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Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics

Sunday All Day Brunch: Art Inspired by Music

(Cross Posted from Street Prophets)

Welcome to Sunday All Day Brunch. This is an open topic thread so help yourself to the goodies and sit a spell and let us know what is new in you life. Today I thought I’d show how music sometimes influences my art. Often there will be lyrics in a song that causes a picture to pop into my mind. Here are three songs that came about because of music.

I Dreamed A Dream from Les Miserables

There was a time when men were kind

When their voices were soft

And their words inviting

There was a time when love was blind

And the world was a song

And the song was exciting

There was a time

Then it all went wrong

I dreamed a dream in time gone by

When hope was high

And life worth living

I dreamed that love would never die

I dreamed that God would be forgiving

Then I was young and unafraid

And dreams were made and used and wasted

There was no ransom to be paid

No song unsung, no wine untasted

But the tigers come at night

With their voices soft as thunder

As they tear your hope apart

As they turn your dream to shame

He slept a summer by my side

He filled my days with endless wonder

He took my childhood in his stride

But he was gone when autumn came

And still I dream he’ll come to me

That we will live the years together

But there are dreams that cannot be

And there are storms we cannot weather

I had a dream my life would be

So different from this hell I’m living

So different now from what it seemed

Now life has killed the dream I dreamed.

 photo IDreamedADream2-1_zps571f0675.jpg

The Moons A Harsh Mistress

By Jimmy Webb

See her how she flies

Golden sails across the sky

Close enough to touch

But careful if you try

Though she looks as warm as gold

The moon’s a harsh mistress

The moon can be so cold

Once the sun did shine

Lord, it felt so fine

The moon a phantom rose

Through the mountains and the pines

And then the darkness fell

And the moon’s a harsh mistress

It’s so hard to love her well

I fell out of her eyes

I fell out of her heart

I fell down on my face

Yes, I did, and I — I tripped and I missed my star

God, I fell and I fell alone, I fell alone

And the moon’s a harsh mistress


And the sky is made of stone

The moon’s a harsh mistress

She’s hard to call your own.

Falling photo Falling_zps06aa05a4.jpg

Brave

Josh Groban

Wake up, wake up, the sun cannot wait for long.

Reach out, reach out before it fades away.

You will find the warmth when you surrender.

Smile into the fear and let it play.

You wanna run away, run away and you say that it can’t be so.

You wanna look away, look away but you stay cause’ it’s all so close.

When you stand up and hold out your hand.

In the face of what I don’t understand.

My reason to be brave.

Hold on, hold on, so strong, time just carries on.

And all that you thought was wrong is pure again.

You can’t hide forever from the thunder.

Look into the storm and feel the rain.

You wanna run away, run away and you say that it can’t be so.

You wanna look away, look away but you stay cause’ it’s all so close.

When you stand up and hold out your hand.

In the face of what I don’t understand.

My reason to be brave.

Whoa (x 4)

Go on, go on…

You wanna run away, run away and you say that it can’t be so.

You wanna look away, look away but you stay cause’ it’s all so close.

When you stand up and hold out your hand.

In the face of what I don’t understand.

My reason to be brave.

Brave photo Brave_zpseeec7059.jpg


3 comments

  1. dear occupant

    of the music i listened to while writing a particular diary. we all have our own distinct reactions to lyrics and music, but i always found it helpful and fascinating when artists revealed their inspiration like you have.

    thanks for sharing these, they’re beautiful.

  2. zenor

    Work in and she liked my songs and playing.

    She played classical and put a piano in her studio.

    Often for hours, without a spoken word between us, she would sketch and paint and I would write, sing and play. Occasionally, she would drift over my way a little, sometimes singing along in harmony, and other sometimes i’d stroll near enough to see how she was working on.

    I wrote a real good core of good songs with her piano. She recorded me once in a while to keep a chance to hear things again.

    So we always had an extra muse to draw on, and a different medium to react to. Until she moved on to CA.. I helped her sell a painting, once. A newspaper columnist visited her studio for a column and bought one he liked. That was a very long 30 years ago I must say.

    When I sing and play, there are always dreamic visions to vaguely watch with my fingers deciding what’s the next note and chord and my eyes trying to keep up with what they are doing as my ear conducts them both unbeknownst.

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