Sunday, December 12, 2010

"Compartir"--Carla Morrison

I love it when I hear a song and it just stops me in my tracks. Some songs, for one reason or another, have that effect on me. It doesn't matter what I'm doing, I just have to stop and listen. I was running on my treadmill the other day, listening to NPR's All Songs Considered podcast when this song by Mexican musician, Carla Morrison, came on. When it started playing, I quickly stopped the treadmill to listen.

I have no idea what she is singing about, but her voice struck a chord in me...it's sweet, yet full of sorrow and yearning. I know that "compartir" means "to share," but aside from that, I am not quite sure what she is singing about. I'm assuming, love, but it doesn't really matter to me what the exact lyrics are. I've made it a point not to look up the translation of the lyrics because what resonates with me more is how the song made me feel. Her crooning voice, the arrangement--it all put me in a sort of melancholic mood, but in a good way, the way a good song is able to crawl under your skin and bring you to a place that you didn't even know you knew or wanted to go. Songs like these are the ones that I treasure and really can't listen to that often because I would be way too unproductive if I listened to them all day.

I really love her music video. It's simple, just of her walking along train tracks with a suitcase in hand against a beautiful backdrop of the desert sunset. The image of her with the suitcase really triggered my wanderlust and feelings of escapism. And maybe that's why this song hit me in the way it that it did, because it evoked a certain yearning to escape.


Around 1:45 she flashes her hands to coincide with the bells. It's so subtle and sweet. I love it.

1 comment:

R Orozco said...

"the way a good song is able to crawl under your skin and bring you to a place that you didn't even know you knew or wanted to go"
my fav line here. of, I looked up the lyrics to the song but since I am on tether, I failed epically. That will have to wait, that line I quoted says more than enough!