Monthly Wrapped: What I’m listening to in…March

Spring has sprung!

With last month’s hectic preparations, this month feels like the payoff after the grind. March featured my first wedding bookings of the year, and it was a pleasure to get back to my favourite type of performance! This month’s weddings felt particularly special, as they were all intimate celebrations, and these always tend to remind me of my own small wedding (coming up on two years ago, now!).

No matter how many couples I work with, that feeling never seems to fade: the thrill of being a part of something truly unique and deeply personal. Every song feels like a celebration of the start of a new story.

It’s perhaps ironic, then, my choice of opening song for this month’s playlist: Hardwicke Circus’ ‘Hits a Go-Go’. It seems that my rather niche obsession in this band has been difficult to shake, and this early offering of theirs has proven an enduring favourite of mine.

The lyrics tell of the often inevitable conflict between a songwriter and any sense of normality in life. To be an artist, is to strive towards the unknown and away from structured, regulated side of life. That often means separating oneself from family, friends, and a stable job.

I could weekend in the country

After the city working grind

A friend that I can trust in

A companion perhaps for life

But I can’t hold down a relationship

When there’s a good song I can write

The song’s voice clarifies that, while this is clearly not an ideal state of affairs, there is little alternative than surrendering oneself to this reality:

All I want are hits a-go-go

Hits a-go-go

They make me smile

And I have a long way to go

A long way to go

But I don’t mind

Like hits a-go-go

I will stand the test of time

Quite the endorsement of living the life of a musical nomad! More power to the boys from the Circus. If you still haven’t taken a dive into their discography, I would recommend this song as a perfect gateway. It’s got the storytelling, wicked harmonising, and jaw-droopingly catchy melodies that make the band the unique enterprise they are.

The remaining songs on the playlist are a disparate amalgamation of this past month’s listening habits. I suppose, this reflects me struggling to find a musical centre from which to base my increasingly complex schedule. The songs meander through an attempted 80s focus, with terrific additions from Yazoo (‘Nobody’s Diary’ and ‘Situation’ - the latter of which has a cracking intro epitomising 80s dance music), Talking Heads (This Must Be The Place’), and Billy Joel’s ‘It’s Still Rock and Roll To Me’, which has been played in my head more or less constantly since its addition to the playlist. This theme is disrupted, however, by Sombr’s offerings (‘Homewrecker’ and ’12 to 12’ - both signalling the rise of a potential new great in the pop world), before thoroughly derailing with Sarah Jorosz’ ‘Ring Them Bells’, a tender-hearted Bob Dylan cover with some great bluegrass influences.

I always feel that, one of the marks of a truly great song is the extent to which other artists are able to produce novel, interesting takes of it. There are few other artists who can claim to have been covered more times than Dylan himself, and ‘Ring Them Bell’s (originally from 1989’s comeback album ‘Oh Mercy’) has a wealth of versions. The lyrics, as always with Dylan, feature myriad images and clever plays on rhythm:

Ring them bells, ye heathen

From the city that dreams

Ring them bells from the sanctuaries

‘Cross the valleys and streams

For they’re deep and they’re wide

And the world’s on its side

And time is running backwards

And so is the bride

Dylan’s original, however, features a hymn-like solemnity with tight chord structures, and lyrics delivered almost as a prayer; while Jorosz’ cover is much more fun - featuring cheerful fingerstyle guitar solos and her naturally more bright vocals. The two are great examples of when a cover brings something new to a song, while preserving intent and what I might humbly term ‘colour’.

If you only listen to one song in March…

Then please let it be The Rolling Stones’ ‘Honky Tonk Woman’. Now, this isn’t of course a particularly niche choice, at least across all generations, but some younger readers may not have indulged in some Stones admiration, so let this be a gentle encouragement!

The song has been on repeat for much of the month, and with good reason: it is, I think, one of the best examples of what makes the Rolling Stones one of the greatest bands ever. The first 15 seconds or so alone are enough to classify it as an all-time great: with delightfully groovy drums (what else do you need other than a kick, snare, and hi-hat?), an irresistible rhythm guitar (hard-panned right in a great example of stereo production, an art form that seems to have been lost in pop music somewhere?), and, inevitably, Mick Jagger’s hard-edged vocals split cleanly through the mix to let you know exactly who you’re listening to. It’s a triumph of a song, and one that I know will never get old.

That’s all for March, I’ll see you next month!

Finlay