"Landslide"

It's been three days since I returned from Japan, but I've yet to sort out my pictures and buckle down to write a detailed review of my trip. At least the luggage has been emptied, though some of its contents are scattered across my living room floor. I've also got to clean up the mess I left before I went on my trip, which includes mail, school handouts, CDs, books.

Of course, the CDs and books should be a pleasure to deal with. One of them is Stacey Kent's first Blue Note Records album, "Breakfast on the Morning Tram." There are two beautiful French covers, "Ces petits riens" and "La Saison Des Pluies" but the track that I play on repeat is her cover of Stevie Nicks' "Landslide." It's a sad one, and if you've read this blog long enough, you'll know that sad songs are the kind that hit me hardest.

I love the questions the speaker in the song asks, because I know so many who've asked the same ones -

Oh, mirror in the sky - What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changin' ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?
I don't know, I don't know

Listen to it here and make of it what you will.

And since I love coincidences and roundabout connections, I have to mention that one of the lyricists Stacey Kent selected for her album is novelist Kazuo Ishiguro, who wrote four songs about relationships, all narrated by travelers. In Japan, I read his recent work, Never Let Me Go. And while I was away, I received in the mail a DVD of "Remains of the Day," the 1993 film based on Ishiguro's novel.