Fire playlist

~ MaryG

We hadn’t lit a fire in our fireplace for at least five years, until this winter. I don’t know why. Maybe it was the election and my strong urge to circle the wagons, protect hearth & home, and generally ignore the outside world that led me to open up the ole flue and insist on a firemaking lesson from my husband. In the past, he always made the fires, but now I really wanted to know how to do it myself.

After the first fire, I reverted right back to Fireplace Princess and he does most of the work—quite willingly—including lugging in the heavy firewood from the garage. (It’s such a great, practical application for all that powerlifting he does in the gym. The guy can deadlift over 500 pounds, why would I get the firewood?)

The man tends the fire.

It’s funny that we went for such a long stretch of years without ever lighting a fire. A fireplace was one feature we both really wanted when we were house hunting. (Our first house didn’t have one.)

So as I’m staring into the pretty flames and toasting my toes, with a glass of wine and/or a weed gummy, the question becomes what is the best music to enhance the experience?

Photo by me!

One night, I told Alexa to play Leonard Cohen’s “Who by Fire?” which I absolutely love as the theme song for Apple TV’s brilliant “Bad Sisters.” This led us to watch the newish Leonard Cohen documentary on Netflix, which is largely focused on his most famous song – Hallelujah. It was a wonderful pairing of fire and music. (And by the way, after watching the entire documentary, I decided that my favorite version of Hallelujah is John Cale’s. His voice has the perfect quality for the lyrics. The more angelic versions just don’t hit the same.)

Another great pairing was “December” by George Winston, which might just be the most perfect solo instrumental album ever made.

December was first released in 1982 and I’m sure many of my fellow GenXers know it well. It’s impossible to have a favorite track on this album, because they all run together so beautifully, with familiar holiday and classical melodies interwoven throughout. The piano is the star.

I’m sensing a theme. I like piano music with fires.

If anyone has any other great piano songs or album suggestions for me, I’d love to hear them!

24 thoughts on “Fire playlist”

  1. I don’t play much piano music. But when I do and what got my back into it was because of listening to Chris Miggells playing live earlier in the year. Something I blogged about. His music made an impact with me. I then bought his album he has created there and then when he was playing that day called, Synethese. You will find him on YouTube. There is a video on there on a luve performance he did. I wasn’t there at tht one personally. But I have l watched it and I was in awe with it all.

    I then went on to buy another album (not his) of a mixture of piano music. That album was called Peaceful Piano A Journey to Complete Relaxation. There are 3 CDs in that album.

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      1. If you want to watch a full concert of his he has a video called Live at The Iron Cathedral, where you will see his whole performance there. It’s just over an hour long the video. The concert itself will be a little under that. 😊

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      3. You’re welcome. When I went to check the name of that one, I seen also that he has now shared his concert when he performed at the theatre earlier this year. I didn’t get to see it as I was at the dentist. So, I shall be watching that one tomorrow. 😊

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  2. Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah is one of my favourite songs. I didn’t see the documentary but I heard he once suggested there should be a moratorium on that song, but he also added- “except for K. D. Lange’s rendition.” It is my favourite too.

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    1. There’s just something about it that strikes an emotional chord in almost everyone. In the documentary, they talk about how it’s like a prayer and it reclaimed the word “Hallelujah” from the Church. Believe it or not, record executives told Cohen it was not a good song and would not release it widely. Then Bob Dylan got a hold of it…
      You might enjoy the documentary!

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  6. Dear Mary
    We love our open fire as well as much as we love Cohen. When our dear Kb was working at the university in Montreal, he got to know Leonard Cohen. They used to be invited to the same parties.
    Last year, we didn’t light a fire that often as you have to tend a fire, and we were busy writing another book and editing pictures. But this year we are relaxed and have time to enjoy our fire.
    All the best
    The Fab Four of Cley
    🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

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      1. Hi Mary
        Leonard often sat in a corner drinking, surrounded by beautiful women. Very rarely, he played some tunes on the piano. We two often gossiped about the French Canadians at our universities.
        People didn’t call him Lenny.

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