Damien Rice (Official Thread)

[Soot and Stars]

Re: "The Official" Damien Rice Thread

Cannonball

There's still a little bit of your taste in my mouth
There's still a little bit of you laced with my doubt
Its still a little hard to say what's going on

There's still a little bit of your ghost your witness
There's still a little bit of your face I haven't kissed
You step a little closer each day
That I can't say what´s going on

Stones taught me to fly
Love, it taught me to lie
Life, it taught me to die
So it's not hard to fall
When you float like a cannonball

There's still a little bit of your song in my ear
There's still a little bit of your words I long to hear
You step a little closer to me
So close that I can't see what´s going on

Stones taught me to fly
Love taught me to lie
Life taught me to die
So its not hard to fall
When you float like a cannon.

Stones taught me to fly
Love, it taught me to cry
So come on courage, teach me to be shy
'Cause its not hard to fall,
And I don't want to scare her
Its not hard to fall
And i don't want to lose
Its not hard to grow
When you know that you just don't know

​

This is the second single released off of the album. I can see why it was a single as to me it's the poppiest song. I find this song refreshing and uplifting even though Damien's songs are never 100% optimistic. Optimism is just not really what Damien's good at. Regardless, this has a nice pleasant acoustic and Damien seems more reflective than depressed with the words he's singing. The raise in tone particularly towards the chorus seems to me like an enthusiasm for the life lessons he's acquired. Also notably, this song is carried with Lisa Hannigan involved so it's cool to see Damien carry a good solo song.

Here are some live versions:

David Letterman


@AOL Live
Like this live version better than the original))


@BBC

​

 

[snakes&ladders]

Re: "The Official" Damien Rice Thread

I got to listen to DR after all.....had to have a break for work....sounds pretty nice, could be the next Bob Dylan...who knows. His arrangements are very cool.....thanx S & S

 

[snakes&ladders]

Re: "The Official" Damien Rice Thread

Lisa Hannigan

One simply cannot talk about Damien Rice and especially the era that O came out in without mentioning Lisa Hannigan. The two are inseparable and have fused the most chilling, stunning chemistry I've EVER seen between artist! Lisa is just gorgeous aesthetically and spiritually. I can't lie! I have a major crush on her still!

Damien found Lisa in 2001! While attending the

Trinity College in Dublin

to study Art History Lisa met Damien in her first week. They met at a local pub called

Whelans

and had regularly run into each multiple times there and ended up conversing on a regular basis. Damien told her that he was looking for a female musician to add backing vocals to his music. Lisa who had a long history of passion for music as she grew up singing along to artist as diverse as Joni Mitchell, Nina Simone and Micheal Jackson growing up. She was/does carry herself with a shy demeanor and told Damien modestly that she also sang. Damien's first experience hearing Lisa sing was a classical concert at her school. Damien was impressed and history was made!

 

[Soot and Stars]

Re: "The Official" Damien Rice Thread

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Thanks for checking him out S & L! I agree, I LOVE his arrangements! He's an excellent songwriter! The difference between him and Dylan is Dylan was political in politically charged times which pretty much added to his legend. Damien is more of a writer on a personal level and his songs are about personal freedoms and flaws more than cultural. He writes about love, sex, infidelity, inner demons and more sex! What makes him stand out is aside from the above is that I believe he's the best folk singer as far as making the listener feel his music ever. That's because he seems to feel everything he does and I believe besides being an artist it's because everything he writes is his personal story and events. He's raw and unfiltered as to the personal areas he explores and he gives his all on every performance! Amazing in every way IMO!

Plus, I knew you'd love Lisa! What man wouldn't! But hands off, she's mine!

 

[Soot and Stars]

Re: "The Official" Damien Rice Thread

Older Chest




Older chests reveal themselves
Like a crack in a wall
Starting small, and grow in time
And we all seem to need the help
Of someone else
To mend that shelf
of too many books
Read me your favorite line

Papa went to other lands
And he found someone who understands
The ticking, and the western man's need to cry
He came back the other day, yeah you know
Some things in life may change
And some things
They stay the same

Like time, there's always time
On my mind
So pass me by, I'll be fine
Just give me time

Older gents sit on the fence
With their cap in hand
Looking grand
They watch their city change
Children scream, or so it seems,
Louder than before
Out of doors, into stores with bigger names
Mama tried to wash their faces
But these kids they lost their graces
And daddy lost at the races too many times

She broke down the other day, yeah you know
Some things in life may change
And some things they stay the same

Like time, time, there's always time
On my mind
So pass me by, I'll be fine
Just give me time,
Time, there's always time
On my mind
Pass me by, I'll be fine
Just give me time​

I really like this song as a story that soothingly builds and swells delicately. In some ways all Damien has to do is talk his way through this and the emotion is still there. When they chime the notes on "Time, there's always time" and the orchestration is there it's pure Heaven. Damien makes gold out of simplicity and subtlety!

Here are his live versions:

Acoustic


@ Blueballs (Really!!!! )


@ KFOG
​

 

[Soot and Stars]

Re: "The Official" Damien Rice Thread

Amie

Nothing unusual, nothing strange
Close to nothing at all
The same old scenario, the same old rain
And there's no explosions here
Then something unusual, something strange
Comes from nothing at all
I saw a spaceship fly by your window
Did you see it disappear?

Amie come sit on my wall
And read me the story of O
And tell it like you still believe
That the end of the century
Brings a change for you and me
Nothing unusual, nothing's changed
Just a little older that's all
You know when you've found it,
There's something I've learned
'Cause you feel it when they take it away

Something unusual, something strange
Comes from nothing at all
But I'm not a miracle
And you're not a saint
Just another soldier
On the road to nowhere

Amie come sit on my wall
And read me the story of O
And tell it like you still believe
That the end of the century
Brings a change for you and me

And Amie come sit on my wall
And read me the story of O
And tell it like you still believe
That the end of the century
Brings a change for you and me
​

This is an absolutely gorgeous song! It's pretty much a folk opera which Damien is not a stranger to which you'll see when we get to the closing track. The passionate vocal immersed in the sweeping strings here is chilling. The music is so uplifting I picture a scene of two lovers running through a field to met in each others arms. A truly romantic song and very moving as well!

The live versions are just as chilling:

@ Olympia, Paris
(a different take with great guitar licks and mic effects)


@ Trænafestivalen 2008
(the story behind the song)


@ Orpheum
(audio only)

​

 

[Aktivator]

Re: "The Official" Damien Rice Thread

I really need to check out more of Damien's music. I saw him a bunch of times as he was the warmup act for Fiona Apple a bunch of years ago.

Here is a picture of the two of them:


Damien toasting Fiona -it was the last day of the tour.

 

[Soot and Stars]

Re: "The Official" Damien Rice Thread

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You absolutely do!!!!! I promise you won't be disappointed! He is one of the most emotionally connected artist in all of music period!!!!

 

[Soot and Stars]

Re: "The Official" Damien Rice Thread

Cheers Darlin'




Cheers darlin'
Here's to you and your lover boy
Cheers darlin'
I got years to wait around for you
Cheers darlin'
I've got your wedding bells in my ear
Cheers darlin'
You gave me three cigarettes to smoke my tears away

And I die when you mention his name
And I lied, I should have kissed you
When we were runnin' in the rain

What am I darlin'?
A whisper in your ear?
A piece of your cake?
What am I, darlin?
The boy you can fear?
Or your biggest mistake?

Cheers darlin'
Here's to you and your lover man
Cheers darlin'
I just hang around and eat from a can
Cheers darlin'
I got a ribbon of green on my guitar
Cheers darlin'
I got a beauty queen
To sit not very far from me

I die when he comes around
To take you home
I'm too shy
I should have kissed you when we were alone

What am I darlin'?
A whisper in your ear?
A piece of your cake?
What am I, darlin?
The boy you can fear?
Or your biggest mistake?

Oh what am I? What am I darlin'?
I got years to wait...
​

If I had to pick one song to be considered the weakest link on the "O" album it would be this one. This is the slowest, draggiest song on the album but it fits the mood of the song. This song is the slow bitter drunken mumblings of a broken man left by the woman he fancied. The intro is really cool as it has a real film noirish feel so I get this old time bar vibe and picture the characters and scenery in extreme black and white contrasts. Still a good song overall but it's weaker in comparison to the rest of the perfect album it's contained within.

Of course more live bits for your pleasure:

@ Rome Tour
(cool humor and acting throughout the performance)


@ Beacon Theatre, new York
(Damien explains the story here)


@ Hiro ballroom in New York
(funny version where Vivienne Long chimes in vocals to humorous results)

​

 

[Soot and Stars]

Re: "The Official" Damien Rice Thread

Cold Water

Cold, cold water surrounds me now
And all I've got is your hand
Lord, can you hear me now?
Lord, can you hear me now?
Lord, can you hear me now?
Or am I lost?

Love one's daughter
Allow me that
And I can't let go of your hand
Lord, can you hear me now?
Lord, can you hear me now?
Lord, can you hear me now?
Or am I lost?
[chanting] Cold, cold water surrounds me now
And all I've got is your hand
Lord, can you hear me now?
Lord, can you hear me now?
Lord, can you hear me now?
Or am I lost?​

As beautiful as the rest of the c.d. it's these last series of songs that make the c.d truly transcendent and on another level altogether. This song can bring me to the happiest of sorrows with it's sparse beauty. The simplicity and almost airy, open quality it has at the beginning and the desperation of the vocals as they are searching in their words for some salvation. Actually this is one of my favorite vocals from Damien. The Gregorian like chant is so uplifting and though it may not be religious it sure is spiritual. This song is spine tingling gorgeous and get's even better live.

See for yourself:

@ BBC


Rare Private Session
(My favorite live version)


@ Rolling Stone Sessions
​