Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Why I am Here--At least in Part




I was wandering around Gamla Stan (Old Town) here in Stockholm a little over a year ago. I had certain experiences, rather mundane occurrences, that rippled up under my skin: a working class Swede doing his job on the street as a song that resembled Springsteen (perhaps Ulf Lundell) blared out into the open street; the cool morning air hung vaguely damp under a perfect blue sky; the wandering of the labyrinthine streets of old town; the heaviness of heart that frequently set in whenever I knew it was time to leave Sweden; and then, this song came on my iPod. Everything coalesced. A great sense of destiny made itself known, as a dream often has a sense of meaning without meaning anything in particular. This is why I am here.

The song is called "Ballad of the Sin Eaters" (despite the misprint on the intro reel to the recording), and it is by Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. I was lucky enough to see this particular performance and I do believe a good friend was able to listen vicariously through a voice mail I recorded when they played it. Nevertheless, there's a lot of me in there.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've got to get that on my computer before I go. Really.

Pete Eriksson said...

I got it off imeem and it seems you should be able to get a file off the net, but then again... in the land of the free, is anything free?

Pete Eriksson said...

Here's the direct link: http://pitchforkmusicfestival.imeem.com/video/XhDDXCn7/ted_leo/

Pete Eriksson said...

Link to some free Ted Leo/Pharamcists music:

http://www.freeindie.com/2006/09/ted_leo_and_the_pharmacists.html