Friday, February 26, 2016

Match Grand Finale!

Watching them was like watching the sunset and the sunrise, equally beautiful in different ways.
~Shannon A. Thompson


Since this is the last Friday of my "Poem-Song Match-Up" month, I am doing a grand finale... there were more I would have liked to include, but, whew, I'm exhausted! To hear the songs, click on the song titles. The band names will take you to the band web sites.


a well-matched pair
photo by WJ van den Eijkhof

I matched Violet Nesdoly's "Mindfulness" with Hildegard of Bingen's "Spiritus Sanctus" and The Head and the Heart's "Lost in my Mind". In case you feel like you need to get out of your mind afterward (hmm...that doesn't sound quite right), here's The Indigo Girls' "Hammer and a Nail."

I matched Linda Baie's "Happy" with how a person feels after being the recipient of her giggles, smiles, grins, and guffaws: Pharrell Williams' "Happy," Katrina and the Waves' "Walkin' on Sunshine," and Leo Sayer's "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing."

I matched Catherine Flynn's "Full of Nothing" with Louis Armstrong's "I Can't Give You Anything But Love."

I matched Irene Latham's "I Could Say I Believe in the Ocean" with Camille Saint-Saƫns' "The Aquarium" and Toad the Wet Sprocket's "Walk on the Ocean."

I matched Michelle Heidenrich Barnes' "Night Whispers" with Carrie Newcomer's "A Gathering of Spirits." I also matched "Goat Gardeners" with a couple of singing goats. This next set is not a poem-song match; just a poem-video match. I paired the following two because...if you're going to be asking a Magic 8 ball for help, I think checking in with Cookie Monster is next: "What Does The Magic 8 Ball Know?" and "Cookie Monster, Life Coach."

I made what might be an unexpected match between Jone MacCullough's abandoned wedding dress haiku and Miranda Lambert's "Mama's Broken Heart." I also matched Jone's "What Does the Rain Know?" with "The Rainbow Connection."

For Laura Purdie Salas, I did something a bit different. I have a question song: Queen's "Somebody to Love" and then Laura's poem holds the answer: "How To Make A Dog Live Forever." And then sort of a follow-up: "Loves Me Like A Rock."

Elizabeth Steinglass has the Poetry Friday round-up. Thanks, Liz!

17 comments:

Irene Latham said...

Wow, Tabatha, no wonder you are breathless! One of my goals for March: go back and listen and read this month's offerings. I love your energy and creativity and the connections your mind makes... also, thank you for including one of my poems here! xo

Linda B said...

I must admit that I just don't know music that well, especially new songs so never contributed to your great idea But I loved reading & listening whenever you posted. I am in awe of all the work you've done for this post, Tabatha, and for all this month. Amazing connections. Thank you very much for including my poem, and for "gifting" me with a few wonderful songs.

Michelle Heidenrich Barnes said...

Wow-wow-wow– it's no wonder you're exhausted, Tabatha! I have to tell you, between the two screaming goat videos (especially the Taylor Swift one which I watched over and over and over) and cookie monster, I'm not sure I've EVER laughed this hard so early in the morning!

Thank you for putting such care and thought into my matchups and ALL of the matchups here and over the last few weeks. I'm definitely going to miss them, but can guarantee you that my brain has been trained now to look for these connections! Thanks for that, and for all the the fun.

Violet N. said...

Tabatha, I'm so honored! What gorgeous match-ups. I'll be spending a lot of time at your site in the next few days, taking in the music/word combos. Thank you!

laurasalas said...

I love that you're making these connections, Tabatha. Sometimes I tell people who share 15WOL poems that their poem made me think of a song (which will then be playing in my head the rest of the day!). And I'm a Queen fan, so I especially enjoyed that you paired my poem with a Queen song:>) And the connections with Irene's and Catherine's poems really captured me, too. Thanks for sharing all these!

Carol Varsalona said...

Tabatha, your match ups are fabulous. I also am in awe of your work with integrating music with poetry reading. It provided me with an enjoyable experience this morning. Kudos to the writers also.

Liz Steinglass said...

Goodness, no wonder you're exhausted! You have been hard at work. I love your brilliant match-ups. I think this would be fun to do with kids in a classroom and hear their different ideas and have them express why they go together. Thanks for doing all this and for sharing it!

Matt Forrest Esenwine said...

I haven't been able to comment on all of these, but you've provided some interesting and surprising pairings...thanks for enlightening us on some of these songs and poems!

Tara said...

Like Linda, I am in awe of your creativity, Tabatha. I love the way you dip into so many music genres so fearlessly. Bravo!

Diane Mayr said...

Have you heard about the cellist who has written music for cats? (I saw a BBC clip.) Since music is a shortcut to emotions (some songs reduce me to tears within seconds), it was natural to assume he could communicate with another species through music. I love your musical pairings--do you have another project in mind for the future?

jama said...

What a great bonanza of poetry and music! As Linda said, I love how you dip into different genres to make such clever connections. Thanks for an interesting month!

Mary Lee said...

You. Are. Amazing.

Catherine said...

What an amazing collection! Thank you so much for including my poem "Full of Nothing" in such wonderful company. I'll be back to enjoy all the pairings throughout the weekend.

Becky Shillington said...

These are amazing, Tabatha! Wow! I am so glad I chose this week to get back in on the Poetry Friday fun--I would have hated to miss these.

Unknown said...

What a labor of love! What a tribute to your PF colleagues--honoring their words with a specially chosen musical complement. Thank you! I’ve enjoyed feasting at your sight-and-sound smorgasbord (maybe that word came to mind because you included Hildegarde, though I’m thinking she was German, not Scandinavian). Regardless: masterful job! God bless you.

Heidi said...

A labor of love, Tabatha, truly. I almost think we need a whole dedicated blog at which to post poetry and music matchups. (Oooh--how would you feel if I invited people to create their own as my April Daily Project?) I for one LIVE in music, and if I weren't so busy loving other people's work I'd ask myself why I'm not writing or performing it.

I look forward to coming back and enjoying all of these!

Sally Murphy said...

What a clever thing to do, Tabatha - and how much work you have put into it!