I Don't Know Lisa Hannigan... but I Am Game

J-Po sent me a link to this video and I just got all swoony and spent half my morning listening to Irish songstress, Lisa Hannigan songs and watching her videos. This one features paper cutting . I can't resist a crafty video. The mushroom cut out is my favorite.

The lyrics to this song got me thinking. I thought of all my bloggy friends and wondered if you can dance or drive or like the sea as I listened along. So I filled in some answers of my own in parenthesis. If anyone is game to repost with their own, let me know in the comments.

In an interview by NPR for All Things Considered in April 2009, Hannigan says of the song, "It's that moment where you see the turn of somebody's elbow or a book peeking out of someone's bag on the train," Hannigan says. "And — I do this anyway — I sort of construct a person behind it, invariably positive. And I think that song is about that moment, where you're sort of full of hope about someone you really have no idea about."

I Don't Know by Lisa Hannigan
I don't know what you smoke (not a puff)
 or what countries you've been to (Netherlands, Canada, USA)
if you speak any other languages other than your own (just some phrases)
but I'd like to meet you

 

I don't know if you drive (a Volkswagen)
 if you love the ground beneath you (especially in nature)
I don't know if you write letters (one of my true loves)
 or panic on the phone (not me)
 still I'd like to call you
all the same, if you want to, I am game.

I don't know if you can swim (not without adult supervision)
 or if the sea has any draw for you (i  live on the Atlantic but my heart is pulled by the Pacific)
 if you're better in the morning (never before coffee)
 or when the sun goes down (much better, thanks)
 I'd like to talk to you

I don't know if you can dance (i've been told i can bust a fine move or two)
 if the thought ever occurred to you
if you eat what you've been given (almost always hence my figure)
 or push it round your plate
 still I'd like to cook for you all the same, (and I would cook for you with pleasure)
I would want to, I am game,

If you walk my way and I could keep my head we could creep away in the dark or maybe not, we could shoot it down anyway.


I don't know if you read novels (right now i'm into vintage paperbacks of long forgotten classics)
 or the magazines (new york, entertainment weekly, gourmet, bon appetit)
if you love the hand that feeds you
 I assume that your heart's been bruised (and blackened on numerous occasions)
 I know I'd like to know you

 you don't know if I can draw at all (i haven't tried in so long but i'd like to try again)
or what records I am into
 if I sleep like a spoon (wrapped around my chihuahua, Quentin)
or rarely at all (the insomnia has gotten better)
or maybe you would do? maybe you would do

if I walk your way I will keep my head we will feel our way through the dark though I don't know you I think that I would do I don't fall easy at all

Lisa's voice sounded familiar to me.  Through my toodling around, I found she was singing backup with Damien Rice for some time before striking out on her own solo career. I loved her on Rice's Volcano.  It was one of my favorite songs when it came out.


Craft is part of Lisa's art. On her website, her mother knitted the wallpaper background. Her sister contributed a fantastic pop up book for the video for "Lille " and Lisa sewed the lyrics for her solo album, Sea Sew to a piece of linen and then had the piece photographed for use inside the record.

Most of her upcoming  performances will be in the UK but she is slated to perform at Austin City Limits this year in October. Perhaps a wee U.S. tour can be arranged before or after that appearance.

Comments

[kristen]

you're the second person to mention lisa hannigan this morning...i'll have to check her out. i love how the universe is these days. hope you are good. xo

[J-Po]

Glad you liked it!

[denise]

i love her

[susanna]

How cool is that? The video is very creative. And I didn't know that she sang backup for Damien Rice! On his "O" cd? That was a good cd. I like how you've answered her questions and wonders about (you), too. Good idea and interesting, too! :)