If Blogs Could Sing...
I think mine would sound like Cat Power. God, I just love her voice. Beautiful, wistful, hopeful, yearning, mature, girlish innocent, strong, vulnerable, all rough-edged around a smooth and gentle core...dark and light and dark and light, like a puddle of dirty water full of moon. All at once. Amazing.
She always sounds like I feel, like I move around in the world, like I daydream.
Please go see this post over at Coxon LeWoof's always brilliant mp3 blog To Die By Your Side and click on "Cat Power-dreams" at the bottom there. That's what I'll be using to drift off to sleep tonight. That's what it feels like when you come into knowing me (I'd imagine).
What band or singer would your blog sing like?
Comments (19)
It's an interesting question. I'm a singer. But finding my voice as a blogger has been a lot easier than finding/defining my voice as a singer.
I blogged about the music conflict once:
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=23258194&blogID=68960238&Mytoken=DF9D0D2A-5859-4123-8E95E43010D6072715301508
So I will think about your question. Perhaps if I assign a musical voice to my blog, it may be quite revealing.
1. Posted by Roberta on November 4, 2006
Hell of a question, Ms. Syl. Don't know.
Any suggestions?
2. Posted by The Retropolitan on November 4, 2006
It depends on the day. Some days I have a Barney the Purple Dinosaur thing goin' on, on others maybe a little New Orleans Jazz Funeral, and still others some John Lee Hooker. Except for the days I go country, jazz, heavy metal...and on my bad days, Kenny G.
3. Posted by Omnipotent Poobah on November 4, 2006
Damn, that's a beautiful song. Thanks.
I am so not a music geek. I guess I'm just not aural (shut up any pervs out there).
Can I ask you to describe my blog musically?
4. Posted by Hiromi on November 4, 2006
Good lord, some of you want me to choose *your* blog's musical voice? I feel both honored and overwhelmed. Ya'll know your own selves better than me. :) But I will try. It's a fun project showing otherrs how they see you. Maybe I'll add that to the post above: what music do YOU hear when you read my blog?
Retropolitan: I'm picturing something slower by Rudy Vallee, but unfortunately I can't seem to find any good samples that include both music and voice together. You can get some idea over here.
Roberta: Hi, nice to meet you. Interesting piece. I can related to that air of taking on different aspects to erase parts of yourself in others' presence. But you know what, I don't think you need to do that anymore. You sound cool as is. As you are ACTUALLY a singer, I suggest the voice you pick to sing for your blog be your own. I mean, who else's is better to represent you? :)
Omnipotent Poobah: Um, can you put up a warning front page on the blog on the day's you're Kenny G.?
Actually I've yet to see you be Kenny G. I don't think you're giving yourself credit. But you did make me laugh heartily. Yeah, I think my soundtrack might change depending on day. Cat Power is just always on heavy rotation. Sometimes I'm all Ann Miller and shit.
Hiromi: I think for you, I hear early Sinead O'Connor. Specifically, this one.
You'll have to log in--hopefully this isn't too much of a pain, it's a free registration and takes literally two seconds. Once you get in, click on the little blue "play" icon on the left-hand side next to the song name, and then when the song shows up in the "blog this track" thingie on the right, click the gray "play" icon on the sample player, and you can hear it.
Why this one? Well for one, the pacing and lovlieness of the voice reminds me of your writing voice. And the song's got this sense of a woman leaving some stuff behind, defining what she cares about, what she'll carry, what she'll let go, how she'll move forward. "I'm still wild, but not lost." I LOVE that line, and the way she delivers it. Shows her spirit isn't broken, that the fight is there, but she's coming to terms.
5. Posted by Miss Syl on November 4, 2006
I don't have a clue. If I had to pick I would probably look for Elvis or Sinatra, but then again, maybe not.
6. Posted by Jack on November 5, 2006
I'm flattered -- I love Sinead.
I'd like to answer your question about what I hear when I read your blog, but I'm more visual, so to me, it's still smoldering embers.
7. Posted by Hiromi on November 5, 2006
I dunno. Maybe The Minutemen? You tell me.
And Hiromi, you misspelled o-...uh, shutting up.
8. Posted by Ray on November 5, 2006
Or the first Dream Syndicate album.
By the way, not knowing what you look like, I've always pictured somebody who looks a lot like that picture.
9. Posted by Ray on November 5, 2006
Jack: Well, you pretty much can't go wrong with either of those guys.
Hiromi: I love Sinead, too. And if you do that STD warning "you've had sex with everyone the person you've had sex with had sex with" trail thing, I've actually had sex with her.
Ray: The Minutemen sounds perfect to me. Though sometimes, I hear The Cramps, too. You've got a lot of humor in there; but it's always cool even when it's funny. Just like them.
Hm, what do you get when you combinen The Minutemen and The Cramps? Maybe Iggy Pop?
Your blog would sound good with an Iggy Pop soundtrack, I think.
I've never known Dream Syndicate too well, so I can't speak to that one. But you're a musical guru, so I'm sure you're right.
Oh, and thank you for that lovely compliment. Well, that's what I wish people would think I looked like when they look at me. But I don't know if they do. Chan Marshall is exceptionally beautiful.
10. Posted by Miss Syl on November 5, 2006
Hell you know my blog's sountrack would be Motörhead and Wire and Thin White Rope and Miles Davis and John Coletrane, and Sly n' the Family Stone and P-funk and King Crimson.
But all played and the same time at maximum volume, 'til it sounds like cars crashing and rending, tearing metal.
Something like that. Because you know that's how the inside of my head sounds.
11. Posted by Elvis on November 5, 2006
Karl Elvis: Sounds like someone needs an aspirin and a head massage.
You forgot HooDoo Gurus. How could you?
You know, I saw one of my favorite bands, Ride, interviewed once, and they asked one of the songwriters what was the first sound he remembered hearing. He said he remembered hearing the Beatles playing with his mother Hoovering over it. And funnily, his band's music sounds just like that, in a way. Very melodic, but with this whoooooshhhh of noise over the top. Interesting.
I don't know why your comment made me think of that, but it did.
12. Posted by Miss Syl on November 5, 2006
What an interesting question, I have to admit that I have never thought that way about my blog before. It poses an interesting problem, since I blog about such a wide variety of subjects... would have to be a band or singer that has been around for a long time and tried a variety of styles. Maybe Eric Clapton is about as close as I can get right now. Not a bad choice I think.
13. Posted by ArtfulDodger on November 5, 2006
Dodger: Yes it's a good choice--classic. Though, to me, you seem more upbeat than Clapton, and certainly more sexy.
14. Posted by Miss Syl on November 5, 2006
Oh good question, but TOUGH!
Some days I would be very Death Cab For Cutie, haha. Other days I would totally be Foo Fighters:) But maybe I'm just picking who I like...
15. Posted by Notcarrie on November 5, 2006
NotCarrie: Picking who you like is an entirely valid method! I mean, don't we all like bands that speak personally to something deep inside us?
Your blog would need to have a rotating playlist, though, because you've got four women there, and they've all got their own distinct feel.
When I read your blog, I always think of something upbeat and poppy (but not in a gross way, in a good way, like Cornershop's "Brimful of Asha" or something, if a girl sang that). Your blog always cheers me up, for some reason, even when you lot aren't talking about happy things. You all just seem so *hopeful* and energetic.
Heh. I think your blog reminds me of that Petula Clark song "Downtown!" That's it! This one.
(See my comment to Hiromi to figure out how to play it)
16. Posted by Miss Syl on November 5, 2006
Syl, i forgot a hundred bands - XTC, the Gurus, a half-dozen prog bands, six or eight or ten jazz artists. In the end it all plays at once and grinds into a crashing rending mess.
And I like it.
17. Posted by Elvis on November 5, 2006
Karl Elvis: Of course I know you do, darlin'. I just wanted to find any old excuse to be able to give you a massage, dontcha know.
18. Posted by Miss Syl on November 5, 2006
You know, despite the exterior, I don't hear the ol' swing or anything when I think of my blog.
/WEIRD
19. Posted by The Retropolitan on November 5, 2006