First ever Song-Off! (makes me weak in the knees)
I have a friend out in them hills o’ Utah named Dainon who is a competitive chap in the best way. One of his joys is listening to fabulous music and then hosting song-offs with various other blogger friends. The concept is simple: on the same day we both pick a song (perhaps around a common topic) and you vote which one you like best, and then I win in a haze of glory. See — easy.
Since this is the short bleak month of February, punctuated by nothing but a big hot heart in the middle, our theme for this first Song-Off is love songs, specifically those that make you weak in the knees. This song, my contribution, not only makes me weak in the knees but it also makes my heart ache, and sometimes a lump forms hard in my throat.
Tidal Wave – David Gray
This song is about that amazing, spine-tingling moment where you know you’re in deep (and probably done for) but all you can manage is half-sentences remembering. Ever since your fingertips…. All your favorite eyelashes . . . Comin over Waterloo, dreaming of your hands. It is a tidal wave, every time. Maybe that’s why we keep doing it.
Ever since your fingertips…
Ever since your eyes…
Talking with the light on
Bluer skies
Even if I wanted to
How could I explain?
Coming through my head now
This tidal wave
All your favorite eyelashes
All your bluest skin
Bring them and I’ll meet you in
That room again
Even if I told it true
Why should they believe
Coming through my head now
This tidal wave
Tidal wave
Coming over Waterloo
Dreaming of your hands
Want to run away now
Foreign lands
Even as I lie with you
Listen to you breathe
Coming through my head yeah
This tidal wave
Tidal wave
Tidal wave
Dainon has made his selection here (I don’t know what he’s picked, as of this writing) and yeah, he is one of the next to the last romantics so I’m sure it’s good. But the question is….which love song is better? Vote here or there, we’ll tally them collectively.
But no, seriously. Can we please skip February 14th this year? Like a leap year, we’ll just vault over it.
Name: Heather Browne
I realize I’m going against a true classic here, but I’ve gotta cast my vote for the David Gray tune. It’s gorgeous… The verse that goes “All your favorite eyelashes/All your bluest skin/Bring them and I’ll meet you in/That room again” just slays me.
Barber — February 3, 2009 @ 8:17 am
Going with David Gray…..its a jem. I love your site Heather..you dont have to skip the 14th I will be your Valentine.
Jason — February 3, 2009 @ 9:24 am
roberta flack. i mean the sensuality and tenderness in her voice to match the lyrics. um love song…
but i will throw in my personal fav… come closer by my morning jacket. ohhh come closer… yep
michael
michael — February 3, 2009 @ 10:21 am
I’m a David Gray fan, and Tidal Wave is a favorite. However, the contest here is to pick the best “weak in the knees” love song. Listen to Roberta Flack’s voice and you’ll hear the ineluctable joy and fear and anxiety and elation that comes with falling in love. I believe that Roberta Flack truly feels what she’s singing. Gray, by comparison, sounds detached.
So my vote goes to Dainon. But Fuel/Friends is still my favorite music blog.
Tim — February 3, 2009 @ 10:46 am
I’m going to go with David Gray on this one. The lone acoustic guitar allows you to focus on his lyrics which are stellar. As well as a personal bias I’ll always take a folk song over a jazzy piano piece.
Adam — February 3, 2009 @ 11:03 am
Sorry. Roberta wins.
upto12 — February 3, 2009 @ 11:12 am
I’m going to have to side with Danion on this one. Sorry. However, Valentine’s Day was created by a big eastern syndicate and I agree with you that it should be stricken from the calender.
J — February 3, 2009 @ 11:18 am
Sorry, Heather. Danion went classic on you. Roberta takes this one…..
pappyD — February 3, 2009 @ 12:15 pm
I think you got this one hands down heather… amazing song, another on that just sort of kills me is fallig down the mountainside. I guess it’s the otherside of this song , when it’s all over- betrayal, and watching it disolve
i’m with you I am all holiday-ed out that’s for sure
no14th this month
kelly — February 3, 2009 @ 12:26 pm
Both great songs – but my vote is for David Gray, its less produced sound gives it more of a spontaneous stumble through the emotion quality for me.
brian — February 3, 2009 @ 1:19 pm
david gray. all the way.
it’s the type of song that forces you to listen over and over to make sure you heard the lyrics correctly. the words hit you after it’s over & you have to dig in again to have that feeling again.
Kristen — February 3, 2009 @ 1:23 pm
Sorry, but your friend wins. He chose one of my favorite songs of all time that also happened to be my wedding song – “First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” by Roberta Flack. Cool idea though!
muruch — February 3, 2009 @ 2:41 pm
not to knock roberta, but david gray.
pyneapple — February 3, 2009 @ 2:44 pm
A tough choice but i’m going to have to go for david gray. That may be because the memories that tidal wave evokes are very strong which means its done its job on me. I agree that roberta flack seems to have a more emotional performance but that dosen’t mean that tidal wave isn’t as heartfelt or moving to the listener. Incidentally my choice of the most romantic lyric has to be the old jimmy webb/glen campbell fave ‘wichita lineman’. Just for the line ‘i need you more than want you, but i want you for all time’. A backhanded compliment in a way but a very sweet sentiment, especially when sung by michael stipe on the live version R.E.M. did as a b-side.
Jim — February 3, 2009 @ 3:11 pm
David Gray – he doth babble on – and lazily too – where’s the heart clutching honesty of ‘They can’t take that away from me’? A tidal wave done knocked me over – ? Roberta- because it lives still and that’s the test as Shakespeare once defined it:So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see(or ears can hear), So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Russell — February 3, 2009 @ 3:24 pm
It’s a tough choice, but I’m giving this round to you.
Suzanne — February 3, 2009 @ 4:23 pm
I’m going with David Gray. While the other song is a classic, it has never made me weak in the knees.
Natalie — February 3, 2009 @ 4:51 pm
This was a tough decision. But I have to go with Roberta Flack’s “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.” And it mainly has to do with time of place, or is that time in place, or place in time? No…it’s time of year – 1972. A lot of stuff happened to a 16-year old kid back then. It really was the “first time” for many things. As I said, it was a hard choice. I love the guitar in Gray’s piece, and being partial to that instrument made my decision even harder.
TC — February 3, 2009 @ 7:24 pm
You rock, Heather! This was a hard one, honestly. You pick some hot stuff. Roberta Flack is a tough one to beat, but… Wow! As much as I love her voice, I have to go with David Gray. Everytime I hear him sing, I hear love. He could sing the phone book, and voila…love would happen.
Be well, and enjoy 2/14/09 with all its cupids and silly hearts and stuff.
chris — February 3, 2009 @ 8:41 pm
I, too, must vote for Roberta Anti-aircraft. It’s a song from my Jr. High days and made sigh back then and still has the same effect.
Alan — February 3, 2009 @ 9:07 pm
heather wins FOR SURE!
not only for nailing it but also for:
a) best name for a blog EVER
b) an easy download link that doesn’t install a virus
c) this:
This song is about that amazing, spine-tingling moment where you know you’re in deep (and probably done for) but all you can manage is half-sentences remembering. Ever since your fingertips…. All your favorite eyelashes . . . Comin over Waterloo, dreaming of your hands. It is a tidal wave, every time. Maybe that’s why we keep doing it.
d) romance oozes in the music–even if it had lyrics in a language you didn’t understand.
carly — February 3, 2009 @ 10:12 pm
I vote for this one. David Gray is a great artist. So I guess this is a vote for the artist.
Digging For Days
kip — February 4, 2009 @ 1:50 pm
Hey,
If you like the idea of competitive music, you should check out my good friend Justin’s blog.
It’s like the March Madness of rock.
http://rockthebracket.blogspot.com/
ian — February 4, 2009 @ 4:06 pm
Contest closed! Dainon won (omg)
It was 17 for me and 21 for him. Roberta does it for more of you. That leaves more David Gray lovin’ for me.
browneheather — February 5, 2009 @ 11:29 am
Hey there Heather, despite being a fan of David Gray since the early 90′s, I’ll have to go with the classic one on this.
I may have been persuaded to vote David Gray if you had gone with “Mystery of Love”, but that may be down to good memories.
great idea having a song-off.
I’ll be ready for the next one.
Gearóid — February 7, 2009 @ 5:35 am