Today’s Top 5: Wonders & Delights

The earth wobbles on its axis. It’s a phenomenon that has intrigued scientists since the 1890s, when it was initially detected, but it wasn’t until 2016 that Jet Propulsion Laboratory researchers identified the likely cause. Have no fear: The world isn’t set to collapse on its side as if a spinning top in its last seconds upright; the end, as such, isn’t nigh. It’s simply Earth adjusting its balance due to, of all things, drought. Minus the weight of water, it tilts.

In a figurative sense, people wobble, too – and not just from too much booze. We’re forever spinning like tops a split-second from toppling over, our axes shifting from the weight added and subtracted from our shoulders by ourselves and others. We lean one way one day and another the next until, at long last, we spin and lean no more. It’s the way of life.

Different people handle the daily burdens in different ways. Me? Take a look around this blog and you’ll find the answer: It’s music. At its best, whether in concert or via record, CD or digital media, music takes me away from the day’s trials and tribulations like no other. Whether you close your eyes and drift away on a catchy melody or pump your fist in the air with thousands of other fans in the arena, a la at a Springsteen concert, the past and future aren’t just secondary concerns – they are of no concern. And after a morning devoted to the burden known as taxes, which always adds weight to my frame, I’ve focused on music for the afternoon, first with the documentary Ticket to Write: The Golden Age of Rock Journalism on Amazon Prime…

…and then sliding down the rabbit hole known as YouTube in search of wonders and delights, a few of which were new to me. So, for today’s Top 5: Wonders & Delights. No rhyme or reason to the picks beyond they captured my fancy….

1) Harriet – “Reach.” This is a cover version of a song the Brit pop group S Club 7 sent to No. 2 on the U.K. charts in 2000; Harriet recorded it for Graham Norton’s radio show in honor of his birthday. To my knowledge, I’ve never heard the original. And, quite frankly, I don’t want or need to: This voice does it for me.

2) Natalie Gelman – “Easy Now.” I don’t know much about Ms. Gelman, but she’s a singer-songwriter with a bright future. This is a great song.

3) Amelia Eisenhauer & the Peruvian Farm Girls – “Changed.” So Amelia was an American Idol contestant during its final season, which is where I first heard her. She’s good. Better than good, actually, as this video shows:

4) Courtney Marie Andrews – “Honest Life.” The title track to Courtney’s recent album, which I’ve listened to almost daily since discovering it in late February. (It still gets better with every listen, and I’ve listened to it at least several hundred times, I think.) We have tickets to see her in early May – can’t wait!

5) Lulu – “Oh Me Oh My.” We also have tickets to see the legendary Lulu in May. She’s one of the greats, and this song – one of her greatest.

And one bonus – inspired by the torrential rains we experienced yesterday:

6) Belinda Carlisle – “Sun.” This was one the one new song included on Belinda’s Icon collection a few years back. It’s addictive.