Porch Songs :: Chris Pureka

My post is a day late with apologies. I was busy yesterday introducing my Ohio friends to the hootenannny. Tonight, however, my roommate and I are heading to a Chris Pureka concert. Chris Pureka is a independent singer-songwriter who was opening for Dar Williams on tour last fall, where I first saw her perform live. Most of her songs are all pretty mellow and melancholy - good for a rainy days or contemplative cooking alone in your apartment. However, this song, "Porch Songs" is relatively upbeat for Chris. For me, the song evokes memories of times very close to my heart such as impromptu sing-alongs in the apartment in Water St. in Decorah, sharing a room with Meghan during my sophomore year of college, family road trips when my brother and I were small, swimming in the Upper Iowa River with Krissy and running around barefoot afterward, sitting on Joanie's front porch with her in D.C. drinking tea like old men and countless summer nights in Michigan singing my campers to sleep from outside their cabin doors.

In the end, I think all music is about these moments, in some form or another.



"Porch Songs" Chris Pureka

We sang porch songs like we were rock stars
We drank cheap beer and tried to make it last
Then it was back in the car
The coast to the cornfields
Maybe we were just looking for something else to call ourselves

Rest stop coffee, yeah postcards back home
Back seat scenes of strange towns
Keep driving on, driving on
In the middle of the night, we took a wrong turn
Ended up on a mountain in the pine trees and the moonlit earth

Oh the scattered light, a photograph in mind
Of a summer day, squinting at the sun
It's a warm stone, that I carry along
You know I, you know that I
I've been saving quarters, for the toll roads
We can pack the car tonight, we can leave town tomorrow
Put me on a porch swing out in Portland
Put me on an F train, roll me back into Brooklyn
Well we closed the bars, like we were cowboys
And then we wrote our names in the dirt by the side of the road
And October came and the winter drew near
With the cold fingers digging in under the ribs
But we were campfire girls and we were kicking up the leaves
And we returned to our jobs with our clothes smelling of wood-smoke

Oh the scattered light, a photograph in mind
Of a summer day, squinting at the sun
It's a warm stone, that I carry along
You know I, you know that I
I've been saving quarters, for the toll roads
We can pack the car tonight, we can leave town tomorrow
Put me on a porch swing out in Portland
Put me on an F train, roll me back into Brooklyn

We sang porch songs like we were rock stars
We drank cheap beer and tried to make it last

Jetpack :: Jill Sobule

As I write this I am moments from heading to the airport fly to Ecuador to visit a friend. Travels are clearly on my mind. Thus, in honor, although my means of transportation will be the airplane, I thought I'd post a song about a more unconventional means of traveling. This song is a favorite of mine and Meghan's and is from Jill Sobule's 2004 album, Underdog Victorious, which is an all-around fantastic record. At any rate, this song is deliciously ridiculous in that we all know we've wished for a jetpack at some point in our lives...

The video is a slide show that I'm guessing a fan made, accompanying a live acoustic performance of the song. Enjoy.



Jetpack :: Jill Sobule
If I had a jetpack the first thing that I would do
Is fly above the gridlock and come to you
I'd peek into the windows on 5th ave.
to see how the other side lives

And if I had a jetpack I would strap it on
I'd get out of this one room and I'd be gone
To where they're real houses and big front yards
If I had a jetpack

I'd take you up with me
at least we'd both be free, past the statue of liberty
In my jetpack

If I had a jetpack, I'd fly over the bridge
I'd wave to all my friends who thought I'd never rise again
I'd fly over the stadium to watch my team win, watch my team win
And if I had a jetpack, I'd bust into your door
take you by the hand to the Jersey shore
and underneath the moonlight, you'd want me even more
cause, I'd have a jetpack

I'd take you up so high
If I dropped you, you would die
but I want you by my side, in my jetpack

I don't have a jetpack. I don't even have a car
I just have this token and a head full of stars
I wish you didn't live up town so far
cause I don't have a..........jetpack

Tanzanian National Anthem :: Lukazi Sambatree

Happy Friday folks. Today I turned in my application to continue studying Swahili in Tanzania this summer. I am wildly excited about the chance to return to East Africa - thrilled in a way that makes me feel tingly all over. It feels like falling in love. In honor of this exciting (and financially stressful...) moment in life, I'd like to offer the following song, which, in my opinion anyway, is a beautiful rendition of the Tanzanian national anthem. The video that I'm posting of the song is just a guy, Lukazi Sambatree, and his acoustic guitar. If you go to Lukazi's website, www.sambatree.com, you can listen to the (much better) recorded version of the song. I would also highly recommend listening to the other song he has posted on his website, called "Blessing and a Curse." It has a really cool sound and is pretty catchy - and it's in English. (There are some background vocals on "Blessing and a Curse" that are in Swahili - "Sikiliza moyo yako" - "Listen to your heart.") So, head to the website!!!

Anyway, I've been listening to this version of the Tanzanian anthem non-stop for about a week and I haven't gotten tired of it yet. It's a beautiful song to begin with, and his guitar arrangement is lovely.

Below are the lyrics to the Tanzanian national anthem (and English translation). Enjoy.

Mungu ibariki Afrika
Wabariki viongozi wake
Hekima, umoja na amani
Hizi ni ngao zetu
Afrika na watu wake

Ibariki Afrika
Ibariki Afrika
Tubariki watoto wa Afrika
Watoto wa Afrika

Mungu ibariki Tanzania
Dumisha uhuru na umoja
Wake na waume na watoto
Mungu ibariki Tanzania na watu wake

Ibariki Tanzania
Ibariki Tanzania
Tubariki watoto wa Tanzania
Watoto wa Tanzania

God bless Africa
Bless her leaders
Wisdom, unity and peace
Are our shield
Africa and her people

Bless Africa
Bless Africa
Bless us, the children of Africa
The children of Africa

God bless Tanzania
Grant us freedom and unity
Women, men and children
God bless Tanzania and her people

Bless Tanzania
Bless Tanzania
Bless us, the children of Tanzania
The children of Tanzania



Mungu mbariki, rafiki zangu (God bless you, my friends).

900 Miles :: Bethany & Rufus

The first time I heard the fabulous tunage of Bethany and Rufus, I secretly hoped that they were lovers and that maybe some day they'd have a beautiful, musical love child. Funny how often that’s the first thought I have when I hear a great musical collaboration - I immediately want these two wonderful people to get busy enriching the population of the earth. Of course, then I realize that this is just what they've done and that I'm listening to their fabulous love child. Neat how that works.



This particular song is great for train rides, but then, there are few songs that AREN'T great for a train ride. It might just be me, but with the rocking and the giant windows streaked with blurred scenery and the tendency for contemplatude that only a long journey can create, any kind of music has a good chance of getting to me.

I had the pleasure of traveling across the country by train over Thanksgiving this year. Some friends of mine were taking the train from La Crosse to New Orleans (through Chicago) and I decided to travel down with them to visit my dad.

Everything Ani DiFranco said about trains showing travelers "America's Backyard" with taunting graffiti and waving kids is totally true (what's the name of that poem?). And traveling slower helped our souls to keep up with our bodies in a way that plane travel doesn't allow. We had more time to rest and play and meet our seat neighbors. I wouldn't want to do it alone, but traveling by train in the company of two good friends and three fabulous kids was definitely a highlight of my Thanksgiving. Taking the train also gave me a better idea of how very spread out my family is - and of just how sweet greetings can be at journey's end.



900 MILES (originally by Ramblin' Jack Elliot)

I'm walking down this track,
I've got tears in my eyes,
Trying to read a letter from my home.
If this train runs me right
I'll be home tomorrow night.
I'm nine hundred miles from my home.
And I hate to hear that lonesome whistle blow.

I'll pawn you my watch
And I'll pawn you my chain;
Pawn you my gold diamond ring.
If this train runs me right
I'll be home tomorrow night.
I'm nine hundred miles from my home.
And I hate to hear that lonesome whistle blow.

The rain I ride on
Is a thousand coaches long.
You can hear that whistle blow a hundred miles.
If this train runs me right
I'll be home tomorrow night.
I'm nine hundred miles from my home.
And I hate to hear that lonesome whistle blow.

If my woman says so
I will railroad no more
I'll sidetrack my wheeler and go home.
If this train runs me right
I'll be home tomorrow night.
I'm nine hundred miles from my home.
And I hate to hear that lonesome whistle blow.