This song...I was listening to an online 80s music station this morning and I heard this for the first time and it's already stuck inside my soul...more for the music than the words, though parts of the lyrics get to me too, plus I really like the whole idea of ripping something up and starting again...

"Rip It Up" by Orange Juice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESy-Z8vqMrE


When I first saw you
Something stirred within me
You were standing sultry in the rain
If I could've held you
I would've held you
Rip it up and start again

Rip it up and start again
Rip it up and start again
I hope to God you're not as dumb as you make out
I hope to God
I hope to God
And I hope to God I'm not as numb as you make out
I hope to God
I hope to God

And when I next saw you
My heart reached out for you
But my arms stuck like glue to my sides
If I could've held you
I would've held you
But I'd choke rather than swallow my pride
Rip it up and start again

Rip it up and start again
Rip it up and start again
I hope to God you're not as dumb as you make out
I hope to God
I hope to God
And I hope to God I'm not as numb as you make out
I hope to God
I hope to God

And there was times I'd take my pen
And feel obliged to start again
I do profess
That there are things in life
That one can't quite express
You know me I'm acting dumb-dumb
You know this scene is very humdrum
And my favourite song's entitled 'boredom'

Rip it up and start again
I said rip it up and start again
I said rip it up and rip it up and rip it up

and rip it up and rip it up and start again


 

 

April 2015, Washingtonian

My favorite parts of the Sunday papers always used to be the wedding vows and real estate sections, both for the vicarious living and genuine happiness at seeing others find happiness. Now, somehow, reading both sometimes makes me aware of the huge gaps in my life...home and house.

 

The more I can make peace with these missing gaps (and the more I save, the more I think I can move from apartment to condo or town house) the more I can return to reading both sections.

 

Though I still believe the local newspapers have far more attainable goals, in terms of finding something affordable, I do love both Baltimore and Washingtonian magazines and the articles they often run on the "best places" to live in the area.

 

 

 

This article is just amazing...it says so much about solitude, though I'm still absorbing it all and have a lot more to take in (it's great, really, but very dense in scope.)

Besides the fact that living by yourself can sometimes be lonely, the other troublesome thing (for me, at least) is this thoughtless perception that "solitaries" (to use the author's words) somehow have it "easier" than couples or families. Not only is this not true, but other people have no idea why someone else may be living on their own or what goes on in that person's life.

We all can be lonely, no matter how we physically live. And we all can be very responsible and perpetually busy, no matter if we are partnered or not.

I hope to be back blogging soon. I feel like sometimes things fall right into our laps when we need them most. I found an amazing article the other day about making peace with a life of solitude (as in...you had hoped things would turn out differently in your single life, but they didn't), but I haven't really had time to digest it all yet and I am both asleep and awake and so loopy I'm pretty much almost ready to talk to my stuffed animals so I can't do the article any justice yet. What I most like about it so far is that it doesn't patronize or pity those walking down a solitary path. Speaking of paths, I really would like to tell insomnia to go take a hike. It can leave whenever it likes. I won't miss it one bit.

Sarabeth Tucek's Get Well Soon is a very good album for a down kind of night, or any kind, but if you're not careful, you can get sucked into it beyond what is healthy. That's how beautiful and sad it is. And there are traces of Karen Carpenter in her voice so that doesn't help the sadness factor any. But, definitely, this is worth giving a listen.

It's also one of the most painfully honest and exposed albums I think I've ever heard...especially on songs like "At The Bar" and the title track. A really great review for it follows here:

...Signing off with the title track, Get Well Soon and its creator's state of mind during the making of this album could perhaps be summed up by her own grief-stricken admission: "I knew I was sad, I'd recognised it was bad, but now looking back, I see my mind it was cracked". Where some records are maybe just too personal for public consumption, it's the uneasy fragility contained within Get Well Soon that renders it such a fascinating experience, highlighting Sarabeth Tucek as one of the most candid songwriters of her generation.

http://drownedinsound.com/releases/16211/reviews/4142617