tag:iamchariscooper.com,2005:/blogs/videos?p=3Videos2022-01-18T12:29:21+00:00Charis Cooperfalsetag:iamchariscooper.com,2005:Post/68724972022-01-18T12:29:21+00:002023-10-16T15:59:33+01:00Wake Up, Little Sparrow (Ella Jenkins cover)<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="vgm9QIT1wT0" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/vgm9QIT1wT0/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vgm9QIT1wT0?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>Charis Coopertag:iamchariscooper.com,2005:Post/68724962022-01-18T12:28:31+00:002022-01-18T12:28:31+00:00Heart With No Companion (Leonard Cohen cover)<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="xBhznTK2nUk" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/xBhznTK2nUk/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xBhznTK2nUk?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>Charis Coopertag:iamchariscooper.com,2005:Post/68724952022-01-18T12:27:50+00:002022-01-18T12:27:50+00:00Manuscripts Don't Burn (original)<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="6Y5oRfW12qU" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/6Y5oRfW12qU/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6Y5oRfW12qU?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>Charis Coopertag:iamchariscooper.com,2005:Post/68724942022-01-18T12:27:16+00:002022-01-18T12:27:16+00:00Gonna Be Alright (original)<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="-wrhJK9MVhY" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/-wrhJK9MVhY/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-wrhJK9MVhY?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>Charis Coopertag:iamchariscooper.com,2005:Post/68724932022-01-18T12:27:14+00:002022-01-18T12:27:14+00:00Gonna Be Alright (original)<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="-wrhJK9MVhY" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/-wrhJK9MVhY/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-wrhJK9MVhY?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>Charis Coopertag:iamchariscooper.com,2005:Post/68724922022-01-18T12:26:41+00:002022-01-18T12:26:41+00:00At Seventeen (Janis Ian cover)<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="DUHkGBPvqmQ" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/DUHkGBPvqmQ/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DUHkGBPvqmQ?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>Charis Coopertag:iamchariscooper.com,2005:Post/68724912022-01-18T12:25:52+00:002022-02-13T15:32:09+00:00There's A Light (Over At The Frankenstein Place) -Rocky Horror Picture Show<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="MfYBB5bFkCQ" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/MfYBB5bFkCQ/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MfYBB5bFkCQ?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>Charis Coopertag:iamchariscooper.com,2005:Post/67696582021-10-08T11:45:21+01:002021-10-26T08:45:31+01:00Breaking News (Original)<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="h3YEvX_FLDk" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/h3YEvX_FLDk/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/h3YEvX_FLDk?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>This song is a very difficult one to sing - It makes people feel uncomfortable - and so it should. </p>
<p>I wrote it for people like me, who suddenly found themselves not citizens anymore, but unwelcome guests. Tolerated solely on account of one’s income and perceived usefulness to society. </p>
<p>I wrote this song for people like me, who felt an unstoppable wave of hostility and hate roll towards them, seemingly out of the blue. For people like me, who suddenly experienced what other nationalities and minorities already knew all too well. </p>
<p>But by the time I got to perform the song, many of us had left. All my European friends, unless they were tied down by family and other commitments, had left. Instead I was standing in front of a crowd of British people, who looked at me in uneasy silence. </p>
<p>I realised how many people generally aren't aware of our experience at all. I was assured that - although hard to hear - it was an important song to sing.</p>
<p>It’s a difficult song to sing, because as well as compassion, it might draw hate. I’ve read so many hateful comments online, it’s outright scary. </p>
<p>But silence doesn’t sit well with my conscience. In December 2019 I was a wreck. I had almost completed my application process - the application to stay in what I had considered my home. The application of which a government video promised me, using smiling stock footage Europeans, would be a simple process, taking no longer than 20 minutes. The application that in reality took me a year and several near-nervous breakdowns to complete. </p>
<p>I should be okay, I knew that. But what about all the others that wouldn’t be? The children in care homes who neither knew about the Settled Scheme, nor had the required papers? The women whose abusive husbands withheld their passports? The rough sleepers? The elderly? Those who already had a legal immigration status and were unaware the government decided on a whim to declare it void? The list went on. I couldn’t bear to think of it. I didn't want to eat. I didn't sleep. I couldn't stop crying. I was a wreck. </p>
<p>My conscience wouldn’t let me apply. My conscience wanted me to risk being deported, to risk a stay of indeterminate length in a detention centre, with all the unspeakable horrors it would bring. I couldn’t make myself click the submit button. I wanted to protest. I felt quietly complying would not only make me a coward, but somehow also complicit. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act. I would carry guilt. </p>
<p>I had to admit that my deportation ultimately would not make any difference. I sent off my application, but wasn't sure how I'd live with myself. I vowed to at least speak up somehow. </p>
<p>It may seem rather irrelevant now - Brexit is done. We’ve all accepted our situation, you don’t hear us whine about it, but things don’t feel any better. We don’t feel welcome, and we don’t feel valued - which is only aggravated by the government’s response to the present worker shortage - and we still feel anxious. There's an application backlog, a government that normalises and promotes xenophobia, and we've no physical document to prove our status. It’s deeply unsettling. </p>
<p>In December 2019 I was travelling to Germany for Christmas. I had to cross London, which, due to an event, was heaving with crowds, and it looked impossible for me to make my plane in time. I HAD to make that plane. I had nowhere else to go. And I was desperate to spend the holidays outside the UK. The tube was a nightmare full of more people I’d be comfortable with at the best of times, and I watched in panic as people kept pushing in front of me to leap inside. It was so crowded the doors didn’t close anymore. It was hopeless. “I need to get on this train!” I cried out in despair, and a moment later a hand grabbed mine, and pulled me up into the carriage, baggage and all. I looked up at a young woman, who calmly said , "There is plenty of space.” This moment was both so inherently funny and beautiful. I will never forget it.</p>
<p>I hadn’t planned on working on any music that winter. But on Christmas Day my cousin unexpectedly messaged me and asked if I wanted to come over to his studio the next day - and I knew just the song. All my friends in the UK had been nothing but wonderful, kind, and supportive - but the general atmosphere of hostility, the otherness, the unbelonging-ness almost broke me. It was very therapeutic to be working on this song in Germany, with family. </p>
<p>So, almost 2 years later I finally dug out the track again for a video performance. To keep the promise I made in my heart that winter. </p>
<p>There is plenty of space for us, but not many of us want it any more. You can change that. </p>
<p>I know the majority of you didn’t vote for this. I know the majority of you isn’t full of hate. I know you all lost so much as well. What I ask of you is to not be silent in the face of the government’s dogwhistle rhetoric. That has never ended well.</p>Charis Coopertag:iamchariscooper.com,2005:Post/67696432021-10-08T10:17:17+01:002021-10-08T10:17:17+01:00I'm Different (Randy Newman cover)<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="hrxeXSDUITQ" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/hrxeXSDUITQ/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hrxeXSDUITQ?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>I'm taking a break from being serious this week. And what could be better for that than a Randy Newman song? Both serious and hilarious, one can spend hours getting lost in his universe of wacky perspectives and unreliable narrators.</p>
<p>Except, obviously his "normal' songs. But, as he said, "you've got to be normal when somebody's spending a million dollars." I can't blame him - if someone offered me a million dollars I might consider having a go at being normal. I doubt I'd be as successful though.</p>Charis Coopertag:iamchariscooper.com,2005:Post/67696422021-10-08T10:16:25+01:002021-10-21T07:21:38+01:00My Best Was Never Good Enough (Bruce Springsteen cover)<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="OP3AehdBMrw" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/OP3AehdBMrw/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OP3AehdBMrw?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>This is the final song from Bruce Springsteen's album "The Ghost of Tom Joad." Don't know why I picked this song, when it appears to be the odd one out on an album that otherwise seems to have a storytelling focus, with mostly social observations. For this reason it definitely has a Woody Guthrie vibe. There's not only echoes of Guthrie, but, more obviously, of John Steinbeck. Tom Joad, after all, is Steinbeck's hero in Grapes of Wrath, and it is him Springsteen is referring to. It's a very stripped back and heartbreaking album, with its realistic depictions and social observations, but I loved it nonetheless. You listen to the album, maybe cry, and feel the grim determination to stand with Tom Joad.</p>
<p>"Now Tom said, "Mom, wherever there's a cop beating a guy</p>
<p>Wherever a hungry newborn baby cries</p>
<p>Where there's a fight against the blood and hatred in the air</p>
<p>Look for me, Mom, I'll be there</p>
<p>Wherever somebody's fighting for a place to stand</p>
<p>Or a decent job or a helping hand</p>
<p>Wherever somebody's struggling to be free</p>
<p>Look in their eyes, Ma, and you'll see me""</p>Charis Coopertag:iamchariscooper.com,2005:Post/67696312021-10-08T10:14:56+01:002021-10-31T18:39:44+00:00LA Song (Beth Hart cover)<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="9lIPpl8wYeY" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/9lIPpl8wYeY/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9lIPpl8wYeY?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>Here's another song from my list of requests and suggestions. I haven't been able to travel over the past year and a half, or quench my innate restlessness in any other way, but creating these videos is a bit like travelling.</p>
<p>On a different and random note - why does the English language not have a word for "Fernweh" ?(far-sickness - opposite of homesickness) Seems like an essential word.</p>Charis Coopertag:iamchariscooper.com,2005:Post/67696302021-10-08T10:13:50+01:002021-10-24T19:01:29+01:00Where's The Orchestra (Billy Joel cover)<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="PH4YILa6ynY" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/PH4YILa6ynY/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PH4YILa6ynY?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>This is probably one of my favourite songs. (The album it's on, The Nylon Curtain, is generally pretty noteworthy.)</p>
<p>Although roughly 20 years must have passed since I last listened to this song (and I remember doing it excessively), I still feel this very deeply.</p>
<p>Also, the chords are very satisfying to play. I could easily just sit here, for the rest of my days, just playing them over and over. So, if I suddenly should go very quiet for an extended period of time - you'll know what happened...</p>Charis Coopertag:iamchariscooper.com,2005:Post/67696292021-10-08T10:12:27+01:002021-10-08T10:12:27+01:00Cry Baby Cry (Beatles cover)<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="WEgXEzXkgYw" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/WEgXEzXkgYw/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WEgXEzXkgYw?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>I asked my friends on Facebook for song suggestions, and this was one of them.</p>
<p>I always liked the White Album. Although John Lennon later dismissed "Cry Baby Cry" as "rubbish", it has its weird charm. Reminiscent of both nursery rhymes, and maybe Lewis Carroll, it's like a lullaby that's both soothing and unsettling.</p>Charis Coopertag:iamchariscooper.com,2005:Post/67696282021-10-08T10:11:28+01:002021-10-08T10:11:28+01:00The Deck Chairs of The Titanic (original song)<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="ChZKJm_uaLY" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/ChZKJm_uaLY/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ChZKJm_uaLY?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>I wrote this a few weeks ago ( -"Another sea-themed song or video, seriously?" I sigh as I write this -) and so far it's one of my favourite songs I wrote this year.</p>
<p>I've since been informed that, according to a nautical engineer, moving the furniture on the Titanic would actually have helped a great deal.</p>
<p>So maybe if you're driven to seemingly pointless things by some kind of inexplicable optimism, stubbornness, or despair - it might inadvertently save you after all.</p>
<p>So keep on keeping on!</p>Charis Coopertag:iamchariscooper.com,2005:Post/67696272021-10-08T10:09:13+01:002021-10-08T10:09:13+01:00New Morning (Nick Cave cover)<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="zAx9uyfYP5g" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/zAx9uyfYP5g/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zAx9uyfYP5g?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>Nick Cave isn't exactly known for his cheery tunes - but among all the weird dark stuff, he's got some tremendously hopeful songs. New Morning is one of them.</p>
<p>I first came across Nick Cave when my brother excitedly brought his Murder Ballads home, and I can honestly say that he's been a major influence since. (Nick Cave, I meant, but my brother has been as well.) Being a writer made him even more irresistible. His stunningly strange "And The Ass Saw The Angel" is right next to Leonard Cohen's "Beautiful Losers" on my bookshelf.</p>
<p>For quite some time his words were my oxygen. I even forgave him all the really awkward music videos. While at university, his music clearly dominated my iPod. For motivation I had a picture of him on my desktop - it was a very unflattering shot of him holding a cup of coffee while teaching at the Vienna Poetry School. This, I told myself, was my ambition. To one day teach at the Vienna Poetry school. I think in actuality my ambition was to be Nick Cave - but I was probably in denial.</p>
<p>I'm picky when it comes to choosing my heroes. He reached that status effortlessly. I was particularly impressed by his rejection of his MTV award nomination:</p>
<p>"...My relationship with my muse is a delicate one at the best of times and I feel that it is my duty to protect her from influences that may offend her fragile nature.</p>
<p>She comes to me with the gift of song and in return I treat her with the respect I feel she deserves — in this case this means not subjecting her to the indignities of judgement and competition. My muse is not a horse and I am in no horse race and if indeed she was, still I would not harness her to this tumbrel — this bloody cart of severed heads and glittering prizes. My muse may spook! May bolt! May abandon me completely!..."</p>
<p>I have changed my aspirations many times since - I haven't taught creative writing in Vienna, and neither am I Nick Cave, but he's still one of the giants whose shoulders I was able to stand on, and who helped me see the sky.</p>Charis Coopertag:iamchariscooper.com,2005:Post/67696262021-10-08T10:03:10+01:002023-12-10T18:41:05+00:00White Noize (Bonaparte cover)<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="w6wSjIFnFmk" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/w6wSjIFnFmk/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/w6wSjIFnFmk?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>I can't think of many songs that describe as accurately what living in the UK feels like to me, as this song by the Swiss electropunk band Bonaparte.</p>
<p>I can't think why that is, considering they're based in Berlin, but it's a fact. I love this song so much, I broke my own rule to avoid political subjects - which I do for my own sanity's sake.</p>
<p>Amanda Palmer asked people in the UK the other day, "How are you? What's life like there right now?" Well, I try not to think much about it, but to me it feels very much like a ride on the Titanic. I've no political voice here, and by partaking in protests I risk deportation - all I can do is keep singing. But without the white noise, things are pretty unbearable here.</p>Charis Coopertag:iamchariscooper.com,2005:Post/67696252021-10-08T10:01:34+01:002022-09-11T06:24:22+01:00Bury Me In Willow (Asia cover)<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="gF2s7Ez0R_o" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/gF2s7Ez0R_o/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gF2s7Ez0R_o?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>This one is a request, and a fantastic philosophy to live by.</p>Charis Coopertag:iamchariscooper.com,2005:Post/67696242021-10-08T10:00:21+01:002021-10-08T10:00:21+01:00The Space Between (Original song)<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="oj8Tq-xhQ98" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/oj8Tq-xhQ98/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oj8Tq-xhQ98?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>It's been raining all morning, which makes it a a good time to post a rainy day song.</p>
<p>It's fresh from my writing desk, and, surprisingly, my insane attempt to get this video done succeeded.</p>
<p>When I started making these videos I felt I needed to schedule songs for weeks - or even better, months! - in advance, but somehow, 6 months and 22 videos later, my approach has become a lot more haphazard and fun. Next week I'll be back with a cover, although, naturally, I haven't quite settled on which one yet.</p>Charis Coopertag:iamchariscooper.com,2005:Post/66424022021-05-28T12:01:03+01:002021-05-28T12:01:32+01:00The Door (original)<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="qttqbw-oeyU" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/qttqbw-oeyU/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qttqbw-oeyU?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>Last year, when I moved into my place after having had my things in storage for a while, I fell victim to leafing through long lost books and notebooks as I was putting them away.</p>
<p>In one notebook, among mostly lyrics that grew up to be songs, I found a few scribbled lines that had been confined to those pages since 2008. It really wasn't many, but they were probably the most honest thing in the whole book - which, I reckon, is why they remained in there. After all, it's really hard to uphold denial with honesty.</p>
<p>But it was 2020 now, and I had long since moved on, and these few lines screamed at me to be given a tune, so I did.</p>
<p>Our reality is supposed to be just a mental construct. I don't know enough quantum mechanics to fully understand that idea - but I can honestly say, it seems like a series of dreams that one really struggles to wake up from, despite the best attempts.</p>
<p>Looking back, I find that eventually I always woke up, although it usually took a painfully long time.</p>Charis Coopertag:iamchariscooper.com,2005:Post/66423922021-05-28T11:59:30+01:002021-05-28T11:59:30+01:00I'm a Dreamer (Sandy Denny cover)<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="KpLH-F9FuZw" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/KpLH-F9FuZw/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KpLH-F9FuZw?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>I'm slowly working my way through my list of requests, and this week I find myself back in the seventies with Sandy Denny. It's a good time to travel to, musically. (And possibly the only kind of travel available to me this year...) If you've got a request, please let me know in the comments, and I'll see what I can do. (It will have to fit into a certain set of criteria, but if it does, I'm happy to accept the challenge.)</p>Charis Coopertag:iamchariscooper.com,2005:Post/66302072021-05-14T12:51:04+01:002021-10-11T03:00:43+01:00A Sorta Fairytale (Tori Amos cover)<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="AUOEbmexZUo" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/AUOEbmexZUo/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AUOEbmexZUo?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>This one is a request. I was planning on a Tori Amos cover, but didn't know which one to pick, so I was quite pleased to have someone else make the decision for me.</p>
<p>Discovering Tori Amos was momentous to me. In the days before YouTube and Spotify my only ways to discover new music were my brother's cd shelf, browsing shops, and the radio... the latter of which didn't play anything I considered worth listening to. Until I discovered AFN (American Forces Network). They had a late night programme where they played alternative music.</p>
<p>One night they played Silent All These Years. I sat bolt upright in bed, not daring to breathe. To my complete devastation they didn't mention who the artist was. It drove me nuts. I had to find out. (Today I'd just type it into google...) It took me a year or two to figure it out. ...and guess what, turns out Tori Amos' Little Earthquakes had been on my brother's cd shelf all along.</p>
<p>So, in conclusion - No, I don't think the good old days were that good. I love the way things are now. I love the ease with which we can find new music and information. But Tori Amos was definitely one of the good things.</p>Charis Coopertag:iamchariscooper.com,2005:Post/66240632021-05-07T13:07:34+01:002022-06-02T02:03:02+01:00River on Fire (original)<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="35_TBKw7xEI" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/35_TBKw7xEI/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/35_TBKw7xEI?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>I wrote this song a year ago, while reading about the poet Robert Lowell. </p>
<p>He is inspirational, not solely due to his extraordinary work, but also his strength of character. Despite suffering from inevitably recurring pathological moods and numerous breakdowns - he was hospitalised 20 times - he had the courage to keep living and working, to rebuild himself each time it broke him. I’ve got no first hand experience with mania, but as a teen I watched it wrestle my Grandfather to the ground, who had neither the will nor the discipline to keep the wild fire under check. </p>
<p>Lowell however, was more self-aware, and driven by purpose - to create something of value. </p>
<p>“My trouble is to bring together in me the Puritanical iron hand of constraint and the gushes of pure wildness. One can’t survive or write without both but they need to come to terms. Rather narrow walking,” he wrote. And, realizing what he dealt with was outside his control, “We must bend, not break.” </p>
<p>He managed this tightrope walk admirably, until he died of a heart attack at 60 - maybe that's why his story is not as widely known as those of poets and artists who died younger and by suicide. Suicide, often glamorized by the media, movies, and adverts, makes a better, more dramatic, more profitable story. </p>
<p>The Fashion magazine Vice, for example, published a spectacularly tasteless spread of female writer suicides, where models posed as said writers at the time of their death, complete with fashion credits. (Seriously, it’s revolting to advertise the stockings the writer Sanmao might have hung herself with, and I’m sure Sylvia Plath didn’t care one bit what she wore before she stuck her head in the oven.) </p>
<p>But I’m digressing. To end on a more optimistic note, I shall have to quote Lowell himself: </p>
<p>“Darkness honestly lived through is a place of wonder and life.” That’s a hell of a challenge, but coming from someone who achieved so much with such difficult cards to play, it’s incredibly uplifting.</p>Charis Coopertag:iamchariscooper.com,2005:Post/66240622021-05-07T13:06:12+01:002021-07-06T23:20:54+01:00You've Got Time (Regina Spektor cover)<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="pAcDe-1roN8" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/pAcDe-1roN8/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pAcDe-1roN8?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>Regina Spektor is definitely one of my favourite artists. I saw her live in 2016, and I walked out thinking I don't ever have to see another concert - no one ever is going to top that. Several years on, and you'd still have to work incredibly hard to convince me otherwise.</p>
<p>I couldn't resist covering this one - Maybe it's because I've been watching too much Netflix - or maybe because after a year like the last one, a song about prison life is utterly relatable.</p>Charis Coopertag:iamchariscooper.com,2005:Post/66240612021-05-07T13:04:10+01:002021-05-07T13:04:10+01:00Queen of the Wolves (Clara Luzia cover)<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="tIQlWs_XJGI" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/tIQlWs_XJGI/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tIQlWs_XJGI?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>Clara Luzia is an Austrian artist and a very new discovery of mine. Her version of this song is way less introspective than this, though - in fact it’s fast paced alternative rock. But I was so taken with the song, singing it too fast felt wrong. Like eating a whole box of chocolates in one sitting. I felt bad enough singing it with my voice being rough and out of shape from coughing for weeks.</p>
<p>The song’s mythical beauty is the reason why this week’s song isn’t in German, as it distracted me from my new found obsession with the I band Isolation Berlin. (Might still do it one day, though…) Next week we’re back to something more widely known - but being stuck on an island bent on isolating itself (UK), I intend to make a point of including European artists. Music has no borders.</p>
<p>On a side note, I love wolves. The song made me think of the novel The Wolf Wilder. It's about a girl who lives in the woods of Russia with her mother and a pack of wolves who had been tamed to spend their lives as pets of aristocrats - retraining them to be wild again. That's literally my dream job.</p>Charis Coopertag:iamchariscooper.com,2005:Post/66240602021-05-07T13:02:54+01:002021-10-11T03:00:31+01:00Sweet Louisiana Sound (Billy Pilgrim cover)<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="Mup7azBNGIM" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/Mup7azBNGIM/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Mup7azBNGIM?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>This is probably every escape artist's anthem. Billy Pilgrim were a folk rock duo, and "Sweet Louisiana Sound" is the opening track of their 1995 album "Bloom". I probably discovered it by reading the album reviews in magazines. (I always had a dislike to what was being played on the radio.) I would buy albums without ever having heard a single note beforehand, and got quite adept at tracking down gems. This definitely was one of them. Admittedly my decision making was probably influenced by the name - Billy Pilgrim is the time travelling hero in Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five.</p>
<p>The album didn't allow me to time travel, but I felt each song as vividly, as if I was in it - that's plenty of reason for me to declare it a great album.</p>
<p>Sorry about me looking like a ghost on Beale Street - no amount of makeup or colour grading could hide the fact that I was ill that day. I almost didn't post this, as I also felt my voice was compromised, but I've committed to posting a weekly video, come hell or high water.</p>Charis Coopertag:iamchariscooper.com,2005:Post/66025292021-04-13T10:23:49+01:002021-06-26T19:32:31+01:00For Sale (Not Haunted)<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="lRpsO2GwO4U" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/lRpsO2GwO4U/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lRpsO2GwO4U?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>A couple of weeks ago I spotted someone on social media posting this picture (in the background of the video), pointing out this intriguing "For Sale" sign, which had gone up around the corner from them. I couldn’t resist helping the estate agent out by writing a listing for it. I’m now pondering a career in real estate. Let me know if I sold it to you! (Sadly I can’t remember who posted the photo, so I can’t credit them.) I felt really ill and half-dead while filming it, hopefully that adds to it.</p>Charis Coopertag:iamchariscooper.com,2005:Post/65918612021-04-02T12:24:26+01:002022-04-15T12:22:42+01:00Tapestry (Carole King)<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="_ECjPHiU3yE" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/_ECjPHiU3yE/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_ECjPHiU3yE?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>I’m convinced Carole King’s album Tapestry is one of the most loved albums of all times. I think about how reluctant she was to become a solo artist in the first place, and I’m so glad she did. It's not only the album that has an uplifting and reassuring effect on me, but also the story behind the album. We look at it today, 50 years after its recording, and we see it as this monumental piece of work. Back then Carole King wasn't sure she was even vaguely on the right track.</p>
<p>“…I had no idea way of knowing what my future held. I just wrote songs, worked hard, created each day’s blueprint from scratch, and hoped to high heaven that I was doing all the right things to give my daughters and myself a good life’, she wrote in her autobiography.</p>
<p>About the idea for it, she is quoted to have said, “I had started a needlepoint tapestry a few months before we did the album, and I happened to write a song called 'Tapestry,' not even connecting the two up in my mind. I was just thinking about some other kind of tapestry, the kind that hangs and is all woven, or something, and I wrote that song. And, you being the sharp fellow you are, (giggles), put the two together and came up with an excellent title, a whole concept for the album.”</p>
<p>Every single song on the album is amazing, but I always thought the title song the most interesting one, both musically and lyrically. She described the mood she wanted for it as “spacious and dark”, and that might be our only clue to the meaning of the song.</p>
<p>It seems obvious that in the last verse death is entering the story, a mere character in the play of life - but the rest of the story, despite vivid details, is left rather mysterious. Personally, I’m of the opinion that it really doesn’t matter what a writer has in mind when writing a song - it’s way more important which meaning it has for the listener. And even that can change over time. I’d be curious to know what your thoughts on the meaning are, though. Please feel free to discuss them in the comments.</p>
<p>Background image by instagram.com/diff.perspective</p>Charis Coopertag:iamchariscooper.com,2005:Post/65855292021-03-26T14:32:54+00:002022-05-04T18:28:03+01:00All I Really Want (Alanis Morissette)<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="bLvL6LvaRBA" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/bLvL6LvaRBA/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bLvL6LvaRBA?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>Somehow Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill was of momentous impact for me. I actually remember the moment I heard her for the first time on the radio. I was hooked. I can’t say what it was about her - her energy or attitude.</p>
<p>It's not the kind of writing I was usually drawn to, but for several years her music would be my constant companion. (Alongside Nick Cave, whom I probably owe more than one cover...)</p>
<p>I loved every song on Jagged Little Pill ( except for Head Over Heels for some reason), and I can’t possibly pick a favourite, but I’ve always felt drawn to All I Really Want. It’s a very self-absorbed song. It’s a very agitated song. It’s a very fast moving song, like thoughts racing at 100 miles per hour. It feels like the world, or time has sped up even more since the song’s release, and silence has become even more obsolete and uncomfortable.</p>
<p>These days the song has a soothing quality to me. Even the thought of apathy isn’t remotely as frustrating to me anymore - after all, the word derives from the Greek word “apatheia”, which describes a kind of calm equanimity, a product of the absence of irrational or extreme emotions. An idea which would somehow have horrified me back then. The song lacks it, too, which in all likelihood made it such a good match for me.</p>
<p>I saw Alanis perform live in 2001 (I think), and if I had to name something I’ll always remember her performance for, it’s the sheer energy and sense of humour. I remember her running around on stage, and playing pranks on her band mates. It never bothered me that she turned into a singing self-help book - who doesn’t need one. For darker delights, there was always Nick Cave. 😂</p>Charis Coopertag:iamchariscooper.com,2005:Post/65789852021-03-19T12:57:30+00:002021-08-30T10:57:50+01:00Yellow House<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="G8ePQDqztPI" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/G8ePQDqztPI/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/G8ePQDqztPI?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>This song, although not about myself, almost feels like the most personal song I’ve ever written.</p>
<p>In 1888 Vincent van Gogh came to Arles to live in the yellow house his brother had rented for him, and was eventually joined by Paul Gaugin. The latter left 9 weeks later, after the famous ear incident, making haste to be gone before van Gogh would regain consciousness.</p>
<p>I don’t know why I picked this moment in his life. Maybe because it was a pivotal moment. The moment he realised something was incurably wrong with him. It appears to me I managed to recreate his voice pretty authentically, partly because I tried to use as many of his own words as possible, partly because when I wrote it I felt I had a deep understanding of his mind.</p>
<p>From the time I first heard his name mentioned I felt the urge to play detective and snoop around in his life, as if somewhere there would be a clue hidden, something important I needed to know. I don’t think I ever found anything particularly useful, although by the time I was 16, I was starting research for a novel I wanted to write about him. (To the affectionate ridicule of my family, as I rarely went on holiday without my guitar, typewriter or a several thousand page book about van Gogh. As obsessed about writing, as he was about painting.)</p>
<p>I eventually finished a first draft when I was in my early 20s, and it is still lying unread in a metaphorical drawer somewhere.</p>
<p>I much prefer writing songs to novels. Partly because I lack the patience and stamina, but also because I like having a strict limit to tell a story imposed on me. I like having to work with economical precision.</p>Charis Coopertag:iamchariscooper.com,2005:Post/65718272021-03-12T15:05:25+00:002021-09-25T09:53:04+01:00Take A Pebble (Emerson, Lake & Palmer)<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="UJWjKdS74kQ" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/UJWjKdS74kQ/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UJWjKdS74kQ?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>“Disturbing the waters of our lives.” What a great line. </p>
<p>We probably spend most of our lives desperately trying to fend off things and people that would do so. Hell, no, please don’t make any ripples. Because, irrespective of how unhappy we might actually be with our life, we don’t want change. There’s way too much of it happening all the time anyway. So, don’t even think about it. </p>
<p>But, unavoidably, ripples are being made. Daring someone to actually throw that pebble elicits a shocked gasp for air. Likewise, it’s way safer not to throw that pebble. You could throw it and run, but that would be defeating the purpose of the challenge.</p>
<p>Anyway, I made this cover in response to a request to play something by Emerson, Lake and Palmer, and I hope I managed to make it a fraction as trippy as the original.</p>Charis Coopertag:iamchariscooper.com,2005:Post/65662192021-03-05T22:58:24+00:002021-09-05T10:26:56+01:00When You Lose Someone So Young (John Miles cover)<p>I discovered John Miles by browsing my brother’s cd collection, but never ventured much beyond “Music’. John Miles stared at me from a strange and vintage looking cover, in James Dean’s iconic pose, not quite convincingly embodying the album’s title, “Rebel”. I did borrow it however at some stage, with the genuine intention to work my way through the somewhat clunky, over the top 70s songs.</p>
<p>I’m embarrassed to say I never returned it in about 20 years, and a few years ago, when I needed something to listen to on an 8 hour drive, I picked up “Rebel”. (Yes, my car is still of the pre-bluetooth generation.) “When You Lose Someone So Young” took me by surprise. I ended up listening to just this one song for several hours, crying every time, without fail.</p>
<p>No, nothing takes away the pain, and you’ll never be the same, but somehow it feels really good to cry.</p>Charis Coopertag:iamchariscooper.com,2005:Post/65615142021-03-01T08:21:34+00:002021-10-11T03:01:16+01:00You Win I Lose - Supertramp cover<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="eNLg1-EDBuI" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/eNLg1-EDBuI/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eNLg1-EDBuI?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>The band Supertramp was impactful enough to have a species named after them. Thankfully they were also impactful enough to be known even as far as my small village in Germany. The band name alone resonated with me. Having been born with an innate restlessness, I would have loved to be a super-tramp. But all I could do about it, was read Kerouac’s “On The Road” and listen to too much rock music. I was thrilled that they reunited in the 90s, and the year “You Win I Lose” was in the charts I was drafting chapter after restless chapter of a novel I never finished, which starred a violinist called Lorca (named after the poet…). At the time I was going for a rhythmical, stream of consciousness style and I didn’t use any capitals. Because accessibility is overrated 😅.</p>Charis Coopertag:iamchariscooper.com,2005:Post/65531212021-02-19T00:00:00+00:002021-10-11T03:01:46+01:00Everything For Free (K's Choice cover)<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="CRs1BcUdQ94" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/CRs1BcUdQ94/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CRs1BcUdQ94?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>I have no idea how I stumbled upon K’s Choice, but fact is that their songs float to the surface when I think of my last year before I came to the UK.</p>
<p>There's a huge pile of memories sitting untouched. Somewhere in that pile is 2003, and I know if I don't tiptoe carefully to avoid upsetting the pile, intense details will come flooding back. Even so, what rushes towards me is a relentless summer sun and the year's soundtrack, which mostly consisted of Nick Cave, and for some random reason, K’s Choice. I see myself walking among university buildings that rise like the wrecks of huge concrete ships from the bottom of the sea. I felt similarly submerged, but coming up for air at last.</p>
<p>Maybe K's Choice was my Emotional Support Band that year. I absolutely loved Sam Betten’s smoky voice. I didn’t know they had toured with the Indigo Girls and Alanis Morrissette, and didn’t know of their cameo performance in Buffy The Vampire Slayer. At least 3 of their albums, however, were living on my iPod… that weird Otherworld were Pink was comfortable right next to Schoenberg, that private world that got me through my days.</p>Charis Coopertag:iamchariscooper.com,2005:Post/65483522021-02-14T00:00:00+00:002021-08-10T19:25:54+01:00We're Gonna Make It (Little Milton cover)<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="0By-MF0hajw" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/0By-MF0hajw/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0By-MF0hajw?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe> </p>
<p>I hadn't thought of "We're Gonna Make It" by Little Milton in what must be decades - until a few weeks ago. Things seemed to look very bleak, so I reached down into the farthest corners of my mind for something to keep me from falling apart, and this song appeared.</p>
<p>When I was 14 or 15, I bought my first blues compilation. This song was my immediate favourite. I needed that optimism. It kind of hits you right in the face. “Defiant Optimism”, Rob Jones calls it on his blog “The Delete Bin’. I love that phrase. I want “Defiant Optimist” inscribed on my gravestone! It’s not the kind of optimism that glosses over reality, it’s the f***-you-you-won’t-keep-me-down kind.</p>
<p>Which is why I imagine this song was considered a civil rights anthem. (“staring adversity in the face, acknowledging the reality that a community was facing systemic oppression, but with a firm belief that things would change for the better anyway.” -Rob Jones )</p>
<p>It completely eluded me when I was a teen, but listening to it again, without even knowing its history, I instantly understood. It was the perfect song when it was released in the 60s, and it’s still the perfect song for these times. I lie awake dreaming we’re all going to unite in defiant optimism. It’s all I’ve got. </p>Charis Coopertag:iamchariscooper.com,2005:Post/65424652021-02-08T08:54:44+00:002021-08-27T20:11:48+01:00Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) cover<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="XiIXCSx8Oc8" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/XiIXCSx8Oc8/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XiIXCSx8Oc8?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>So the week I've scheduled to post this cover, there's abuse allegations against Marilyn Manson coming to light. Since he can claim a widely known cover version of this song, I feel I don't want to post this without distancing myself. Having experienced abuse myself, I find it a sensitive topic and seriously considered posting something else instead. I decided against it, however, since me choosing to cover this song had nothing to do with the Marilyn Manson version anyway. </p>
<p>What I was trying to go for was more in line with what Annie Lennox said the song was about - the sense of hopelessness and the sinking feeling that the dreams you are chasing will always just be dreams. This song called out to me, because I feel we have to navigate a world in which things around us are constantly breaking. You look around, you assess the damage, you try and adjust the course. Try and keep going regardless. </p>
<p>This notion is one of the things at the very heart of my identity as an artist. Maybe the pandemic evoked the song for me. Especially, since, as a performer, the feeling of falling debris and demolition dust settling in my lungs feels particularly acute. </p>
<p>But fortunately I've learned to roll with the punches.</p>Charis Coopertag:iamchariscooper.com,2005:Post/65424642021-02-08T08:53:38+00:002023-12-10T17:09:01+00:00Coming Back To You (Leonard Cohen Cover)<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="Acxok86k3jk" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/Acxok86k3jk/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Acxok86k3jk?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p>When I was about 20 I applied to the exclusive German Institute for Literature with a very pretentious essay, trying to convince of Leonard Cohen's (and Bob Dylan's) Nobel Prize worthiness.</p>
<p>I felt like a heretic, and never knew if I wasn't chosen for one of the 25 places because of this, or if my creative writing portfolio was shit. When a few years ago Bob Dylan was the first songwriter to win the Nobel Prize, I sported an inner I-told-you-so smile for several days - although I reckoned Cohen would have been way more deserving. (Bob Dylan himself once said he'd happily be Leonard Cohen, if he could choose to be another artist.)</p>
<p>Lyrically, I've yet to find another songwriter who has the same appeal to me. Somehow the imagery just cascades over you, and pulls you down into a mystical world - infused with beauty and with sadness. As an artist I like how malleable his songs are, it makes performing them extremely enjoyable, and Coming Back to You is no different.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>Charis Coopertag:iamchariscooper.com,2005:Post/65234702021-01-17T21:43:09+00:002022-05-29T17:02:19+01:00Eventually (Pink cover)<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="0UHRET4i19o" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/0UHRET4i19o/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0UHRET4i19o?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>Charis Coopertag:iamchariscooper.com,2005:Post/65077582020-12-25T19:27:28+00:002020-12-25T19:27:28+00:00Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis (Tom Waits cover)<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="ShN_0F0E4ss" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/ShN_0F0E4ss/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ShN_0F0E4ss?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>Charis Coopertag:iamchariscooper.com,2005:Post/65077572020-12-25T19:25:50+00:002022-04-18T07:19:11+01:00I'll Get There (The Other Side) - (Emeli Sandé cover)<p><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="Fg_WOFa1GLw" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/Fg_WOFa1GLw/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Fg_WOFa1GLw?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="180" width="320" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>Charis Cooper