By Barbryn
Picking a playlist wasn’t simple, but it’s been a pleasure to serve behind the bar this week. You nominated a wonderful array of life-affirming music – bookmark last week’s blog if you ever need a lift. (That said, rock stars humblebragging about their simple life in the country, hippies transfixed with flowers and new lovers marvelling at the everyday things they’d never noticed before can become cloying after a while.)
Simple pleasures and the pleasures of simplicity aren’t necessarily the same thing. I think I prefer the former, but these playlists cover both.
Give Me The Simple Life, says Etta Jones. Tomatoes, mashed potatoes, a home that’s full of joy and laughter. As nominator Nicko points out, most big band arrangements of this standard are far from simple – this was my favourite version.
Bim Sherman wants a wholesome Simple Life too (here in Adrian Sherwood’s On-U Sound remix). He warns us against missing today while dreaming of tomorrow, and dispenses some simple life lessons: “The sun slowly rise, the sun slowly set, and what you give out you surely will get.”
Kenny Young was better known for his production, song writing (he co-wrote Under The Boardwalk, which surprisingly wasn’t mentioned this week) and environmental activism than his solo career, but he sounds beatifically happy with all the Simple Joys of his life – from morning toast to peach blossom and whatever Emily put in her pies. “Pleasure so thick you can cut it with a knife.”
Robert Louis Stevenson summed up this week’s theme perfectly in a famous couplet: “The world is so full of a number of things / I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings.” Bridget St John takes that as her jumping off point in Fly High, adding more wise words of her own: “Please remember all you have and not what you might lose / It isn’t always easy but it’s better when you do.”
Chilling out in the sun seems to figure high on most musicians’ lists of simple pleasures, and fair enough. From the many songs on the subject, I’ve gone for Sitting in the Sun by ex-Animals guitarist Hilton Valentine.
Escaping the rat race could also have been a topic in itself. Moving to the countryside isn’t so simple (have you seen the house prices?) but, like Paul Williams, we can all make the time to find a quiet place Out in the Country and take back something worth remembering.
Or you can just look out the window at the sunrise: Ain’t That Enough? ask Teenage Fanclub. With those harmonies and jangly guitars… you have to ask?
But it’s not everyone finds it simple to be happy. Canadian singer-songwriter Kathleen Edwards has struggled with depression and took a break from music during the 2010s. She opened a café, called Quitters. Sounds like it helped: on this track from her comeback album Total Freedom, she’s content to have Birds on a Feeder and sleeping dogs.
Simple beauties are all around us, but you have to take the time to appreciate them. Over The Rhine skip the washing up to sit out on the porch and enjoy their Favorite Time Of Light, just before the day kisses the night.
Among all the songs about sunshine and nature, it was, ironically, a breath of fresh air to hear I Like London in the Rain by the fabulous Blossom Dearie. Streets like mirrors, umbrellas everywhere – yes, even “London drizzle has its charm.”
“I love coffee, I love tea,” sing The Ink Spots, simply. Who doesn’t? Both have been topics in the past; remarkably, The Java Jive wasn’t chosen for either. It gives me pleasure to put that right.
So there you have it. Live simply. Enjoy the simple things. Be thankful for what you’ve got, don’t worry over what you’ve not. And I’ll tell you something true: The Bare Necessities of life will come to you.
The A-OK List:
Etta Jones – Give Me The Simple Life
Bim Sherman – Simple Life
Kenny Young – Simple Joys
Bridget St John – Fly High
Hilton Valentine – Sitting in the Sun
Paul Williams – Out in the Country
Teenage Fanclub – Ain’t That Enough?
Kathleen Edwards – Birds on a Feeder
Over The Rhine – Favorite Time Of Light
Blossom Dearie – I Like London in the Rain
The Ink Spots – The Java Jive
Phil Harris – The Bare Necessities
The B-liss List:
Half Man Half Biscuit – Give Us Bubblewrap
The Dandy Warhols – All The Money Or The Simple Life Honey
Jimmy Buffet - Simple Pleasures
Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong – Gone Fishin’
Prince Nico Mbarga – Simplicity
Mighty Diamonds – Country Living
Joyce Moreno – Jóia
Vashti Bunyan – Just Another Diamond Day
Kim Taylor – Days Like This
Sarah Vaughan – Lazy Afternoon
Yo La Tengo – Let’s Be Still
Karine Polwart – Follow The Heron
Guru’s Wildcard Pick:
Rachel Sermanni – Lay My Heart
A simple, perfect song about simple, perfect things – watching a fire, coffee on the cooker, laying upon a darkened lawn, passing round the whisky.
Guru’s Daughter’s Bonus Wildcard Pick:
Taylor Swift – Sweet Nothing
My 15-year-old’s first thought when I mentioned the topic, included here to show that the Song Bar clientele are not in fact all ageing music snobs. My favourite track off Midnights.
These playlists were inspired by readers' song nominations from last week's topic: Count to zen: songs about the pleasures of simplicity. The next topic will launch on Thursday at 1pm UK time.
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