Desert Rose

Here are the lyrics:

I dream of rain
I dream of gardens in the desert sand
I wake in vain
I dream of love as time runs through my hand

I dream of fire
Those dreams are tied to a horse that will never tire
And in the flames
Her shadows play in the shape of a man’s desire

This desert rose
Each of her veils, a secret promise
This desert flower
No sweet perfume ever tortured me more than this

And as she turns
This way she moves in the logic of all my dreams
This fire burns
I realize that nothing’s as it seems.

I dream of rain
I life my gaze to empty skies above
I close my eyes
This rare perfume is the sweet intoxication of her love

I dream of rain
I dream of gardens in the desert sand
I wake in vain
I dream of love as time runs through my hand

Sweet desert rose
Each of her veils, a secret promise
This desert flower
No sweet perfume ever tortured me more than this

Sweet desert rose
This memory of Eden haunts us all
This desert flower
This rare perfume, is the sweet intoxication of the fall

I’ve always liked this song, but never paid too much attention to the lyrics until now. The Biblical references are interesting. Some state that the lyrics of Desert Rose are inspired by the Frank Herbert novel, Dune, possibly because Sting played the villainous Feyd Rautha in the 1984 film adaptation. Both film and book feature the Arabic language.

The song also features the Algerian rai singer Cheb Mami………the genre of the song is given as World.

Sting’s official website can be found here

Wordless: Another Mother Further

One of the albums I have in my collection....

Anyone else out there like/remember Mother’s Finest? If you need a memory booster I posted about them along with a video of their hit Baby Love back in December.

Happy Wednesday! Check out other bloggers posting wordless or near wordless posts here.

Wordless: Dark Side of the Moon

This album was the point where I graduated from collecting 45s to purchasing albums. It was first available for sale on March 17, 1973. I was eleven. Many critics consider Dark Side of the Moon to be Pink Floyd’s defining work, and is still frequently ranked by music critics as one of the greatest and most influential albums of all time.

Dark Side of the Moon is the third best selling album of all time worldwide and ranks 20th in the United States. It spent over fourteen years on Billboard’s list of top 200 best selling albums, longer than any other album in history.

You can find others participating in Wordless Wednesday here

Fly Me to the Moon!

I was able to see Diana Krall several, several months ago when she appeared at Atlanta’s Chastain Park.

My husband had won the tickets from a radio station. While I had heard her and recognized her voice the concert was my first true exposure to her musical style.

I fell in love….

You can find out more at her her website, her Wikipedia page (she’s married to Elvis Costello, you know?), and her MySpace page.

Here she is performing Fly Me to the Moon:

Cabbagetown

The song I’m bathing in today is “Cabbagetown” by Shawn Mullins. Why? For starters Shawn Mullins is from my state, and Cabbagetown has historical significance for someone like me…an Atlantan.

Cabbagetown is a particular section of Atlanta….you can read about it here…the neighborhood website has everything you would want to know about it.

Quick facts regarding Shawn Mullins:

*best known for his 1998 hit Lullaby. It was number one on the Adult Top 40 and nominated for a Grammy Award.

*Graduated from Clarkston High School in Clarkston, Georgia.

*Friends with Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls.

*Attended North Georgia College and State University where he was bandmaster of the military marching band.

*You might recognize another famous song of his titled “All Im My Head,” featured on the hit tv show “Scrubs.” The song was written after an email was sent out by the producers indicating they were searching for a new theme song. It wasn’t selected, but was used in the first episode.

*The television show “Dawson’s Creek” used his song “Shimmer.”

*His official website is here, his Myspace page is here

Girlfriend

I usually refer to Averil Lavigne as “that angy young girl” when discussing her music with my teenage daughter because her songs are all a little “mad”. However, it would appear that she’s far from being angry, is not the teenybopper you would imagine, and is even happily married as of this writing.

While her style of music is far, far from the country band Alabama, Averil Lavigne found a style and has stuck with it to the point that most all of her library of music sounds similar.

I particularly like her song “Girlfriend”…..

Don’t pretend
I think you know I’m damn precious
And how, yeah, I’m the motherfucking princess
I can tell you like me too
And you know I’m right.

Back in 2007, Lavigne was sued along with co-writer Lukasz Gottwald and her record title. The complaint contended the song was plagiarized from the song “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend” performed by The Rubinoos. You can read more about the “p” issue over at this Wikipedia page.

Averil Lavigne’s Myspace page can be found here. Her website can be accessed here, and as of today the video clip is Averil performing “Girlfriend”.

Beds Are Burning

The band Midnight Oil got their name by drawing lyrics out of a hat.

Beds Are Burning was the first track from the album Diesels and Dust.

Wikipedia advises “Beds Are Burning” is a political song about giving native Australian lands back to the Pintupi, who were among the very last people to come in from the desert. These “last contact” people began moving from the Gibson Desert to settlements and missions in the late 1930s. More were forcibly moved during the 1950s and 1960s to the Papunya settlement. In 1981, they left to return to their own country and established the Kintoire community which is nestled in the picturesque Kintore Ranges, surrounded by Mulga and Spinfex country. It is now a thriving little community with a population of about 400.

Midnight Oil performed the song in front of a world audience of billions (including Prime M
inister John Howard who has claimed this is his favorite Midnight Oil song) at the closing ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympics. The whole band was dressed in black, with the words “sorry” printed conspicuously on their clothes. This was a reference to the Prime Minister’s refusal to apologize, on behalf of Australia, to the Aboriginal Australians for the way they have been treated over the previous 200 years, particularly in relation to native title and the government-sanctioned removal of Aboriginal children of the Stolen Generations from their families.

The official website for Midnight Oil can be found here.

The lyrics to the song are embedded in the video.