By ajostu
What makes a search? What defines a quest? Whether it’s hunting for an individual, going on a polar trek, trying to find the perfect love or looking for the ideal A-list candidate, there were two themes that emerged from the nominated songs this week. The first is a sense of yearning or longing, the idea of something in the heart and soul that was missing or needed to be found. The second was the sense of compelled intent: a protagonist driven by profound inner forces to go an seek out.
Whether all the chosen songs conform to those themes is unclear; this was very much a selection driven by the heart not the mind.
In Vagabonds, the sense of longing is conveyed through the eyes of a young boy watching ships load cargo. It’s a powerful, driving song with an introduction that sets the mood for the playlist.
Northwest Passage is a glorious solo vocal/acapella song, one famous in Canada to the point of being a spiritual alternative anthem. The idea of being compelled beyond reason to seek a new path clearly resonates with the inhabitants of an often challenging environment.
There were many songs about finding a partner, from the frivolous to the heartfelt; with Hard Headed Woman, a desire to meet one’s match, in every sense. Still, shout out to all the fancy dancers, without whom a game of Snog Marry Avoid would be far less interesting.
There are many songs about crossing the American frontier. Love Is The Only Goal takes that theme and puts a personal, metaphorical layer on top.
With Tennessee, a search for history, and of belonging, and understanding, a modern classic.
Then, in a twist to the more personal, the despair of Can’t Find My Baby. The good news: you can always go and search for them. Or at reasonable facsimile will do just fine.
The distinction between journey and quest is subtle: Not An Easy Road elevates the journey of life into an epic quest to survive all the world’s tribulations, may your Deity be by your side.
While some search for the lost chord, in Donde estabas tu our protagonist appears to be the hunt for a missing rhythm, or rhythmatist. All beats appear to be in perfect working order in this version.
When jazz instrumentalists play standards, they often skip the verses and jump to the chorus. By itself, the chorus of Someone to Watch Over Me sounds quite passive, the introductory verses give the singer the opportunity to play the song the song a different way.
With Hunting The Squirrel, a brief interlude, a moment of breath.
A legendary quest needs a legendary destination, and Eldorado is one of the most famous. And yet here it’s a metaphor that sounds so personal; strange how a song that is superficially so bombastic carries such a sense of melancholy.
There may not be much searching in Searching For Lambs, though who knows? Maybe this is just the end of the story. It felt right to end with someone who had succeeded in their quest, and the symmetry of the violin with Vagabonds was too good to resist.
And as a coda: Search For The New Land. Lee Morgan was most famous for The Sidewinder, a pop success borne from a hurried writing session, a blues and a killer vamp. But New Land is the title track from the album Morgan reportedly stated was his finest work. And a superlative piece of music it is too, though rendered slightly melancholy with the recent loss to the world of Wayne Shorter, a great musician whose lifelong quest has left an enduring legacy for us all.
Adventurous A-List Playlist:
New Model Army - Vagabonds (happyclapper)
Stan Rogers - Northwest Passage (tincanman2010)
Yusuf / Cat Stevens - Hard Headed Woman (amylee)
Wendy Waldman - Love Is The Only Goal (Fred Erickson)
Arrested Development - Tennessee (DiscoMonster)
Junior Wells - Can't Find My Baby (OliveButler)
Buju Banton - Not An Easy Road (George Boyland)
Omara Portuondo - ¿Dónde Estabas Tú? (Nicko)
Samara Joy - Someone To Watch Over Me (untergunther)
The Gloaming - Hunting The Squirrel (magicman)
ELO - Eldorado (SweetHomeAlabama)
Steeleye Span - Sarching For Lambs (Suzi)
Lee Morgan - Search For The New Land (pejepeine)
To A Better Place B-List Playlist:
Cliff Hanger because the story’s great and the flow is genius. Note that the official (and pretty much only available) version has a brief interlude at the end that really belongs to the next track. No matter.
The Quest has an enviable quality of writing; I was tempted to go with the original (also well worth checking out) but the nominated remix felt like it fitted in better.
Sky Burial had a beat and chorus I loved (I’m a sucker for a vocoder).
There are a million songs with a repetitive synth bass and a simple drum machine beat and I love them all. Hide and Seek does the genre particularly well. And you had me at triplet delay.
Synth pads, chorused guitar and an ethereal voice. And not just the ethereal voice you’re expecting, with Seekers Who Are Lovers there’s a gorgeous wordless harmony vocal as well.
I enjoyed being able to list a number of sparser tracks this week, and Forever Means is a great example. Voice and guitar is all you need.
With Seek The Light I hit the region locking SNAFU, so I took the liberty of substituting this accoustic version. I loved the driving bass of the original studio version, but this take on the song has a very different feel which I really liked.
And finally, two tracks that allowed me to indulge my love of prog. Searching for the Spark has T.O.N.T.O., the legendary synthesiser, leading the way. (one for wikipedia if you don’t know what I’m talking about). Tenemos Roads is a favourite song from a favourite band. Fun fact: keyboardist Dave Stewart (no not the Eurythmics one) threw in the opening riff from this song at the end of his and Barb Gaskin’s 80’s cover of It’s My Party.
To A Better Place B-List Playlist:
Blackalicious - Cliff Hanger (untergunther)
Attica Blues ft Roger Robinson - The Quest (Beanfield mix) (Nilpferd)
Hen Ogledd - Sky Burial (Uncleben)
Mirrors - Hide and Seek (vanwolf2)
Cocteau Twins - Seekers Who Are Lovers (ParaMhor)
Angel Olsen - Forever Means (TarquinSpodd)
The Waterboys - Seek The Light (TatankaYotanka)
Steve Hillage - Searching For The Spark (Steve Hillage) (BanazirGalbasi)
National Health - Tenemos Roads (BanazirGalbasi)
Guru’s Wildcard List:
Two songs from two animes that share a sense of quest.
A Place Further Than The Universe tells the story of four teenage girls who, through a series of admittedly unlikely events, get to travel to a Japanese research station in Antarctica. Each of them has something they are seeking, whether it’s a sense of purpose in life, freedom from peer pressure, genuine friendship or to find closure from the death of a parent. “Sora wo Miagete” (“Looking Up At The Universe”) is sung by vocalist saya at a key moment when one of the characters discovers a new sense of freedom.
Spice and Wolf is a fantasy story where a merchant meets up with a spirit wolf reinstated in human form (female of course, or there would be no URST) and they travel to seek out her homeland. “Tabi no tochuu” (“In the middle of a journey”) is the theme song that sets the tone of the story.
Saya - Sora wo Miagete
Natsumi Kiyoura - Tabi no tuchuu
These playlists were inspired by readers' song nominations in response to last week's topic: Look here! Songs about searching, seeking and quests. The next topic will launch on Thursday at 1pm UK time.
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