In trying to find a karaoke version of Easy Lovin' I unearthed some incredible treasures. Witness these versions of Loretta & Conway singing this song live, featuring:
(a) their near inability to keep a straight face while singing the lyrics (or to look each other in the eye)
(b) the number of times Loretta gets out of time with the song
(c) Conway's grimaces while singing
(d) THEIR COSTUMES!
(e) HER HAIR!
BONUS: After the Fire Is Gone, also featuring an incredible dress, an orange suit, a sparkly guitar strap. And check out HIS hair in this one!
Live version which is pretty different and features (a) much stronger more interesting singing by Will Oldham (in my opinion), and (b) the performatively interesting concept of a second guitarist strolling onstage halfway through the song to put on his guitar and add another layer to the music.
Oh dudes... dudes. There is a treasure trove out there.
You MUST watch this karaoke video, with some dude singing only the Neil Diamond parts ("karaoke duet - male part only - you be Barbara"). The video is lots of flowers bursting forth into glorious life.
Check out this crazy psychedelic video of a young Lesley Gore performing "Young Love"! At the end these bizarre screams -- presumably of an audience of young girls? -- come out of nowhere.
I love this performance for many reasons, not the least of which is that Donna Summer is smokin' hot! Other things to love:
- The solo performer into full band reveal, especially at the end when the lights are more pulsating. You know that there are at least 6 people back there, but they only show the full band a few times and it's such a tease! Just the barest glimpse of backup dancing. As I mentioned before, I love the lighting in these concerts - focused spotlights, rich colors flooding and moving across the stage, pulsing lights, lights + fog, etc. Actually, a lot of looks are things Chris has played with in other shows - except a moving spot. That would be awesome.
- Her moves - Her upper body shifting from fluid to robotic. At some points she also backs off the mic and doesn't even try to pretend to sing into it and it sounds like all the vocals are coming from the backup singers you can't see.
- Accumulating harmonies: by the end they're in 4 part harmony
Structural idea for the "Concerts" section: a series of solos / duets / group songs that seem to speak to each other -- different songs from different points of view about the same love(s). Inspiration: The McGarrigle/Wainwright clan.
I actually can't decide if I like this for Concerts or not. Might be too insular. But here it is. By the way there are about five million songs I could post about them -- but I will pare it down to THREE which is VERY DIFFICULT.
Kate McGarrigle's "Go Leave" which I mentioned in another post but here it is again, this is her performing it in 1984:
(Kate's sister Anna also wrote the gorgeous song "Kitty Come Home" which I wish I could find live... I put it in the Dropbox if anyone wants to listen, it's so lovely.)
Moving on... Loudon Wainwright's "Father and a Son" plus "Rufus is a Tit Man" -- performed in 1998:
(by the way, to hear Rufus' perspective, listen to "Dinner at Eight": " why is it so, that I've always been the one who must go, that I've always been the one told to flee, when in fact you were the one long ago actually in drifting white snow who left me...")
Martha Wainwright's "Bloody Motherfucking Asshole" -- this version isn't the greatest audio wise but it features some audio difficulties and someone shouting out a request, wondrous cliches:
OKAY I can't narrow it down to just three! Last one: this clip of Rufus, Loudon, Martha and Lucy Wainwright Roche singing Rufus' song "Poses" -- I think in 2011? It's so beautiful, and Martha looks just like a young Kate. Heartbreaking.
(Or you can watch this one, with Martha singing backup with her baby son. NOW I'LL STOP.)
Oh man -- just watched the clip Erin brought in again -- it's so good:
It reminded me of another Kris Kristofferson song that is about loving someone who you're not with anymore, "Loving Her Was Easier". Jonathan actually tried to convince me to cover this song as Undine -- I tried but couldn't quite make it work -- but maybe that's because it was destined for this show.
There's a clip of Kris singing it at the same taping where he did the duet with Rita, but I love this version of him singing it as an older man:
And here's a beautiful version with Willie Nelson -- check out Kris' arms, man!
Update: one more clip! Here's him singing the same song in 1972 -- the same taping as the duet with Rita Coolidge! Which blows my theory that he wrote this song about her.
Okay JUST ONE MORE: here's them singing a duet from 1978. What do you read from their body language here??? Also note the amazing set (from Johnny Cash's Christmas show):
Now that the cat's out of the bag I can reveal the inspirations for old Laurel-Anne and Frederick.
One part Stevie Nicks & Lindsey Buckingham (supposedly they met at a party and she started singing), one part Sonny and Cher (she got all the attention when he was really the mastermind), one part Gram Parsons & Emmylou (moving to Laurel Canyon, a sudden tragic death), one part Richard & Linda Thompson (he writes the songs that she sings, she's pregnant as they're writing their last album together). With inspiration definitely taken from other duos that have come up. And Matt's Dad turned him onto Delaney and Bonnie -- which is kind of crazy, I feel I copied their story in inventing Laurel-Anne and Frederick, without knowing it. Their daughter Bekka ended up touring with Fleetwood Mac as a lead singer in the 90s which is kind of like the backstory I was going to invent for Laurel-Anne and Freddy's son Theo.
It's also possible that Matt invented them and created the wikipedia page.
Oh except for the proof! Check them out, they're such a crazy blend of hippie/vegas/southern jam band! And she's adorable!
Awwww! And check out this clip of their daughter Bekka singing Neverending Song of Love! The video's not great but you get the sentiment.
So back to L-A and Freddy. What I was thinking of doing next was somehow finding a way to make it possible for Freddy to leave Laurel-Anne for another woman just after she gave birth, AND die before she gave birth. And then she both quits singing and writes an amazing song about their breakup / his death that they sing together 30 years later (or, she sings it with their son) (who is his spitting image by the way). But this doesn't work with Jonathan's observation -- that it works best when it could plausibly be true. So that's something to think about.
And of course, I chose the name Frederick because it was bouncing around the room -- and I didn't even realize how much! It's a potent name. Right now there are like four Frederick threads, right? It's one of those weird random synchronicities that should not be ignored.
I think this is one of my favorite John Lennon songs, and one that can turn me to a puddle in no time. The song is from the 1970 John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band album. I find it really hard to listen to this song only one time and will often, to the chagrin of anyone else in the house, play it over and over.
As Faith has been bringing up so beautifully in etudes, the destroying thing for me about this song is the hindsight of what happened to John & Yoko. I think of this song as the one he would have given her as a tool of comfort after his death. Instead, he wrote it first, and was murdered second.
I wasn't able to find any video footage of performance, but here's song with the record cover (which is itself a love story).
The mother of all heartbreaking kiss off songs: "Go Leave" by Kate McGarrigle.
As I may have mentioned before, I cannot listen to a McGarrigle song without weeping. It's chemically impossible. Here, listen to "Heart Like a Wheel" and see if you can resist:
And it's only love, it's only love, that can wreck a human being and turn him inside out...
And last but not least, the love story of Kate McG & Loudon Wainwright sadly went the way of so many of the other duos we've mentioned (he left her for another woman, yadda yadda). I've realized that something I find beautiful in these stories is watching two people who've gone through a wrenching breakup sing together onstage years later. I can't find a clip of the two of them singing together, but I know there must be one. I'll keep searching.
Watching videos of him solo or with Pentangle, there's a refreshing lack of drama. Just letting the music speak. In this video in particular, the vibe is just so awesome - glasses of wine sitting around, Orange amps. Maybe this is another duet/band archetype?
To follow the thread of tragic musical pairings, I offer Gram Parsons (The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers) and Emmylou Harris. They recorded two albums and toured together. He was separated from his wife and seeing another woman, but Emmylou fell in love with him. She had decided to tell him in person rather than over the phone, but he died in Joshua Tree before they saw each other again. She wrote "Boulder to Birmingham" about him. This is a live version from '77, three years after he died. I think the fire in the canyon she refers to is Gram's house in Topanga Canyon that burned to the ground.
I had a dream about our show last night. I can't remember what actually happened in the show, but I do know that all the ladies were in colorful early 60's party dresses with poofy skirts and hairdos. I also remember that the set was like a giant swanky multilevel chill out zone. There was a main level with an enormous low profile sofa, long enough for everyone to sit on together. There was a baby grand piano. In the back there was some other furniture on a slightly higher level. Maybe a bar also. Stage left there was a very wide, steep ramp down into a sunken chill out room with two sofas facing each other and a long coffee table between them. The entire set was carpeted and thrust super far into the audience. It was more like a Vegas show or a television set from the early 60's.
I think that watching the video Allie posted of that awesome Meg Stuart piece from TBA a couple of years ago got me thinking about carpet and levels and wearing more formal clothing. What if the space was surrounded by a giant sectional sofa or if there was a sunken living room in the middle of the space with sofas on three sides that was open to the audience?
Okay Glen. You are so young and so special in your abstract set of telephone poles way. I just love it when he sings "vacation." This song is so great and there is something so so sweet about him here...
I am in the grips of a raging Patti Smith obsession (again) and remembered this amazing clip of her singing "You Light Up My Life" -- somehow she takes this song I always thought was so cheesy and brings out the power & simplicity in the lyrics.
Also I was struck in "Just Kids" about how her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe is such a beautiful example of long term love -- whether they're lovers or friends or roommates, the love and support for each other continues and grows and dips and changes -- it's a beautiful book.
Okay one more Patti Smith clip! She's performing in Germany and people are getting unruly (around the 4:15 mark) and she goes down into the audience and tells them to "stop acting like assholes and settle the fuck down."
Heard an interview with Linda Thompson yesterday on Radiolab (oh, Radiolab... someday we'll skip the middle man and just make a show about Radiolab).
I had been vaguely aware of Linda Thompson and her role along with her husband, Richard, in the Fairport Convention. I guess I knew they'd been married then divorced.
But I didn't know the full saga which is amazing:
They met when she sang on his first album.
They got married.
They made more albums together -- he wrote songs and played guitar, she sang.
Richard got into Sufism and decided to give up music and join a Sufi cult.
They lived with them for three years (Linda wasn't as into it as Richard was) and had two children.
Then they decided to get back into music, and recorded one more album.
Linda became pregnant with their third child.
Richard left her for the woman organizing his solo American tour (right after Linda gave birth).
Now here is the part that I find fascinating: they were signed on to do a tour to promote their album, and Richard and their manager felt they should back out, but Linda insisted on doing it. So they went on tour together, and she sang the songs he had written about their difficult marriage and impending breakup. Strangely, it was the only time in her career that she's had no trouble singing. And despite the incredible tension between them, she had a great time on tour.
Anyway. I find that very interesting. Also, I looked her up on youtube and she is a fabulous singer, and these are some INTENSE love songs, man!
Here's them singing "A Heart Needs a Home" just before their breakup:
Here's "Walking on a Wire" from their tour -- the video's not that good but you can see the intense dynamic, not to mention, check out these lyrics:
I hand you my ball and chain
You just hand me that same old refrain
I'm walking on a wire, I'm walking on a wire
And I'm falling
And here is them singing "Dimming of the Day" also from the last tour. Oddly enough, this is my parents' favorite song to sing together. I thought it was an old Scottish folk song but it turns out Richard Thompson wrote it.
This old house is falling down around my ears
I'm drowning in the river of my tears
When all my will is gone you hold me sway
I need you at the dimming of the day
Let's use this space to bookmark our ideas and inspiration and start a conversation about them. Don't forget to comment on what you see, hear and read. If you have any trouble posting let me know.
I don't know about you, but I've got a list of songs as long as my arm and no mp3s of any of them. Great! While I get right on some illegal downloading, here are a few sweet jams that have been circulating in my mind the past couple of months.
Anita Baker "Sweet Love": Her album "Rapture" was the soundtrack in my mom's car in the mid-late 80's. So many amazing songs off of it (Same Old Love, Caught up in the Rapture, No One in the World), but this was the big big hit.
Liz Phair "Nashville": Ten years later, Liz Phair was the soundtrack in my car! This is one of her more tender compositions. Lyrics below.
They don't know what they like so much about it They just go for any shiny old bauble, and nobody sparkles like you But I can't imagine it in better terms Then naked, half-awake, about to shave and go to work
And I'm starting to think it could happen to me like it did to you And I'm starting to actually feel it seep through the slick divide now I don't crack the door too far for anyone who's pushing too hard on me
They don't know what they like so much about it Maybe it goes on the other side of the hallway The writing's so small from here But I can't imagine it in better terms Then naked, half-awake, about to shave and go to work
I won't decorate my love I won't decorate my love I won't decorate my love I won't decorate my love...
