(Halloween playlist, #7)
Album: Little Broken Hearts (2012)
Lyrics excerpt:
Oh Miriam
That's such a pretty name
And I'll keep saying it
Until you die
Miriam
You know you done me wrong
I'm gonna smile when
You say goodbye
Reasons to love this song:
The fact that it sounds so innocent and gentle in the beginning, and that Norah Jones is best known for soft and gentle songs like Come Away With Me and Sunrise, makes it all the more shocking when you gradually come to realise that it's actually a murder ballad. Miriam reminded me instantly of Dolly Parton's Jolene -- it could be Jolene's dark twin. The narrator of the song is confronted by the same problem, but the solution is so different...
YouTube link:
Like the song, the official video seems melancholy but innocent in the beginning -- until you see the blood-covered oar.
petak, 2. studenoga 2012.
subota, 27. listopada 2012.
# 32 Loreena McKennitt: The Bonny Swans
(Halloween playlist, #6)
Album: The Mask and Mirror (1994)
Lyrics excerpt:
And there does sit my father the King
(with a hey ho and a bonny o)
And yonder sits my mother the Queen
(the swans swim so bonny o)
And there does sit my brother Hugh
And by him William, sweet and true
And there does sit my false sister, Anne
Who drowned me for the sake of a man
Reasons to love this song:
I fell in love with this song at first listen just because of the tune, which is very pretty and not at all dark. Then I listened to the lyrics more carefully and thought I had heard something about making a harp out of human bones...
The Bonny Swans is a version of a ballad known at least since the seventeenth century, in many forms and under many different names (The Twa Sisters, The Cruel Sister, The Wind And Rain...). All these songs tell the story of a woman drowned by her sister because of jealousy; in the supernatural versions, such as this one, the bones of the murdered sister are made into a harp or a fiddle which, when played, accuses the murderer.
Loreena McKennitt adapted the lyrics and composed the music for this version. Although there is definitely humour in her version of the song (surely she had noticed that the heroine's father is a farmer in the first verse, but a King at the end?) the final two lines -- And there does sit my false sister, Anne who drowned me for the sake of a man -- never fail to make me shudder.
Youtube link:
The official video
And, for comparison, one of the non-supernatural versions of the same tale: Two Sisters by Clannad
Album: The Mask and Mirror (1994)
Lyrics excerpt:
And there does sit my father the King
(with a hey ho and a bonny o)
And yonder sits my mother the Queen
(the swans swim so bonny o)
And there does sit my brother Hugh
And by him William, sweet and true
And there does sit my false sister, Anne
Who drowned me for the sake of a man
Reasons to love this song:
I fell in love with this song at first listen just because of the tune, which is very pretty and not at all dark. Then I listened to the lyrics more carefully and thought I had heard something about making a harp out of human bones...
The Bonny Swans is a version of a ballad known at least since the seventeenth century, in many forms and under many different names (The Twa Sisters, The Cruel Sister, The Wind And Rain...). All these songs tell the story of a woman drowned by her sister because of jealousy; in the supernatural versions, such as this one, the bones of the murdered sister are made into a harp or a fiddle which, when played, accuses the murderer.
Loreena McKennitt adapted the lyrics and composed the music for this version. Although there is definitely humour in her version of the song (surely she had noticed that the heroine's father is a farmer in the first verse, but a King at the end?) the final two lines -- And there does sit my false sister, Anne who drowned me for the sake of a man -- never fail to make me shudder.
Youtube link:
The official video
And, for comparison, one of the non-supernatural versions of the same tale: Two Sisters by Clannad
subota, 22. rujna 2012.
#31 Joni Mitchell - Urge For Going
Album: Hits (1996); B-side to the You Turn Me on I'm a Radio single (1972).
Lyrics excerpt:
I had me a man in summertime
He had summer-colored skin
And not another girl in town
My darling's heart could win
But when the leaves fell on the ground
Bully winds came around
Pushed them face down in the snow
He got the urge for going
And I had to let him go
Reasons to love this song:
Autumnal weather came rather suddenly where I live this year, making me want to listen to autumnal songs -- and Urge For Going is probably my favourite one -- even though I think of autumn as a colourful and pleasant season, and in this song the warm seasons are synonymous with life and love, and the cold seasons equal death and loneliness. (It's more complex than that, of course -- in this song's universe it is possible to escape from death and loneliness if you have "the wings to fly".) The music is melancholy, but I also hear it as incredibly warm, in contrast with the coldness described in the lyrics.
Youtube links:
Joni Mitchell performing the song on television in 1966. I love how the musicians around her all seem awestruck by her performance.
Tom Rush's version of the song (from his 1968 album The Circle Game, which also included two other Joni Mitchell covers):
My favourite cover of this song, by Charlotte Martin (from Reproductions, 2007):
petak, 31. kolovoza 2012.
#30 Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood - Summer Wine
Album: Nancy & Lee (1968)
Lyrics excerpt:
Strawberries, cherries and an angel's kiss in spring
My summer wine is really made from all these things
Take off your silver spurs and help me pass the time
And I will give to you summer wine
Reasons to love this song:
The songs I have written in this blog are mostly performed (and written by) solo female musicians, but I will make an exception now and then -- starting with this song, one of my favourite summer songs. It tells the story of a man who is seduced and robbed by a femme fatale, but Nancy Sinatra sings her part in a sweet and dreamy voice, not even trying to sound "evil".
The lyrics to this song have made a friend of mine, who is very literal-minded, angry. "No, your summer wine is bloody well not really made of all these things, because you can't make wine out of strawberries, cherries and bloody angel's kisses!" When I told her the wine in the song isn't necessarily real wine at all, but a metaphor for the female character's love, she grumbled: "Even worse."
YouTube link:
I love Nancy's little laugh at about 2:10. Bizarrely, in the beginning of the video her head looks as if it were screwed on backwards.
Lyrics excerpt:
Strawberries, cherries and an angel's kiss in spring
My summer wine is really made from all these things
Take off your silver spurs and help me pass the time
And I will give to you summer wine
Reasons to love this song:
The songs I have written in this blog are mostly performed (and written by) solo female musicians, but I will make an exception now and then -- starting with this song, one of my favourite summer songs. It tells the story of a man who is seduced and robbed by a femme fatale, but Nancy Sinatra sings her part in a sweet and dreamy voice, not even trying to sound "evil".
The lyrics to this song have made a friend of mine, who is very literal-minded, angry. "No, your summer wine is bloody well not really made of all these things, because you can't make wine out of strawberries, cherries and bloody angel's kisses!" When I told her the wine in the song isn't necessarily real wine at all, but a metaphor for the female character's love, she grumbled: "Even worse."
YouTube link:
I love Nancy's little laugh at about 2:10. Bizarrely, in the beginning of the video her head looks as if it were screwed on backwards.
nedjelja, 27. svibnja 2012.
#29 Emmy The Great - Exit Night/Juliet's Theme
Album: Virtue (2011)
Lyrics excerpt:
But when the sun is getting lower then the highway marks the graves
And the taillights they circle like the roses of an infinite bouquet
And everybody leaves
Taillights for the grey ghosts of railways and candle holders
Reasons to love this song:
Emmy The Great is a new discovery for me. From her album Virtue, Paper Forest (In The Afterglow Of Rapture) was probably my favourite on first listen, but after several listens and paying more attention to the lyrics (which reminded me a little of Leonard Cohen), Exit Night eventually emerged as my favourite. Although the music is rather upbeat, it manages to convey the ghostly atmosphere of the lyrics, especially in the moments the backing vocals sound like gusts of wind.
YouTube link:
Emmy The Great performing the song in Queen Elisabeth Hall, London, in 2011.
Lyrics excerpt:
But when the sun is getting lower then the highway marks the graves
And the taillights they circle like the roses of an infinite bouquet
And everybody leaves
Taillights for the grey ghosts of railways and candle holders
Reasons to love this song:
Emmy The Great is a new discovery for me. From her album Virtue, Paper Forest (In The Afterglow Of Rapture) was probably my favourite on first listen, but after several listens and paying more attention to the lyrics (which reminded me a little of Leonard Cohen), Exit Night eventually emerged as my favourite. Although the music is rather upbeat, it manages to convey the ghostly atmosphere of the lyrics, especially in the moments the backing vocals sound like gusts of wind.
YouTube link:
Emmy The Great performing the song in Queen Elisabeth Hall, London, in 2011.
srijeda, 29. veljače 2012.
#28 Nina Simone - Sinnerman
Album: Pastel Blues (1965)
Lyrics excerpt:
So I run to the Lord,
Please hide me Lord,
Don't you see me prayin'?
Don't you see me down here prayin'?
But the Lord said: go to the devil
The Lord said: go to the devil
All on that day.
Reasons to love this song:
I must admit, I was only a very casual fan of Nina Simone until I heard this song in the second season final of the BBC series Sherlock. I fell in love with the song instantly, and thought at first the singer was male until I found it was Nina Simone. I listened to all the versions of this (traditional) song I could find, including Les Baxter (1956) and Peter Tosh (1966) ; one of my favourites was 16 Horsepower (2002). But for me no other version can compare to Nina Simone's; her voice is, like Johnny Cash's, so perfectly suited for singing about the Apocalypse.
Youtube link:
The album version
Lyrics excerpt:
So I run to the Lord,
Please hide me Lord,
Don't you see me prayin'?
Don't you see me down here prayin'?
But the Lord said: go to the devil
The Lord said: go to the devil
All on that day.
Reasons to love this song:
I must admit, I was only a very casual fan of Nina Simone until I heard this song in the second season final of the BBC series Sherlock. I fell in love with the song instantly, and thought at first the singer was male until I found it was Nina Simone. I listened to all the versions of this (traditional) song I could find, including Les Baxter (1956) and Peter Tosh (1966) ; one of my favourites was 16 Horsepower (2002). But for me no other version can compare to Nina Simone's; her voice is, like Johnny Cash's, so perfectly suited for singing about the Apocalypse.
Youtube link:
The album version
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