Elf (2003) – Jon Favreau (Friday’s Finest)

Posted on November 28, 2025 by observationblogger — 2 Comments

I caught Elf a few days back on cable and had a merry ol’ time. I’ve seen it plenty of times, so I figured I should finally do a write-up for my Friday’s Finest segment. I don’t think I’ve ever covered a Christmas movie before, and this felt like as good a place as any to start. Elf, Step Brothers, and the Anchorman contain my favourite Will Ferrell performances. Unlike the latter two – definitely geared toward adults and full of crass, over-the-top humour – Elf is a family movie that pretty much anyone can enjoy.

IMDB Storyline:

Buddy was a baby in an orphanage who stowed away in Santa’s sack and ended up at the North Pole. Later, as an adult who happened to be raised by elves, Santa allows him to go to New York City to find his birth father, Walter Hobbs. He, who is on Santa’s naughty list for being a heartless jerk, had no idea that Buddy was even born. Buddy, meanwhile, experiences the delights of New York City (and human culture) as only an elf can. When Walter’s relationship with him interferes with his job, he is forced to reevaluate his priorities.

Elf also shows that Will Ferrell can be very funny without leaning on crude or offensive jokes. He really goes to town in this role, and you can tell he’s having a lot of fun. There aren’t many comedic actors who could play an adult with the naivety and single-minded enthusiasm of a child as perfectly as Ferrell does here. He absolutely nails Buddy. James Caan does a great job too as the Scrooge-like father (rest in peace, 1940–2022).

Over the years, Elf has quietly become one of my favourite Christmas movies to revisit. I also enjoy National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation for a good laugh too – especially since the original Vacation is one of my all-time favourite comedies – but I think Elf delivers the best bang for buck between the two Christmas movies.

Sure, Elf isn’t going to win any awards for best comedy, and I can already hear some of you saying there are far better Christmas movies out there – like Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life. But I like Elf because it’s breezy, full of Christmas spirit, funny as heck in many places, and it’s one of those movies you can rewatch every festive season without it getting old. Interestingly, when I ran an AI search on my Brave browser, Elf actually popped up in its top 10 Christmas movies. So there ya go!

Interesting Trivia

  • The scene when Buddy eats different candies and pastries with the spaghetti noodles had to be shot twice, because Will Ferrell vomited the first time.
  • Several minor traffic accidents occurred when Will Ferrell walked through the Lincoln Tunnel in his costume, because people were so surprised (and distracted from their driving) to see him wearing an elf outfit.
  • Will Ferrell turned down $29 million to be in a sequel in late 2014. James Caan revealed that the reason was that Ferrell and Jon Favreau didn’t get along.

Below are some funny scenes from Elf you might enjoy revisiting. Thanks for reading.

References:
1. Elf (film) – Wikipedia
2. Elf – IMDB

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Swan Lake (1875) – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Posted on November 27, 2025 by observationblogger — 9 Comments

As I get older, my appreciation for classical music only grows stronger. The spark that set it off when I was young came from my grandmother, Dorothy Walton (pictured), who was a classical pianist. Her love for the music – sitting at the piano just as you see here – was really the reason I started my music library project back in 2019. It’s something that’s shaped my life more than I ever expected.

Dot, as everyone called her, was always reading. She borrowed books from the library every week and tore through them until it was time to return them and get more. And when she wasn’t reading, she was at the piano. Writing this now makes me get teary. My Nan and I were completely in sync; there was nothing she could do wrong in my eyes, and nothing I could do wrong in hers. When you love someone like that… the little things become everything.

Today we have a Swan Lake special, spotlighting three stand-out moments from Tchaikovsky’s immortal ballet – perhaps the most instantly recognisable in the classical canon. In order of their appearance, they are: the Swan Lake Waltz (Act I, No. 2), the Dance of the Little Swans (Act II, No. 13), and the storm-tossed Scene Finale (Act IV, No. 29).

The ballet’s hold on western culture remains very strong. Two recent cinematic touchstones spring to mind: Black Swan (2010), which refracts the ballet’s obsession with duality and desire, and Billy Elliot (2000), where the film’s climax erupts into the very same Scene Finale older Billy leaping high onto the stage.

Tchaikovsky wrote Swan Lake in 1875–76, using old Russian and European stories about women who turn into swans. The first performance in 1877 at the Bolshoi Theatre didn’t go well. Critics said the dancing and staging were messy. The basic story, though, is very clear: Prince Siegfried falls in love with Odette, who has been turned into a swan by the sorcerer Rothbart. Their love is challenged by lies, sadness, and the appearance of Odile – the Black Swan – who looks like Odette but isn’t anything like her. In modern versions, the ending changes: sometimes the couple dies, sometimes they’re reunited. It depends on what the director wants.

Swan Lake Waltz (Act I, No. 2)

This waltz shows up early during the prince’s birthday party. There are lights, fancy outfits, and everyone trying to look their best. The music feels light and social, almost like a warm-up before the story really gets going.

Dance of the Little Swans (Act II, No. 13)

This is one of the scenes most people know: four dancers linked together, moving in quick little steps. It happens by the lake where Siegfried first meets Odette. The “little swans” bring a bit of fun and tight teamwork to the moment. The music is fast and neat, almost like Tchaikovsky wanted to test how well the dancers could stay together.

Scene Finale (Act IV, No. 29)

This is where everything hits its peak. The music grows loud and tense as the lovers face their final moment. Some versions end sadly, others more hopeful, but the music makes it clear that this is the big emotional punch. It’s easy to see why Billy Elliot used it for such a powerful ending.

Swan Lake wasn’t a big hit at first and only became famous after Tchaikovsky died. The 1895 version by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov fixed many of the earlier problems and turned it into the classic we know today. Since then, it’s been performed by almost every major ballet company and keeps showing up in movies, TV, and all sorts of places in popular culture.

References:
1. Swan Lake – Wikipedia

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Highway to Hell (1979) – AC/DC

Posted on November 26, 2025 by observationblogger — 19 Comments

Staying with the recent Australian trend, we take a detour down what Lou Reed once called the Dirty Boulevard – and he’s not even Australian nor does his song’s inference equate, but that hardly matters – you get the gist.
So, let’s amp things up a bit:
Does this thing go to 11? When you need that extra push over the cliff – well, this thing goes to 11.
How can one not get jived and pumped by this dirty guitar riff from Australia’s biggest-selling music act in history? It’s almost impossible not to get pulled into it, and with luck you’ll come out the other side. If not, well – you’re in real trouble. I warned you: it’s a Highway to Hell.

In the far western suburbs of Sydney, I always kept close to the small rebel ‘westie’ groups at school who wore untucked flannelette tops wavering over their ACDC shirts. They had your back even if you were kind of an obscure outlier. They were definitely not to be confused with the settled, crisp, happily country flannelette garb that reeked of ‘contented money’. These rich come-ins lived on cheap land (well, modest for them) with newly built double-storey houses; driveways manicured by shiny white pebbles – not the sharp suburban asphalt ones which tore your legs to shreds.

Highway to Hell, released in 1979, is arguably the song that cemented AC/DC’s legend before tragedy reshaped it. (The tragedy being Bon Scott’s death in February 1980 from acute alcohol poisoning). Angus Young’s riff is elemental and Bon Scott delivers the vocal like a man who knows the road, the price, and the thrill, and wouldn’t choose any other route anyway. It’s also noted the song – quite unintentionally – became the band’s global passport. This song cracked the US and extended their touring reach. The irony was great: a song supposedly glamorising damnation became the road that led to their immortality. Scott himself joked in interviews that the “hell” wasn’t spiritual at all but the grind of touring and the cramped flights between gigs.

[Verse 1]
Livin’ easy, lovin’ free
Season ticket on a one-way ride
Askin’ nothin’, leave me be
Takin’ everything in my stride
Don’t need reason, don’t need rhyme
Ain’t nothin’ I’d rather do
Goin’ down, party time
My friends are gonna be there too, yeah

[Chorus]
I’m on the highway to Hell
On the highway to Hell
Highway to Hell
I’m on the highway to Hell

[Verse 2]
No stop signs, speed limit
Nobody’s gonna slow me down
Like a wheel, gonna spin it
Nobody’s gonna mess me around
Hey, Satan, payin’ my dues
Playin’ in a rockin’ band
Hey, mama, look at me
I’m on the way to the promised land, wow

References:
1. Highway to Hell – Wikipedia

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A New Day Has Come (2024) – Kasey Chambers

Posted on November 26, 2025 by observationblogger — 4 Comments

My favourite Australian country artist is back. I’ve been following Kasey Chambers since her 2002 breakout record Barricades and Brickwalls, which still sits comfortably in my top five Australian albums. I’ve seen her live in Melbourne, and her music has featured here often.

Kasey is so dinky-di Aussie that, as a young’un, she and her family travelled across the Nullarbor Plain while her parents hunted foxes and rabbits for pelts. They did this seven or eight months each year, for nearly a decade. Her parents formed a band and added first Kasey and then brother Nash to their act, which became the Dead Ringer Band – named for the children looking like their parents.

There’s a story I never tire of retelling – apologies to anyone who’s heard it before. I remember exactly when and where I first heard Kasey’s music. It was a hot summer day in 2002, and I was driving through Crib Point on my way to Hastings in South East Victoria. I flicked on ABC Radio – always a haven for great non-commercial music like the Go-Betweens – and this song came on that stopped me in my tracks. I’ve been a fan ever since.

To even quote Kasey about hearing her own song: ‘Back then it was f—ing weird to hear [her first No.1 hit in 2002] Not Pretty Enough on the radio‘. “I remember even hearing it sometimes, where they would play Britney Spears and then play Not Pretty Enough, and I would go, ‘F—, this is weird‘.”

Last year I showcased Kasey’ Chambers’ charming and wistful ode to Bruce Springsteen – A Love Like Springsteen from her latest record Backbone. Yesterday morning I listened to more music from that record and no point sugar coating it – I was blown away. So much so, I was wondering which song I would immediately present here. It was a toss up really, so I went with A New Day Has Come. Suffice it to say, more songs from Backbone will be making their way here soon.

I mentioned in my previous post how much I like the way Kasey’s voice has matured and settled into itself, and that’s especially true of today’s featured song. On her early albums, you could sometimes hear her leaning a little too hard into that vulnerability and ache, almost trying to will an emotion into the listener. But not here. This is Kasey sounding as authentic and weather-worn country as she’s ever been – and the music matches her. She’s cited Townes Van Zandt, Lucinda Williams, Emmylou Harris and Steve Earle as key touchstones, and you can hear all of them echoing through this one track – including even her North American country twang.

[Verse 1]
When the road has gone dark
I’ll shine on your trail and show you the way
When the river runs dry
I’ll pray for the rain to wash away your pain
And if you get lost
I’ll lead you back home, won’t leave you alone
When the wind blows
From right where you stand, come take my hand

[Chorus]
I’ll be your pilgrim, I’ll walk through the canyon
I’ll rise up each day like the sun
I’ll be your anchor, tied to the harbour
As the light of the dawn has begun
We are the morning
A new day has come

[Verse 2]
When the valley runs deep
I’ll carry you through, you know that it’s true
When the mountain’s too high
Just rest on my back, I’ll give all that I have
And if you let go
I’ll stand where I am to catch you again
When it’s tumbling down
From under your feet, just lean down on me

References:
1. Kasey Chambers: ‘I’ve definitely learnt to say no a lot more’ – The Sydney morning Herald

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Throw Your Arms Around Me (1990) – Hunters & Collectors

Posted on November 25, 2025 by observationblogger — 4 Comments

Throw Your Arms Around Me is one of the most well-recognised contemporary love ballads in Australia. A swell of pride and love for my native country and its music envelops me when I hear this. Not just that, but it’s hard not to be introspective as well when Mark Seymour sings “So shed your skin and let’s get started” – a line that elicits memories so thick of being in the throes of passion. It’s so barebones and direct, yet at the same time delicate and beautiful. Even Mark said the song came from a place of emotional honesty, and you can hear that – there’s nothing dressed up, nothing forced.

As already alluded to, the lyrics conjure stirrings of a fleeting yet intense sexual encounter – “You will make me call your name and I’ll shout it to the blue summer sky”– and the narrator can’t get the images out of his head despite the briefness of the occasion. It will always sit somewhere in the memory, whether tied to a summer, a bedroom, a goodbye. And yes, they must say their goodbyes. And that’s how it is: it cannot come back together again. It’s terrible to find out later in life that when people walk away, they do so forever.

Hunters & Collectors first released the track in their 1980’s during a period where the band was refining that big, earthy pub-rock sound into something leaner and more intimate. The version most Australians know of Throw Your Arms Around Me is the 1990 re-recording, cleaner and more direct (see music video below), which helped cement the song as a staple of late-night radio and just about every acoustic gig in the country.

Mark Seymour described the writing of it:

I was in a relationship with a woman I was very much in love with and she was the inspiration. I wrote virtually all the lyrics on Human Frailty about my relationship with her…Throw Your Arms Around Me was the first song I wrote that wasn’t angry. And because it was so out of the square, we didn’t record it particularly well…One time, we played it at The Palace, to about 2,000 people who just went off. We finally got it right, so we recorded it again. I think we did about four versions of it.

In January 2018, as part of Triple M’s “Ozzest 100”, the ‘most Australian’ songs of all time’, “Throw Your Arms Around Me” was ranked number 19. In 2025, the song placed 25 in the Triple J Hottest 100 of Australian Songs. Crowded House picked it up in their live sets; Pearl Jam covered it more than once.

[Verse 1]
I will come for you at night time
I will raise you from your sleep
I will kiss you in four places
As I go running along your street
I will squeeze the life out of you
You will make me laugh and make me cry
We will never forget it
You will make me call your name and I’ll shout it to the blue summer sky

[Chorus]
We may never meet again
So shed your skin and lets get started
And you will throw your arms around me
You will throw your arms around me

[Verse 2]
I dreamed of you at night time
And I watched you in your sleep
I met you in high places
I touched your head and touched your feet
So if you disappear out of view
You know, I will never say goodbye
Though I try to forget it
You will make me call your name and I’ll shout it to the blue summer sky

References:
1. Throw Your Arms Around Me – Wikipedia

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Drowning (2025) – Tim Eveleigh

Posted on November 24, 2025 by observationblogger — 25 Comments

Recently, I received a nice surprise when English singer-songwriter Tim Eveleigh reached out and asked if I’d like an early listen to his upcoming album Life Is Not a Competition (image inset).

I first came across Tim’s music in 2023 when I featured Overture, a meditative standout from his previous album A Record.

According to his bio, Tim Eveleigh is “a middle-class, (late) middle-aged, cis-gendered singer-songwriter from Croydon in South London, UK. He plays songs with words that aim to move you and music that aims to get you moving.”

With today marking the release of Life Is Not a Competition, I wanted to highlight my favourite track on the new record: “Drowning.” (audio link below). I’ve played it multiple times, and honestly, I still can’t get enough of it. There’s a purity and tenderness in its delivery – particularly in the vocal interplay between Tim and Maria Levesley – that feels more natural and emotionally revealing than nearly any contemporary music duet I can think of.

You can listen to all of Tim’s songs at his web site and support his music by buying the digital album or songs (name your price).

Tim has crafted a song where two voices sing different lyrics simultaneously, each offering a distinct perspective on the same moment. It’s a clever and quietly ambitious idea and it just sounds so cool. The technique draws on principles of counterpoint – a form of polyphony in which independent melodic lines (sometimes with different lyrics) overlap while remaining musically coherent on their own.

What makes Drowning so affecting to me is how lived-in it feels. The two voices don’t sound like performers exactly; they sound more like a real couple speaking past and toward each other at once – intimate, familiar, and heartbreakingly human.

Below is Tim explaining how he built this gorgeous piece:

I had the chords all sorted out (using the ‘doodling’ method described below) and I knew that there would be four verses and three choruses – with a double verse at the beginning.
I also had the words sorted out for the chorus of Voice One (and I particularly liked the line “Maybe I can be the light on your shore”).
I had ideas about the rhythm of the words in the verses and I had an idea that there would be two songs happening at the same time where different voices had different perspectives about the same situation.
I think we’ve just about managed this and then at the end there are three voices singing at the same time like an operatic Aria.

Life Is Not A Competition Album information

Until relatively recently I sang songs with toddlers on Thursday mornings (“Wheels On The Bus” – that sort of thing) for half and hour or so. Afterwards they would go for snacks in a different room. I would then sit and doodle on my guitar and I think 8 of the songs on this album (and bear in mind that I only wrote 9 of them) came from those ‘sessions’.
———
VOICE ONE
———
This is who I want to be
This is how I want to feel
This is all I have to say
And this is what I want to do

Tell me who I need to be
Tell me what you’d like to hear
Tell me what you want to feel
Tell me how to make this real
Tell me how to help you heal
Maybe we can start again
Maybe we can just stay friends
Maybe I can walk away from your door

Maybe we can make a deal
I’ll stifle everything that I feel
Maybe I can be the light on your shore

I feel trapped in this place but I made it for myself
How did I fail to see how much I loved you

I thought I saw you today
But I knew it wasn’t you
I’m following strangers around
“Walking to sea in the rain”

Tell me what i need to say to make all of this go away
Tell me what I can do to make everything OK.

———
VOICE TWO
———
I can tell you how I feel when I’m alone
You can show me where I fall into your arms

I let you down
Time and again I wasn’t listening

If we want to live together we need to make time for each other
If we want to make time for each other then we need to change

———–
VOICE THREE
———–
If we want to stay together we need to understand each other
If we want to understand each other then we need to talk

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This Year’s Love (1999) – David Gray

Posted on November 23, 2025 by observationblogger — 5 Comments

This Year’s Love by British singer-songwriter David Gray, is one of his real fan-pleasers – and it’s easy to hear why. The single peaked at number 20 on the UK Singles Chart and its from his fourth studio album, White Ladder. His music has featured here often and most recently just a wee while ago with Now and Always. To tell you how expansive this song is in English popular culture Gray himself makes an appearance in the film of the same title. The song also appears in the films The Girl Next Door, Crazy/Beautiful, Wimbledon, and Heart Eyes.

Sometimes you wake up a little older, a little wiser, and realise you have to hold onto what feels good – not let it drift past the way you might’ve done in the ambivalence of youth. That’s why I admire the many people, including readers of this blog, who’ve held onto their beloveds and never let go. One day it hits you: you’re not a teenager anymore, life’s shifted, and some folks understood that far sooner than I did. Gray married his wife Olivia in Los Angeles in 1993, and the two have raised their daughters together.

White Ladder, the multi-platinum-selling album seemed to be playing in every corner of Britain in 2001. A whole generation of couples stared meaningfully into each other’s eyes as they performed their first wedding dance to “This Year’s Love“. David Gray’s voice – with its rasping blend of gravel and honey – was the soundtrack to our lives. White Ladder became one of the bestselling albums of the decade.

“I still pinch myself when I think about it. That record will be there for ever. It just connected in such a big way with people.” He pauses. “It was the period that came after that was difficult. – a bit overwhelming. Fame is not something you can do a course on at City Lit and, yes, for a moment, it was all a bit too much for me. I realised instantly that I like my privacy.”

The blame for the popularity of singers such as James Blunt has, in the past, been laid at Gray’s door. Gray has released since then many studio albums and although none of them has had quite the same popular impact, he admits they are more representative of how he sees himself as a musician. He concedes he is not the easiest person to live with. For one thing, when Gray finds himself in the grip of an idea, he disappears into the studio for days on end. “I can be a bit distracted, to say the least.”

[Verse 1]
This year’s love had better last
Heaven knows it’s high time
I’ve been waiting on my own
Too long
And when you hold me like you do
It feels so right, oh, now
I start to forget how my heart gets torn
When that hurt gets thrown
Feeling like you can’t go on

[Verse 2]
Turning circles and time again
Cut like a knife, oh, now
If ya love me, got to know
For sure
‘Cause it takes something more this time
Than sweet, sweet lies, oh, now
Before I open up my arms and fall
Losing all control
Every dream inside my soul

[Pre-Chorus]
When ya kiss me on that midnight street
Sweep me off my feet
Singing, “Ain’t this life so sweet?”

[Verse 3]
‘Cause who’s to worry if our hearts get torn
When that hurt gets thrown
Don’t ya know this life goes on?

[Pre-Chorus]
Won’t ya kiss me on that midnight street?
Sweep me off my feet
Singing, “Ain’t this life so sweet?”

References:
1. This Year’s Love (song) – Wikipedia
2. David Gray: I’m Trained to Wash Up – The Guardian

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Here Comes My Baby (1967) – Cat Stevens

Posted on November 22, 2025 by observationblogger — 6 Comments
Cat Stevens
Rushmore
Katherine Rose

Here Comes My Baby couldn’t be a better song to capture the delight and bouncy mood my daughter Katherine puts me into. We went on a bit of a Wes Anderson spree a week ago – first The Royal Tenenbaums, then Rushmore, both of which featured in my Friday’s Finest movie segment. I can’t overstate how terrific the soundtracks are. And that brings us to today’s song.

There’s this scene in Rushmore where Cat Stevens’ Here Comes My Baby makes its sparkling entrance. The film also uses his understated song The Wind. Rushmore holds an interesting footnote in Stevens’ career: it was the first film permitted to use his songs after his conversion to Islam in the late 1970s (Stevens/Yusuf had largely withheld licensing for two decades).

If there’s one artist whose music I haven’t revisited much as an adult – compared to how absorbed I was as a kid – it’s Cat Stevens, or Yusuf Islam as he’s been known since 1979. Yet this song, Here Comes My Baby, remains the outlier. It’s the one Yusuf track that’s stayed special to me through all these years.

Stevens wrote Here Comes My Baby in the mid-60s, but it first blew up internationally via The Tremeloes, who released their version in January 1967. Stevens released his own take two months later on his debut album Matthew and Son, and thank goodness he did. Yusuf’s recording blends folk-pop with light orchestral touches, giving it that unmistakable 60s London snap. It’s upbeat, but there’s a softness under the bounce. And I don’t know about you, but once the narrative builds and the chorus begins its little emotional tug-through-repetition, it’s impossible not to smile.

In the midnight moonlight
I’ll be walkin’ a long and lonely mile
And every time I do
I keep seein’ this picture of you

Here comes my baby, here she comes now
And that comes as no surprise to me, with another guy
Here comes my baby, here she comes now
Walkin’ with a love, with a love that’s all so fine
Never could be mine, no matter how I try

You never walk alone
And you’re forever talkin’ on the phone
I’ve tried to call you names
But every time it comes out the same

I’m still waitin’ for your heart
Cause I’m sure that some day it’s gonna start
You’ll be mine to hold each day
But till then this is all that I can say

References:
1. Here Comes My Baby (Cat Stevens song) – Wikipedia

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Have You Ever Seen The Rain (1971) – Creedence Clearwater Revival

Posted on November 21, 2025 by observationblogger — 31 Comments

“We achieved all our dreams… you guys are only talking about negative stuff … On your own perfect dream … you bring in a huge rain cloud…”

– John Fogerty

Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Have You Ever Seen the Rain is quietly heartbreaking – a gentle song carrying a simple mix of tension and longing. I remember hearing it often in my youth and being instantly drawn to it. The song conjured images in my mind of the Vietnam War, Agent Orange, acid rain, and the tough road veterans faced in trying to overcome the trauma that haunted them. Whether the song actually had anything to do with that we shall see below. Despite its oversaturation on radio and in broader Western pop culture, Have You Ever Seen the Rain still stands as a contemporary rock classic – arguably CCR’s most celebrated and recognisable song.

Written by cofounder, lead vocalist and principal songwriter – John Fogerty, the song came out as a single in January 1971, and is also part of Creedence’s Pendulum album, released in late 1970. It’s strange how spare the arrangement is for a CCR track – no huge guitar solo, quietly humming organ and steady vocals – just a clean melancholic melody. On its surface, the lyrics talk about a sunshower – “rain … comin’ down on a sunny day.” But the deeper meaning is more personal according to the UDiscover music article below. To Fogerty, the “rain” isn’t literal; it’s his way of expressing the pain as his band was breaking up. Even as things looked bright (they were wildly successful), something dark was settling in.

As alluded to above, the emotional weight doesn’t not from screaming guitars or theatrical flair, but from its simplicity. Lines like “Someone told me long ago / There’s a calm before the storm” feel universal – like a memory, or a warning. This reminds me of a movie called Take Shelter (2011) about a devoted family man and construction worker who becomes increasingly consumed by vivid nightmares of an apocalyptic storm, leading him to build a storm shelter and question his own sanity. The song, like the movie makes you imagine a moment when everything seems okay … and yet isn’t. Good days don’t mean everything is perfect. The rain can come at any moment – even under a blue sky.

[Verse 1]
Someone told me long ago
There’s a calm before the storm
I know, it’s been comin’ for some time
When it’s over, so they say
It’ll rain a sunny day
I know, shinin’ down like water

[Chorus]
I wanna know, have you ever seen the rain?
I wanna know, have you ever seen the rain?
Comin’ down on a sunny day

[Verse 2]
Yesterday, and days before
Sun is cold and rain is hard
I know, been that way for all my time
‘Til forever, on it goes
Through the circle, fast and slow
I know, it can’t stop, I wonder

References:
1. Have You Ever Seen the Rain – Wikipedia
2. ‘Have You Ever Seen The Rain’: Creedence’s Poignant Late-Period Classic – UDiscoverMusic

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It Is What It Is (2023) – Darksoft

Posted on November 20, 2025 by observationblogger — 5 Comments

I heard It Is What It Is the other day on my music player, and its easy, hip groove clicked with me. There’s a breezy looseness to it – a kind of pleasurable, unhurried sway – and the guitar work even pulls me back to that sun-lit Go-Go’s Vacation vibe, or at times a whirly, melodic touch you’d hear on a Smiths record.

I first learnt about this song – from Jeff’s blog at Eclectic Music Lover where he wrote about it:

The album contains nine wonderful tracks, starting with “It Is What It Is“, which was also released as the first single. The song has a fun, bouncy vibe, highlighted by Darksoft’s beautiful jangly guitar notes and breathy vocals singing the cliche lyrics he alluded to above: “Say what you will. When you know you just know. All’s well that ends well. What goes around comes around.” The charming video for the song, showing him barefoot and dressed all in white, doing a simple dance move in front of empty, nondescript office parks around Portland, Maine, was filmed on VHS recording equipment, giving it a vintage lo-fi quality.

Below is a summary of Jeff’s article about the artist and album :
Darksoft is the solo project of a multi-instrumentalist songwriter and producer – first name Bill (originally from Seattle, now based in Portland, Maine) who crafts lush, introspective music by weaving together dreamy pop, shoegaze, and alternative-rock textures. In Beigeification– his 2023 album released on Look Up Records – Darksoft channels a kind of “postmodern dose of beigey moods and pastel phrases” to reflect the disillusionment of our times. Across nine tracks, he leans into thought-terminating clichés (“it is what it is,” “you gotta do what you gotta do,” “win some lose some,” etc.) as lyrical anchors, layering them over simple yet evocative chord progressions, reverb-soaked guitars, soft synths, and his velvety, ethereal vocals. The result is both comforting and wistful – an album that feels like a daydream in beige, quietly profound without demanding too much.

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