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Columbus, Ohio


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A cover of Mark Erelli, one of my favorite songwriters. Played on my Lachenal New Model tenor concertina, recently returned from Greg Jowaisas (with the occasional duet with my plumbing and the trains outside).

 

https://soundcloud.com/johannam17/columbus-ohio

 

Nicely performed, but I can't say I'm taken by the lyrics. I spent a summer in Columbus (working for Ohio Bell Telephone), and I didn't find it worse than other cities, nor depressing, boring, or otherwise worth avoiding in its own right. B)

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Nicely performed, but I can't say I'm taken by the lyrics. I spent a summer in Columbus (working for Ohio Bell Telephone), and I didn't find it worse than other cities, nor depressing, boring, or otherwise worth avoiding in its own right. B)

 

I've never been there myself (except for passing through on I-70). But I don't think the song is meant to imply that there's anything objectively bad about the city. It's more about feeling stuck, about needing a change in your life but lacking the will to make it happen.

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I've never been there myself (except for passing through on I-70). But I don't think the song is meant to imply that there's anything objectively bad about the city. It's more about feeling stuck, about needing a change in your life but lacking the will to make it happen.

 

 

And, while this may be reading too much into things, the town name might have been picked partly for it being symbolic of bold exploration and of new and undiscovered worlds laying ahead of you.

 

The narrator seems to be abandoning the city of Columbus along with the idea of "Columbus". (Note the bit at the end about his "sails" going slack.)

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As the resident active Columbian, Columbusite, or something, I guess I will now have to listen to the lyrics. (Yes, I now have a Columbus address instead of the nice Dublin one, since we moved after the fire. Actually live in Prairie Township though) It is a nice enough place, but not real exciting. Good Irish music community, bluegrass community and folk dance community. I've been here 23 years now, and still think of southern Michigan as home.

 

Alan

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Well done Johanna. I don't know Mark Erelli but from my little peek on the net it seems he's written lots of songs. This one is quite nice and it's great that you've done it with concer and that it's a contempory song. There should be more contempory songs done with concertina I say.

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