A few of my favourite things

I don't know about you, but I've been feeling a bit more negativity both within myself and without at the moment. Now, I'm not normally a negative person, at least I try not to be, but you may have seen my blog the other day entitled "Killing me softly". Then one of my dear friends broke up with his love and has been feeling wretched ever since. Another friend had a nasty incident with his fence and has been feeling a bit anxious about it. My son's gone a bit more nutso than usual. Lots of bad karma around at the moment it seems...

So to cheer myself up, I started singing a bit tonight. Nothing special, just a few Eva Cassidy songs like always ("The Water is Wide", "Dark Eyed Molly", "Songbird", "People Get Ready" are a few favourites I like to sing to the kiddies). And like always, Eva did her trick and worked wonders for me.

And I thought, man, I've never made a list of favourite songs ever. I mean, what are my favourite songs ever? Would it even be possible for me to make a list out of the plethora of wonderful music out there? But I thought, hey, I'm up for a challenge, let's give it a try and see where I go. So here I go!

1. Everything by Eva Cassidy: picking a favourite Eva Cassidy song would be like picking which of my children is my favourite - impossible! The woman was just amazing: she could sing jazz, pop, country, folk, soul...you name it, she did it - and absofuckinglutely fabulously! She's my guiding star when it comes to singing, no comes even close to her.

2. "Ne me quitte pas" and "La chanson des vieux amants" by Jacques Brel: yeah, I know I'm cheating a bit here, putting two songs at number 2, but it's hard to say which is better. Both full of guttwrenching heart and soul, ils sont magnifiques!

3. "A Change is Gonna Come" by Sam Cooke: the first version I heard of this was by Aretha, which I also adore. But I have to say that I prefer the, as we say in Croatian, "origigi" or the original version. I get shivers up my spine every time I hear it by both artists...

4. "L'hymne a l'Amour" by Edith Piaf: now, as you can see by the list so far, I don't go for singers that don't give their 100% when they sing. This woman gave about 500%. She apparently wrote the song as a tribute to the man she considered the love of her life, the French boxer Marcel Cerdan, who died in a plane crash in 1949. And it's just hauntingly beautiful...

5. "Everywhere I go" by Pink Martini: if you're happily in love, listen to this song. If you've just gone out of love, involuntarily, avoid it at all costs...just kidding! Listen to it, it's be-au-ti-ful.

6. "Les Feuilles Mortes" by Yves Montand: ah, what can I say that I haven't said before? I wrote about this song in a previous post, it's just tres, tres as my dear friend would say.

7. "Jesen stize, dunjo moja" by Zvonko Bogdan: or, in English, "Autumn's coming, my quince". Doesn't have quite the same romantic ring to it like it does in Croatian! And I bet my Croatian friends are laughing their heads off 'cause I like Zvonko. But to me, he rocks!

8. "Do Nothing 'til You Hear from Me" by Ella Fitzgerald: this woman was one of my very early influences at uni. She had the most amazing voice, and could even do scat which is not the easiest genre to sing. And even though Billy Holiday is considered by many to be better than "Lady Ella", I prefer to disagree.

9. "You're Gonna Hear from Me" by Vince Jones: ah, man, I remember the very day I bought his first album. It was at a second hand fair we had every second Thursday at uni. And I've loved the man ever since. Not sure how much the record cost but it was worth every single cent. And I love this song 'cause it's an anthem to all us underdogs out there!

10. Everything by The Beatles: okay, maybe not everything, but how can you choose your favourite Beatles' song??? Can you? C'est impossible!

I have to say I feel a lot of negativity has gone having written this, feeling much better now! Funny the effect making a simple list can have on ya. But it's not that, it's thinking about all the wonderful music out there that's made me feel better. What a powerful effect music has on us...but that's another story, and another post!

I'll leave you with my fave, Eva, singing "What a Wonderful World" live. 'Cause, really, when you think about it, it truly is. BTW, the woman is singing this with a cold. I wish I could sing like this feeling perfectly healthy!!!