"Thou shalt not extinguish thine anger, but shall master it,
that thy conscience may not be blunted by adjustment
to wrong causes." -The Dutch Ten Commandments to Foil the Nazis
9.5.11
Desert Island Disc #5: Hem, Rabbit Songs
Hem was a big thing in 2007, when every Michigan native I knew had "Half Acre" as their myspace song. (My (ethnomusicologist) friend Kim once pointed out to me that she had it on her page long before it became fashionable. So, let it be known: Kim had heard of them first. Also, hope you're enjoying Sweden.) Rabbit Songs was an itunes purchase in August of that year, to give me something to burn on a cd while I drove back and forth across the Chicagoland area for a week or two. I was initially distracted by what seemed at first to be the mono-tonal nature of their songs: all slow, all pretty, not quite country, not quite folk. There was "Half Acre," and in one of those moments of biographical synchronicity, "Stupid Mouth Shut," and a bunch of songs I couldn't tell apart. But there it remained, always listened to, one of the few albums I can put on an endless loop for several days and neither mind nor grow tired of. Which is, to my mind, the definition of a Desert Island Disc--something you wouldn't mind hearing hundreds of times; not best albums, not (necessarily) your favorites, but the ones built to last. It sounds like the sort of album I should have listened to when I lived in Michigan, except it hadn't been written yet: made for semi-rural areas and big skies and summer months--it's definitely not a winter album--that are neither hot nor humid.
This one's fun to play on guitar. And to sing: the singer's voice is too high to match; I have to sing them quite low.
This song came up on my ipod just a few days ago as I was walking around Copenhagen - I think I've always felt like it was too perfect a song for long-departed but semi-perpetually homesick Michigan natives like myself to get overly analytical with.
On a different note, a quiz: Copenhagen is the capital of which country? A. Sweden B. Denmark :-)
This was actually I couldn't remember which country you were in, though now that I think about the name of your blog, I should have remembered. I always read it as 'havin' sounds,' though that's obviously not right.
The blog name comes from the actual Danish name for Copenhagen, which is København - "at købe" is the verb for "to buy" and "havn" means harbor, collectively referring to Copenhagen's historical role as an important harbor for trade/mercantilism.
Havn then means harbor, but is also short for Copenhagen... but it's pronounced with no v sound, kind of like "Houn" or in such a way that it actually rhymes with english "sound". So there's the blog explanation.
I have a recollection of having read that at some point, which makes complete sense. My brain remains resistant to foreign languages, however, and so naturally re-settles everything into English. And apparently causes me to forget which country various cities are in.
4 comments:
This song came up on my ipod just a few days ago as I was walking around Copenhagen - I think I've always felt like it was too perfect a song for long-departed but semi-perpetually homesick Michigan natives like myself to get overly analytical with.
On a different note, a quiz:
Copenhagen is the capital of which country?
A. Sweden
B. Denmark
:-)
C. Scandanavia!
This was actually I couldn't remember which country you were in, though now that I think about the name of your blog, I should have remembered. I always read it as 'havin' sounds,' though that's obviously not right.
The blog name comes from the actual Danish name for Copenhagen, which is København - "at købe" is the verb for "to buy" and "havn" means harbor, collectively referring to Copenhagen's historical role as an important harbor for trade/mercantilism.
Havn then means harbor, but is also short for Copenhagen... but it's pronounced with no v sound, kind of like "Houn" or in such a way that it actually rhymes with english "sound". So there's the blog explanation.
I have a recollection of having read that at some point, which makes complete sense. My brain remains resistant to foreign languages, however, and so naturally re-settles everything into English. And apparently causes me to forget which country various cities are in.
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