United States ☂️ WV185 ☔ Strand of Oaks - More You

[RainyWoods]

Playlist missing Mars Agro - Losing You and Eartha Kitt - I Love Men

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[RainyWoods]

⩥ V O T I N G ⩤
★•★•★•★•★
5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1 - 0
GIVE EACH SONG A STAR RATING
(repeats are allowed)

DEADLINE: NIGHT BEFORE SUBMISSIONS DEADLINE FOR WV142

THANK YOU FOR VOTING

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[RainyWoods]

It's coming up to one year ago (July the 1st 2020 to be precise) when I first introduced you to the Americana artist Amigo The Devil, real name, Danny Kiranos. During what was the worst time in my life I decided to share with you this man's song Cocaine & Abel. I really probably should have stepped back for a good while during that period of time when I was struggling more than I thought was possible, but I didn't. I carried on playing WorldVision, and you people helped me out, probably without even knowing. I'm very grateful for that. A year later and I want to send Amigo again so as to create some happier memories this time with him.

This year Amigo The Devil released his latest album called Born Against. Another record of dark balladry, songs what he calls murder folk. Danny tends to like writing using characters a lot of the time but much like Cocaine & Abel, I've opted here for three beautiful songs that feel more autobiographical. There's the overwhelmingly powerful album opener Small Stone that tugs so hard on your heart strings. Different Anymore which I've been obsessed with and for some reason makes me think of long lost diva torch songs from the 70s. Finally there's the poignant swirling beauty of Another Man's Grave, perhaps the toughest song here lyrically to listen to but contrasted almost surreally by such lushly gorgeous music.

No pressure to help me out if you've listened to the songs and none of them are for you, but if you do like any of them then I'd be so grateful for your assistance here as it's impossible for me to choose. Thank you for listening

 

[RainyWoods]

Two voters so far. Thank you very much again to Calvin and Journalist There's only a couple of days left if you're interested in this little selection (the recap could come in handy letting you know if it's worth diving in, although it's only three songs). I understand I left things a bit late here but hopefully I can get a few more of you in.

 

[RainyWoods]

After gratefully receiving opinions from BTSland and SwedishWinners we're now sitting at four voters. I'll be sending the winner in tomorrow night. At the moment things are extremely close. I hope to get to at least eight voters.

Edit: I've just received Fabi's votes and it's extremely close with almost nothing between the songs: 18 - 17 - 17

 

[RainyWoods]

10 voters is more than I hoped for. Thank you so much There's still a little bit longer left if you'd like to help out. It remains quite close. I'll be sending the winner in before I go to sleep so maybe around 1-2 AM-ish.

 

[RainyWoods]

VOTING CLOSED
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Eleven voters is a great turn out especially as I left this quite late. Thank you very much again to each of you What's quite interesting about this NF is that most of the voters hail from left side pots so perhaps that is something which has led to us going for a song with the potential for decent cross-pot support? It was extremely close though throughout between the three songs. One only started to slip a little right towards the end.

39 stars
38 stars
34 stars

We'll find out very soon which little Amigo The Devil song was victorious.

 

[RainyWoods]

​

The Amigo The Devil song we're going with is the beautiful Another Man's Grave. It may sound pretty at first but the song is an incredibly raw journaling of the struggles of someone living with deep mental health problems. I'd say it's for sure the most harrowing of the three Amigo songs I shared with you, contrasted though in such a surreal way by the aching beauty of the music. That's what I love most about songwriting, how you can take that pain you feel, mould it into something magnificent and then heal with its help. The final little section of the song as the strings start to swirl up before tumbling down is my favourite music moment in a long while. Shortly after this song released I had a dream where it was on a loop as I jumped into the air and started flying through clouds. I usually don't remember my dreams but that one stuck with me.

ANOTHER MAN'S GRAVE
†

It's a quarter to two and the bars are all closing
Nobody looks how they think
The guy in the corner with spit in his beard
Wearing more than he drank of his drink

The dancers are shaking like ants
Desperate to find a last minute queen
While the rest of us are all headed home
To try finding comfort in dreams
'Cause this isn't life
And I know that I chose it
But I can't stand waking up and nobody knows it
I'll never find the strength to change what I need
Is this who I'll always be?

And I open my eyes and the room is still spinning
I joke about buying a vowel
The funniest part of this feeling
Is knowing the answer but nothing comes out
So I'm shaking around like I'm hanging from something
I know is about to break
Like I'm biting the gun but the safety is on
And I threw up the pills I ate
The notes are all scribbled in pencil
Without really knowing what I'm trying to write
Something like "Goddamn the man
Who said everything's gonna be fine"

But life is a lot like a sewer
We get out of it what we put in
That's when doubt kicks in

Maybe I just don't have it inside me
Maybe there's too much I couldn't face?
I just wanted someone to come down
From heaven and explain
This cold and fucked up place
But I'll just keep trying to hide it
Until there's nothing left to save
In the end who I know I'm gonna die
Buried in another man's grave




NF RESULTS

Calvin (Ghana)
Small Stone 5 / Different Anymore 4 / Another Man’s Grave 4

Journalist (Bosnia & Herzegovina)
Small Stone 5 / Different Anymore 5 / Another Man’s Grave 3

Macke (Götaland)
Small Stone 2 / Different Anymore 0 / Another Man’s Grave 5

Mike (Sudogwon)
Small Stone 3 / Different Anymore 4 / Another Man’s Grave 5

Fabi (Mid-Atlantic States)
Small Stone 2 / Different Anymore 4 / Another Man’s Grave 1

Nicholas (Greece)
Small Stone 4 / Different Anymore 3 / Another Man’s Grave 5

Olga (Dominican Republic)
Small Stone 4 / Different Anymore 2 / Another Man’s Grave 2

Gera (Southern USA)
Small Stone 3 / Different Anymore 4 / Another Man’s Grave 5

Connor (Sweden)
Small Stone 3 / Different Anymore 5 / Another Man’s Grave 3

Charly (China)
Small Stone 2 / Different Anymore 2 / Another Man’s Grave 5

Mario (Poland)
Small Stone 1 / Different Anymore 5 / Another Man’s Grave 1


Small Stone = 34 stars
Different Anymore = 38 stars
Another Man’s Grave = 39 stars

As you can see, the results were extremely close. Mario's last minute votes weren't quite enough to give it to Different Anymore despite a very hard push. Before I put the NF up I believed that Small Stone would have been the front runner because of how powerful it gets. To be honest I wanted to send all three. Each would have been worthy of being internally sent but it was just impossible for me to pick and so I'm very grateful for the help my NF voters provided. Thank you again Hope you enjoy the song!

 

[RainyWoods]

2nd in Semi 1 with 104 Points / 2nd in REJU with 42 Points
1st in the Grand Final with 166 Points​

This one still feels so weird. I wasn't naive here and did hope Amigo The Devil could get a nice result again, perhaps squeezing into the top 10 or hanging just outside. Winning though? Absolutely not, especially after seeing how strong this final was. I thought Amigo was actually sort of doomed there sitting in his little death slot with no music video even. I've already said what I felt I needed to say in the grand final topic and so I won't repeat myself again but just know how grateful and touched I am that you enjoyed Amigo's song THIS much. Thank you Born Against is likely going to be my album of the year. I love it so much. Only sad thing is that now that he's won here at WorldVision Amigo's music (much like Weyes Blood's) will be off limits for me to send in future, and gosh I really wanted to share more. Maybe I'll eventually ditch my winners can't return rule. For now though anyway, I think you've just made this gentleman the most successful artist I've shared at WorldVision














Excited we're having a WorldVision in China and now I have the bizarrely stressful job of picking a PQ for it. I already have so many names spinning around my head like Dessa, Father John Misty (his last flop made me sad), King Tuff, Sadistik etc. One of my favourite artists is also premiering his new song and music video tomorrow. If I end up loving that one then oh ooooh. Will be extremely tempting.

 

[RainyWoods]

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The eccentric Father John Misty (aka Joshua Tillman) returns to WorldVision with another tune from his 2015 release, I Love You, Honeybear. I had a lot of choice here track wise as this guy is one of my favourite artists but I honed in on what's always been the most memorably haunting one for me. The dark humour of Bored In The USA (which you might remember from last year's Americana NF) is something I've wanted to share with you all here for years. It's a scathingly satirical roast of well.. everything. No one or thing escapes our man in this tragicomedy tale of the less rosy side of living in the United States. I love a good bridge section and I think Bored In The USA has to have one of the most magnificent lead-ups to a final chorus that I've ever heard. It's very much a slow burner of a piano ballad but I find it ridiculously resplendent and still get goosebumps from his voice with every listen years later.

Forgive my spam here as I've shared a whole bunch of different versions of the song. It's a treat live and Josh performs it differently each time. I couldn't pick just one so have four + the studio. I hope you enjoy the song.

How many people rise and say
"My brain's so awfully glad to be here
For yet another mindless day"?

I've got all morning to obsessively accrue
A small nation of meaningful objects
And they've got to represent me too

By this afternoon, I'll live in debt
By tomorrow, be replaced by children

How many people rise and think
"Oh good, the stranger's body's still here
Our arrangement hasn't changed?"

Now I've got a lifetime to consider all the ways
I've grown more disappointing to you
As my beauty warps and fades
I suspect you feel the same
When I was young, I dreamt of a passionate obligation to a roommate

Is this the part where I get all I ever wanted?
Who said that?
Can I get my money back?

Just a little bored in the USA
Oh, just a little bored in the USA
Save me, white Jesus
Bored in the USA
Oh, they gave me a useless education
And a subprime loan
On a craftsman home
Keep my prescriptions filled
And now I can't get off
But I can kind of deal
Oh, with being bored in the USA
Oh, just a little bored in the USA
Save me, President Jesus
I'm bored in the USA
How did it happen?
Bored in the USA

ACOUSTIC VERSIONS

 

[RainyWoods]

20th in the Grand Final with 93 Points
Prequalified Entry
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Wooo so pleased Father John Misty got his best result to date. Didn't think he'd beat 24th at first when the results started but old Misty managed to claw his way up to a respectable 20th, receiving points from seventeen jurors! I'm well chuffed. Those 12s from Gera and Flo were especially delicious. Thank you very much all!






Dalmatia







I'll leave you with the two previous Father John Misty songs I've shared in case you haven't heard them and are curious. The harrowing yet moving Please Don't Die which just managed to squeeze its way into the final, and then the tragic love song, I Love You, Honeybear, perhaps my favourite song I've sent to WV over the past couple of years. That one sadly missed the final, I think it was by a point. There's still so many songs by him I'd love you to hear and so I think this guy is worthy of his own little NF one day in the near future, maybe before I reach 100 entries which should happen within probably the next 6 months or so. Only 8 more entries to go and then I'll have to pick the biggie!

 

[RainyWoods]

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The sultry Colombian-American R&B queen is back! Kali Uchis returns with the vibey Solita, a track she released at the end of 2019. Kali hypnotises over a bouncy reggaetón beat, weaving effortlessly between Spanish and English. "Bailando aquí sola, Es mejor que con el diablo" dancing here alone, it's better than with the devil. Pay your respects to her now pulverised ex.. or not. He probably doesn't deserve it.

Mmm, mmm, mmm
Mmm, mmm, mmm
Como una espina de rosa
Cuando yo te vi con otra, fue lo que sentí
Te quiero pa' mí
Ere' una calle rota, serpiente venenosa
Anoche soñé que estabas aquí

Well, I got a feeling these scars won't ever look like they're old news
If I let you keep on rubbin' salt into all my open wounds
I wish I could keep everything that you took of me but the photos
But you keep a piece of me locked in a secret spot we called home

Solita, solita
Bailando aquí sola
Como a mí me gusta
Solita, solita
Bailando aquí sola
Es mejor que con el diablo

(Mm, mm, mm)
Sola, sola, sola, sola
Sola, sola, sola, sola
Mejor que con el diablo
Mejor que con el diablo
(Mm, mm, mm)
Sola, sola, sola, sola
Sola, sola, sola, sola

Rooted in your ways, you won't ever know, you won't ever stay
Who I am today; the roots of my soul
Now I need to face my demons alone (Mm, mm, mm)
So close, I could smell his cologne
He asked me why I'm all alone

Solita, solita
Bailando aquí sola
Como a mí me gusta
Solita, solita
Bailando aquí sola
Es mejor que con el diablo

(Mm, mm, mm)
Sola, sola, sola, sola
Sola, sola, sola, sola
Mejor que con el diablo
Mejor que con el diablo
(Mm, mm, mm)
Sola, sola, sola, sola
Sola, sola, sola, sola

​

 

[RainyWoods]

5th in Semi 2 with 87 Points / 4th in REJU with 62 Points
11th in the Grand Final with 114 Points
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Super delighted to see Kali's song enjoyed this much. By far this has been the best result I've gotten with her in any game, and excluding Poppy I think this might be one of my best bop results too Thanks for the support!













I'm quite excited for next edition. There's two songs I'm dying to share. One has a music video. The other doesn't. If it gets a music video before the deadline (there's a chance as it's a single) I think it's going to be my next entry, as at this moment a really joyous and upbeat slice of Americana rock is just what the doctor ordered. If not then I'm afraid you're getting me in funeral mode quite literally with a super dark and difficult song perhaps most akin to my recent Eartheater entry.... or I may change my mind and send neither

 

[cegs5]

That was a surprising comeback…congratulations on that 11th. I actually didn’t even remember you sent her before.

Hoping it doesn’t take another three hundred years before you give your promised second chance to unlucky MUNA. No pressure though

 

[RainyWoods]

That was a surprising comeback…congratulations on that 11th. I actually didn’t even remember you sent her before.

Hoping it doesn’t take another three hundred years before you give your promised second chance to unlucky MUNA. No pressure though

Thanks Cesar! Yeah, I sent this collaboration with British R&B singer Jorja Smith maybe three or so years ago.

Ooo MUNA. For some reason I feel like they get mentioned quite a bit. I have considered a couple of their songs but they weren't screaming at me to make them an entry, but I can investigate again. I forgot I promised them... I also promised a second chance for Kim Petras and look what happened there.

 

[RainyWoods]

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Lingua Ignota (Kristin Hayter) makes her WorldVision debut with a track taken from her latest album, Sinner Get Ready. Comparisons quite consistently are being made between the new record and the starkness of Nico's The Marble Index and Desertshore era, and I couldn't agree more. Kristin wrote and recorded the album whilst living in rural Pennsylvania. It's a collection of dark, at times extremely abrasive songs exploring cult-like worship, carrying heavy themes of redemption and devotion, set to haunting soundscapes that are both as isolated and harsh as their surroundings. The single I'm sharing here, Pennsylvania Furnace, shows a quiet, mournful loneliness that meekly laments before unleashing a menacing force bigger than both Lingua and the listener.

Me and the dog, we died together
Within the Lord, I cast off all my earthly bonds
There is victory in Jesus
Jesus
Jesus

Do you wanna be in hell with me?
I know you wanna stop but you can't stop
I watched you alone in the home where you live with your family
And all that I've learned is everything burns

Do you wanna be in hell with me?
I wish things could be any other way
I watched you long in the home where you live with your family
But one thing I've learned is everything burns

Above all others
Above all
Above all others
Above all
I feel your voice
Above all others
Above all others
Above all
I feel your name
Above all others
Above all others
Above all
I feel your voice
Above all others
Above all others
Above all
Me and the dog, we die together

​

 

[Nicholas123]

Interesting choice! Actually, i had in mind to ask Luis to send her in NSC with "Do not doubt me, traitor".

 

[RainyWoods]

Interesting choice! Actually, i had in mind to ask Luis to send her in NSC with "Do not doubt me, traitor".

Oooh the album that song is from is pure insanity. I had considered sending Butcher Of The World from it to the contest but then I feared those attending the LL would have collapsed needing medical treatment I'm in awe of that record but it's such a difficult listen. She really took the pain of being in an abusive relationship and displayed it all so raw.

The new album is still a difficult (yet fascinating) listen but amongst the chaos there are some achingly beautiful moments. I almost sent The Solitary Brethren Of Ephrata which I'm besotted with (I'll be shocked if it's not my song of the year) but decided to save it for a special moment, and then I love Man Is Like A Spring Flower too. The melody on that one is insane. Such a grand song.

 

[RainyWoods]

4th in Semi 2 with 78 Points / 3rd in REJU with 43 points
16th in the Grand Final with 103 Points​

A fabulous result for Lingua Ignota! Such a small number of voters but you pushed this polarising song to a very respectable 16th. A big thank you to all of you but especially to those who gave the 12s and 10s. They were crucial! This won't be the last time you see this lady. I just have to brace myself first for part 2 as it's something that has quickly become very dear to me. Those of you that liked this, check out Lingua Ignota's new album.... if you dare MWAHAHAHAHAAA. It's a shocker (in the best possible way)!
















I had plans set for this current edition and the proceeding one. I've sent one of the songs I'd locked in but now I'm unsure if I'll keep to my initial idea. My head is in a bit of floaty place right now. It doesn't know where it wants to be but I'll let it find its destination. Also, get ready for a returning artist All Stars NF as I approach my 100th entry rather soonish (I think this next one is 94th). I kind of wish I could place myself into a coma for six editions as I'm really excited to organise that selection.

 

[RainyWoods]

Singer, actress and comedian Bette Midler makes her WorldVision Debut with her signature tune, Wind Beneath My Wings. The song was written in 1982 by Jeff Silbar and Larry Henley but was popularised by Bette in 1988 when she starred in the tearjerker classic, Beaches (never watch without a king sized box of tissues) and performed a cover of the emotional track on the soundtrack. It went on to become a hit, winning record of the year at the Grammy Awards.

I have extremely early childhood memories of this song as my mum was a church singer and her repertoire consisted of 8273 (at least it felt like that) Bette Midler songs. She performed so much Bette Midler at church that eventually the minister told her to stop. And so I've heard these Bette Midler songs, in particular From A Distance and Wind Beneath My Wings being practiced one could possibly say an insufferable amount of times. But eventually I grew a soft spot for this one and there's deep nostalgia there. Many of us have special people in our lives that we want to thank for all they've done for us but it's hard to find the correct words or moment even. These words we can't find Wind Beneath My Wings says perfectly for us. It's a sad and heavy song, but also one of celebration. Tell those close to you how special they are.

I personally would like to dedicate this song to any Polish gentlemen here who this past week might have been told to find new accommodation at cruelly short notice yet succeeded. You're my hero

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
It must have been cold there in my shadow
To never have sunlight on your face
You were content to let me shine, that's your way
You always walked a step behind

So I was the one with all the glory
While you were the one with all the strength
A beautiful face without a name for so long
A beautiful smile to hide the pain

Did you ever know that you're my hero
And everything I would like to be?
I can fly higher than an eagle
For you are the wind beneath my wings

It might have appeared to go unnoticed
But I've got it all here in my heart
I want you to know I know the truth, of course I know it
I would be nothing without you

Did you ever know that you're my hero?
You're everything I wish I could be
I could fly higher than an eagle
For you are the wind beneath my wings

Did I ever tell you you're my hero?
You're everything, everything I wish I could be
Oh, and I, I could fly higher than an eagle
For you are the wind beneath my wings
'Cause you are the wind beneath my wings

Oh, the wind beneath my wings
You, you, you, you are the wind beneath my wings
Fly, fly, fly away, you let me fly so high
Oh, you, you, you, the wind beneath my wings
Oh, you, you, you, the wind beneath my wings

Fly, fly, fly high against the sky
So high I almost touch the sky
Thank you, thank you
Thank God for you, the wind beneath my wings

 

[lavieenrose]

I can't believe you ACTUALLY did it