Thursday, May 29, 2025

The Brightest Lights - King Charles

The Brightest Lights - King Charles
3:36
LoveBlood, 2012
Written by King Charles

I've never heard of this eccentric British singer and multi-instrumentalist, but this info from Wikipedia is delightful: in 2009, he became the first British person to win the International Songwriting Competition in Nashville, Tennessee.  The judges included Tom Waits and Jerry Lee Lewis!  Now that's an accomplishment to put on your resumé.  He also released an impassioned version of "We Didn't Start the Fire" with all-new updated lyrics in 2022.  In this rousing acoustic sing-along, he's backed by Mumford & Sons, playing a folk gallop that feels like an old sea shanty or an old Irish ballad.  The lyrics are all imagery of light and shadow, twilight blotting the sun, dawn sweeping darkness away, all relating in Charles' oddball mind to hedonism and carpe diem: "Oh the moonlight shadows are fleeting and scattered / Where memories and prophecies are slain / Only the moment you're in can delight in sin / So forget your regrets and pains." It's folk-rock with a slightly deranged grin, like a Victorian poet let loose in a pub full of stompers.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Singing the Blues - Marty Robbins

Singing the Blues - Marty Robbins 2:25 single, 1957 Written by Melvin Endsley Fun fact: this is the song the Clash are referencing in the f...