Wonderwall
When I was 12, I fell in love with the song which this post is titled after. This was 1995. It made me want to strum the acoustic guitar like I had never strummed it before (I had been playing for about a year by then). I was obsessed with this song and I thought the video was really cool too. The band behind it are of course Oasis and it was written by Noel Gallagher. Since then I’ve had an on/off relationship with the song. Who would’ve predicted that 13 years later I would be playing that song to dozens of drunk people in the early morning weekend hours in Dublin, Ireland?
For the past 2 months I have been supporting myself as a street musician or busker as people like to call us. On the weekends I go out late (or early for me) to play for the people who are on their way home from bars. It’s nice to get a crowd of people singing together when it’s cold and nobody really wants the night to end. It is a certain kind of person this attracts. I think they are lonely. Maybe they are just wanting something more from their night. Craving for interaction. There is something hidden behind the drunken eyes of the strangers huddling up and singing together. On the weekdays I play my own songs for a few hours each evening. I have a little poster on my case saying who I am and for how much you can buy my album for. It’s a nice balance to keep between my own songs and the songs that have influenced me so much. All in all it’s a pretty good job. I am my own boss. No taxes. A few hours of ‘work’ every other day. I get to do what I enjoy doing anyway. Sometimes it can be hard to go out when you are tired and it’s really cold outside. There are other performers out there but they usually have all these amplifiers which to me take out all the romance out of the whole thing. Sometimes it can be tough but at least I feel like a real musician doing this. Next year it will be back to real gigs but this is a nice experience and definitely strengthens me not just as a musician/performer but as a person.
Anyway, back to the song. Personally, I still love the song. It is a beautiful song. The chords are great. The drum beat is captivating. The band is grooving. The lyrics are powerful in their simplicity and like all good lyrics they leave room for the magic in between the words. I also love how Liam Gallagher sings it. Sure, it is not the greatest voice ever to graze a pop record but the way he sings and the conviction is great and captures the song perfectly. I’ve always thought that without a great song there is no great singer. Occasionally a song is defined by the singer. But in this song, the Gallagher brothers are merely puppets who are channeling something much greater than themselves. And that is a pretty big statement coming from a guy who doesn’t really believe in anything that cannot be seen or proved by science.
It’s interesting how much a song can hold power. I don’t like to play Wonderwall unless someone really wants it. Not many people understand and appreciate the power of that song more than a musician who performs in the mercy of loose change and freezing fingers. It took me a long time to realize that playing music for a living is not always about me and only for me. I still have some issues with accepting that.
I do my accounting every monday morning which is a fancy word for counting how much i’ve made in the past week and then taking it to the bank. I try to imagine the coins as part of a big puzzle which has to be complete for it to be used as a key to unlock a door every month to get into the next round. The puzzle is my economy, the door is my rent (or survival), the ‘round’ is my life.
I went to see a show by an American singer/songwriter named Ryan Adams last Saturday. He had his band The Cardinals to accompany him. It was a good show. I like it when the artists don’t try to please the crowd too much besides playing great music. I have never been a big fan of crowd pleasers who get you to singalong or clap. If the music is strong enough, you will do that and you will have a good time.
Oh, and he also played a killer version of Wonderwall.