25 thoughts on “I’d Rather Be Sailing from A New Brain by William Finn”
Holy shit! That was ridiculous. I love it!
Stunning. Absolutely stunning.
This song is insanely hard to perform because yearning is an emotion very
hard to manufacture on demand.
Sailing to heaven! Sing Brah Man!
Well, squall!
2012 Lotte Lenya Competition: Justin Hopkins
check this guy out
its definitely a ballsy interpretation.
For the record, Bill isn’t playing. But he is sitting there laughing his
ass off.
Its an absolutely fantastic rendition of the song, and took impossible
amounts of skill and talent, but I feel like it skips over the true source
of this song’s beauty: its simplicity.
A stirring performance — but it doesn’t sound like sailing.
@ASchlink1990 Oh my Jesus, Darius de Haas is a god. Great taste!
I am BEYOND blown away! You did a brilliantly fierce rendition, my man!
@Crenmagicman BAHAHAHHAHAHA!!!!
What are you talking about “too high for him”?! This is obviously very
high, yes but he pulls it off! And the octave jump was not written in… It
is 100% choice….
@kingofthecities …I think a good actor needs to capture both, personally,
or it’s just boring.ANyways, I think this guy butchers it musically and
vocally, so it’s kind of irrelevant in my opinion, how he plays it at all.
this is why tenors shouldnt sing baritone songs, the tenors make us look
bad 😉
taking it up there, IMO, changes some of the intent of that particular part
of the text/song….BUT, it was done amazingly, for keeping it in “that
place” vocally, wouldn’t have shown people what he could really do. I
applud it, from a vocalist standpoint, out of context from the “book”. It
would have been “too much”, in context. Good job!
I think it’s less the choice to change some of the line, and more the fact
that this is too high for him, and he’s roaming on a lot of pitches. Well,
it’s not too high, but his transition from chest to head voice is rough.
This is certainly a different and admirable rendition. I think people are
getting irritated because it wouldn’t be appropriate in the context of the
show. But this is a concert, and one with the composer present, so I think
we should take it in stride.
blow away…. going to destroy my voice trying to copy it…
Yes I am, Just because Gordon is in hospital as he writes/imagines the song
it doesn’t meant that he’s not lost in the bliss of something he loves. If
anything there is more reason to enjoy the escapism. Kevin seems to
understand that as does John Barrowman and a few others but as I said many
people seem to think it should be something sad.
wow… never heard this song sung this way before – but it’s good. a good,
adventurous version i would say. thanks so much for posting this. 🙂 love
this finn-song so, so much!
Holy shit! That was ridiculous. I love it!
Stunning. Absolutely stunning.
This song is insanely hard to perform because yearning is an emotion very
hard to manufacture on demand.
Sailing to heaven! Sing Brah Man!
Well, squall!
2012 Lotte Lenya Competition: Justin Hopkins
check this guy out
its definitely a ballsy interpretation.
For the record, Bill isn’t playing. But he is sitting there laughing his
ass off.
Its an absolutely fantastic rendition of the song, and took impossible
amounts of skill and talent, but I feel like it skips over the true source
of this song’s beauty: its simplicity.
A stirring performance — but it doesn’t sound like sailing.
@ASchlink1990 Oh my Jesus, Darius de Haas is a god. Great taste!
I am BEYOND blown away! You did a brilliantly fierce rendition, my man!
@Crenmagicman BAHAHAHHAHAHA!!!!
What are you talking about “too high for him”?! This is obviously very
high, yes but he pulls it off! And the octave jump was not written in… It
is 100% choice….
@kingofthecities …I think a good actor needs to capture both, personally,
or it’s just boring.ANyways, I think this guy butchers it musically and
vocally, so it’s kind of irrelevant in my opinion, how he plays it at all.
this is why tenors shouldnt sing baritone songs, the tenors make us look
bad 😉
taking it up there, IMO, changes some of the intent of that particular part
of the text/song….BUT, it was done amazingly, for keeping it in “that
place” vocally, wouldn’t have shown people what he could really do. I
applud it, from a vocalist standpoint, out of context from the “book”. It
would have been “too much”, in context. Good job!
I think it’s less the choice to change some of the line, and more the fact
that this is too high for him, and he’s roaming on a lot of pitches. Well,
it’s not too high, but his transition from chest to head voice is rough.
This is certainly a different and admirable rendition. I think people are
getting irritated because it wouldn’t be appropriate in the context of the
show. But this is a concert, and one with the composer present, so I think
we should take it in stride.
blow away…. going to destroy my voice trying to copy it…
Yes I am, Just because Gordon is in hospital as he writes/imagines the song
it doesn’t meant that he’s not lost in the bliss of something he loves. If
anything there is more reason to enjoy the escapism. Kevin seems to
understand that as does John Barrowman and a few others but as I said many
people seem to think it should be something sad.
wow… never heard this song sung this way before – but it’s good. a good,
adventurous version i would say. thanks so much for posting this. 🙂 love
this finn-song so, so much!
@the octave jump maybe he really really REALLY likes sailing 😀
Great performance but that sounds like sailing in a tsunami ….
The second half made my jaw drop. Amazing!