Today's DailyOM Offerings...
January 31, 2012
Always on My Mind
Willie Nelson
1982
The warm, clear, warbling twang of Willie Nelson is easily one of the most recognizable voices in American music. Over the past half-century, he’s written immortal songs like “Night Life” and “Crazy,” helped define the genre of “rebel country” along with fellow legends and sometime bandmates, Wayland Jennings, Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson, leant his voice to progressive causes from his own Farm Aid to Habitat for Horses to UNICEF and, with albums like this one, established himself as the foremost singer of mellow, country-flavored blue-eyed soul. This 1982 release is short, sweet and straight ahead. It offers 10 fairly simple arrangements of standards touching on rock, honky tonk, and R&B, all built around Willie’s soaring, sentimental vocals.
The album’s title track, a real heartstring-tugger, is it’s most heavily produced. It begins simply. Over gentle piano, Willie sings about the failings of a lover with his typical phrasing: casual, like he’s speaking off the cuff between sips of whiskey or cigarette puffs, with vibrato-filled lifts in just the right spots. His vocal instrument is emphasized with a heavy echo effect here and he gets backing female vocals on the verses and choral harmonies on the refrains. There are synthesizer chords, an electric guitar solo and harmonica shadings, but all of this is mere atmospherics. The real point here is an emotional monologue delivered by a master storyteller.
Willie has a more impressionistic tale to tell when he takes on Procol Harum’s soulful rock adaptation of a Bach tune, “Whiter Shade of Pale.” Here he gets some help from kindred spirit Wayland Jennings, who offers up some Elvis-style country crooning. These two richly textured voices sound beautiful “skipping the light fandango” together as they harmonize. Willie is at his absolute best though, when the most is asked of his voice alone. Wisely, he is given the great pop anthem, “Bridge over Troubled Water” to carry without harmonizers or choirs or synthesizers. He saunters into the verses with that colloquial air that makes you feel like his hand is on your shoulder, and then lets his voice glide into the powerful current of that chorus, soaring and rippling. It’s such a unique sound that you’ll want to hang with him, even as the urge swells to bust out those notes yourself.
January 31, 2012
A Secure Life
Sagittarius Daily Horoscope
Issues of simple survival or security may be on your mind today. Life's little details and mundane matters could take on new roles of importance, particularly if you have lately desired a greater sense of stability. Even if you've never been very domestic or goal-oriented, today could be the day you begin to recognize the importance of taking ownership of your responsibilities. You can put these impulses to work for you by considering how to use your responsibilities to help you grow as an individual. You may want to assume greater power over your finances or let your current work responsibilities move you toward a new career. The small duties you take on with authority today can lead to your feeling a greater sense of security because you will realize your ability to guide your life's direction.
Accepting your responsibilities can help you feel more secure with your life. We are often called upon to do so much, and it can be tempting to rebel or feel overwhelmed by our myriad duties. Becoming aware of what you need to do can help you manage your life better. It can also give you the sense of assurance and stability that comes with knowing what your responsibilities are and feeling that you are equipped to handle them. When you take ownership of your responsibilities, you can then grow your skills in relation to them. Our responsibilities are constants that can create structure and stability in our life. Accepting your responsibilities may be all it takes today to experience a more secure existence.
January 31, 2012
Clinging to the Core
When Our World Falls Apart
When external factors shift we have an opportunity to rediscover our core which is the only truly safe place to call home.
There are times when our whole world seems to be falling apart around us, and we are not sure what to hold onto anymore. Sometimes our relationships crumble and sometimes it’s our physical environment. At other times, we can’t put our finger on it, but we feel as if all the walls have fallen down around us and we are standing with nothing to lean on, exposed and vulnerable. These are the times in our lives when we are given an opportunity to see where we have established our sense of identity, safety, and well-being. And while it is perfectly natural and part of our process to locate our sense of self in externals, any time those external factors shift, we have an opportunity to rediscover and move closer to our core, which is the only truly safe place to call home.
The core of our being is not affected by the shifting winds of circumstance or subject to the cycles of change that govern physical reality. It is as steady and consistent as the sun, which is why the great mystics and mystical poets often reference the sun in their odes to the self. Like the sun, there are times when our core seems to be inaccessible to us, but this is just a misperception. We know that when the sun goes behind a cloud or sets for the night, it has not disappeared but is simply temporarily out of sight. In the same way, we can trust that our inner core is always shining brightly, even when we cannot quite see it.
We can cling to this core when things around us are falling apart, knowing that an inexhaustible light shines from within ourselves. Times of external darkness can be a great gift in that they provide an opportunity to remember this inner light that shines regardless of the circumstances of our lives. When our external lives begin to come back together, we are able to lean a bit more lightly on the structures we used to call home, knowing more clearly than ever that our true home is that bright sun shining in our core.
Always on My Mind
Willie Nelson
1982
The warm, clear, warbling twang of Willie Nelson is easily one of the most recognizable voices in American music. Over the past half-century, he’s written immortal songs like “Night Life” and “Crazy,” helped define the genre of “rebel country” along with fellow legends and sometime bandmates, Wayland Jennings, Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson, leant his voice to progressive causes from his own Farm Aid to Habitat for Horses to UNICEF and, with albums like this one, established himself as the foremost singer of mellow, country-flavored blue-eyed soul. This 1982 release is short, sweet and straight ahead. It offers 10 fairly simple arrangements of standards touching on rock, honky tonk, and R&B, all built around Willie’s soaring, sentimental vocals.
The album’s title track, a real heartstring-tugger, is it’s most heavily produced. It begins simply. Over gentle piano, Willie sings about the failings of a lover with his typical phrasing: casual, like he’s speaking off the cuff between sips of whiskey or cigarette puffs, with vibrato-filled lifts in just the right spots. His vocal instrument is emphasized with a heavy echo effect here and he gets backing female vocals on the verses and choral harmonies on the refrains. There are synthesizer chords, an electric guitar solo and harmonica shadings, but all of this is mere atmospherics. The real point here is an emotional monologue delivered by a master storyteller.
Willie has a more impressionistic tale to tell when he takes on Procol Harum’s soulful rock adaptation of a Bach tune, “Whiter Shade of Pale.” Here he gets some help from kindred spirit Wayland Jennings, who offers up some Elvis-style country crooning. These two richly textured voices sound beautiful “skipping the light fandango” together as they harmonize. Willie is at his absolute best though, when the most is asked of his voice alone. Wisely, he is given the great pop anthem, “Bridge over Troubled Water” to carry without harmonizers or choirs or synthesizers. He saunters into the verses with that colloquial air that makes you feel like his hand is on your shoulder, and then lets his voice glide into the powerful current of that chorus, soaring and rippling. It’s such a unique sound that you’ll want to hang with him, even as the urge swells to bust out those notes yourself.
January 31, 2012
A Secure Life
Sagittarius Daily Horoscope
Issues of simple survival or security may be on your mind today. Life's little details and mundane matters could take on new roles of importance, particularly if you have lately desired a greater sense of stability. Even if you've never been very domestic or goal-oriented, today could be the day you begin to recognize the importance of taking ownership of your responsibilities. You can put these impulses to work for you by considering how to use your responsibilities to help you grow as an individual. You may want to assume greater power over your finances or let your current work responsibilities move you toward a new career. The small duties you take on with authority today can lead to your feeling a greater sense of security because you will realize your ability to guide your life's direction.
Accepting your responsibilities can help you feel more secure with your life. We are often called upon to do so much, and it can be tempting to rebel or feel overwhelmed by our myriad duties. Becoming aware of what you need to do can help you manage your life better. It can also give you the sense of assurance and stability that comes with knowing what your responsibilities are and feeling that you are equipped to handle them. When you take ownership of your responsibilities, you can then grow your skills in relation to them. Our responsibilities are constants that can create structure and stability in our life. Accepting your responsibilities may be all it takes today to experience a more secure existence.
January 31, 2012
Clinging to the Core
When Our World Falls Apart
When external factors shift we have an opportunity to rediscover our core which is the only truly safe place to call home.
There are times when our whole world seems to be falling apart around us, and we are not sure what to hold onto anymore. Sometimes our relationships crumble and sometimes it’s our physical environment. At other times, we can’t put our finger on it, but we feel as if all the walls have fallen down around us and we are standing with nothing to lean on, exposed and vulnerable. These are the times in our lives when we are given an opportunity to see where we have established our sense of identity, safety, and well-being. And while it is perfectly natural and part of our process to locate our sense of self in externals, any time those external factors shift, we have an opportunity to rediscover and move closer to our core, which is the only truly safe place to call home.
The core of our being is not affected by the shifting winds of circumstance or subject to the cycles of change that govern physical reality. It is as steady and consistent as the sun, which is why the great mystics and mystical poets often reference the sun in their odes to the self. Like the sun, there are times when our core seems to be inaccessible to us, but this is just a misperception. We know that when the sun goes behind a cloud or sets for the night, it has not disappeared but is simply temporarily out of sight. In the same way, we can trust that our inner core is always shining brightly, even when we cannot quite see it.
We can cling to this core when things around us are falling apart, knowing that an inexhaustible light shines from within ourselves. Times of external darkness can be a great gift in that they provide an opportunity to remember this inner light that shines regardless of the circumstances of our lives. When our external lives begin to come back together, we are able to lean a bit more lightly on the structures we used to call home, knowing more clearly than ever that our true home is that bright sun shining in our core.