I?

Almost Drowned!

Study Session!

We're not related!

Oh, Mikel!

Lol-I was lighter then!

Oh, how much laughter went  into those days, how much cheer. Now the sheer drudgery dries me out.
Memories..are how I start my day today- And a new resolution: I must climb a tree this week!

For Uzo on his Birthday

Exactly yesterday, two years ago, I wrote this poem (below) for Uzochukwu Odonwodo, an awesome friend, an amazing poet, also called "Prof". It was his birthday again yesterday (?) and it took me back to our talks of Ann Sexton, Che Guevara, John Mayer, the Cuban Revolution, Sports, the Human mind and the incredible poems we shared - 

Happy Birthday Uzo. Never. Stop. Being. You.

For Uzo on His Birthday

Thunderclaps roll by

It pains you.

Why?

The storm blows here

Into my heart

Into yours

The thunder

With its base tremors

The beautiful soprano

Of the birds

The wonderful tenor

Of the whistling leaves

The auto tunes of the 

Morning breeze

The whole world

Sings in unison

One song.

Nature sees you today

And wishes you well.

Is Tenth Avenue North's "By Your Side" dating Emeli Sandé's "Next To Me"?

Okay, ever get this creepy feeling when it seems your favourite songs are talking to each other, maybe sharing a private message?  Well,  "Next to me" and "By Your Side" feel enough like two irritatingly-in-love people, in spite of the fact that Tenth Avenue North is a Christian band and "By Your Side" is a Christian song- but the lyrics- oh no, the lyrics!


Lines like these give me the creeps-


Emeli Sandé goes:

When the money's spent and all my friends have vanishedAnd I can't seem to find no help or love for freeI know there's no need for me to panicCause I'll find himI'll find him next to me...

And Tenth Avenue North replies:

And I'll be by your sideWherever you fallIn the dead of nightWhenever you callAnd please don't fightThese hands that are holding youMy hands are holding you

 Emeli Sandé goes:

When the skies are grey and all the doors are closingAnd the rising pressure makes it hard to breatheAll I need is a helping hand to stop the tears from fallingI will find him, will find him next to me

Tenth Avenue North affirms:

Look at this hands and my sideThey swallowed the grave on that nightWhen I drank the world's sinSo i could carry you inAnd give you lifeI want to give you life

Creepy, right? - and the same story deja vu-ing all over again. - and in my head keeps playing:
"...and i'll be by your side wherever you fall... you'll find him, you'll find him next to me... Cos' i love you, i want you to know that i'll never let you go.... you will find him, you will find him next to me...."


Okay you guys! Enough with the sappy stuff. We know you're by her side. We know he's always next to you. We heard already!!! Geeeeeeez!


Watch the videos here:

Tenth Avenue North - By Your Side

Emeli Sandé - Next To Me

Monkey Behavior

When I was younger, I would climb trees and view the world from my spot inside trees. Sometimes, birds would perch by me, undisturbed by my presence. It was such a peaceful, glorious time! I had no need for tree houses, only trees.

Home, Sweet Sweet Home

These days, I still want to climb trees but I only stare wistfully at them (Maybe that's why I'm such a huge 'Twilight' fan. the very idea of romancing in trees!). It is hard enough to climb an okada in my pencil skirts, let alone a tree!!!


But I still hold on to that child. Nowadays, I'm known to run around in the rain, sit on deserted roads and generally let that child out as often as  can. But I live in "the Lagos", where a minute of enchantment is certain suicide. I dream of an idyllic wedding on a beach or flower garden, me in a free flowing chiffon gown, barefoot, a flower tucked behind my ear and the wind in my hair...


Of course, I realise I will probably have to marry SOMEONE. And that someone would more likely than not have a family. And maybe his dream and theirs would be of huge canopies, air-conditioned halls, half a dozen serving points, unbelievable party favours, and half the guests dressed in matching clothes!


Now, I'm afraid that life, or the reality (ies) of life would take this child, far far away. I'm afraid I'm losing her. I'm afraid I've lost her already, and I need to find her again. But how?


Afterall, it was the fear of snakes lurking in trees that stopped my daily visits into their warm embrace, long before the pencil skirts!


And... Strangely, it has been agreed that all children are essentially monkeys!

As I begin...

"To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man."

True words, wise words, and that's the first step. 
To thine own self be true...