Last March, I wrote a post in honor of my father's birthday. It featured the world-famous "Mi Querido Viejo" by Piero and I though it apt to revisit the song for this special day. Albeit beautiful, it's a pretty tricky song to play and even trickier to find adequate tutorials.
After due diligence, I discovered effective resources and I'm happy to share my findings. I'm pretty tone-deaf, but I find that the chords from La Cuerda match the song really well. And this was backed by a short how-to video by Señor Carliros shown below. I also find it really great to play on a nylon-stringed acoustic guitar.
I implore all music experts to correct me where necessary, and everyone to thank your fathers and father figures. =D
"Mi Querido Viejo" by Piero
Am E Es un buen tipo mi viejo F C Que anda solo y esperando E Am Tiene la tristeza larga E Am De tanto venir andando
G E Yo lo miro desde lejos F C Pero somos tan distintos E Am Es que crecio con el siglo G C E Con tranvia y vino tinto
E Am Viejo mi querido viejo G C Ahora ya caminas lento E Am Como perdonando el viento E Am Yo soy tu sangre mi viejo E Am Soy tu silencio y tu tiempo
G E El tiene los ojos buenos F C Y una figura pesada E Am La edad se le vino encima E Am Sin carnaval, ni comparsa
G E Yo tengo los años nuevos F G C Y el hombre los años viejos E Am El dolor lo lleva dentro G C E Y tiene historia sin tiempo
E Am Viejo mi querido viejo G C Ahora ya caminas lerdo E Am Como perdonando el viento E Am Yo soy tu sangre mi viejo E Am Soy tu silencio y tu tiempo
A while back when I was biking home from class I got to thinking about a cover, and then another, and then another... and so decided to do another countdown. Hope you enjoy!
Ok, this one isn't so much a cover since Scottish singer-songwriter Colin Hay was the former vocalist of the pop-rock band Men at Work. The band formed in Austrailia in 1979 and is best known for their homage to the homeland "Down Under." In 1986, the band broke up and Colin Hay pursued a successful solo carrer. He's been known to re-record songs he composed himself (like "Overkill") and some of these recordings find their way into popular programming (like Scrubs).
Listen to the cover (studio) here.
Listen to the original here.
Yup... it's been over four months since my last post. I've been itching to get back, but along with all the responsibilities of a senior engineering student and intern I just haven't been listening to music as often (I've gotten too busy even for that!).
I have a huge post in the works and I'm only four paragraphs away from finishing, but that also means I'm about four hours away from finishing (it's the bane of my OCD...). And I was going to work on it some more tonight, but then I was distracted by a YouTube video of a friend's cover. Then I got to appreciating all my musical friends and how much I admire their presence and influence in my life.
So in their honor (and without their consent), I'm showcasing their talent to my Internet friends (I call you friends because who else would be this patient with me). All the featured songs are covers, which is of no surprise (if you don't know me by now...).
"Jayvee's So Last Summer (Taking Back Sunday Cover)" by Taking Back Jayvee
I remember when I first met each of the performers for the first time. I first heard of Sherwin Rio as the guitarist of the Jacksonville alternative band Dancell, and I was as excited as a Japanese schoolgirl when I got the chance to be the first to show him around UF! Humble to the extreme (which is a characteristic of all of these artists), I'm amazed at the depth of heart Sherwin portrays when he plays music, especially when he plays for others.
I also heard about Kathryne Lopez before I met her, but when I actually heard her for the first time I was blown away! She and her family were sitting behind me during Mass, but when she sang the Responsorials it sounded like she was in front of me. I scouted for the owner of these resonding pipes to no avail, only to meet her face-to-face afterwards. Kathryne has a way of enveloping the listener with the beauty of her voice, but the true beauty lies in her realization that this Grace is not her own.
A year ago, a good friend of ours, Jayvee, was leaving us to start his carrer in Texas. At a going-away get-together, the dynamic duo of Sheryne dedicated a cover-parody of Taking Back Sunday's "You're So Last Summer" to send him off right.
As I discussed a while back, Christian music is not as cookie-cutter as some people make it out to be. Therein lies a great diversity, and that's where Dy-Verse comes in. Upon arriving to UF, Nick Torres had no aspiration to be the talented Catholic hip-hopper that he is. But as a result of various golden thread circumstances, he was led onto a path of artistic expression to convey his lack of fulfillment in earthly pleasures and his restless pursuit towards a greater purpose.
A few months back, Nick entered an MTV contest to remix a Juanes song for a chance to meet the man himself. He submitted his revision of "A Dios Le Pido" ("I Ask God") and won! But putting aside all the temporary glamour (which is easy to do), it's finally great to have the song live up to its name and not have its meaning confided to a single stanza as before.
(Update: Dy-Verse joined the rap supergroup FoundNation and their debut release Univeral is out! Get it here, here and here!)
"If It Means A Lot To You (A Day to Remember Cover)" by Amy Rigby
Facebook makes it really easy to be a creeper, even when I'm not trying (hmm, I'm not sure if that came out right...). This video popped up on my Newsfeed and I was surprised because I didn't know Amy Rigby played guitar. Granted, both of us have always been busy with our respective majors and were left with the occassional "Hi! How have things been?" as the extent of our communication. But I know her well enough say that she is friendly in that she embodies the definition of "friend" given by C.S. Lewis in The Four Loves.
I was really glad to come across this other side of Amy, but it's a little bittersweet. Although she nails this unplugged cover of "If It Means A Lot To You" by A Day to Remember, it's so good that it almost makes me want to take down any recorded attempts I have at singing and playing guitar.
Happy New Year! There's been a surge of 80's revivalism in the mainstream in recent years, but I bet that even the know-it-all hipsters don't know what makes their scene so unoriginal. But this post isn't about that or Sixteen Candles or the Human League. It's about the albums that make you realize that the 80's was like no other decade before or after.
One Sunday evening in early December 2010, I was driving home with the radio tuned to Wind-FM. It was broadcasting a weekly special called Off the Record, where influential artists are interviewed by Joe Benson about their lives and recordings. That week's featured rock group: The Who. I listened for about 5-10 minutes and caught Pete Townshend discussing his solo debut, Empty Glass, and specifically the song "A Little is Enough":
Townshend [Paraphrase]: "When I left The Who, there were a lot of trials occuring in my life. Aside from bouts of musician's writer's block, I was sieving through financial burdens and a rift in my marraige. One day, I asked my wife if she loved me. She took a moment to think about it... and when she responded she said, 'I guess I love you a little.'
"I was significantly distraught at this answer, and went to my personal Sufi master for guidance. When I told him of the trouble I had with my wife, he said, 'So what's the problem? She said she loves you a little. Shouldn't that be enough? Don't you know that all love comes from God, and that His love is infinite? Whether one person loves another a lot or a little is relative, because any love we are capable of expressing is simply a drop in the vast ocean that is God's love. And given its origin, that drop of love is infinite in of itself.' From this conversation, I would eventually write 'A Little is Enough.'"
So I just got my hands on some personal live performances that I'd like to upload, and I thought I'd let the masses know here. I'm just posting one video here, but you should check out the blog's YouTube channel for more.
Just the other night (Thursday) I performed at a quaint and chic open mic. I started off with one of my all-time favorite songs: "Left of the Dial" by The Replacements. The song itself is a heartfelt ode to college radio and life on the road. I've grown to have a personal attachment to the tune, as it has played a significant role on various occasions as the backing soundtrack to various life-changing moments in the past few months.
"Left of the Dial (Cover)" by Kelvin
Listen to the original here.
Listen to a 1989 live performance here.
Listen to a 1993 live performance here.
Listen to a 1996 live performance here.
