lauryn hill - just like water

*since i found out more people read it than originally thought, i think i should update more often.

Today's featured artist is Lauryn Hill!

yesterday i took another random cd off the tower and it was lauryn hill's mtv unplugged session. it's one of those 2 cd sets, and i think she did this before she completely disappeared into a prolonged hiatus from the music biz.

anyway, my most favorite song on the 2 disc set is from disc 1, entitled "just like water". i think she does the entire unplugged session with just her guitar. lots of narrative and explanation inbetween songs, in which she's funny and sets the mood for the next song. well, if you really listen to her talk, she has a lot of references to God and how He's impacted her life... you'd think she was a Christian artist like Amy Grant or Rachael Lampa. well, she doesn't always outwardly show that in the lyrics of her songs... like this one.

this song sounds like she can be talking about the love of her life, but i interpret this as the "he" really being "He"... God. I just interpreted this from her personality and all her references.
either way, i love how she writes. like, verse 1 sounds a lot like how finding Him has put her into a state of peace and childlike trust and surrender. it's so image inducing, you can't help but try to put her words into action through mental images. loaded with symbols, it's actually kind of dense and heavy.

musically it's a lot easier to listen to the instrumentals. it's a simple sounding guitar picking pattern just moving up and down the neck of the guitar but it kind of gives it that "watery" kind of sound, rising and falling gently, not too abrupt. i think this is how simplicity is beautiful.

unplugged sessions like this always show how great an artist is. because the songs are stripped of its glitz and glam, leaving "raw" structure of music and you can't help but pay more attention to the words, instrumentals, and vocals. there aren't other parts out there to distract you from the essence of the song, which is why everyone should have an unplugged session. it would distinguish the true artists from those who are posers. haha well, at least i think. not to mention, you see them for who they are as a person in which more than just one side of them is shown to the audience. great stuff!

lol i also like how when the audience is going wild at the end of the song, she asks them if they're getting paid to clap like that. haha

"Just Like Water"

[Verse 1]
Moving down the streams of my lifetime
Pulls the fascination in my sleeve
Cooling off the fire of my longing
Boiling off my cold within his heat
Melting down the walls of inhibition
Evaporating all of my fears
Baptizing me into complete submission
Dissolving my condition with his tears

[Chorus]
He's just like the water
I ain't felt this way in years
He's just like the water
I ain't felt this way in years

[Verse 2]
Coursing through my senses, he's prevailing
Floating through the space of my design
Drowning me to find my inside sailing
Drinking in the mainstream of his mind
Filling up the cup of my emotions
Spilling over into all I do
If I only I could get lost in his ocean
Surviving on the thought of loving you

[Chorus]
He's just like the water
I ain't felt this way in years
He's just like the water, the water
I ain't felt this way in years

[Verse 3]
Bathing in the fountain of his essence
He causes my expression to remain
Humbled on a mountain by his presence
Washing my intentions with his name
Sealing off the floodgates of his passions
Saving all his liquid for his own
Moisturizing me to satisfaction
In my imagination? No no!
He's pouring out his soul to me for hours and hours
Drawing out my nature with his hands
Yearning I'm so thirsty for his power
Burning to be worthy of his land

[Chorus]
He's just like the water
I ain't felt this way in years
He's just like the water
I ain't felt this way in years

[Ad Libs Remainder]
Cleaning me
He's purging me
And moving me around
He's bathing me
And he's claiming me
And moving me around
Around and around and around
And around
Watching me, claiming me
Moving me around
He's purging me
He's been cleaning me
And moving me around
And around

link coming soon!

so for the past 2 days i've been revisiting some of my old cds... and the topic of the entry today is of one of the old "pop princesses" of the late '90s and early '00s.

mandy moore!

yep. on tuesday i grabbed a random cd out of the cd tower and it happend to have 2 of mandy moore's earliest albums (out of 4, i think). they're practically the same album, but give or take a few songs. although i like a lot of them on the first one (candy, love shot, love you for always [one of my very favorites!], walk me home, quit breaking my heart), the new ones on the 2nd one show some growth (want you back, way to my heart [?], i wanna be with you, your face).

sidebar: ever since the verbal comeback, "your face" has been in usage/style, i can't listen to mandy moore's ballad "your face" without laughing and/or giggling to myself! haha and it's also a serious song about finding her piece of heaven in her loved one's face. hahah totally ruins the "moment" but makes it a funny one instead! oh man.. and she sings it a lot too...

LOL, your face!

anyway, back to the topic at hand.

i keep listening to "want you back". it's about her seeing her ex after they broke up and realizing that she made a mistake, so she wants him back.

it's not the lyrics that get me, but actually the instrumentals and her vocals. acoustic guitar picking is always pretty sounding (which is what the song opens with) with the building to the chorus from picking to strumming... then add in the drums and bass... and it's a chorus in true late 90's early 2000's pop fashion.

oh man, but my MOST FAVORITE part of the song is during the 2nd verse (from :56 to 1:14). Whie she's singing, there's the "strings" in the background with acoustic guitar picking and a drum beat (snare, bass, and high hat) and WOW. i dunno that drum beat really makes me feel it lol. it makes me want to drum along with it! but i can't cuz i don't have drums and i'm not coordinated enough. but wow!

2nd favorite part is probably the chorus breakdown toward the end of the song (2:05 to 2:22) because it's that acoustic guitar soft strumming and then if you listen closely, you got the piano adlib! (the piano part actually reminds me of jen kim cuz she plays like that) this very nicely segways into my 3rd favorite part because the breakdown ends with mandy moore belting into the chorus.

see, this song is great for mandy moore because not only does it follow the rules of late 90's pop, but it also allows her to grow vocally out of her "so real" album. yeah, her voice still sounds sweet, soft, young and innocent, maybe even passive, but she actually belts and projects a little bit out of that shell. overall, this song opens up her range, not so much with the highs and lows, but with the loud and soft.

"Want You Back"

1st Verse
Last night I saw you the first time since we broke up
I tell you baby it all came back to me
When I looked into your eyes there was something more
That I never really noticed before

Refrain
Could it be?
That all along
I was so wrong
When I realized
And turned around and you were gone

Chorus
If I say I want you back
Would you turn around and say you want me too
'Cause I say I want you back
This time I really mean it

2nd Verse
It hurts so much I want to tell you I've changed for you
But I don't know what to say or do
We grew apart but I still want you in my heart
I believe it's time to make a new start

Refrain
Could it be?
That all along
I was so wrong
When I realized
And turned around and you were gone

Chorus
If I say I want you back
Would you turn around and say you want me too
'Cause I say I want you back
This time I really mean it

Bridge
If I say I want you
Want you back
Will you turn around and walk
Away
From me
If i say
I want you back
With me
Believe

Chorus breakdown
If I say I want you back
Would you turn around and say you want me too
'Cause I say I want you back
This time I really mean it

Outro/Adlib
And if I say I want you back (I want you back)
And if you say you want me too (Do you really want me too?)
And if I say I want you back (I want you back)
And if you say you want me too (Do you want me too?)

And if I say I want you back (Want you back)
And if you say you want me too (I need you by my side)
And if I say I want you back (I want you back)
And if you say you want me too (Do you want me too?)

And if I say I want you back (Baby, I want you baby)
And if you say you want me too (I want you too, I want you baby, do you want me too?)

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Too bad she kinda blurs the words together, and her voice is almost too high pitched for me to sing along to, but still a good song anyway!