Sell All My Things

I'm about to sell most of my things, uproot myself from my ancestral grounds here in Georgia and hug a ton of trees in New Hampshire. I am very excited. A little scared. A little surprised at my own moxie and determination to turn my life into an interesting story...er, song.

Who knows what will happen!?! I could hate it...I could love it. I could discover some crazy path I would never have dreamed my life would take. But I know if I stay here, suffocating in my consumerist home, driven to work a day job I can't stand solely to pay for four walls and a roof for things I don't need....work, sleep, repeat....I'll become old, wrinkled, bitter and sad long before my time. I want my exuberance back! I want my zeal! I want to sell (almost) all my things and be free!

I have a lot of sorting to do and thought I'd blog my way through my vinyl collection...so be on the lookout for some posts about my more eccentric records. In the meantime, I was thinking about my friend Rosie Thomas's song Sell All My Things all day today...her lyrics are right on. As this generation's most talented and thoughtful Indie Folk artist, Rosie will definitely get more blog love from me later. For now, just enjoy her beautiful voice and her band's sweet arrangements and maybe contemplate getting rid of some stuff (or relationships) you don't need. You won't miss it. Promise.

Cute story: Rosie and I met in the ladies' bathroom of Joe's Coffee in East Atlanta before her show in 2003 (or 2002?) at The Earl. It made for a cute photo-op later with some TP rolls which I sadly lost in an unfortunate late-night camera-meets-toilet incident. A fitting end anyway...

Wild Is The Wind, Redux

Here's the first piece I ever wrote about music on my other blog. I don't know what it is about this song that haunts me. I remember listening to it over and over as a teenager and now that I've been in and out of love again and again...and again, I wonder what on earth I could have identified with in this brilliant piece of music at the age of 16? Just like life, it's not the song itself that's necessarily amazing, it's Nina's interpretation. She really takes my breath away. Hope you enjoy it...

I love Nina Simone's 1954 album Ne Me Quitte Pas. Particularly for her haunting version of Wild Is The Wind which is at once desperately longing and passionately hopeful; it is impossible to listen to this song on a cool, blustery day like today and not feel the damp soul of the love that she sings about creep up and raise the hair on the back of your neck. *Shiver*

I love that she can spin lyrics that belong on a warm beach somewhere into a cold, sad mist that makes you want to wrap your jacket a little tighter around. I have a deep affection for jazz and the emotion that it can conjure in even the most stoic of persons, and if anyone is a conjurer of emotion it's Nina Simone - I need talk therapy and meds following an afternoon of her music but, ohhh, is it ever worth it. Richie Unterberger of All Music Guide describes her interpretation of Jacques Brel's Ne Me Quitte Pas as mournful and I couldn't agree more, there is a mournful tenderness to her voice that seems to express how much she had lived and loved.
Copyright © 2008 A Southern Belle Goes to Paris, y'all.
Some of you younger kids will connect with Feist's version of Nina's version of See-Line Woman (Sea Lion Woman) but you should really give Nina's take a go...find out for yourself how great her music is. Ne Me Quitte Pas appears to be out of print so unless you want to shell out over $60 for the import, I'd recommend Anthology, Wild Is The Wind or Finest Hour to start with - you can graduate to the 4-disc set To Be Free when you fall in love with her. Just stay away from grain alcohol and sharps while listening and maybe give your folks a call afterward...