Music Video Weekend: “Devil’s Spoke,” “Alpha Shallows,” and “Rambling Man” by Laura Marling

I’m working over the holidays while my family plays. I hear it’s beautiful outside, but that’s just an ugly rumor to me, the devil whispering in my ear. I want to finish this book today, stuck in this windowless basement. I mean it. Today!

Or, okay, maybe Monday. Some things can’t be rushed.

(And, oh yes, I should whisper this: I love my book. So happy about it, so challenged by it. My first YA!)

I miss my kids, feel like I’m letting down my wife, but the work has got to get done. Even in this state, I listen to music — it feeds the work, sustains me — and I associate this artist below with a character I’m writing about, named Becka. I think Becka would very much like Ms. Marling, I can imagine Becka listening to her new CD, “I Speak Because I Can.”

Born on the date of my birthday, but, um, exactly 29 years later (Feb 1, 1990), Laura Marling strikes me as a very exciting young talent. A singer-songwriter from Hampshire, England, she’s linked to the Brit indie-folk resurgence, including bands like Stornoway, Noah and the Whale, and Mumford & Sons. I’m not sure where that trend is going, if anywhere, but I’m enjoying for now.

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I had to add a live performance to balance out the video, I think it shows off her pure talent even better; it’s probably my favorite. Repeat after me: Twenty. Years. Old.

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One more and I’ll stop, promise:

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RAMBLING MAN

oh naive little me
asking what things you have seen
you’re vulnerable in your head
you’ll scream and you’ll wail till you’re dead

creatures veiled by night
following things that aren’t right
and they’re tired and they need to be lead
you’ll scream and you’ll wail till you’re dead

but give me to a rambling man
let it always be known that i was who i am

beaten, battered, and cold
my children will live just to grow old
but if i sit here and weep
i’ll be blown over by the slightest of breeze

and the weak need to be lead
and the tender i’ll carry to their bed
and its a pale and cold affair
i’ll be damned if i’ll be found there

but give me to a rambling man
let it always be known that i was who i am

its funny how the first chords that you come to
are the minor notes that come to serenade you
it’s hard to accept yourself as someone
you don’t desire
as someone you don’t want to be

oh give me to a rambling man
let it always be known that i was who i am
oh give me to a rambling man
let it always be known that i was who i am

Happy 4th!

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