Sunday Scribblings - "Smorgasbord", "Bed", "Music"

From the Smorgasbord of prompts from the past two years of Sunday Scribblings, I chose “Bed” and “Music” to write about this week.

Apart from the mandatory, minimum 10-minute read in bed before doing anything else, including falling asleep – no matter HOW tired I am – one other thing to which I’ve become used is listening to music.

Pete is the maestro here, choosing music that he loves and which he thinks I should know about. I’m pretty much a philistine when it comes to western music in general, with the sort of taste in songs that probably sets his teeth on edge – music that he terms as “too commercial”, by which he means it’s too easy to like and just as easy to forget. I, on the other hand, accuse him of being a musical snob… although once in a while I agree with him on certain songs… eventually. (Things like “Asereje” or “The Cheeky song”, etc).

In the last 7-1/2 years that I’ve known him, my familiarity with various bands, individual singers and their albums has increased dramatically. The music he has loved and listened to for years isnt always to my taste, but I’ve given it a fair chance before deciding that yeah, on the whole I’m not crazy about Elton John (early years and later whining), Bill Nelson (in Be Bop Deluxe and as a solo artist), Kate Bush (who’s as annoying and high-pitched as a mosquito in her debut album and what LANGUAGE does she sing in for god’s sake and what on earth was that video about where she looks and dances like a demented ghost?), David Bowie (don’t get him and don’t like his tombstone teeth) – and so on. Those are the ones that come to mind immediately, but there are definitely more bands/artistes I dont care for overmuch.

On the other hand, I've fallen in love with Pink Floyd - and even more so with David Gilmore and his smoky, ever-so-slightly-raspy MAN'S voice. Listen to him, and you'd never confuse him with anyone else... there's no mistaking that voice, unlike all the boy band and girl band singers who pretty much all look and sound alike if you're not actually watching them. Seal, with his equally gorgeous voice, is balm for the soul... which leads me to wonder, how on earth does he put up with Heidi Klum and her ANNOYING voice - how could he have married her?

But I'm getting sidetracked. Genesis is another group I've come to like very much. Alhough I was familiar with Phil Collins as a solo singer from when I was younger, I've fallen for Peter Gabriel with a vengeance. I love the music that he brings out under his record label too. That man has good taste.

Groups like Afro-Celt Sound System and the Guarneri Underground are very close to my heart - and soul. The former mix African and Irish music by way of some Indian as well, and the lead singer of the latter, Beth Quist, has a voice that is liquid silver - its purity has to be heard to be believed, and she can hold high notes effortlessly for what seems like entire minutes. She's just amazing!

Enya is another singer that I adore... most of the time I've no idea what she is murmuring about, as the lyrics are more often than not in Gaelic - but her English lyrics bypass my comprehension too. It doesnt matter, though, because the melody of her songs and her gentle, soothing, sweet voice are what appeal to me. Her music makes me think of green grass and open meadows and murmuring brooks and everything that is lovely in Nature - it's wonderful and so relaxing to fall asleep to that beautiful music.

I havent touched on a tenth of the music I've discovered over the last few hundred nights... and to tell the truth, I dont know the difference between the various kinds of pop and rock anyway. Hell, I cant even tell the difference between pop and rock! So music labels such as rave, glam rock, metal, hard rock, alternative pop, alternative rock, motown, retro, hiphop, psychedelic, grunge, punk rock, grindcore, house, merseyhouse, speed metal, thrash metal, doom metal, death metal (WTF??) - PHEW! - and so on, hold no meaning for me.

Music to me is divided into two types - music I like and music I dont like. If it's something I like, I can listen to it at any time. So sometimes there's a slight difference of opinion at night when I want to listen to stuff from Pete's DJ compilations. "But it's dance music", he says, a little baffled. "It's the stuff I play at weddings and discos." Yeah I know, and that's where I heard them first and got to know and love them. Songs like "Rockin' all over the world", "Mickey", "The Rowboat Song", "I'm a believer", and so on, are as much bedtime listening as Enigma or Jakatta or any of the "trance" genre of music. To me, that is.

But to Pete, who is infinitely more knowledgeable about western music, the way I put together CDs of my favourite songs is in equal parts amusing and incomprehensible - you could find "Que sera sera", "Yesterday", "Leningrad", "Belfast Child", "Macarena", "Shine" and "Ray of Light" all in one CD, and in no particular order. Mixing up genres, decades and song-styles is something I do naturally, because all I know is that they're songs I like.

I guess it's a bit like Pete wanting to listen to M S Subbulakshmi's "Suprabatham" at night - being ignorant about South Indian devotional music, all it is to him is a melody in a language he cant begin to understand. But because I've grown up with it being played every morning, listening to it at night doesnt seem right. For all I know, there are arcane reasons why playing the suprabatham at night is bad for you, the way certain combinations of musical notes are reputed to create a dissonance within you, and others soothe or calm you. It's more than possible - but it's another matter entirely whether I believe all that.

Anyway, to get back on track and finish off, let me just say that there's a veritable smorgasbord of music which I get to listen to in bed pretty much every night. The Sandman must like that too, because he arrives earlier and earlier.... zzzzz.