Jane Siberry.

Jane Siberry is a Canadian singer/songwriter who achieved a fair measure of popularity in the 80′s with her first few albums but then evolved into a more jazz like mode and became much less visible though she has a very loyal band of followers, among which is me! I met her about a year ago and she is just as sweet and gentle in person as she appears on stage. She is also one of those rare artists who cannot be pigeon holed, she travels her own road and a strange one it is at times.

Love is Everything.

maybe it was to learn how to love
maybe it was to learn how to leave
maybe it was for the games we played
maybe it was to learn how to choose
maybe it was to learn how to lose
maybe it was for the love we made

love is everything they said it would be
love made sweet and sad the same
but love forgot to make me too blind to see
you’re chickening out aren’t you?
you’re bangin’ on the beach like an old tin drum
i can’t wait ’til you make the whole kingdom come
so i’m leaving

maybe it was to learn how to fight
maybe it was for the lesson in pride
maybe it was the cowboys’ ways
maybe it was to learn not to lie
maybe it was to learn how to cry
maybe it was for the love we made

love is everything they said it would be
love did not hold back the reins
but love forgot to make me too blind to see
you’re chickening out aren’t you?
you’re bangin’ on the beach like an old tin drum
i can’t wait til you make the whole kingdom come
so i’m leaving

*first he turns to you*
*then he turns to her*
*so you try to hurt him back*
*but it breaks your body down*
*so you try to love bigger*
*bigger still*
*but it…it’s too late*

so take a lesson from the strangeness you feel
and know you’ll never be the same
and find it in your heart to kneel down and say
i gave my love didn’t i?
and i gave it big…sometimes
and i gave it in my own sweet time
i’m just leaving

Unlike the very famous also Canadian Joni Mitchell whose banal lyrics such as ‘ something’s lost and something’s gained’, JS tells, albeit tentatively, what you gain from loss and in such a way as to make it heartbreaking but also with a mature acceptance that says, as they say, ‘shit happens’. There is also a sense of an amused detachment, a looking on from the outside. Sometimes lines seem a bit ‘non-sequitur-ish’ but there can be mystery in that too, not everything can be explained away. Reminds me of the poet Philip Larkin on being shocked at seeing his father’s name on his tombstone which was the same as his, “reeling away and there came the image of vomiting into a homburger hat”. Try to figure that one out. Maybe it’s part of the attribute of being a poet that these images come unbidden as do words and phrases that make sense on a sub-conscious level.

Then there is the strange music and harmonies she produces, it may take a little getting used to, as does her voice which seems to be one of those people either like or don’t like, just one of those peculiar things about music, or more about the musical tastes of people.

So try this one, see what you think.

I also like to mention that without a decent sound system on the computer it doesn’t do justice to music.

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Posted by ligneus1 on Dec 26, 2008 in Uncategorized | 2 comments

2 Comments

  1. zee
    Dec 30, 2008

    O.K. Ya got me with this one Lig. I love her voice, her execution. I’d like to hear more of her. I wonder if she is on imeem (in the sidebar). I’ll put her in the selection of tunes.
    I think I do not pursue music much anymore because I’ve a rather truncated emotional response – by design – a limited range of emotion, if you will. Music takes me to places I haven’t the particular courage to go. And so, I imagine, would poetry if I had the patience for it. I do thank you for sharing this.

    You know, I do have this video I wanted to post. I am bewildered I am so taken with it. It is music, but the star is dance, and to my untrained eye ,it looked magnificent, but, I was actually shy to trot out my untutored tastes. The last time I listened to music was a good 10 years ago and it was metal and Alice in Chains, Gravity Kills type spirit, which was harsh, angry – but damn good for lifting weights. Then, as time went on, I quit listening to music for the most part.
    Ah well, be that as it may, perhaps I’ll venture forth with my video and see what you think.

  2. ligneus1
    Dec 30, 2008

    Hi Zee, It was with some trepidation I posted this so I’m extra pleased you liked it, I didn’t think you would! There are several of her songs on You Tube, including The Taxi Ride, another ‘leaving’ song, an early one.
    Another early one I liked that I can’t find on line is Writers are a Funny Breed, here are the words for it.

    It is very quiet here–so still
    I don’t live here–I live down the hill
    On this winter’s afternoon
    The distant sun–it slowly swings the room around
    This room hangs on a golden chain
    Suspended
    Frozen
    Frozen in time since you went away

    Walking through your rooms I touch your things
    Flitting–these aren’t fingers these are wings
    It says April on your calendar
    It’s winter now–I wonder where you are
    I hope it’s warm and sunny–or cold and windy
    As long as you’re fine

    Your house is as tumble-down as mine
    Crumpled papers everywhere like mine
    This one says “I’ll write no more”
    That one says “don’t lock the door”
    Writers are a funny breed
    I should know

    You said someday when we’re pure and high
    We won’t need to capture and describe
    The things we see or don’t see
    We’ll let things be
    Let things be
    That’s when you’d leave

    And that is why I had to come today
    My mad scribbling crumpled, crippled, fey
    Tossing words from ledges that erode
    From ledges–I am not a goat
    I am not a piece of chalk
    I just want to do it right like you

    And now I stand here in your house
    Everything’s so still
    I wonder if I’ll write again
    Or let things be
    Writers are a funny breed

    That was on her first album, if I had my turntable fixed up I could burn you a CD and send it.

    Do post your video, and don’t worry about untutored tastes, think of all the academics with ‘tutored’ taste who don’t have a clue. That’s the great thing about art and music, you can learn much by just experiencing it.
    I can imagine heavy metal would be good for weight training, almost made for it!

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