I met a girl who sang the blues, so I asked her for some happy news.
She just smiled and turned away... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tb4t0Mxq3J4
Janis died on this date in 1970 - 36 years ago. Another of my faves, an incredible singer with a voice capable of hair-raising screeching to the most nuanced wistfulness. Brash, brassy, and filled with bravado, she also was sensitive, lonely, vulnerable and deeply aware of being the "ugly duckling" and social outcast of her native Port Arthur. A sad life and an amazing talent.
The title of this blog entry is my little sequeway to another 70's anniversary: Don Mclean released American Pie on this month in '71, (I'm afraid I don't have the exact date of release). It was inescapable at the time, which was fine - it's a great song, and I still will play the record on occasion. Mclean's semi-autobiographical lyrics are fun to plow through and interpret, a little Rock'n'Roll hobby that people have been engaged in since the tune was released. I am reasonably sure that I've got everything with one exception - I'm not sure who he refers to with the father, son and holy ghost catching the last train to the coast; and I've never seen a convincing interpretation. One thing I am sure of - Connie Francis was not the Queen of Rock'n'Roll in the 1950's, (only in the mushy corporate dreams of Dick Clark). Any true fan of pop culture knows the real Queen was Little Richard... As for the rest, it's a song of death. Both that of Holly and of Mclean's generation's innocence and chance to change the world. But Don was wrong in claiming the music died, it lives on, (although you'd hardly know it from the state of contemporary radio). It's like the early Christians, with their furtive meetings in catacombs and darkened fields; the music is out there, in small clubs, independent labels and internet radio, just waiting to save your soul...
http://www.don-mclean.com/
http://www.missamericanpie.co.uk/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ8miTErh-o
Janis died on this date in 1970 - 36 years ago. Another of my faves, an incredible singer with a voice capable of hair-raising screeching to the most nuanced wistfulness. Brash, brassy, and filled with bravado, she also was sensitive, lonely, vulnerable and deeply aware of being the "ugly duckling" and social outcast of her native Port Arthur. A sad life and an amazing talent.
The title of this blog entry is my little sequeway to another 70's anniversary: Don Mclean released American Pie on this month in '71, (I'm afraid I don't have the exact date of release). It was inescapable at the time, which was fine - it's a great song, and I still will play the record on occasion. Mclean's semi-autobiographical lyrics are fun to plow through and interpret, a little Rock'n'Roll hobby that people have been engaged in since the tune was released. I am reasonably sure that I've got everything with one exception - I'm not sure who he refers to with the father, son and holy ghost catching the last train to the coast; and I've never seen a convincing interpretation. One thing I am sure of - Connie Francis was not the Queen of Rock'n'Roll in the 1950's, (only in the mushy corporate dreams of Dick Clark). Any true fan of pop culture knows the real Queen was Little Richard... As for the rest, it's a song of death. Both that of Holly and of Mclean's generation's innocence and chance to change the world. But Don was wrong in claiming the music died, it lives on, (although you'd hardly know it from the state of contemporary radio). It's like the early Christians, with their furtive meetings in catacombs and darkened fields; the music is out there, in small clubs, independent labels and internet radio, just waiting to save your soul...
http://www.don-mclean.com/
http://www.missamericanpie.co.uk/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ8miTErh-o
posted by mendip at
2:46 AM
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