Last update: 1997-02-26 by dennette@wiz-worx.com
<Who is this "Dennette" person?>
This is a bit of back-tracking … the first music CD I made on Bast was something I called "Stairways to Heaven", featuring Led Zeppelin, Dredd Zeppelin (a reggae group), and the Hampton String Quartet performing "What If Mozart Had Written Stairway to Heaven?"
Dredd Zeppelin is a "cover" band with a twist … one of the lead vocalists is an Elvis Presley impersonator! The hard reggae beat on top of the Led Zeppelin lyrics reminds me of the synergy I discovered when I realized that the three witches from Macbeth could be recited with a "rap" meter. ("By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes!")
Anywho, I grabbed three originals and their covers … Stairway to Heaven, Going to California, and Good Times, Bad Times. Play the Dredd Zeppelin version of GT,BT first … psych!! … EVERYONE thinks it's the original at first. :-)
I'm reproducing that original disk, which "walked" when the borrower moved and left no forward. <sigh!> I'm adding some of my current favorites (Alanis Morissette) and my faves from twenty years ago (Joni Mitchell), when vinyl was the only way to go.
That is all I have to say. -=DAH=- 21-Aug-96
This seemed like a no-brainer … three Totally Different renditions of the same song … put them all on one CD!
This is from the first of her albums that I bought. I had a neighbor once who played it over and over, and when they moved away, I bought my own copy. Songs that tell stories … ya gotta love 'em!
This is a Very Well Engineered recording, with multiple voice-overs … she sings very well with herself. I remember sitting in a pool of morning sunlight while a lover served me tea and oranges while this song was playing … and "incense owls". I remember the moment, and I can dimly recall a face, but I'm Totally Clueless as to her name … one of many never-to-be-repeated morning-afters. <sigh!>
The first time I heard this song, I was in a woman's apartment … she was sitting on the floor, playing the guitar and singing by candle light. The room was heavy with the scent of incense, and a cool breeze was blowing through a light rain. That led to the purchase of my second Joni Mitchell album.
These two songs segue into a single song, and that's the way they should be heard. More or that wonderful multi-track singing with herself.
Beaucoup references to Native America's answer to YIN and YANG, the FEATHERED SERPENT, the snake that flies, duality in nature by another name.
This woman's first album, "Jagged Little Pill", hit the top of the charts soon after it was released in 1995, and there are three videos from it keeping her up there. What can I say, she's the first of the "new" artists whose caught my attention long enough to want to get their debut CD … it almost happened with Counting Crows, but white boys with dredd-locks just don't float my boat, knowhatimean?
This is what you might call the Don't Worry, Be Happy song for the 90s.
I'm drunk but I'm sober
I'm young and I'm underpaid
I'm tired but I'm working, yeah
I care but I'm restless
I'm here but I'm really gone
I'm wrong and I'm sorry baby
What it all comes down to
Is that everything's gonna be quite all right
'Cause I've got one hand in my pocket
And the other one is flicking a cigarette
What it all comes down to
Is that I haven't got it all figured out just yet
But I've got one hand in my pocket
And the other one is giving the peace sign
(chorus)
You live, you learn
You love, you learn
You cry, you learn
You lose, you learn
You bleed, you learn.
You scream, you learn.
(chorus)
It's like rain on your wedding day.
It's a free ride when you've already paid.
It's the good advice that you just didn't take.
And who would have thought … it figures.
Spend my days with a woman unkind,
smoke my stuff and drink … all my wine.
Made up my mind to make a new start;
Going to California with an aching … in my heart.
Someone told me there's a girl out there
With love in her eyes and flowers … in her hair.
The original is one of the sweetest modern ballads I know … it really makes me envious of people who can play the guitar. The reggae version by the Elvis impersonator is quite enjoyable after a certain number of repetitions … even if you can't quite understand all of the lyrics in either version. :-) Naturally, the lyric gets changed from "Going to California" to "Going back to Graceland".
In the days of my youth I was told what it means to be a man.
Now I've reached that age I try to do all those things the best I can.
No matter how I try I find my way into that same old jam.
(Chorus)
Good times, bad times, you know I've had my share.
Gotta woman at home with another man But I still don't seem to care.
In all fairness, this was the first cut on the first albums of both groups. What you should really do is set your CD player to begin with these tracks and just cycle back to the beginning. What's really cool is that for the first few measures, you'd swear it was a the original version, so play it first and fool your friends!
Last update: 1997-02-26 by dennette@wiz-worx.com
<Who is this "Dennette"
person?>