Light On Dark Water

My local paper has a daily "Today in History" feature which includes a list of famous people whose birthdays fall on the day. I read it frequently, I think with a somewhat morbid fascination, bothering my wife with news items such as "Oh look, this actress who was a beautiful girl in that movie is 65 years old today."  I often think of mentioning these events here, but so far have not actually followed through on the notion. Well, today I am, having noticed a couple of particularly interesting ones: Daniel Lanois (60) and Sylvia Tyson (71!). It isn't actually their Canadian-ness that caused me to do it.  At least I don't think it is–I suppose it could be the effects of some new psychic weapon developed by the movement for Canadian World Domination

Lanois is best known as a producer, whose distinctive dark reverb-heavy sound was a major contribution to some of the best (and best-known) work of Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, and U2. But his solo albums are as good as those he produced for others. This is from Shine. 

Sylvia Tyson was one half of Ian and Sylvia, of whom I have written before. I picked this song for her birthday commemoration because it's one of only a few that she wrote for the duo, but is also their most famous, due its succesful re-working as a Top-40 hit by We Five, which is very different but great in its own right.