Art Travels
Covers in Japan, John Craigie, The Fruit Bats, and Our Lady Peace
Hey, hey, hey
Only a river gonna make things right
Only a river gonna make things right
Only a river gonna make things right
-Bob Weir, Only a River (Lyrics by Josh Ritter)
Music is amazing. Bob Dylan sang the above lyrics this week in Japan. Side note: Bob Dylan is 81 and still performing internationally. Can you say GOAT?
Bob Dylan covered (live) the song “Only a River” by Bob Weir which was originally written by Josh Ritter from his college dorm. Imagine that. Josh wrote a song 20 plus years ago that was arranged and recorded by a legend (BOBBY!!!!) and then performed by THE legend. In Josh’s own words, “Art travels.”
Speaking of art that travels, this week’s Bonus Track features a little post-punk/Christian band from Europe whose music has traveled across the globe. And as always, here are three songs (hopefully) traveling to your Friday playlist.
Virgin Guitar by John Craigie (Ben)
This is an artist I’ve only listened to the last year or so. He offers great live songs and ridiculous (funny) stories. This track gives you a good feel for his acoustic foundation and clever lyrics, including the final line of the song, which serves as the name of the album: No Rain, No Rose.
Also available on Apple Music.
Rushin’ River Valley by the Fruit Bats (Kody)
Fruit Bats. Clever name. I’ve never dug into their catalog, but I recently heard this song from their new album while streamin’. (Thank you Spotify algorithm) I’m digging the funky, poppy, soulful, and dare I say, “fruity” sound I’m hearing. There are SO many sounds going on in this song, and they’re all somehow SO necessary. Enjoy this pick-me-up jam!
Also available on Apple Music.
Clumsy - Our Lady Peace (Jonathan)
The weight room in high school—besides the weights and the musty smell—the thing I remember most about that metal building is the music that was playing. My pick today is one song that we often lifted to. Clumsy is the title and was on a scratched up CD by the same name. This is probably the only album I listened to by Our Lady Peace. You could have told me they never produced another song after this one, but to my surprise they put out a new album just last year. Your may remember Our Lady Peace for their hit song “Superman’s Dead,” however Clumsy is the track that sticks out to me the most. Classic late 90’s rock, nothing like it.
Also available on Apple Music.
Bonus Track: 40 Years Running with U2 by Syler Thomas
I decided to highlight this little post-punk/Christian band from Europe, they’re pretty obscure, doubt you’ve heard of them. Two of the band members were born in England, with the other two born west of there. They originally named themselves after the drummer (The Larry Mullen Band), then were called Feedback. Ok I’ve given too much away to the loyal fans…I’m of course talking about one of the biggest bands in history, U2.
If you’re a person of a…certain age, you probably grew up loving them like I did. This is the ticket stub of the first concert of theirs I attended, my freshman year in high school. And because of their almost-unparalleled longevity as a band, I’ve been able to remain a fan for almost 40 years.
Of course if you’re in your late 20s, you’re probably still bitter that they shoved their music onto your iPhone back in 2014—lead singer Bono has taken full blame for that idea. Let me apologize again, on his behalf.
They’re still quite busy. They just released a long-form interview with David Letterman on Disney+. Bono just published his memoir, followed by a book tour/concert, and he’s still doing them in NYC right now (for those interested…he’s recording one for a film crew, meaning everyone will be able to see it soon). And you may have heard that the band (3/4ths of it anyway) is slated to christen a new performance space in Vegas in September, and it looks…incredible.
If you’re interested, I’ve ranked their albums here, and would love to hear your thoughts on that. Below, I’m going to share 3 (of the 234 songs they’ve published) you could check out.
1. Their best song (and even Vulture agrees with me) is Where the Streets Have No Name. The band has said that, no matter how a concert is going, when they sing this one…“God enters the room.” The creation of it was complicated, with multiple time signatures involved. The producer at one point was so frustrated with the process that he was about to intentionally erase all of their work so they’d have to start over. Thankfully, he didn’t, and it’s a masterpiece. The lyrics are inspired by Bono’s and his wife Ali’s visit to Ethiopia during the drought in the 80s, where a man handed Bono his infant son and said, in essence: take him, hopefully he can live. From that time, the song has always had an association with the continent of Africa, and this version, sung with the Soweto Gospel Choir, is one of the best:
2. The one I’ve been thinking about lately is one of the only songs where Bono doesn’t sing the lead vocal. It’s called The Wanderer, and was written for Johnny Cash to sing. It’s the final song on Zooropa, and is…oddly wonderful. It includes a great line, which many of us thought represented U2 at the time, and which is a pretty bad idea for a Christian, but is certainly how a lot of people live their lives:
I went out there In search of experience
To taste and to touch And to feel as much
As a man can Before he repents…
Yeah I left with nothing. Nothing but the thought of you
I went wandering
3. One of the band members once said about this song: “It took 10 minutes to write the lyrics, 10 minutes to write the music, 10 minutes to record, and 10 minutes to mix…and that has nothing to do with why it’s called 40.”
Appearing as the last song on the album War (and features the only time when The Edge and Adam Clayton switch instruments), the lyrics are taken from Psalm 40, and for years, it would be the song they’d end their concerts with. I recommend you check out the newest version, from their re-imagined album Songs of Surrender. It’s, appropriately, the 40th and final song on the album.
Syler Thomas is a Student Pastor in the Chicagoland area. His first CD was either Joshua Tree or REM Green, he can’t remember. One song sure to get him on the dance floor is Uptown Funk. We’re here for it!
What are you guys listening to this week? Respond via email or comment on the post. We always reply because we love love love swapping music.
-TheMusicSwap
Been rocking POD "The Fundamental Elements of Southtown" alot this week. old school agression.