Jamie Cullum

Jamie Cullum, a jazz/blues singer almost as good as Michael Buble', has become one of my favorite artists to listen to. His CDs Twentysomething and Catching Tales are fabulous. Each song seems to be different. Some are extremely calm and relaxing(All At Sea, Singing In The Rain, and London Skies are the best songs in that category); others are fun and peppy and make me want to dance and sing along(Catch The Sun, I Get A Kick Out Of You, Mind Trick, and I Could Have Danced All Night are some of the best of *that* catagory), while there are other songs which are beautiful, perfect, romantic, and he sings them in such a way that you just sit and listen and smile. And in still a fourth catagory, other songs of his have a very "kool"/smooth feel to them(Get Your Way. Enough said.)and I never know quite whether to just listen or to sing along when those come on.

But they all bring back more memories than I can count, and each flashes before my mind's eye as I listen to his songs. His version of Singing In The Rain makes me think of a four year old Faith swing on the little swing set in her backyard with her three sisters, her father standing nearby watching with an amused expression on his face; a ten year old Faith standing on the front porch of her house in Pennsylvania, watching the rain falling in torrants, filling up the potholes and gutters with water inches of water; an twelve year old Faith twirling around in the rain with her little red umbrella singing said song; a fifteen year old Faith dancing the Virginia Reel at the 2005 summer academy with a bunch of girls in Schola, all slipping and sliding on the wet grass, with the guys laughing at us for even attempting such an idiotic thing; and lastly, a seventeen year old Faith creeping about in the Odells' bushes looking for berries in the rain, making faces at Manuel down below her, and then dancing Hunting The Fox with Jonathan and trying to get him to walk really far down the lawn before turning around to head back up the line.

All that from one song! His song These Are The Days (That I've Been Missing) mostly only brings up a hundred memories from the week and a half I spent in Pennsylvania(probably because those memories have been playing over and over in my head anyhow), so I love to play that song.
So, to follow up, I'm going to give you a few bits from three of Jamie Cullum's songs, just to show how beautiful his songs are. If I had my way, I would play the actual songs themselves for you, but quite obviously that isn't going to work(unfortunately). Thus, please enjoy the lyrics.

~London Skies~

Paint a picture,
Clear cut and pale on a cold winter's day,
Shapes and cool light wander the streets like an army of strays,
On a cold winters day.

Will you let me romanticize,
The beauty in our London Skies,
You know the sunlight always shines,
Behind the clouds of London Skies.

Patient moments chill to the bone under infinite greys,
Vision hindered mist settling low like a ghostly ballet,
On a cold winter's day.

Will you let me romanticize,
The beauty in our London Skies,
You know the sunlight always shines,
Behind the clouds of London Skies.

~ These Are The Days ~

These are the days that I've been missing,
Give me the taste, give me the joy of summer wine.
These are the days that bring new meaning,
I feel the stillness of the sun and I feel fine.

Sometimes when the nights are closing early,
I remember you and I start to smile.
Even though now you don't want to know me,
I get on by, and I go the extra mile.

These are the days of endless dreaming,
Troubles of life are floatin' away like a bird in flight.

These are the days
These are the days
These are the days

~ But For Now ~

Sure I know you'd like to have me
Talk about my future
And a million words or so to fill you in about my past
Have I sisters or a brother
When's my birthday how's my mother
Well my dear in time I'll answer all those things you ask

But for now I'll just say I love you
Nothing more seems important somehow
And tomorrow can wait come whatever
Let me love you forever but right now
Right now

Some fine day when we go walking
We'll take time for idle talking
Sharing every feeling as we watch each other smile
I'll hold your hand you'll hold my hand
We'll say things we never had planned
Then we'll get to know each other in a little while