Time & Patience–At the West End Gallery
Into my heart an air that kills
From yon far country blows:
What are those blue remembered hills,
What spires, what farms are those?
That is the land of lost content,
I see it shining plain,
The happy highways where I went
And cannot come again.
–A. E. Housman, A Shropshire Lad, No. 40 (1896)
Sunday morning, focusing on the color blue for no reason. It’s a color that is always near in my thinking and my work. From the shades of Housman’s blue remembered hills to that of the blue in the sky of the painting shown here and the soulful shade in the song below, it always finds a way to come to mind for me.
For this Sunday Morning Music selection in blue, I am going back to one of my favorites, Neko Case, whose music has appeared here a number of times. This song is Soulful Shade of Blue, taken from a live set in 2004 that became the album The Tigers Have Spoken, one that instantly made me a fan when I was introduced to it. This song is a cover of a great old Buffy Saint-Marie tune which probably doesn’t mean much to you if you’re not of a certain age. She wrote and performed (she still does) some wonderful lasting songs. Click on her name for a quick education on her career.
Here’s Soulful Shade of Blue.
Redtree Times 
Gary, I’ve been a fan of both Neko and Buffy since I first became aware of them. For Buffy that would have been pre-1970 and her cover of “The Circle Game” written by Joni Mitchell (speaking of “Blue” songs). Neko was a much later discovery… probably early 2000’s with her Austin City Limits and NPR appearances. What’s with Canada and good music?
That’s a good question, Gary. I think all those Canadian singer/songwriters inspired and fed off one another in the 1960’s. Maybe it was simply that they had slightly different influences and perspectives than their American counterparts. The same could be said for many Canadian comedic talents of the 70’s and 80’s.