A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry...

I have this quote hanging in my front room and I belive in it.

"A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.” -Goethe

So I totally agree with Natalie Merchant's idea of doing both the music and the poetry together!

In her album Leave Your Sleep, Natalie takes poetic works by the likes of Ogden Nash, Edward Lear, e e cummings, and Charles E. Carryl and sings them.
The problem? I do not like Natalie Merchant's voice or singing style.
If you do, here's a video from one of the nursery rhymes in the collection.

It's a pity really.

10,000 Maniacs had a great sound, but I couldn't get past Natalie's thick voice. Songs like "Candy (Everybody Wants)" and "Because the Night" have grown on me over time and "Wonder" from her first solo album is intriguing, but that's pretty much it for me. It's a pity, too, because she's just lovely and she has great teeth.

(As a closet Beyonce fan, I'd like to see something like this from her, but the person that would knock a collection out of the ballpark would be Lisa Gerrard formerly of Dead Can Dance who beautified and made accessible old things long forgetten. )

Anyway...if you've got a second, tell me what music you're listening to today, your favorite band when you were in high school or just the song you can't get out of your head.