Many of us go home for Thanksgiving. We often think of home as being a physical place, but I think it's wherever our loved ones are at any given moment. Sort of like Air Force One: it's not the president's plane, it's whatever plane the president happens to be on. This is awesome. So is Thanksgiving.
So I'll close the week out by talking about one of our greatest retired singer/songwriters: Billy Joel. William Martin Joel hasn't made an album of pop songs in 15 years, though he occasionally trots out a new single or live recording. Before he hung up his hat, he made sure he was one of the top-selling artists in history and a multiple Grammy winner. He's also a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the recipient of several honorary degrees despite being a high school dropout. So kids, if you're going to quit school, at least practice those scales.
"You're My Home" is indicative of Joel's early period. He hadn't yet found his distinctive voice, sounding thinner and less confident than the singer he'd become. It sounds strangely like Jim Croce, too, but that's not a bad thing. (A few years later, other artists would be imitating Joel; listen to Bruce Springsteen's "Hungry Heart" again).
The lyrics were Joel's way of telling his first wife that even though they ain't got money, he's so in love with his honey. "Home could be the Pennsylvania turnpike," he croons, "Indiana's early morning dew /High up in the hills of California /Home is just another word for you." Corny, yes, and Billy's admitted it, but it's true.
My brother has suggested an alarm clock that plays Billy Joel music. His reasoning, and I agree, is that you cannot wake up in a bad mood if you are listening to "Only the Good Die Young." I would never get tired of it. Christie Brinkley apparently did, but I wouldn't.
TODAY'S RECOMMENDATION: "You're My Home" by Billy Joel
AVAILABLE ON: Piano Man; iTunes
Friday, November 28, 2008
Thursday, November 27, 2008
THANKSGIVING: Thank You, etc.
I truly believe it's the song, not the singer, that matters. I have to. I've bought all those Bob Dylan records. But great singers are like great salesmen, and you'll end up buying no matter what it is. This isn't to say a bad song can sound great, but something that might seem unremarkable on a lyric sheet can result in a musical performance of great emotional heft.
Take Natalie Merchant's "Kind and Generous." The top single from her 1998 album Ophelia, it reads like a Hallmark card, the sort of thing you send your grandmother after a particularly large birthday check. The words aren't overly sappy, just simple, nothing special. But Merchant's light, jazzy voice makes them soar. The melody and production, also by Merchant, are also noteworthy.
I once had a friend who, as a classically trained singer, dismissed Merchant's singing as thin and amateurish. It's true that Merchant is no Celine Dion, but isn't that precisely why she's better than Celine Dion? She has a way of caressing a melody, letting her billowing contralto wrap around the words and notes rather than pulverize them. She's no diva, and that is her talent.
The success of Merchant's solo work in the 1990s (she had previously been the lead singer of alt-rockers 10,000 Maniacs) made her one of America's top female singer-songwriters. She was a main attraction at the famous Lilith Fair late in that decade. Nobody makes more fun of Lilith Fair than me, but hell, songs like this almost make me wish they'd hold another one. Just don't tell Jewel where it'll be.
TODAY'S RECOMMENDATION: "Kind and Generous" by Natalie Merchant
AVAILABLE ON: Ophelia; iTunes
Take Natalie Merchant's "Kind and Generous." The top single from her 1998 album Ophelia, it reads like a Hallmark card, the sort of thing you send your grandmother after a particularly large birthday check. The words aren't overly sappy, just simple, nothing special. But Merchant's light, jazzy voice makes them soar. The melody and production, also by Merchant, are also noteworthy.
I once had a friend who, as a classically trained singer, dismissed Merchant's singing as thin and amateurish. It's true that Merchant is no Celine Dion, but isn't that precisely why she's better than Celine Dion? She has a way of caressing a melody, letting her billowing contralto wrap around the words and notes rather than pulverize them. She's no diva, and that is her talent.
The success of Merchant's solo work in the 1990s (she had previously been the lead singer of alt-rockers 10,000 Maniacs) made her one of America's top female singer-songwriters. She was a main attraction at the famous Lilith Fair late in that decade. Nobody makes more fun of Lilith Fair than me, but hell, songs like this almost make me wish they'd hold another one. Just don't tell Jewel where it'll be.
TODAY'S RECOMMENDATION: "Kind and Generous" by Natalie Merchant
AVAILABLE ON: Ophelia; iTunes
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
THANKSGIVING: Sweet Baby James
I heard a James Taylor song today on the radio, and I couldn't stop smiling. What is it about JT (the original JT, that is) that just oozes inner peace? It could be the even baritone voice, never cracking, never straining, never quavering in the slightest. It might be the gentle steel fingerpicking, always elegant but never smooth jazz-boring. Maybe it's the way he can write about human emotions without ever resorting to hoary cliches or, on the other end of the banality spectrum, navel-gazing confessional muck.
It's not because Taylor's personal life has been a smooth one. In the late 1960s, he was institutionalized for mental illness and drug addiction. He also lost one of the most magnificent heads of hair in pop history. A song like "Something in the Way She Moves" is so wistful, you wonder if this guy ever leaves his bed. Even when he sings a happy song like "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)", he doesn't seem to believe the feeling will last.
I guess James Taylor makes me happy because his warm, conversational delivery makes every emotion sound natural. Emotions, even unpleasant ones, are key components of the human experience. Taylor is a singer of great emotional power who never seems to get overwhelmed by it, always staying calm and encouraging us to do the same.
On this Thanksgiving week, my thoughts turn to "Shower the People," Taylor's hit from 1976. In one of his most sweeping and nicely harmonized choruses, he encourages us to tell those we love just how we feel about them. "Things are gonna work out fine" if we let those feelings come out every now and then. It might be true that all we need is love, but it doesn't do us any good if we keep it to ourselves.
TODAY'S RECOMMENDATION: "Shower the People" by James Taylor
AVAILABLE ON: In the Pocket; iTunes
It's not because Taylor's personal life has been a smooth one. In the late 1960s, he was institutionalized for mental illness and drug addiction. He also lost one of the most magnificent heads of hair in pop history. A song like "Something in the Way She Moves" is so wistful, you wonder if this guy ever leaves his bed. Even when he sings a happy song like "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)", he doesn't seem to believe the feeling will last.
I guess James Taylor makes me happy because his warm, conversational delivery makes every emotion sound natural. Emotions, even unpleasant ones, are key components of the human experience. Taylor is a singer of great emotional power who never seems to get overwhelmed by it, always staying calm and encouraging us to do the same.
On this Thanksgiving week, my thoughts turn to "Shower the People," Taylor's hit from 1976. In one of his most sweeping and nicely harmonized choruses, he encourages us to tell those we love just how we feel about them. "Things are gonna work out fine" if we let those feelings come out every now and then. It might be true that all we need is love, but it doesn't do us any good if we keep it to ourselves.
TODAY'S RECOMMENDATION: "Shower the People" by James Taylor
AVAILABLE ON: In the Pocket; iTunes
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
THANKSGIVING: When You're Worried, And You Can't Sleep
In a few days, your television will start its relentless barrage of Christmas movies. Some are good, most are middling, and one stars Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sinbad. But 1954's White Christmas, directed by the prolific Michael Curtiz, is something you might actually want to watch every year. Sure, it's hokey, but you can catch Danny Kaye and Rosemary Clooney in peak form, and the Technicolor looks tastier than a candy cane. The main attraction, though, is the music by Irving Berlin.
Berlin was a giant of American song, composing "God Bless America," "Blue Skies," "Always," and hundreds more. He wasn't as clever as Cole Porter, but also not as cloying. He might not have had the effortless grace of the Gershwins, but his songs stick in your head like peanut butter in a dog's mouth. His work is all the more remarkable when you consider English wasn't even his first language. The Dr. Seuss-like wordplay of "Puttin' On the Ritz" was written by a guy who spent the first five years of his life in eastern Europe. Doesn't that impress you? And kind of make you feel like a shithead?
You're probably asking what this has to do with Thanksgiving. White Christmas was basically a jukebox musical, years before Mamma Mia! left its dark imprint on this earth. The song "White Christmas" debuted in the 1942 film Holiday Inn, becoming probably the most popular recording of all time, and Bing wanted an excuse to sing it again. Some other Berlin classics were lined up and a thin story concocted around them. In addition to the oldies, Berlin did contribute the previously unheard "Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep," earning an Oscar nomination for Best Song.
This is what brings us to Thanksgiving. Though often considered a Christmas song, "Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep" (not to be confused with the old hymn, "Count Your Blessings") is an openhearted appeal for us to consider what we appreciate most. If the Production Code had allowed Berlin to write a song called, "I Moved to this Country Without a Penny and Now I'm a Millionaire, So Quit Whining and Get Off Your Ass" he would have. But instead, we get this simple wisdom: "When my bankroll's getting small/ I think of when I had none at all/ And I fall asleep/ Counting my blessings."
The song provides White Christmas with one of its best moments. And though Bing could croon like no other, I've recently heard a beautiful recording by that Canadian temptress Diana Krall. I can tell you what her husband, Elvis Costello, is thankful for...
TODAY'S RECOMMENDATION: "Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep" by Diana Krall
AVAILABLE ON: Christmas Songs; iTunes
Berlin was a giant of American song, composing "God Bless America," "Blue Skies," "Always," and hundreds more. He wasn't as clever as Cole Porter, but also not as cloying. He might not have had the effortless grace of the Gershwins, but his songs stick in your head like peanut butter in a dog's mouth. His work is all the more remarkable when you consider English wasn't even his first language. The Dr. Seuss-like wordplay of "Puttin' On the Ritz" was written by a guy who spent the first five years of his life in eastern Europe. Doesn't that impress you? And kind of make you feel like a shithead?
You're probably asking what this has to do with Thanksgiving. White Christmas was basically a jukebox musical, years before Mamma Mia! left its dark imprint on this earth. The song "White Christmas" debuted in the 1942 film Holiday Inn, becoming probably the most popular recording of all time, and Bing wanted an excuse to sing it again. Some other Berlin classics were lined up and a thin story concocted around them. In addition to the oldies, Berlin did contribute the previously unheard "Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep," earning an Oscar nomination for Best Song.
This is what brings us to Thanksgiving. Though often considered a Christmas song, "Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep" (not to be confused with the old hymn, "Count Your Blessings") is an openhearted appeal for us to consider what we appreciate most. If the Production Code had allowed Berlin to write a song called, "I Moved to this Country Without a Penny and Now I'm a Millionaire, So Quit Whining and Get Off Your Ass" he would have. But instead, we get this simple wisdom: "When my bankroll's getting small/ I think of when I had none at all/ And I fall asleep/ Counting my blessings."
The song provides White Christmas with one of its best moments. And though Bing could croon like no other, I've recently heard a beautiful recording by that Canadian temptress Diana Krall. I can tell you what her husband, Elvis Costello, is thankful for...
TODAY'S RECOMMENDATION: "Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep" by Diana Krall
AVAILABLE ON: Christmas Songs; iTunes
Monday, November 24, 2008
THANKSGIVING: A Very Wainwright Holiday
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, and has been since I moved away to college. Home cooked meals and time with the family became special only when they became scarce, and now the fourth Thursday in November is the day I look forward to most. This is surprising, because no kid hated Thanksgiving more than me. I hated the bland food (no ketchup?). I hated the stupid questions adults think they have to ask you (yes, I do like video games and no, I don't have a girlfriend yet, I'm only seven. You, sir, are hilarious). Things change as we grow, however, and now I spend that special day giving thanks. Mostly, I am thankful I don't have any Native American friends, because I would feel really awkward around them all week.
There are a lot of Christmas songs, or general songs of wintry well-wishes. But songwriters have largely ignored Thanksgiving. Maybe it's one of those subjects that's just too tough to tackle without being too on-the-nose (I'm looking at you, Don Henley.) But I thought this week I should try and find some songs that properly express the sentiments of our greatest national holiday.
Our old friend Loudon Wainwright did take on the Thanksgiving songwriting challenge. In his own unique, bitterly funny way, he pulled it off. In "Thanksgiving," he sings, "Lord every year we gather here/ To eat around this table/ Give us the strength to stomach as much/ As fast as we are able." He's not talking about the food. The Wainwrights, as we've discussed, have a tradition of writing songs about how much they hate each other. "Thanksgiving" sees Loudon cursing his clumsy children, arguing with loved ones, and stating, without a hint of regret, that he barely ever sees these people.
But wait. I said I loved Thanksgiving. Loudon does have some nice things to say about it in his ode to dysfunction. In the song's final verse, he dreams of childhood Thanksgivings spent stargazing under a heavy blanket, loving parents, a time and a place where "nothing bad has happened." Loudon knows he's whitewashing this memory, but memories are better fuzzy, and it's a nice one.
TODAY'S RECOMMENDATION: "Thanksgiving" by Loudon Wainwright III
AVAILABLE ON: Career Moves; iTunes
There are a lot of Christmas songs, or general songs of wintry well-wishes. But songwriters have largely ignored Thanksgiving. Maybe it's one of those subjects that's just too tough to tackle without being too on-the-nose (I'm looking at you, Don Henley.) But I thought this week I should try and find some songs that properly express the sentiments of our greatest national holiday.
Our old friend Loudon Wainwright did take on the Thanksgiving songwriting challenge. In his own unique, bitterly funny way, he pulled it off. In "Thanksgiving," he sings, "Lord every year we gather here/ To eat around this table/ Give us the strength to stomach as much/ As fast as we are able." He's not talking about the food. The Wainwrights, as we've discussed, have a tradition of writing songs about how much they hate each other. "Thanksgiving" sees Loudon cursing his clumsy children, arguing with loved ones, and stating, without a hint of regret, that he barely ever sees these people.
But wait. I said I loved Thanksgiving. Loudon does have some nice things to say about it in his ode to dysfunction. In the song's final verse, he dreams of childhood Thanksgivings spent stargazing under a heavy blanket, loving parents, a time and a place where "nothing bad has happened." Loudon knows he's whitewashing this memory, but memories are better fuzzy, and it's a nice one.
TODAY'S RECOMMENDATION: "Thanksgiving" by Loudon Wainwright III
AVAILABLE ON: Career Moves; iTunes
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