I don�t know who Listen With Sarah are. Or is. I bought a double CD called �Folk Off� last week, and this is track fifteen on the first disc.

It�s insane.

It starts with what sounds like a cello, playing three base notes, over and over again, and there�s some electronic sort of horror-film soundtrack noises. This goes on for a couple of minutes. Then a looped flute melody starts up. More soundtrack noises for a while, then at about three minutes an acoustic guitar appears, strumming two chords over and over again. A sampled voice from some ancient kids� television programme says �Parsley is a herb�, then what sounds like the drums from The Stone Roses� Fool�s Gold kick in. The voice says �Parsley� or �Is a herb� from time to time, while the drums, the guitar, the flute, and some weird slowed-down animal noises battle for attention. By about seven minutes, you�re left with just the flute-loop and the acoustic, and this takes us to a fade-out at seven minutes seventeen seconds.

Doesn�t sound great, does it?

But music doesn�t work on paper. You need to hear the stuff. And this song � if it can be called that � works. Or it worked for me. And that�s why it�s important. Because I�m thirty-six now, and songs, unfortunately, work for me less and less. I still spend too much money on music, and I�m almost invariably disappointed.

I�m cynical.

I�m jaded.

I�m bored.

So this song means something to me. Because when I heard it I remembered that I actually still like music. It made me smile. It made me think. To be honest, it made me jealous.

I have no idea if I�ll ever hear another song by Listen With Sarah, but I�ll probably try to. And even if I don�t, it doesn�t matter. Because now I�ve been reminded, again, that yes, music is still something that I can love, something I�ll keep spending too much money on. And in a month or so, there�ll be another song that does the same thing.

I�m not too fucking old yet, is what I think I�m trying to say.

So, I could have written something about a hundred different songs, all probably better songs than this. But this isn�t about which song is the best. It�s about which song means something. And today, �Blue Parsley� by Listen with Sarah � I�ve got it on repeat as I type- means a hell of a lot.

Jason Jackson lives in the South West of England with his wife. He supports Sunderland AFC, plays the guitar badly, and spends too much time doing his real job when he should really be writing (or spending time with his beautiful wife!). He has been writing for four years, and for the last year he has been a member of Alex Keegan's Bootcamp, an online writing cooperative. He also contributes to Slinkink, another online writing group. His work has been published in a variety of places, including Pulp.net, Thirst For Fire , The Green Muse, Opium Magazine, and Buzzwords on line, as well as in Cadenza Magazine and a Momaya Press anthology in print and the showcase section of this site. He hopes to continue writing.

© 2006 Laura Hird All rights reserved.