when you're drunk you're terrific

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Rachel Unthank & The Winterset - Sea Song (Robert Wyatt)

Some months ago I wandered into town to see Rachel Unthank and her band play a soft set to a small art gallery. The light was dim, the wine was white, and as they began to play this song, Ms. Unthank rocking back and forth on one stocky heel for percussion, the woman next to me began to sob gently. It didn't seem in the least bit unusual, the band playing this song about bizarre relationships and sadness, the inability to control or understand the thing you love. The way they played it, falling in love felt like drowning, like sinking your ship, and descending to a different world where everything was weightless. I think that was exactly the way this song needs to be played, with its sinking and settling piano like sand on the ocean floor. The whole thing is one beautiful tryst, one little death before moving on.

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