To let your post shine in it's medium-long length, I'll let my comment be short. I would say that being in control and being "fearful" are definitely one and the same here. You shouldn't control interaction with others.
No, I have never felt any shame of being a virgin. Nor have I ever tried to seduce any woman to have sex with her. As corny as it may sound, I want to know my sexual partner well, and I want it to be special and meaningful. Now I've hyped sex up for so long, I'm not going to waste that with a quickie  ... and though my instinct might be screaming sex, it is not anything I'm actively looking for or feel any conscious need for.
Norah Jones is definitely among the best jazz singers, so that's a very good mention there. My big brother from Iceland got me listening to her album "Not Too Late" a few years back. I don't find her inspiring the way I find Regina Spektor, and her feeling doesn't match me emotionally the way that I found "Parachutes" by Coldplay or "Gran Turismo" of The Cardigans to do, so it will never be among my favorites. Still, as you say, amazing soothing tunes. Especially "Wish I Could" and "My Dear Country" have some durability. The one you've linked to, "I Can't Get Started", fades very much in with the background, but is enjoyable, even if not so unique.
And to be honest, even though I do like your humerous stuff, something about your new "format" make the newer posts of yours that I have seen harder to relate to, less "honest". But still, those were the ones I liked enough to bookmark your blog and check out previous entries.
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Germany38463 Posts
How generous of you!
Not really corny, in fact it's more common that most are lead to believe (and than the media leads us on to believe). At a young age, most want to experiment and thus why there is this tendency and often belief that a lot of young adult males like hopping to one bed to another. But in reality, a vast majority like stable relationships and getting comfortable with their partner before intercourse because, believe it or not, a lot of people aren't comfortable with their body to show it.
Oh yeah, I am a huge Norah Jones fans, one of my favourite singers, her covers are typically (not always) spot-on, splashed with exceptional coos and alluring pronunciation. The tone is nothing hard to listen to either. You'll have to show me some Regina Spektor, I've yet to hear about her.
Try: Turn me on (classic) and Tennessee Waltz from her. Her live albums are oddly better than her recorded ones. How rare...
I'm right now in a dry spell I think. I sometimes feel compelled to talk about my days, but just end up realizing that nothing concrete for me to babble on about is really there and that I'm trying too hard to fabricate ideas that should just be left to bloom on their own.
That and finals are literally killing me. I can my life seeping out with each and every breath.
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I've been lingering, delaying my aswer, as well. Because, well, because I didn't feel that I could work properly on my master thesis and then I don't feel I can do anything else that requires effort properly either; mosly because my mind is preoccupied. Of course, not being able to sleep, waking up and feeling like writing is always good for a burst of inspiration.
I should think that Regina Spektor will, for many, be an acquired taste. When I first chanced upon her music, more than a year ago, it was because I realized I hadn't listened to anything new from the artists I liked (I still haven't heard the latest album of Coldplay, even they are kind of one of my favourite bands). On Youtube, I listened to a fairly new song by Ben Folds called "You Don't Know Me". In the song, which was lively and damn catchy but otherwise not one of his best, he did a duet with Regina. I remember thinking her voice sounded damn sexy. I was curious to see the person behind the voice, so I checked out some videos of her on Youtube. I turns out she wasn't really attractive, rather cute - the kind of girl that you will more likely fall in love with. I was always on the lookout for any artist I might like, since that rarely happens, an association with one of my favourite artists made her a more likely match.
So, I checked some of her songs. I must admit the details are quite vague to me right now. I liked her instantly, I believe, listened to several songs. The song "Apres Moi" was the one that stood out to me, being a very strong song, and having a wonderful combination of the undertoned of powerful piano combined with striking vocals. I was speaking a lot with a Russian girl from my studies at the time, being generally very inspired by Russian women (who, by broad generalization, I find have very strong characters and a more natural flow of strong feelings) and I found myself particularly interested by the verse she did in Russian (lines from a poem of Boris Pasternak). Her singing in Russian somehow created an entirely different mood in the song, the language giving the words fill and weight; adding character by making it more melodic, passionate, personal. However, even though I found her songs enjoyable, she was far from being one of my favourite artists. Nonetheless, she was so fucking cute, and I just couldn't get enough of her. When watching a video of her song "Uh-Merica" (and perhaps "Reginasaurus" from the same concert), I think I fell in love a little bit, a combination of the sweetness that radiates and the soothing though sensitive voice (in parts of the song). She came off as such an untarnished, moving person, letting her entire being spill out over the scene whenever she performed. Her inner showing almost inspired tears. Her innocent, curious and happy translation of people and everyday experiences reinvigorated the idea of storytelling through music for me. Whenever any other artist I heard had ventured from abstract or generalized feelings into more direct storytelling in their lyrics, it always came off as mundane, simple-minded and meaningless.
However, I'm sure I felt such about her songs because I wanted to feel that way. I watched every single video of her on Youtube, with interviews, TV show appearences and such. Read a lot about her - her childhood journey from Russia to America; her process of being an imaginative child and wanting to express it, in spite of her sorroundings; her humble devotion to classical music into a later deviation and formation of her own style. I felt very inspired by her person, even read her Myspace blog. It touched me when I saw videos of her interactions with others: her shy smile and almost childish reactions to praise or questions, always playing with words and thoughts. When she stopped playing a song at a concert in corcern for the well-being of a fan who had fainted. When she lovingly asks people to shut up while she's playing, regardless of whether they are officials. The way that despite her New Yorkerish way of cursing a lot, she tries to be respectful to the inhibitions of others, even while being very real about the implications of this respect ("Hi. If I can't remember it, take out the cussword, because I see some really cute little kids are out, and I don't want to be the one to teach them all about life - you know what I mean?"). I was impressed by hear creativity as a musician, using her voice so originally, creating different sounds to make up for the lack of instruments. In one song she plays piano, sings, and uses a drum-stick on a chair at the same time. I think I can say that, objectively, her songs are very honest, light-hearted and happy. She plays any genre, her vocals are strong and filled with feeling. She plays very good piano, which she plays in almost all her songs, but can also play guitar.
And then I just kept listening to her songs. Songs that didn't matter so much at first, started to matter more, and I went from having three songs I really liked, to ten, and now there are 15-20 songs that I feel impress me and satiate my hunger for satisfaction of the ear, the mind and the critic. Songs that seem to matter and stand out would be (linking to the best versions of the songs, some of them being live versions):
Time Is All Around
Raindrops
Samson
Human of the Year
Field Below (I think you're most likely to like this one)
Chemo Limo
Man Of A Thousand Faces
Hero
Somedays
Blue Lips
Apres Moi
Bobbin' For Apples
Real Love (John Lennon cover)
Generally catchy and "quite good" (the critic in me doesn't allow me to include them above):
Us
On the Radio
Fidelity
Laughing With
Better
The Flowers
Lovology
Braille
No Surprises (very interesting Radiohead cover; gives a different and equally deep feel of the song, most because of the acoustic piano, even if it isn't better than the original)
Good and "special", but not amazing:
Baby Jesus
Poor Little Rich Boy
Just very catchy:
Dance Anthem of The 80's
Hotel Song
That Time
Ne Me Quitte Pas
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