Sunday, January 08, 2006

The 49th Parallel

Many of my blogger friends should at this point be perking up their ears. Yes, I'm talking about you and CANADA!
And just WHY, you may ask? Because while we were on vacation last week, we played k. d. lang's Hymns of the 49th Parallel over and over again. Sometimes I can't get enough of her. Her voice is so very Soulful to me. And this particular album is one of my all-time favorites ever.

k. d. lang herself is Canadian, from the small farming town of Consort, Alberta. Her singing career took off in Canada in the 1980's and continued into the USA in 1986 when she signed a contract in Nashville. The rest is history. On this particular CD from 2004, she pays homage to her favorite Canadian songwriters. Here are snippets of some of my favorite lyrics:

"Be sure to know that All in love Is ours And love, as a philosophy Is simple." (k.d. lang and David Pitch)

"Oh you are in my blood like holy wine....I could drink a case of you darling And I would still be on my feet." (Joni Mitchell)

" You will walk in good company I love the best of you You love the best of me." (Jane Siberry)

" One day I shall be home." (Bruce Cockburn)

" Oh like a bird on the wire, Like a drunk in a midnight choir I have tried in my way to be free." (Leonard Cohen)

Okay, so I'm a Romantic! Unashamedly so, I might add.

Btw, speaking of Leonard Cohen, his Hallelujah is one of the most soulful of all songs ever, unequalled as sung by lang, as far as I'm concerned.

Ironically, the 49th parallel, which borders the U.S and Canada, also runs through Germany. So it somehow seemed appropriate to draw attention to my new Canadian AND German friends through k.d.lang. We saw her in concert here in Atlanta in 2004 while she was releasing this album. What a blithe spirit! What an album! I highly recommend it to Canadians and non-Canadians alike.

3 comments:

  1. Interesting information about the 49th Parallel. And hey thanks for the pre-bday wishes. It's funny that we are so far off in age yet not so really. It's harder to imagine that I was being born while you were celebrating the same milestone.. Yet age has no barriers, point being that I'm not trying to make you feel bad. It's just crazy what one thinks about though...

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  2. Actually, expat, I love the tricks Age plays on us, this being one of them. All that much more reason to believe Time is nothing but Eternal and somehow loops us all together!

    Thanks for your comment.

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  3. Btw, Prairie Girl did a post related to the 49th parallel, tackling it from the weather side of things. Most interesting!

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