The Same Sun
I am slightly addicted to Sharon Corr’s new album- the organic and stripped back tracks leave nothing to hide behind as the purity of her voice and the instruments shine through, making this album quite simply- perfect.
I have written about my interpretation of some of the tracks- which are probably not how they were intended but this is just how I have taken the meaning of her words. If you disagree please tell us about your own interpretations.
Raindrops opens the album and Sharon herself, in our interview with her said, that she got inspiration for this song on one very miserable day;
‘I was having a really bad day and couldn’t explain why- you know when you are just in a mood. You are really down and close to tears and you have no excuse. There was nothing wrong that I was aware of. I had this awful day and I got the kids to bed and I was sitting at the piano and this literally fell out of me. It had been raining all day as well so maybe it was just the atmospheric pressure or so many different things. The release I got after delivering the song- I was happy after it. It’s just like this really great therapy.’
I can resonate with this feeling, being a writer myself- I know the feeling of offloading a mood onto the page, so this song is very special to me.
Take a minute is a song of hope and has an accompanying video. It sees Sharon in the back of a convertible, driving away from someone. I feel this is about long distance relationships; getting in those last few precious moments before they have to say goodbye and they hold onto the promise that they will have longer together in future.
We could be lovers is a song of yearning for something that you can’t have but the idea is what dreams are made of- I think everyone can relate to the lyrics in this for everyone has had someone that they wanted to love them back, but everything just got in the way.
Upon an Ocean is a track that Sharon collaborated with Mitchell Froom on; I wrote Upon an Ocean with Mitchell Froom, he had had this idea and he had packed it away in his music case. He knew it would be coming out at some stage and he knew it was a progression. He started playing it on the piano and immediately I imagined a ballroom of the fifties with the guys at one end and the girls at the other end. A few drinks later, the guys are brave enough to come across from the other side of the room. It just set me in this period in time and that’s why you kind of get that retro feel in the album. That is what came out of Mitchell and I together, it just automatically felt retro. I just imagined the woman and this unrequited love and she is stuck in those moments forever like in Great Expectations- she can literally never get over this guy and he’s never coming back. A little bit sad but beautiful hopefully.’
Edge of Nowhere, is another relatable song for it focuses on when someone feels lost and is trying to find where they belong, watching people pass them by and feeling that loss of direction. A beautiful violin solo weaves its way into this song that gives you goose-bumps.
For me Full Circle tells the tale of seeing someone's potential, but them not realising it themselves and trying to find a way to tell them to break free and fulful their dreams.
You Say- for me is about a poisonous relationship where you are the support and the strength, while the other person is unable to pick themselves up without your help and you feel an obligation to stay with them because you love them.
Thinking About You I think is about a person who made mistakes when they were young and is trying to make amends now. A relationship that they have not been able to let go of, and their lover has gone, so they are travelling to find them, to apologise for not realising what they had at the time.
The Runaround is about going around in circles, believing untruths until you find yourself in the same place you were trying to escape from, a frustration but also an expectation.
As the album comes to a close the songs become more emotionally charged for me, especially now I know where the inspiration came from for The Same Sun. Sharon is an ambassador for OXFAM and she wrote this while she was promoting the charity in Tanzania; ‘I was writing what I was seeing, into my I pad- I was recreating the images of what I was seeing on my I pad because I knew that I was experiencing something very amazing. I didn’t want to write a charity song, I didn’t want to write a speech telling people how I want them to behave or judging people for what they do. I just wanted to recreate the feeling of what I felt out there and what I saw- the people. One of the lyrics is ‘a shepherd boy who smiles at me beneath the lone acacia tree’ and sure enough- a little boy smiled at me underneath a lone acacia tree! It’s about putting you back into the moment. All I could think was the sun is so beautiful here and the landscape is so beautiful. We are under The Same Sun in the Western World. We all depend on it, we are all nourished by it; we all exist because of it. It really equalises us. If felt that we live such different lives. I can go home but home is a very different life for them. I felt it was a very global title for the album- The Same Sun just felt very unifying.’
Christmas Night always makes me cry every time I hear it and it’s no surprise that it evokes this reaction in me as it’s a song written for Sharon’s mum who sadly died a few years ago. Just Sharon and her piano- and the words lay heavy on your heart as she sings the last few lyrics. ‘That song- I find very difficult to listen to, it does make me cry because it’s about my mum. Christmas is a time when you are almost forced to enter into this super cheerfulness and everyone thinks Christmas is going to be great. There is a giant build up and we clear the shelves at Sainsbury’s and hurry home. But you are always missing the loved ones who are not there. Christmas is still joyful and I not a bah-humbug person but the reality is I miss her so bad and your past is so present at Christmas. More present than any other time in the year. I watch my dad trying to keep upbeat and missing her so. It’s the paradox of Christmas. The cheer versus missing the people who are not there. I literally wrote that after Christmas one year because it had made me feel sad and it also brought me a lot of happiness as well because our children were so happy. We always have conflicting emotions at Christmas.’
A stunning second album and a must have for anyone who wants to listen to some quality music.
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