Love Song In The Making

You can read my regular blog HERE if you want to know why I'm super excited about sharing this post (and corresponding song) with you.  But for this blog, the following introduction will suffice:

One of my former team members at Progressive (Ryan Walter) is quite an accomplished and talented guitar player.  He is actually a part of a local group called the Martini Shot Band, which has performed hundreds of times in Pueblo, Colorado Springs, and several times in Denver as well.  Long story short, he introduced me to some of the band's music and several of their songs are now among my all time favorites.  This is one of them.

Love Song In The Making ... by Martini Shot Band

The video linked above is my own creation !  I am not super proud of it and in no way think it is very well done.  But it's my creation and is filled with pictures from our (my wife and I) recent cruise.  My favorite part of the song though is in the middle section when my buddy Ryan gets to do a pretty cool guitar solo.  The chords that scale upwards to a crescendo of some fancy string picking are just fun to listen to ... and even more fun to see Ryan play in person!

I hope you like the song and the video ...

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Come What May ... and ... I See The Light

People often seem surprised when finding out that actors and actresses can "carry a tune" but I'm never surprised by that!  I believe most everyone can sing decently, and with a little coaching and work, most people can sing very well.  It IS, however, a surprise when actors and actresses sing a song that becomes a huge favorite for me.  There are, thus far, only two such songs that "make the grade" for me.

Come What May (from Moulin Rouge)

 ... by Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman

I See The Light (from Tangled)

 ... by Zachary Levi and Mandy Moore

To be fair, Mandy Moore is a singer turned actress turned singer, so she is in a different category, but the other three are clearly actors and an actress, but they all sing very well.  Nicole Kidman's voice is not very strong, but it is just as beautiful as she has been in most of her movies.  And the boys?  Ewan and Zachary?  They can seriously carry their own!  I saw Zachary perform on the Oscars and he sounded great!  And Ewan has done some Broadway stuff so you know he's good.

Come What May has a "we can overcome anything" sort of feeling to it, which is needed in any really strong relationship.  There are times when you almost have to shout your love and commitment and the slow build to that climax in this song is one of the best I have ever heard, movie-related or not!

I See The Light is perfect for a Disney movie, but as a stand alone song about perspectives being changed and new light being shed on how you see another person, it is even more amazing!  A duet, with minimal background sound, makes each note more important.  The harmony between tenor and alto parts is so beautiful that I literally cried the first time I heard the song (with my oldest daughter, in the movie theater).

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A Thousand Years

Sigh.

I was hoping to never have ANY tie-in on this blog to those vampire / werewolf movies ... but this song is just too beautiful and poetic to NOT do a post on it!

A Thousand Years ... by Christina Perri

Of course her success with the song Jar Of Hearts, put Christina Perri in a position to write a song for these movies.  Her voice is haunting and her delivery of the words she writes is perfectly suited to a vampire movie.  This is an eerie song that carries a message of love which works equally well for the undead as it does for anyone (like me) who believes in eternal marriage.

And my wife is a fan of those books and movies, so they can't be ALL that bad!  :)

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Glory Of Love

This song is a two-fer because it's both "from a movie" and "linked to a memory" for me personally.

Glory Of Love ... by Peter Cetera

If you don't remember Karate Kid then you must not have lived in the 80's!  Ralph Macchio was "it" at the time and this song was from the second movie, where he falls in love with an asian girl ... and then fights to defend her honor and show his love for her, etc.


The "memory" for me on this one actually comes from years later at a church dance.  There was a girl I really liked (at the time) and she didn't even know I existed (or so I thought).  I had never asked her to dance but finally worked up the courage to do so when this song began to play.  She said yes and we danced ... and that's about the end of the story.  :)  I wasn't even 16 yet so we didn't "date" or anything, but that moment still sticks out in my memory whenever I hear this song.  Weird.

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Higher Love

Many people have forgotten about great artists like Steve Winwood, who had numerous hits in the 80's.  I am grateful that some of that music is now played more regularly on local, adult contemporary radio stations.

Higher Love ... by Steve Winwood

Another one of my all-time favorite songs, this one has some the best blend of guitar, techno-synthesizer, horns (trumpets, saxophones, etc.), and "a cappella with drums" sound amidst a decade-plus of that type of music.  The intro to the song always gives me a sense of something cool just around the corner ... and the rest of the song doesn't disappoint!

BONUS SONG:

My Love's Leavin' ... by Steve Winwood

Such an upbeat song despite the sad circumstances that his love has left him.  Oddly, he doesn't seem too broken up about it and is trying to move on.  Very opposite from "Higher Love" but still beautiful.

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All Your Life

I enjoy country music but I have plenty of friends who have no appreciation for it whatsoever.  That's fine, but I think they are missing out on some seriously good songs with their disdain for that genre.

One of my favorite recent country songs is by The Band Perry.  No, not "If I Die Young," which was already overplayed on country radio before it became a huge crossover hit.  I actually don't like that song much at all.

But I love ... "All Your Life" ... which (at the moment) is their newest single.

Yes it is a love song.  Yes it is a little cliche in that the woman is only asking to be loved by some man that doesn't seem to even know she exists.  So what?!  The music is a simple arrangement and yet very beautiful.  And the resounding li-i-i-ife portions of the chorus are hypnotic and impossible not to sing along with.

My advice?  Don't hate on country music or you'll miss out on some of the best stuff out there!

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