The song that started it all...

[Nate]

Hey everyone!

I'm curious to know which song of John's that got you into his music? You know.. that first song you heard and you thought "Ohhh... this is GOOOOOD," and left you looking for more.

For me? Believe it or not, "Time" from Too Blind to Hear.

'Cause time won’t heal the pain, you know.
Time is what’s to blame, you know.'

I heard that the first time and I was like: How come I haven't heard of this before?

[Jade]

In my case, it wasn't a song, actually - it was the video for 'Clock Face' (which I really loved).

This was in January 2008. Until then, I did not know much about John Garrison, other than that he was the new bass player for James Blunt. I had already seen him bassing for Blunty, twice at the Hammersmith Apollo in London and thought he did a great job and was a rather handsome lad. Nothing more, nothing less. Little did I know what he was actually capable of as a singer/songwriter/solo performer.

Shortly after watching the 'Clock Face' video for the first time and the one for 'Testimony', I found out about 'Above The Cosmos'. John's amazing voice and unique style got me intrigued right away and, as a result, I found myself listening to snippets of the Cosmos songs on the CD Baby page all the time. Having the tracks cut after 30 seconds was extremely hard, still it got me through until the real thing made it from 'above' right into my cosmos. The album totally blew me away, it still does - Highly addictive stuff, each song a gem in its own right, "Shadow" & "Happy Hour" particularly. So I guess these were the songs that actuallly drew me in and, in fact, started it all.

Next step on the stairway to Garrison's musical heaven were his demos that I came across in March 2008. About 60 songs, each more beautiful than the last, all kinds of awesome, I couldn't quite believe.

I haven't stopped listening to John's music ever since, it's just the perfect blend of a gorgeous voice, inspirational, heartfelt lyrics and irresistible melody. Nothing has ever moved me so much, never before did music connect with me to such a great extent. His songs really opened up a whole new musical dimension and to me, they are pretty much like this "Strumming my pain with his fingers, Singing my life with his words" kind of thing that is hard to find and even harder to explain. Maybe best to not even try and just be thankful, which I eternally am.

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Nov 3, 2010 22:13:52 GMT -5 Nate said:

For me? Believe it or not, "Time" from Too Blind to Hear.

'Cause time won’t heal the pain, you know.
Time is what’s to blame, you know.'

I heard that the first time and I was like: How come I haven't heard of this before?

Now I'm curious, too. Where did you hear this song for the first time? Did someone play it to you or was it on the radio?

Funny thing, we've got a thread on this board "Favorite Line in a JG song", jgarrison.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=26&page=3 and some time ago, I chose that very line as one of my favs :

Apr 23, 2009 13:58:24 GMT -5 Jade said:

"Cause time won't heal the pain, you know
Time is what's to blame, you know"

Time

[gray]

Nice thread, Nate! And I agree, these lines in "Time" are amazing.

Well, it almost never happens that I listen to a song, or an album, or an artist, for the first time and immediately love it. I have to admit that it was the same with John's music.
To begin with, I was quite sad about Malcolm leaving the band. When my sister told me about John I was like "who is that?" and when she asked me to check out his music I refused at first; it took me a while until I gave in, googled his name and actually listened to his songs. I think I downloaded 'Here Goes Another Year' and 'So Wrong, So Right' and liked them, especially the latter.
I can't quite remember, but I don't think I listened to all the other songs on myspace or on youtube at that time - I usually prefer listening to an album as a whole rather than listen to just a few songs, and I also like reading the lyrics when listening to a song for the first time. So we ordered the album and upon first listen I wasn't blown away to be honest. The thing is that at that time I didn't like four-plus minute songs, so I listened to the entire album once and then listened to all the other songs, which I began to quite like, but did not listen to Happy Hour again until a few days or even weeks later I think. That means I did not realise what a brilliant song Happy Hour is!! Unforgivable, but as I mentioned above, I could listen to the most amazing song ever and still not realise how good it is when listening to it for the first time. Anyway, the song that really got me was Abdicate, it's so lovely. I remember we had to read Hamlet in school back then, and I liked how it reminded me of that book.

When I stumbled upon the demos, in March 2008, it was as if Christmas had come early. The only downside was that I had an important maths exam at that time, so it took me a few days to listen to all of the songs - had I had the chance, I would have listened to all of them on the same day, but sometimes life gets in the way (by the way, this was the first one of the demos I had on repeat). The ones I had already heard really impressed me, in fact, I preferred quite a few of them to the songs on Above The Cosmos. I still remember how I would listen to all of the demos and discover a new gem every time. There were a few which are now among my favourites, but required several repeats until I fell in love with them (Questions, I Hope, Goodbye, ...). I'm still amazed how one person can write so many beautiful, touching songs.

[Nate]

Nov 4, 2010 19:41:03 GMT -5 Jade said:

Now I'm curious, too. Where did you hear this song for the first time? Did someone play it to you or was it on the radio?

Funny thing, we've got a thread on this board "Favorite Line in a JG song", jgarrison.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=26&page=3 and some time ago, I chose that very line as one of my favs :

Apr 23, 2009 13:58:24 GMT -5 Jade said:

"Cause time won't heal the pain, you know
Time is what's to blame, you know"

Time

Ha! That's interesting that you mentioned the same lines of that song over a year ago in that thread.

I found Budapest on Amazon.com back in 2004. I was tired of listening to the same old music and I wanted to find something new. At the time I was into some UK bands such as Radiohead, Haven, and Longview. So I plugged those bands into Amazon's site and they suggested to me a few bands and Budapest was one of them. I listened to the 30 second clips for Too Blind to Hear, and at first listen, I thought they were okay. I logged onto ebay and searched Budapest. I found an auction for Too Blind to Hear starting at one cent. So I bid one cent. And I won the auction for... one cent.

It was the best penny I ever spent!!!

Immediately I liked "Evade the Pain" and "Further Away."

Every year, I mix and create a compilation album of various artists called "The Waterfall Varietal" series. I was digging through the Budapest album to see if there was a song that would fit the mood I was looking for. I knew the song "Time" was a slow track, but I had pretty much ignored that song up to this point. Slower and sad songs was what I was looking for, so I put "Time" on my compilation album.

Then I fell in love with "Time!" Every time I listened to my compilation album, that song stood out as the best track. It was "Time" that got me to ask myself "I wonder if Budapest has anything else released?" I saw they had just released Head Towards the Dawn...

... took me forever to get that album. Thanks to Aurora from Barcelona for sending me that CD!

Then I grabbed all of those demos... and well.. you know the rest!

[loraline]

The first time Johns name got my attention was late 2007, as he was rumoured and later confirmed to go on tour with James. Curiosity got me to check up on him and I ended up on myspace.

The song that blew me away (and still does) is Walking on broadway.
Several songs describe exactly my life, experiences and emotions... visiting time, deep disguise, cornerstone...

I one made a level for music...

1st level... superficial, you listen to the music, might like the music, but it goes no further than skin deep.
2nd level it touches the heart, you connect to the music, like it and want to know more of it
3rd level it reaches the soul and you can't let go because it is so much like you

Johns music is for me 3rd level

[Jade]

Thanks Nate, Gray and Loraline for sharing your personal "How I fell in love"-stories. I thorougly enjoyed reading your postings.

[Lucy]

Nov 22, 2010 15:00:23 GMT -5 Jade said:

Thanks Nate, Gray and Loraline for sharing your personal "How I fell in love"-stories. I thorougly enjoyed reading your postings.

Me too, I like to read all them very much!

For me, Clock Face was the first song of Budapest which I listened thanks to that guy who was giving a rare demo-cd at the end of a Keane concert in Barcelona. It was on March of 2005, and I loved that song from the very first minute. ;D

[nab1973]

For me it's definitely- Life Gets In The Way- what a really Fantastic song and others to follow!!!!!!!!!!1

Thanks a lot John for making my life soooooooooo Wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[nab1973]

Have you got any Live footage of Life Gets In the Way John?? I'd be over the Moon if you could find it for me in the near future. Thanx John.