By TatankaYotanka
Smooth it glides upon its travel,
Here a wimple, there a gleam--
O the clean gravel!
O the smooth stream!
Sailing blossoms, silver fishes,
Pave pools as clear as air--
How a child wishes
To live down there!
We can see our coloured faces
Floating on the shaken pool
Down in cool places,
Dim and very cool;
Till a wind or water wrinkle,
Dipping marten, plumping trout,
Spreads in a twinkle
And blots all out.
See the rings pursue each other;
All below grows black as night,
Just as if mother
Had blown out the light!
Patience, children, just a minute--
See the spreading circles die;
The stream and all in it
Will clear by-and-by. – Robert Louis Stevenson, Looking-Glass River
I’ve a friend who signs off everything with a quote from Carl Perkins: “If it weren't for the rocks in its bed, the stream would have no song.” The sounds of water coursing, flowing, tumbling are hypnotic and relaxing. Therapeutic. This week produced so many ambient and instrumental delights that there were a couple of complete, wordless playlists flowing through my YouTube sluices, one became the tributary of the other and I gave up trying to resist water finding its way to the deep pool. So we open with a massive A-list full of ambience and instrumentals. Sit with it, dip your toes and drag your fingers, tickle a consenting trout, but take John Lennon’s advice:
“Turn off your mind, relax, and float downstream.”
The Ambient Instrumental A-List Playlist:
Música da Lagoa - Hermeto Pascoal (pejepeine)
Flora’s Pond - Cosmo Sheldrake (Nicko)
The Water Garden – Brian Eno (MussoliniHeadkick)
A Lotus On Irish Streams – The Mahavishnu Orchestra (BanazirGalbasi)
Island Lake – Lanterna (Shoegazer)
Blue Lake Tahoe – Dave Brubeck (Nicko)
Canals Of Mars – Life On Mars (BanazirGalbasi)
Weissensee – Neu! (Uncleben)
Tide Pool – Oregon (BanazirGalbasi)
Hareshaw Burn – Kathryn Tickell (Suzi)
Laguna Veneta – Henry Texier (pejepeine)
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir – Wadada Leo Smith (ajostu)
Saturday Night At The Duck Pond – The Cougars (Shoegazer)
Devil In The Bayou – Harry Choates (TarquinSpodd)
Cripple Creek – Leo Kottke (BanazirGalbasi)
Lagos On Mars – Jamaal Meeks (BanazirGalbasi)
On The Lake – Peter Erskine (BanazirGalbasi)
Loch – I Am Kloot (happyclapper)
Lochan Coire Àrdair – Fergus McCreadie (Nilpferd)
On A White Lake Near A Green Mountain – M83 (vanwolf2)
The songs that follow also resisted hydraulic engineering and will all be A-listers to me until the levee breaks. I just put a stop lock in the middle for the sake of convention. Brindley and Telford would be proud of me.
The Aqueous, Articulated A-List Playlist:
Lily Pond – Vashti Bunyan (tincanman2010)
O Mar E O Lago – Gilberto Gil (Maki)
The Lakes – Taylor Swift (MussoliniHeadkick)
The Stagnant Pool – Felt (MussoliniHeadkick)
Ladies Of The Lake – Gabby Young & Other Animals (severin)
Lake Dolores – Dengue Fever (TarquinSpodd)
Don’t Change Horses (In The Middle Of A Stream) – Tower Of Power (TarquinSpodd)
Beetles In The Bog – War (pejepeine)
Fire On The Bayou – The Meters (Nicko)
O Olho Do Lago – Tom Zé (Nicko)
Swan Lake – The Cats (Uncleben)
El Arroyo Que Murmura - Guillermo Portabales (pejepeine)
Balsero Del Titicaca - José Brito (Maki)
The Brook – The Joy Formidable (Vikingchild)
Banks of Brooks, Billagongs and Beyond B-List Playlist:
Spring Water – Altai Kai (MussoliniHeadkick)
Queen Of Waters – Nancy Kerr (Suzi)
Lake Michigan Blues – Yank Rachell (Nicko)
Billabong Valley – King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard (Nicko)
Sweet Afton – Nickel Creek (Suzi)
Jet Skis On The Moat – Arctic Monkeys (Uncleben)
Up On Cripple Creek – The Band (AltraEgo)
Brooks Run Into The Ocean – Mississippi Fred McDowell (Nicko)
The Lake That Waits For The Wind - Makoto Kawamoto (ajostu)
The Banks Of The Condamine – Gary Shearston (Nicko)
Down By The Lake Living With My Cat – Akiko Yano (ajostu)
Voice Of The Bayou – Anita Carter (TarquinSpodd)
Watermill – The Ozark Mountain Daredevils (BanazirGalbasi)
Venetian violin boating, anyone?
Guru’s Wildwater Picks:
Lightning On The Creek – The Groanbox Boys
The Muddy Bottom – David Childers
Kirkconnell Flow – Jackie Leven
In The Fen Country – Ralph Vaughan Williams
These playlists were inspired by readers' song nominations in response to last week's topic: Ponder this: songs about lakes, canals, and smaller watercourses. The next topic will launch on Thursday after 1pm UK time.
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