SOUNDTRACK: CITY AND COLOUR-“Strangers” (2019).
City and Colour is Dallas Green (get it?). He was part of the rocking band Alexisonfire. He went solo about fifteen years ago and has settled into the sort of indie folk troubadour life.
His voice has always been gentle, but he seems to have leaned into it even more while he is solo.
“Difficult Love” comes from his soon to be released sixth solo album A Pill for Loneliness. It’s upbeat with a simple, but catchy melody. The verse has a great flow (his voice sounds really great) and the chorus pushes it along even more with a lovely falsetto turn on his voice.
The bridge leads to new heights as Green really shows off what his voice can do.
It’s still hard to believe that was one of the guys responsible for a rocking song like “This Could Be Anywhere in the World” (although Dallas was the “clean” singer in Alexisonfire, so it shouldn’t be all that surprising).
[READ: September 25, 2019] “Post and Beam”
Usually I find Alice Munro’s stories to be straightforward and powerful. This one felt a little convoluted to me. I had trouble even following the beginning because so many names were introduced in somewhat unusual ways.
The story is about a woman named Lorna. Lorna is married to Brendan and is talking to her friend Lionel. Lionel was Brendan’s former student.
It’s confusing because the story starts with Lionel talking about his mother’s death. Lorna had met Lionel’s mother a few months earlier and she called called Lorna “my son’s belle amie.” Lorna didn’t know what she was implying and didn’t want to find out.
Lorna told Lionel about her own childhood. She lived in a house on a farm with her father. In the neighboring house were her grandmother her aunt and her cousin Polly–who had no father. Lorna thought that Polly had no father in the way that a manx cat had no tail. Lorna describes her as “more…competent.”
Lionel spent a lot of time with Lorna. Brendan could have been jealous but he didn’t seem to be. Lorna never showed Brendan the poems that Lionel wrote to her. There was nothing personal or romantic in them–they were more impressions like you might see on the sidewalk in Spring.
She also didn’t tell Brendan that Polly was coming to stay. Polly was five years older than Lorna. They had grown up together and after Lorna was married she missed Polly and the adults. Brendan was aware of this, “You miss your family don’t you?”
She thought he sounded sympathetic but he sighed and said “I think you love them more than you love me.”
When Polly arrived things didn’t go well. She accidentally insulted their house (of which Brendan was very proud) she also complained a lot about things at home implying that she wanted to get out. She should have gotten out when the getting was good, but when was that?
When Brendan and Lorna were alone, Brendan mocked Polly’s tale of woe and pointedly reminded Lorna that they are not millionaires.
The day after Polly arrived, Lorna got a letter from Lionel. Not a poem, a letter, saying that he was to be away for a few days helping his father move in to a new home. Lorna encouraged Polly to explore Vancouver on her own while she decided to sneak into Lionel’s house. He had a landlady and she told the landlady that Lionel had a book she was supposed to pick up. The suspicious landlady let her in and Lorna was briefly able to absorb the room–it’s plainness (all of the furnishings were clearly provided with the room) and the fact that there were no picture, not even a calendar and surprisingly, no books.
A few days later Brendan and Lorna took their children to a wedding. They left Polly behind but not before Polly cried to Lorna that Lorna didn’t want her there. Lorna didn’t say that was false, but did say there was nothing she could do.
On the way back from the wedding Lorna had the premonition that Polly had hanged herself. She saw exactly what beam she was hanging from, which chair she has stood on. She could feel the wight of her body leaning against the back door as they tried to go in to the house.
But when they returned, Polly was not dead. In fact, she was in the back yard talking to Lionel. How would Brendan react to this scene?
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