Music Monday with EELS, Part 1

Twenty one days ago I made some enigmatic statements here about certain aspects of life being “up in the air,” and other aspects of life just being down, dirty, and difficult.

A person gets tired. I think I’m handling myself well, for the most part, as well as I can, but I apologize, dear reader that I haven’t yet been at liberty to be more specific, despite this needling need to share my angst. I don’t mean to make you suffer with me. I promise I can say more about some of these things very soon.

In the meantime I am going to launch into a very music-heavy Music Monday, because often songs can say more than prose, especially about emotions. There are all those helpers: the melody, the harmonies, the key changes, the crescendos, held notes and fade-outs, that speak to us in physical ways. When a song is done well, the music and the lyrics conspire to do something to the heart.

And some things you just can’t say out loud, or online, because you love the people in your life, and even if writing in your blog is cathartic, those loved people just happen to read the internet, and your cathartic blog just happens to be on the internet, for family, friends, and present and potential employers to read–and misunderstand.

‘Nuff said.

Speaking of things being up in the air, despite how busy I have been these 21 days, I’ve been trying to take time for important things like sleep, and a little birding. Yes, birding, it’s always good for my soul. This last week was basically Broad-wing Hawk season here in Pennsylvania, and while I squeezed in the bulk of Sunday, and a good chunk of last Monday for hawk watching, I swear I am going to take the whole week off next year if possible! Life is too short not to see kettles like this each year (not my video, but visuals to come; I promise):

And in the after-glow of my spending a gorgeous five hours on a mountain lookout on Sunday, seeing Broad-wings, Sharpies, Bald Eagles, and even a Merlin! I bring you, a song from the birding comedy (yes, there is at least one movie that fits the genre), The Big Year. Actually the song has been around a few years before that, but I first heard it during that movie. It’s by the Eels–no, that’s not right–I think they just call themselves Eels, and it’s called “I Like Birds.” [UPDATE]: The original video I had posted here was a live version by Eels that was pretty cool, but it has disappeared due to copyright claims, so I have substituted one from the guys at the Cornell Ornithology Lab and Birds and Blooms, that really gives me the giggles, and reminds me of exactly what we look like out there in the field.

And since it’s such a short song, I am also sharing, in keeping with the “I Like” theme, one of their tunes that makes me think about my beloved Brian. Birding puts me in a good mood, sure, but I assure you, I adore Brian every day. Okay, some parts of a day might not count, like when I’m cleaning up a coffee spill he missed, but at least a good part of each day. I try not to gush about it online. I don’t want to gloat, and I know I am damn lucky to have someone in my life who lights up nearly each time I walk in the room. Damn lucky. And after six years I can still say, “I Like the Way This Is Going.”