homemade
6 December 2006 by julietb
there’s few words that’ll make feel like ‘homemade’ does.
i’m a real sucker for it.
maybe its an identification thing. i spend quite a lot of time making stuff; knitting scarves, baking, hand making cards, trying to build stuff, making music.
and there’s the weight of history in homemade, the perpetuation of a folk lore and long honed knowledge. there’s something in home made which speaks of innocence and experience, self reliance and attention to detail - which might all be the words i’d circle on a psychometric test if i thought no one was going to read it after.
so when i fell in love with this track, it was before i found out that the lovely alela diane (major props for the palindromic first name, i’m transfixed by it) handmade the initial 650 copy run of her album Pirate’s Gospel, by sewing lace onto the brown paper covers, hand painting the galleons and doing the typeface, in fact she even apologises for having to have them mass produced “i wish that my hands were strong enough to make everything on my own, but it was no longer possible to make as many cds as I needed. I will continue to make things… like t-shirts and special edition cds that will be available at shows.”
there are so many thing to love about this song and alela’s approach and aesthetic i’m not even sure whether i should like her or just plain envy her (but i’m nice so i’ll like her). the pirate’s gospel sways its way into your heart, in that way that song’s you feel you’ve somehow always known do .
and there’s something about the spirit of this song which is so rooted in a hearty, honest, joyful and appropriate praise which is so very gospel to the core.
so put on your eye patch, and befriend a parrot, for all that three ships wants to be but can’t owing to a lack of impetus, time and probably talent, i give you… the pirate’s gospel
7 December 2006, on 3:25 pm
this is the best song ever
7 December 2006, on 5:14 pm
You’re so right about this sounding like a song you’ve always known – like a universally resonant melody.
Or maybe it’s the theme that’s universally resonant.
It reminds me of David dancing, singing and clapping the ark of convenant up Mount Zion in a way… that genuine and fundamental form of worship.
I really like the idea that here worship is something intrinsic to a pirate’s way of life, as the lyrics say ‘some folks pray their way to Jesus’ but finding a personal response to expressing faith outside of a more traditional framework like quiet prayer on bended knee is surely what gospel music is truly about.
Having a great piratical rumbustification with squeeze boxes, ooh-arrrrrhh’s and a peg leg because that’s how you experience God when you’re adrift at sea is a ridiculously refreshing concept - only ridiculous since it’s so rooted in a history of seashanties and other folk music which has somehow come to sound twee. This is music that was created for; a celebration of life, for storytelling and for worship which wasn’t separated from other types of creative or quotidian endevour.
The often tiresome and frankly off-putting compartmentalisation of ‘Christian Music’ from other types of music which make you feel good rather than worthy is somewhat of a false economy… it creates a rarified and exclusive ghetto of music where you can be seen to be enjoying the type of music ‘Jesus might like’ rather than encouraging everyone to get involved and rededicate the pursuit of whatever they’re passionate about to God which this track does in spades – taking a stand for pirates and christians both.
Ok rant over… Man the cannon’s - thar she blows…
7 December 2006, on 5:17 pm
(you’re such a hottie)