He who has Ears

installment number 4:

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Tracks and Details:

Artist- Song (Album)

• comments

1. Sufjan Stevens- All the Trees of the Field Will Clap Their Hands (Seven Swans)

• This is such a great song, the title comes from Isaiah 55:12 which in full says “You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.” It’s passages like this that make you wonder how most christian songs can choose the passages that say things like “You are the whisper in my heart that speaks to me” (actual quote). If you don’t like Sufjan Stevens yet, here’s a series of pictures to convince you otherwise:

2. Mountain Goats- 1 Samuel 15:23 (The Life of the World to Come)

• This is a really beautiful song, and a great album by John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats. The whole album is inspired by stories of the bible, very interesting. Again, not necessarily anything John Darnielle is claiming to believe in, but he found several stories from the bible fascinating and wrote songs based on several. If you’re interested in anything else by the Mountain Goats, check out this crazy video for Woke Up New:

3. Della Daniels And Ester Mae Smith- Jesus Builds A Fence Around Me (Como Now: The Voices of Panola County, MS)

• This is a really interesting song. The album is from that same distribution label that sent me the Gospel Queens of Brooklyn that I played last week.This whole album is acappella gospel songs from a bunch of church choirs in Panola County, Ms. Pretty simple concept, and it turned out really cool.

4. The Golden Gate Quartet & Josh White- Noah (Freedom)

• I don’t know much about this group, but I got the album from the UGA music library, so if you’ve got a UGA student id and a laptop, go get it. Expect to hear some more songs from this group though cause I really enjoy the album…

5. Vollmar- How Far Can The Wise Man Spread His Wings (Every Place Is Home)

• I just learned about Vollmar this week. This song in particular reminds me a lot of early recordings of some Okkervil River songs (Happy Hearts from their first album?). After I listened to this album and really enjoyed it I realized that they were from Bloomington, Indiana. This seems to happen every time I start to like a band. Bloomington must have an awesome music scene.The whole album is very simplistic folk, the kind of stuff you would here me usually play on Friendly Folk, if you’re familiar with the show.

6. The Spirit of Israel & Soul Messengers- Daniel (Soul Messages from Dimona)

• The Spirit of Israel & Soul Messengers is a really interesting group that incorporates influences from traditional Detroit gospel and Black Hebrew culture and I’m assuming everything in between into their music. Check out what they look like:

7. mewithoutYou- The Sun & The Moon (Brother, Sister)

• Of course I had to end with another mewithoutYou song. I probably chose this song because it mentions Daniel in the first verse and I thought it was fitting right after that last song.Listen closely though, the song is splendid.

Lyrics of the week………………

although I’m tempted to give mewithoutYou a 3rd award, I’m gonna go ahead and give this one to our good friend Sufjan Stevens for the song All the Trees of the Field Will Clap Their Hands- the title alone is enough to do it. The lyrics are as follows:

If I am alive this time next year
Will I have arrived in time to share
And my eye is about as good this far
And I’m still applied to what you are

And I am joining all my thoughts to You
And I’m preparing every part for You

And I heard from the trees a great parade
And I Heard from the hills a band was made
And will I be invited to the sound
And will I be a part of what you’ve made

And I am throwing all my thoughts away
And I’m destroying every bet I’ve made
And I am joining all my thoughts to You

And I’m preparing every part for You

For You

Hey everyone, now that we have the whole second episode thing figured out, we can post the 3rd. So here it is:

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This installment begins with the single greatest introduction I’ve ever recieved from another DJ. Jack Ritchie closed out his show, and then introduced my show while playing the banjo. I had no idea he was that good. Anyway I tried to hold the attention of his loyal listeners by transitioning quickly into the following songs:

Artist- Song (Album)

additional thoughts

1. Shirley Caesar- Gotta Serve Somebody (Gotta Serve Somebody0 The Gospel Songs of Bob Dylan)

This is a cool intro song from a tribute album to Bob Dylan (but also featuring him). I said the album was produced by dyaln, but I was actually wrong cause its just a bunch of renditions of songs from the original Bob Dylan album Slow Train coming. It’s an interesting album either way, and it can be found in the UGA music library for anyone who has a valid UGA student ID…

2. The Soul Stirrers- His Eye Is On The Sparrow (When Gospel Was Gospel)

Really pretty old tune. The singers from this recording have really beautiful voices. Just a pleasant song, plain and simple.

3. Woody Guthrie- They Laid Jesus Christ In His Grave (Library of Congress Recordings [Disc 2])

A wonderful Woody Guthrie song (redundant?) about the life of Jesus. Like most of Guthrie’s songs its very simplistic, but somehow makes me think more than the average song would. What a guy.

4. Danielson Family- Pottymouth (Tri-Danielson)

This song’s lesson is simple: if you swear, the Danielson Family sisters will not kiss you. Lesson learned. The Danielson Family, headed by Daniel Smith, is a family band that has somehow made dozens of christian albums that hit it big in the indie scene. Once he made it somewhat big, he began producing other artists, including Sufjan Stevens. Sufjan working with Danielson and his rise to critical acclaim is all documented in the very interesting documentary “Danielson: A Family Movie.” Here’s the trailer, I highly recommend it:

5. Half-Handed Cloud- We Don’t Know How It Grows (We Haven’t Just Been Told We’ve Been Loved)

Another artist who was involved with Danielson and the record labels he manages. Half-handed Cloud has some interesting stuff, usually doing very short, ultra twee songs based on scriptures.  Very enjoyable.

6. Timothy Hay- mewithoutYou (It’s All Crazy! It’s All False! It’s All A Dream! It’s Alright)

If there was one album that inspired me to create this show, it’s this one. It came out in the summer of ‘09 and I haven’t stopped listening to it since. In fact, check out this music video for another track from the album: 

However, the song I played, “Timothy Hay,” caught my attention early on, because of it’s cryptic, beautiful lyrics, and because of the poignient musical climax where Aaron Weiss sings “What a beautiful God there must be!” Man thats a fantastic song. And even though we’re only 3 episodes in, I’m gonna give the lyrics of the week award to mewithoutYou again. Yes I’m biased, but it’s my show and Aaron Weiss is an incredible lyricist. I won’t go too far into analyzing what it means, cause I have no way of knowing what he was thinking, but I believe Sister Margaret is a woman that he works with in a drug rehab program in Philadelphia. They were arrested in DC at a protest at one point, and the rest is up for interpretation of course.

7. Naomi Shelton & The Gospel Queens (What Have You Done, My Brother?)

Wow, she has some pipes. I had the distinct honor of seeing this group live while I was in New York this past December, and I even got a chance to solicit music from them after the show, hence this song in the playlist. Anyway this is a really cool group from Brooklyn and they’re produced by Daptone Records who puts out lot of great artists like it. They were nice enough to send me some music, so buy something from them if you ever get a chance, they’re nice people.

Lyrics of the week: mewithoutYou- “Timothy Hay”

On a cold december just before dawn as the sun said hello to the sky
the mantis prayed while the lamelacorn tunneled and rolled in a threadbare tie
the holland lops in the karakon glades indignantly thumped their feet
and hopped away when they cut their noses on the sharp tipped blades
[which the grass doesn't mind in the least]
there’s a heat pad waitin in the chicken wire hutch where the does from the netherlands stay
but that dry alphalpha don’t taste like much and we’re tired of the timothy hay
[hey]

I touched her back she was lying face down the dew turned to frost in her eye
me and Sister Margaret on the Pentagon lawn with our wrists in a plastic tie
while the rats by the tracks on these winter days seeking shelter from the cold
make a nest in the tracks of our various ways that they can save their immortal souls

no timothy hay
oh no timothy hay
please no more timothy hay
no more timothy hay
oh no, no more timothy hay
no, no more timothy hay
oh no, no more timothy hay
no more timothy hay!

on a cold December just after dusk as the sun bid its cordial goodbyes
he’ll be split to pieces like an apple seed husk to reveal the tree that’d been hidden inside
which sappling called in a tattered sirrah as the seeds from the shepherd’s purse fell
broke the news to mom “we’ve found a better mom we call God,” which she took quite well

What a beautiful God
What a beautiful God
What a beautiful God there must be
What a beautiful God
What a beautiful God
What a beautiful God you must be

Unfortunately the recording of this precious episode has been lost due to some technical malfunction that the Digital media director tried to explain to my very nontechnical mind. All I understood was it was no one’s fault, but there is no way to retrieve it. So in case you were listening and wondered about the tracks that I played, I’ll go ahead and post them and follow the format I set up with the first show.

0. Artist-Song (Album)
additional thoughts

1. Talking Heads -  Take me to the River  (More Songs About Buildings & Food)

Apparently David Byrne has a long standing fascination with gospel music.  This song in particularly is an interesting variation on the song wade in the water, or at least has similar themes. David Byrne worked with Brian Eno on an album inspired entirely by gospel music called “Everything that Happens will Happen Today.” I’m excited to get a hold of this stuff and play some on later episodes. Here’s an article that goes into greater detail about the album and Byrne’s particular interests in gospel music: http://www.davidbyrne.com/music/cds/everything_that_happens/index.php

2. Blind Boys of Alabama- Wade In The Water (Higher Ground)

Not much to say here, just a classic hymn by a really cool group of actually blind old guys from Alabama, exactly what it sounds like it would be, really cool.

3. Dr. John- Lay My Burden Down (N’awlinz: Dis, Dat Or D’Udda)

Pretty much the only gospel related song on this awesome New Orleans themed album from Dr. John. I also mentioned that I first heard Dr. John in the Martin Scorsese film “The Last Waltz” in which he documents the final concert put on by The Band. Look it up, its a great movie.

4. The Welcome Wagon- But For You Who Fear My Name (Welcome To The Welcome Wagon)

This is an incredible song based on a verse found in Malachi 4, it’s a beautiful song, and in fact it wins this week’s lyric of the week award, so I’ll post the entire song below. As far as the actual group, it’s a pastor and his wife who run a church in Brooklyn. The album, as you can hear very clearly in the sound, is produced by Sufjan Stevens.

5. Tom Waits- Take Care of All of My Children (Orphans: Bawlers [Disc 2])

One of my favorite artists of all time, singing his version of an interesting old spiritual song, off of one of my favorite albums. You can never go wrong with Tom Waits.

6. Leadbelly- Every Time I See The Spirit/ Swing Low Sweet Chariot/ They Hung Him On A Cross (from a “Classic African American Gospel” compilation)

3 interesting old folk gospel songs played quickly back to back by our old friend Leadbelly to what sounds like a small, engaged crowd

7. As Cities Burn- Pirate Blues (Hell or High Water)

This is an interesting song, a little different than what I usually play on this show (as of the second episode…), but I really enjoy this album. This song is probably my favorite from “Hell or High Water,” he talks about his parents and past and lots of stuff, the lyrics are interesting.

Speaking of lyrics, here are the song lyrics of the week:

The Welcome Wagon “But For You Who Fear My Name”

But for you who fear my name
The son of Righteousness will rise
with healing in his wings
and you shall go forth again
and skip about like calfs
coming from their stalls at last

You shall be my very own
on the day that I
cause you to be my special home.
I shall spare you as a man
who has compasion on his son
who does the best he can

But for you who fear my name
the son of righteousness will rise
with healing in his wings
and you shall go forth again
and skip about like calfs
coming from their stalls at last

Here’s the very first episode. To learn about the theme and other basics of the show, check out the “about” link above.

Comment with any input or questions whatsoever, thanks for listening!

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So I’m sitting here listening to my first show recording and searching netflix instant watch for a comedy mindless enough to lower me into a vegetable-like state of sleep (ah Don’t Mess With the Zohan, yes that’ll work) and I just reached the end of the recording and realized that it cuts off before the end of In A Sweater Poorly Knit. NOOOO!!!!! That’s like my favorite song ever. Sorry about that, here’s the rest of the song:

and heres the set list for the show artist- song (album):

1. Johnny Cash- The Man Comes Around (American IV: The Man Comes Around)

2. Billy Bragg & Wilco- Airline to Heaven (Mermaid Avenue Vol. 2)

3. Violent Femmes- It’s Gonna Rain (Hallowed Ground)

——Break——

4. Dorothy Love Coates & The Original Gospel Harmonettes- You Better Run

5. Royal City- You Are The Vine (Alone at the Microphone)

6. Sufjan Stevens- You Woke Me Up Again (Seven Swans)

7. mewithoutYou- In A Sweater Poorly Knit (Brother, Sister)

And I think I’ll add one more segment called lyrics of the week, the first of which will be awarded to In A Sweater Poorly Knit:

In a sweater poorly knit and an unsuspecting smile
Little Moses drifts downstream in the Nile
A fumbling reply an awkward rigid laugh
And I’m carried helpless by my floating basket raft

Your flavor in my mind is back and forth between
Sweeter than any wine and as bitter as mustard greens
And it’s light and dark as honeydew and pumpernickel bread
The trap I set for you seems to have caught my leg instead

Go plow some other field and try and forget my name
We’ll see what harvest yields and supposing I do the same
I planted rows of peas- by the first week of July
they should have come up to my knees but they were maybe ankle high

Take the fingers from your flute to weave your colored yarns
And boil down your fruit to preserves in mason jars
And the books are overdue and the goats are underfed
The trap I set for you seems to have caught my leg instead

You’re a door without a key a field without a fence
You made a holy fool of me and I thanked you ever since
And if she comes circling back we’ll end where we begun
Like two pennies on a train track a train crushed into one

But if I’m a crown without a king if I’m a broken open seed
If I come without a thing then I come with all I need
No boat out in the blue no place to rest your head
The trap I set for you seems to have caught my leg instead

I do not exist. I do not exist. I do not exist.
I do not exist. Only you exist. I do not exist.

Written by Aaron Weiss of mewithoutYou

not to be a fanboy but that song is peepantsingly fantastic