ECLECTIC PLAYLIST #7 MR SATIE TAKES ME TO PARIS

Last night I put my feet up, cradled a cup of tea in one of my favourite Scrabble mugs and closed my eyes, ready to listen to Tim's next track on the Eclectic Playlist.

It's this: Gymnopedie No.1 by Erik Satie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-Xm7s9eGxU

Satie was a Nineteenth Century composer and artist, who spent a lot of time hanging around with surrealists and eccentrics. I like his style.

Anyway, Tim thought this track to be relaxing, so I lay there and let the slow plodding major sevenths and the measured right hand melody float over me.

It certainly was relaxing. Within seconds I was standing in Paris on a rainy Autumn night. The streetlights were reflected in the puddles like an impressionist painting, and waiters pulled tablecloths and blinds behind warm brasserie windows.

There is a sort of melancholy about this piece, don't you think? All great art has the power to move you, to translate you and impact you on an emotional level, and for some reason this short study carries emotion - which transports me to a place far away and sort of in my memory, but not quite.

I opened my eyes and I was back in my room with a cup of tea in my favourite Scrabble mug.

I do love how music has the power to take you somewhere. Thank you, Mr Satie.