Love Simile Blues
Welcome to another musical installment of The Listening World! Today’s song comes from Sammy Austin, a 12-year-old songwriter based in Minneapolis. I’ve had the pleasure of collaborating with Sammy for the last several years, and have been amazed throughout by his outstanding ear for melody, his nuanced sense of pitch and rhythm, and his prodigious resources of creative energy.
Like the musicians he admires – Justin Roberts, Kasey Chambers, the Okee Dokee Brothers, among others – Sammy’s work is extremely clever, catchy and wise. But Sammy’s songs have a logic and vision all their own, marked by his ability to build unexpected connections and images across the vast reaches of his imagination.
That ability is on full display in his “Love Simile Blues,” a song that also happens to be a perfect Valentine’s Day soundtrack:
LOVE SIMILE BLUES
My love is like a bird sitting on top of a lamp
My love is like a bird sitting on top of a lamp
love keeps me warm, it makes me feel like a champ
My love is like a little yellow alien toy
My love is like a little yellow alien toy
He came from outer space to bring me joy
My love is like a building that’s really tall
My love is like a building that’s really tall
It makes me feel safe, it makes me feel small
My love is like disgusting broccoli
My love is like disgusting broccoli
It tastes kinda weird, but it’s good for me
My love is like scissors cutting glass
My love is like scissors cutting glass
It’s dangerous to me any time I pass
My love is like daisies and they’re blooming for life
My love is like daisies and they’re blooming for life
I won’t have a husband, but I will have a wife
My love is like a tightrope way up in the circus
My love is like a tightrope way up in the circus
Everything about it would make nervous
My love is like a super performance
My love is like a super performance
I hope I look very enormous
My love is like a sausage eating pancakes for breakfast
My love is like a sausage eating pancakes for breakfast
It’s so delicious you know it won’t last
My love is like trying to find my dreams
My love is like trying to find my dreams
It feels good, that’s the way it seems
Love makes me feel good and not shy
Love makes me feel good and not shy
Love makes me feel good since god is nigh
If you’d like to hear more of Sammy’s music, his debut CD Blue Apple is now available to stream online – and for local fans, the official album-launch celebration will take place on Sunday, April 12 at the Minneapolis Institute of Art.
We’d be delighted to see some of you there! And whether your love is like a super performance, or whether it’s more like scissors cutting glass, we hope you have a happy Valentine’s Day.
With all kinds of love,
Brian