I shan't keep you long today, just a quick show and tell. A song came on the radio earlier this week that, I don't mind telling you, knocked me for seven. And hearing it for the first time I naturally assumed it was a new tune. Well, you do don't you? Wrong! How has this gem, this utterly perfect slice of dreamy pop passed me by? I've been racking my brains and I must have gone to Mars in 2005; that's all I can think.
Neil Young was one of the last turns I went to see before we left Nottingham in 2010. I think I covered it for the paper, but I can't remember now. It would've been around the time he released his 30th. studio album Le Noise. As with a lot of latter day Young, it pretty much flew under the radar - if the critics can't see a Southern Man on there or a Hey Hey, My My they tend to dismiss it. Their loss.
One day I would love to gather my thoughts on Neil Young and try and put into words what I think makes him a true one of a kind; a maverick. But first I need to finish his autobiography which, along with about another dozen or so paperbacks, is currently weighing down my bedside table.
In the meantime, and because I heard it on RTÉ tonight while I was in the bath, here's a beautiful song from that album which harks back to a more stripped back, acoustic Neil Young and one that certainly pushes all my buttons.
Neil Young - Love and War (2010)
FYI this is post No. 1,000 to appear on my blog. Are We There Yet? (formerly Even Monkeys Fall Out Of Trees) became a thing on February 15th. 2010. And yes, I know there's a picture of Manchester City's Neil Young at the top of the page.
Eleanor McEvoy was on the radio a couple of nights ago while I was in the bath. I had to stop playing with my rubber duck, such was the beauty of her songs. She was chatting away and playing in front of a live audience in Dublin - I was hooked. Ducks and hooks in the same paragraph, blimey. She's on tour in the UKin April. I really hope you can get along. I know I'll be at one of her gigs, to be sure.
Here's one of Eleanor's beguiling songs that says in three minutes what most of us (songwriters and non-songwriters alike) struggle to say in a lifetime.
Eleanor McEvoy - You'll Hear Better Songs Than This
There follows not a single reference to Brexit (Hard or Soft), Backstops or Theresa Fucking May
References to my Gaelic roots are dotted all over this blog. Without this maternal streak of Irishness running thru me, James couldn't have applied for his dual nationality, and I probably wouldn't spend as much time as I do shouting 'FECK!', 'DRINK!' and 'That would be an Ecumenical matter' at the drop of a tricolour hat. Nor would I spend so long listening to RTÉ Radio. In particular John Creedon's excellent midweek show which goes out live from Cork every night between 8:00 and 10:00 on RTÉ Radio 1. Take a peek at some of his recent playlists. Tasty aren't they?
He played a song by Declan O'Rourke last night that I'd never heard before, and I fell in love with it instantly.
