mompoet sound journal #8 - Great Big Sea

road rage
Great Big Sea
Warner, 2000
**** (out of 5)

After a bit of a break from sound journals (but not from listening!) I'm finally posting an entry about my friend Marnie's contribution, road rage by the Canadian folk/pop group Great Big Sea.

Marnie works with me. She is married, with three grown children. She and her husband are avid listeners. When Marnie heard about my project, she was enthusiastic about bringing me something. With a new twist on the "twenty CD offering," Marnie brought me her MP3 player loaded with "just about everything I have" and offered to loan it to me for a feast of listening. I'm still not an earphone person, so I deferred and chose instead the Great Big Sea CD that she also offered. I liked the idea of a Canadian group, and I'd heard their stuff on the radio.

I asked Marnie what kind of music she likes:

I tend to lean toward a “folk” style of music. I like music that is catchy, story songs or poetic expression. I like to be able to hear what the singer is singing so I don’t particularly like loud screaming clashing rock though some real good rock I enjoy. I enjoy someone who I think has talent and stage presence and I enjoy concerts more when I can recognize the songs and sing along or (heaven forbid) dance.

Marnie and I like to talk about our kids. Her girls have been dancers all of their lives, so we like to moan and groan about the cost of dance shoes. When I asked Marnie about how her children's musical tastes have influenced hers and vice versa, she told me:

My children have been exposed to music all their lives so their tastes are not that far from my own. Jeremy spends a lot of time going to clubs and listening to local groups, he plays guitar and has several friends who perform locally and for a time worked at the “Rock Space” where bands practice. Jennifer drives my car so I regularly listen to her CD’s while driving. Sometimes it's even middle eastern belly dancing music. Laura has my love of Broadway musicals and likes to compose her own music. When she was living at home I often heard her singing and playing guitar in her room. When she was young the only way I could calm her when she was really upset was to sing loud (usually Teddy Bear’s Picnic) and rock in the rocking chair. Definitely I/we have influenced them, they all have a love for music and cds, music DVDs and memorabilia are a common gift to them and from them. It is also evident in the fact that cds they have bought me seem to disappear.

The road rage cd is a collection of live recordings from the band's 1999 cross-Canada tour. Most of their big favourites are on the list, with lots of concert chat in between, and many demonstrations of fan enthusiasm with singing along, cheering and generally getting involved in the show. The band is from Newfoundland. At the time of the tour it was Sean McCann, Darrell Power, Alan Doyle and Bob Hallett. They play traditional Newfoundland music and original contemporary songs that they have written to complement the maritime folk sound. They play guitar, bass, fiddle, accordian, flute, whisles, bouzouki (a stringed instrument shaped like an avocado) and bodhran (a celtic drum). There are some great songs on the CD, and on two others I found in Andy's collection (up and Sea of No Cares). I like their traditional songs best. They're more zesty and compelling than the original pieces. There are some great lyrics in the traditional songs, and a lusty delivery that made me feel happy and excited when I listened:

Mari Mac's mother's making Mari Mac marry me
My mother's making me marry Mari Mac
Well I'm going to marry Mari for when Mari's taking care of me
We'll all be feeling merry when I marry Mari Mac
Hi you yiddle ah diddle lie diddle 'um

The contemporary songs are nice, but not so grabby. They're "driving in the car with the windows open and singing along" songs. I'm glad they're on the CD. They're fun and easy to listen to. I guess maybe they're the toast and the traditional ones are the jam. And I guess I wouldn't want to eat a bowl of jam, no matter how good.

One thing I noticed, when the guys in the band talk to the audience between songs, they have big old Newfoundland accents. Lead singer Alan Doyle, with his deep nasal voice, sounds like a Newfoundland version of the Vancouver Poetry Slam's host, Graham Olds. But when they sing, it's not so much that way - more on the traditional songs than the new ones. I wonder if they have decided where to position themselves on the spectrum between all-authentic-old and another middle-of-the-road bunch of Canadian guys. Their playing and singing is very good, and I know they are tremendously successful. So probably they got it just right. This idea about what's unique about someone vs. what's familiar and safe, and how other people perceive it, is interesting to me. If Great Big Sea sang just old songs from Newfoundland, they'd seem more like the Irish Rovers (remember them?) If they sang just their original stuff they'd seem proficient but undistinguished. I don't know anything about marketing music, but I think this makes sense.

Anyway, Marnie, thank you very much for introducing me to Great Big Sea. I will listen to their music some more for sure. Maybe we'll go to a concert together one day and dance dance dance!

question: what do you think about the personal spectrum of unique to typical?

mompoet - right foot in the middle, left foot inching toward the letter u