You don't know how precious you are.

[ryanitenebrae]

I feel like talking about Dar Williams right now. This entry is going to be a long, rambly discussion of something I whole-heartedly adore.

You have been warned.

~
 My discovery of Dar was a complete accident. Obsessed with the bizarre and obscure genre of filk at the age of 13, I found the lyrics of "The Christians and the Pagans" searching for the

Comments

[ethelflaed]

"Iowa" and "The Ocean" are definitely my two favorite songs of hers (also "Mercy of the Fallen," which is actually the song that got me back into her music after I'd mostly forgotten it - I had the lyrics stuck in my head, and went to hunt them down).

. . . .hah, I have absolutely nothing else to add to this. XD; Lyrically she is kind of hit or miss for me, but I almost always love listening to her music. I wish I knew more people who liked her music. ^^; It's not like she's Finnish or anything! Oh well. . . .

[ryanitenebrae]

Those three are pretty much favorites of mine right now, two, though "The Ocean" is the one consistent favorite - I don't think it will ever feel old to me, it's so bittersweet and intense.

When I went to buy the tickets the second time I saw her in concert, she could be heard doing a soundcheck in the next room, with "Mercy of the Fallen." I essentially spazzed out and said to the sales girl. "Oh, God, is that her? That's her, isn't it? She's doing a soundcheck!" while the sales girl smiled and nodded like you're supposed to with crazy people.

I am at least glad that she's sort of managed to eke out her own bit of popularity. I've heard her on the radio three or four times, most females over forty I talk to in the area seem to know and like her, and her song is used in the background of the one non-Victor Garber related scene I adored in Alias. My Mom's boss respects her greatly because of how she "built up her audience slowly, one fan at a time," rather than expecting to be immediately loved

[ethelflaed]

Actually, I heard "The Easy Way" on the radio in the grocery store recently and was shocked. I'd forgotten about that until just now.

Heh, the Finnish thing was more that she falls into a certain kind of music where the conversations I have about said music often seem to go like this (that sentence worked before I actually wrote it out, oh well):

"I am going to play you the BEST THING EVER." (plays song)
". . . .that's a nice song, I guess." (person never mentions it ever again)

But at least Finnish stuff is in another language. Dar Williams is in English. The fact that I am pretty sure I have seen people utterly unscathed by "What Do You Love More Than Love" completely baffles me. It's so catchy! It's so adrenaline-inducing! It's in English! What else could you possibly want? D: Oh well.

(. . . .uh, speaking of Finnish stuff, looks like Amazon Mp3 is offering Talvikuningas! Be right back. . . .)

[ryanitenebrae]

Awesome! That officially makes "The Easy Way" the best Dar Williams song that to my knowledge has gotten radio play. The ones I've heard were "Echoes," "Empire,"(On Pacifica, actually, which . . .is to be expected,) and "The End of the Summer."

. . .someone in the radio business is stuck on the letter E.

Honestly, that's the reaction I get every time I play someone a Dar Williams song, though you are not the only one I've managed to recruit. You're one of two, though.

In all fairness, it took a few listens for me to really hear "What Do You Love More Than Love," and realize it was actually this amazing song about self-discovery and spirituality and human attachment and not just a really happy song about love. So instead, you need to PLAY IT ON LOOP AND LOCK THEM IN A ROOM WITH THE CD PLAYER. YES.

[redbrunja]

Dar Williams is awesome.

"We Came To Learn The Sea" is the title of the first Zuko fic I ever wrote (which I never posted) and I find "What Kink Of Love This Is" to be an epically awesome and nuanced song.

[ryanitenebrae]

Yes! I agree on both points of awesomeness!

"We Came To Learn The Sea" is one of my favorites, though I have many. It actually reminds me strongly of a fictional character (Um, a backwards-aging pirate fox from a webcomic. Makes sense in context.), but outside of that, it's bittersweet and whimsical and lovely. Most of her songs have a bittersweet element to them, or an element of "I have worked hard, I have suffered, and I have made foolish mistakes, but I have grown from that, and I can be happy now because I went through that," which is especially present in "Spring Street"(which is actually about rejecting a life of undeserved ease), and "After All," (about overcoming depression, but also a full examination of one's life and emotional landscape.) Also, the only absolutely, non-bittersweet, no sad edge happy song by her ("You Rise And Meet The Day," about her husband), has a very somber and melancholic tune, which I find kind of hilarious.