There is a great deal of music, both in my erstwhile professional genre of classical piano, and in other very diverse forms, which readily brings tears to my eyes. This can be embarrassing in company, but there is nothing I can do about it.
As examples, I can cite Bud Powell's interpretation of 'It Never Entered My Mind' - I am listening to it now https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSDgKAT_wJg ; much of Bob Dylan, especially 'Visions of Johanna' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwuCF5lYqEE; Joni Mitchell's early version of 'Both Sides Now' when she was already so sensitively philosophical but also full of joy and hope, and especially her heartrendingly intense performance of the same song at the Newport Folk Festival last year. In this latter version, the wisdom is so deep, so calm, so measured, accepting and balanced. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxiluPSmAF8. There are many other examples. Maybe I will disclose a few more here, in time.
Apologies for 'bringing it back to music' once again, but my readers know by now how indivisible Music and Art are for me. I live by Art and I live by Music. I see and hear both in everything around me that I hold dear.
Another song that makes me collapse emotionally is Leonard Cohen's 'Anthem'. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8-BT6y_wYg In this extraordinary utterance, Cohen articulates a truth that I feel is fundamentally important for the darkly troubled times in which we find ourselves today. “There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in”.
The new painting below contains the energy of that beautiful song, and consequently the title quotes from it.
THAT'S HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN - Haydn Dickenson 2023
“Ring the bells that still can ring,
Forget your perfect offering.
There is a crack in everything -
That's how the light gets in.”
Leonard Cohen
Copyright Haydn Dickenson 2023
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