Music Monday's originated at The Tattooed Book Geek's fantastic blog and has shown up hither, thither, and yon since then.
I’m still in shock over Glen Hansard’s death last week, it’s not often that a celebrity’s/public person’s death lingers for me–I’m mean, I’m bothered when I hear of anyone dying–but it’s not like I know them or anything. But Hansard’s music–particularly that which he recorded with The Swell Season–has been huge in my life (and earlier, I learned after watching Once and finding out he’d been in The Committments. I saw The Swell Season live once–and midway through that show, I saw the greatest live performance of my life. It was a year and a half before the concert video shown below, but it’s basically the same thing (although he unplugged earlier when we saw it). The rest of the band left the stage, Hansard unplugged the guitar and stepped away from the mic. Then he talked a little and sang this. Just one voice and a guitar in the middle of a hushed theater.
Still gives me chills, and like I told a friend recently–I’m going to remember it when I’m 87. (seriously, track me down and ask me about it in a few decades)
It’s better live, but this is a decent substitute.
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