Perfect Tune for a Camp Bonfire

So, I don’t usually tell my readers how to read my blog, but trust me when I say to follow my instructions on this one. For now:  Play the Youtube clip above and listen.

…It’s pretty amazing, right?

Ok, so moving on. As I looked through my iTunes library this week for a new fabulous song to blog about I realized… there are quite a few songs I can no longer listen to. It’s not because I’m done loving them or that I’ve exhausted them on repeat to the point that I’m bored. I can’t play the damn songs because they seem to remind me too much of someone or some thing-- they either cause me to have someone stuck in my head that I don't want there, or they cause me to replay a situation over and over again.. when really I just wish to forget it.

But, it’s these songs, which mean something to me that make me truly appreciate the ones that are just fun and easy to listen to. They’re the ones that entertain your ears and almost cloud your mind from thinking about anyone or anything. That song for me is “Home” by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes.

In my head, whenever I think about the late 1950’s/early 1960’s, I imagine society as being very “Pleasantville” esque. Back then, everyone was just happy with the simple things in life. Guys ‘pinned’ girls…(no, this is not a Blackberry reference. Guys literally gave girls their pins indicating that they were now a couple) and everyone just met at the local dance club on the weekends. It was a sweet way to live life.  
When listening to this song, it instantly teleports you back to this time period.

I think it’s the introduction of the whistling and the taps on the tambourine that throw you back and make you feel like you’re at your town’s high school dance. This vision really starts to come alive though when you hear the first verse of this lovey dovey duet shared by Edward Sharpe and Jade Castrinos. It’s lines like:
“I do love my mah and pah” and “Well holy, moly, me oh my, you’re the apple of my eye” that make you feel like you’ve entered a classic old school love story.

At 0:51, with their two voices colliding alongside the trumpet’s joyful blasts do you feel yourself falling into this content state; you can’t help but find yourself smiling from ear to ear while bopping your head and tapping your fingers on any hard surface you can find.

After the second “feel good” verse passes and we reach our second chorus at 2:29, there’s this aura that's connecting us to the song making us feel as though we wrote these words ourselves. And, with what sounds like an 1000 person part harmony we hear the chant: “Home, let me come home. Home is wherever I am with you.” This feeling of being in the song is only enhanced at 3:14 when we get to listen in on the romantic banter between Edward and Jane until finally, Edward confesses his love for her.

That moment where the break for conversation resorts back to the third chorus is the same moment that should make us want to restore our faith in love songs... that not all of them are to remind us of heartbreak and how our exes cheated. But rather, how some still promote this once upon a time bubble gum pop, fun type of love.

4:22 in to the song, we hear a unique yet different type of orgasm--- the horns are pumping in full force, the accordion’s sound is echoing with every inward thrust, and the tambourine is shaking rapidly while Edward and Jane cheer different parts of the song. You don’t necessarily feel the usual shiver or the overbearing heart beat. What you do feel is complete satisfaction as this joyful tune continues to cloud your head for just a few moments longer.

So how has this song changed my life? Please refer to paragraph three.

Now as fabulous of the studio recorded version was to listen to, it’s time to understand and see why this band is pretty close to perfection.

This live performance only shows us how alive people become through music. Every member in this performance is having the time of their life as they present the crowd with real, unrehearsed, authentic music. There is no stage. There is no sound mixer or any other fancy sound equipment there. There's just the instruments and the band, fully immersed in the crowd, making every fan feel as though they are vital part of the performance.

Watch the entire video…the second song is just as life changing as the first.

So bottom line:
1.    Edward Sharpe or Jane.. if either of you stumble upon this blog and want to get me a ticket to your sold out show this Friday in Toronto…that’d be cool.
2.    If the live performance doesn’t make you instantly happy... well then I don’t know what would.
3.    This song makes me wish I was Penny Lane living in the 60’s.
Oh and 4, listen to the song… it’ll change your life.