Song #018: Joel Plaskett - The Face of the Earth (off Ashtray Rock)
Matt (I’ve mentioned him before!) says I haven’t made my Halifax obsession apparent enough, and I suppose he’s right. Even though I’ve mentioned the Maritimes in six of the posts, I’ve only featured two artists. Well, there’s one musician who personifies the east-coast music scene of the past 20 years perfectly - Joel Plaskett.
I can’t begin to tell you in a single post how influential he’s been to my life over the past nine or so years I’ve been listening to his work, both solo and with Thrust Thrush Hermit. My romantic notions of finding love with an east-coast boy in downtown Halifax? Joel’s fault. But it’s not just Maritime guys that I’ve romanticized (and continue to find attractive, even though I’ve known some exceptions) - it’s the province of Nova Scotia itself. (really, it’s so bad that just seeing a dude in a Dalhousie shirt turns my head)
I’ve been to Nova Scotia twice, and I was even in love with the Nova Scotian guy who took me both times. I wasn’t disappointed by Halifax, but overall it wasn’t the way that I wanted to experience the city. I saw all the spots Joel mentions in song (the Khyber, Clayton Park, the twin bridges) but I didn’t experience Joel Plaskett’s Halifax. I don’t think that, as a girl born and raised in The Centre of the Universe, I ever could.
Anyway, Joel Plaskett is one of my favourite songwriters of all time. Some people have made fun of him (a popular line is “How can he be your favourite songwriter? All he does is rhyme Halifax with Halifax in every song!”) but those people are also idiots. I was torn between this song and Nothing More to Say (just because that’s the one that’s been stuck in my head since last night) but Face of the Earth is one of the strongest songs he’s ever written and DAMMIT that’s saying a lot.
P.S. Extra special thanks to Maddie (my number one all-time Joel Plaskett fandom friend) for providing me with this MP3. I hate that most of my music library was ripped in m4a format.
