For a Song: The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul

XTC: The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul

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This is one of those times when a song told me what to do. The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul popped into my head as I started my day, and said, “post me”. XTC was always a band that used strong rhythms, and, especially late in their career, they loved to experiment with their sound. Most of it worked, while some of it flopped amazingly. The album Skylarking is a microcosm of this. It’s a flawed album that I always find myself drawn back to. The album was produced by Todd Rundgren, and some of it is almost ridiculous for how overwrought the emotions are. In particular, 1000 Umbrellas is a song I often find either laughable or pathetic. And yet, the good stuff on this album is great. Man Who Sailed is a fine example. The lyrics describe a man who looks back over his life, and finds much to regret. His tale is told against an almost jaunty jazzy musical setting. The tension between the sound of the song and its content give this one its power. This is, as far as I know, the closest XTC ever came to exploring jazz, and it is a sound I wish they would have done more with.

Call for help:

Teresa Storch: Happy Girl (demo)

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As I write this, Teresa Storch has 16 days to go to complete her Kickstarter campaign for her new album The Honesty Kitchen. The first thing I noticed about Storch was her voice. Her music is not blues, but her voice is a bluesy moan, and she does this as well as anyone I have ever heard. Some of the songs in her video look like they have jazzy touches, (one has fiddle and trombone together!), and I can’t wait to hear them. Happy Girl in its present form reminds me of the quiet intensity of a young Tracy Chapman. Please help Storch finish The Honesty Kitchen if you can. Thank you for whatever you can do.

We Need a Superhero

I started the week here with a rant about the state of the economy. Then I moved on to a review of a blues album. And now, I close the week with superheroes. How did that happen? Well, it doesn’t seem that far fetched to me. These are indeed hard times, the kinds of times when people sing the blues, and also the kinds of times when people look for a hero. We want someone to don a mask and cape, vanquish the villains, and make everything alright again. In November of 2008, Obama seemed to be that hero. But in real life, things are much messier than that. It is the villains who have secret identities, and going after the wrong one can sometimes make things worse. And, again in real life, punishing the villains does not make everything right again. So Obama cannot be our superhero, and his poll numbers are a consequence of this, as much as anything else.

Still, it’s nice to dream of a costumed savior when things are rough. These heroes must also maintain dual identities, fooling the people closest to them so that they can save the world. This makes superheroes a rich subject for songwriters.

Alison Brown: Spiderman Theme

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This post must begin with Spiderman. Spidey was the first superhero I adopted, when I inherited my oldest brother’s comic book collection. Peter Parker always had a messy personal life, but he would put on that costume and his personal problems would go away, and he would be out there making a difference. Of all the superhero TV shows of my youth, Spiderman, with that great Ralph Bakshi animation, was truest to the original comic book. The theme song was good corny fun. Alison Browne removes much of the corn by rendering this one as an instrumental. What remains becomes a wonderful showcase for her jazz banjo playing.

Crash Test Dummies: Superman‘s Song (live)

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Superman was another matter. He was the first superhero in 1938, and his was the formula, with all others being the variations. Superman was perfect, while Clark Kent was his creation, and his comic relief. But Crash Test Dummies find something fresh in this relationship. In their telling, Superman needs a secret identity so he can find a job. After all, saving the world doesn’t pay very well. So Superman becomes the burdened reality, and Clark Kent is the escapist fantasy. I also have the studio version of this song, but I have chosen a live version from Mountain Stage. Fewer people have heard this version, and it is wonderful.

XTC: That‘s Really Super, Supergirl

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So what happens when an ordinary human becomes involved with a superhero? XTC, always interested in the everyman, takes up this question in That’s Really Super, Supergirl. It turns out that the reality doesn’t match the fantasy at all. Supergirl doesn’t have to start seeing someone else; she’s always spending more time battling villains than she is with her significant other, and the relationship is doomed from the start.

The Brunettes: Hulk is Hulk

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The Incredible Hulk has always been an interesting case. To use his powers, he must lose all sense of self. Therefore, he is, in a sense, not responsible for his actions when he uses his powers. That can seem very tempting to an observer, but our narrator here ultimately can not let go enough to do what the Hulk does. The Brunettes are a band from New Zeeland that I had never heard of before. I am impressed with the songwriting here.

Spotlight Song of the Week:

Miriam Lieberman: Refugee

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I would like to present more African music here, but the language barrier limits the accessibility of the music. Miriam Lieberman’s music may not be completely authentic, but she understands the rhythmic drive of this music, and she sings mostly in English. Her lyrics are written in English on most songs, but the words remind me very much of the translations I have seen of African songs. And she uses traditional instruments. Refugee opens with the sound of the kora, or African harp, and the balaphon, or wood xylophone, is also featured prominently. Best of all, Lieberman understands the beauty of this music, and brings it to her work.

Fairy Tales

I confess, I love fairy tales. But, I hasten to add, I’m not talking about the sanitized and prettified Disney versions. Yes, the Disney movies are examples of great animation, but they are certainly not true tellings of the tales. The urge to make these tales “safe for children” is certainly not limited to Disney, but they are the best known offenders. The fairy tales as I love them are both richer and stranger than the best known versions. There is a darkness to them, and endings are not so purely happy. Evil stepmothers are made to dance in iron shoes that just came out of a furnace. Hansel and Gretel may go to a better place, but the tale does not forgive the parents for abandoning them. And some of the episodes along the way are genuinely frightening.

So what does all of this have to do with music? Songwriters have long been inspired to include allusions to fairy tales in their lyrics. Some songs are tellings of classic tales, often from a fresh perspective. And some songs put me in mind of a fairy tale, even though the songwriter may not have even known the tale I had in mind. All of this happens because fairy tales and songs have one thing in common: they address feelings and situations found in real life. Let me show you what I mean.

Emilie Autumn: Shalott

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Emilie Autumn is a gothic songwriter and performer. Both her music and her words evoke strong emotions, and convey an air of mystery. So fairy tales are perfect material for her. The title Shalott brings to mind the Arthurian tale of The Lady of Shalott, who waited in vain for her knight to return. But Autumn’s lyrics also evoke Sleeping Beauty, as if she was aware of her surroundings for the entire time she was “asleep”, and waiting for her prince. The connection between the two tales makes perfect sense here.

Los Lobos: Hearts of Stone

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Los Lobos probably didn’t have any fairy tale in mind when they wrote Hearts of Stone, but I am reminded of a tale called The Golden Heart of Winter. The youngest son of a blacksmith must find the heart of the title, and turn it from stone to living gold, or the world will be condemned to permanent winter. Thinking of this tale gives the song extra resonance for me.

XTC: My Bird Performs

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Likewise, XTC may well have not been thinking of The Nightingale when they wrote My Bird Performs. The connection makes sense to me though. The song has the “bird” singing only for one person, while the tale has the bird singing only when it is free, so linking the two introduces a level of irony into the song that I find appealing.

Gillian Welch: Paper Wings

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Paper Wings is a special case. Gillian Welch could not possibly had the tale I think of in mind, because she recorded Paper Wings before the tale was published. Garth Nix is a fantasy author who works mostly in the young adult category. In his just completed series The Keys to the Kingdom, there are paper wings that actually work. So including this song is a bit of a stretch, but it does invoke a sense of magic for me, albeit after the fact.

Spotlight Song of the Week:

Bread and Bones: I Know Stories

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I was going to have this album for my Spotlight feature this week before I knew what my theme would be, but it worked out beautifully. Bread and Bones are a trio from Vermont who feature wonderful male and female singers. At the last after party that I attended at The Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, I almost left before they went on. Something told me to stay, and I’m glad I did. I Know Stories is a great example of the group’s ability to inhabit a character and bring them to life. This particular song is also a wonderful telling of Jack and the Beanstalk from the point of view of the giant.

First Whisper of Spring

I know that, for many of my readers, it is unmistakably still winter. But here in New Jersey, we have had a major thaw in the last week. The snow is retreating, and there is even a noted increase in bird noises in the morning. For me, this triggers a reflex that tells me that it is time to dance.

That may seem strange, so let me explain. Back in the years before I was a married-with-children, I used to go contradancing whenever I could. (Contradancing, if you don’t know, is a folk dance form native to New England.) This even was the start of a chain of events that led to me meeting my wife. I noticed that many of the dancers would vanish when the weather turned chilly in the fall, and returned at about this time of year. I observed this over several years; it was as reliable as bird migrations. So, even though I have not contra danced in many years, (sigh), I still associate this time of year with the return of the dancers.

k d Lang: (Waltz Me) Once Again Around the Dance Floor

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That first dance when everyone comes back is one of the most exciting of the year. There is a sense of exhilaration that comes both from the arrival of warmer weather and being reunited with friends. k d Lang isn’t singing about a contradance, and this isn’t even a song she wrote, but her performance still conveys exactly the feeling I’m talking about.

Finjan: Dancing on Water

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I have presented Klezmer music before, but I emphasized that faster songs. Here, the tempo comes down a bit, and the sheer beauty of the music shines through. Finjan, my sources tell me, is the leading klezmer group in Canada. Strangely, there is a connection between this track and the last one. Dancing on Water was arranged by Finjan and Ben Mink. Mink played on some of k d Lang’s best work.

Bruce Cockburn: And We Dance

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This wasn’t supposed to be a sequel to last week’s Canadian post, but here is yet another Canadian artist. Bruce Cockburn is a socially and politically aware songwriter. He finds it impossible to live in this world without having strong feelings about what goes on in it. Here, he seeks refuge from the ills of the world in a dance. The effort is only partly successful, but the desire for refuge is beautifully expressed.

XTC: War Dance

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Finally, we leave Canada for England. XTC also cared deeply about world events. Here, they take on a particular brand of “patriotism”. There are times when nations experience a kind of blood lust. Here in the United States, we experienced this in the wake of 9/11, and our government was only to happy to fan the flames. As XTC points out here, the results are often tragic for all concerned.

New feature: Spotlight song of the week

Here is a new feature on Oliver di Place. I started this blog because I believed that the world is full of great music that too few people were getting to hear. Now I am even more convinced that this is true. The fact is that I receive more great albums than I can review, even at a rate of an album a week. So now I will feature a song from some of these albums in this spot. The artists featured here are just as worthy as those I give full reviews. This just gives me a way to share more of my discoveries with you. I will also use this space for artists who do not have anything new out, but who I only just discovered.

john Arthur martinez: Cobalt Blue

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Country music is comfort music, even when the subject matter is grim. Musically, there are no major surprises, but that does not preclude the possibility of fine musicianship. The lyrics cover a limited range of subjects. So the listener knows more or less what to expect, and the most important factor is the sincerity of the performance. And john Arthur martinez delivers a wonderful performance here.

One of the big problems I have with mainstream, (read: major label), country is the production. Sometimes, everything is scrubbed clean of any personality and given a pop sheen, while other times the chorus builds to a 70s rock crescendo, completely obliterating any chance of subtlety. Martinez avoids these traps, and delivers a set of songs that offer all of the comforts of country as performed by someone who means it. The best of all are the songs he wrote by himself. There are three songs here by other writers, and four co-writes. All sound to me like bids to insure commercial acceptance. But the four songs martinez wrote by himself are the highlights for me. These add organ parts to the mix, as well as female backing vocals. These songs have an honest country feel, but also a soulfulness that fits in beautifully. Cobalt Blue also has an interesting lyric. Is the Cobalt Blue of the title a woman or a drink? I think the answer is yes. I like the ambiguity.

So I will put this one on when I’m looking for musical comfort food. And I hope that martinez’ next one includes more solo originals.

Street Scenes

First of all, let me give a special thank you to my fellow contributors at Star Maker Machine, for their help gathering songs for this post. And let me say that I have left plenty of street songs for a possible future theme there, if anyone is interested.

It’s not hard to find songs whose titles are street names. But it is rare to find that the song is literally about the place. Rather, street names represent, in the minds of the songwriters, a state of mind associated with a place. The most successful of these songs imprint these associations into the minds of the listeners. The better known the song, the harder it becomes to ever see that street name again without making the same connection the songwriter did.

Richard Shindell: Mercy Street

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Mercy Street is entirely a state of mind. The song was inspired by the author Anne Sexton. Sexton was a mental patient who suffered from severe depression. She took to writing as a form of therapy, creating poems, and eventually a play, 45 Mercy Street. This therapy created some enduring art, but did not save Sexton’s life. She committed suicide in 1974. The darkness in the song represents her depression.

I could have posted Peter Gabriel’s original version of the song. It is certainly worthy. But Richard Shindell is a musician who always finds his way to the emotional heart of a song, whether it be his own or a cover. I chose his version because I want more people to know about his work.

Nellie McKay: Manhattan Avenue

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Manhattan Avenue is a beautiful jazz ballad. The music leads you to expect a sumptuous love story. But Nellie McKay uses this musical setting to depict an impoverished street, inhabited by both muggers and children. Despite the starkness of the setting, dreams also live here.

Gerry Rafferty: Baker Street

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Baker Street addresses a character who came to the city seeking excitement, and found loneliness and alienation. After eloquently describing his state of mind, Gerry Rafferty gives him a way out. He can return to the town he came from.

My long time readers may be surprised to see this song here. The basic four piece rock band is augmented by horns and a large string section. There is extra percussion. This is the type of 70s production that I often rail against. But here, all of the elements of the arrangement make sense. The lushness of the arrangement, compared to the content of the lyrics, forms a nice irony. This is a 70s production that works. And that is why this song never sounds dated, when so many others do.

The Beatles: Penny Lane

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Gerry Rafferty’s character dreams of a place like Penny Lane. Here every street corner is home to a friend. The warmth of an actual nighborhood has never been described better.

Penny Lane is also a fine early example of The Beatles and producer George Martin’s mastery of the recording studio. It is difficult to appreciate now just how innovative the production on this was.

XTC: Respectable Street

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XTC provides a depiction of the dark side of small town life. Here, familiarity breeds contempt. Everyone knows, and judges, everyone. And these judgments include observations of all manner of hypocrisy.

I have always said that what kills a punk band is that they learn to play their instruments. That happened very quickly to XTC. Respectable Street retains the raw energy of punk, but adds a crispness in the guitar parts, and a rhythmic sophistication that is almost funk. The vocals, similarly, retain the strong emotion of XTC’s punk roots, but are sung rather than shouted.

The Circus Leaves Town

As I write this, the signs are everywhere that summer is over. The calendar says there are still a few days left, but the pools and beaches have closed and the children are back in school. The first chill is in the air, and some of the Autumn colors have even started to appear on the trees. Emotionally, there is no better symbol for this than the day the circus leaves town.

In the minds of songwriters, the circus exists as much as a myth and metaphor as a fact. There is a tawdriness about it, yes, but also a particular flavor of romanticism that is not found anywhere else. The freedom represented by the childhood dream of running away to join the circus is a powerful draw to many musicians. At the same time, however, many songwriters, as adults, have come to realize the dark side of this dream as well. From the tension between these two sides of the dream, a storyline emerges.

Joni Mitchell: That Song About the Midway

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Joni Mitchell’s character in That Song About the Midway meets a man who embodies the dream of freedom. She describes him as “a devil wearing wings”. He takes lovers at will. Mitchell’s character pursues this man, literally, but also the dream he represents. But where the man finally must settle down and drop out of sight, Mitchell’s character is left, “midway down the midway, slowing down.” She is unable to awaken from this dream that no longer exists.

XTC: Dear Madame Barnum

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For XTC, the circus is used as a metaphor for a very specific point in a relationship gone sour. The narrator has come to see himself as a circus clown, whose only purpose is to perform for the amusement of the woman he is involved with. Worse, there are now other “clowns” on the scene. Dear Madame Barnum is a breakup song; this is one “clown” who must take off his makeup and flee the circus in order to pursue his freedom.

Suzy Ragsdale: Two on a Tightrope

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When I reviewed Suzy Ragsdale‘s EP Best Regards here, it was hard to choose a single song. I very nearly chose Two on a Tightrope. Here, Ragsdale gives us a man and a woman, coming from very different places, in love. The tension in their relationship is expressed through the metaphor tightrope walkers working without a net. This tension and its resolution is the most important thing to them, but to the spectators it is just one more thing to look at. In the end, the relationship does not survive. But Ragsdale is a generous writer. She could throw her characters off the tightrope in a spectacular fall. But instead, he flies away to other things. The female tightrope walkers fate is even more interesting; she weaves a net from the wire of the tightrope and rests there in relative safety, trying to make her peace with her lover’s departure.

Eliza Carthy: Mr Magnifico

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Finally, Eliza Carthy gives us Mr Magnifico. The circus connection here is tenuous. From the black and white photo in the CD booklet, we can see that Mr Magnifico’s curious name is a holdover from his days as a circus performer; he is dressed in this photo in what may well be the costume of a human cannonball. But, when we meet him in the song, the circus has left town without him some time ago. He is a man who, in small ways, seeks to relive his past glory every day. This suggested past in the circus is also a metaphor for the feelings of invincibility he had when he was eighteen.

Songwriters React To War

My parents came of age just in time for World War II. They used to tell me how the whole country united behind the war effort. My Father was proud of his small part in helping to defeat the Nazis; he saw it that way, even though he served in the Pacific. And the history books reinforce the fact that this was a war that everyone in America believed we had to win.

But my coming of age occurred during the Vietnam War. That same father took me to my first peace march. The country was sharply divided over whether we needed to win or leave. And it has been this way, in varying degrees, for every war the US has been involved in in my lifetime.

So just as does the public at large, songwriters feel a mix of emotions when their country goes to war. The emotions are always running high, and often drive the creation of some of their finest work.

The songs I am presenting do not present a balanced survey of songwriters’ responses to war. There are songwriters whose work on the subject suggests that they believe that the country is always right in wartime. But the examples of songs that I have heard from them seem to me lacking in nuance. Or perhaps, it’s just a question of my personal biases. In any case, I stand by my selections as showcase of the variety of ways songwriters deal with what is for many people a difficult subject to discuss.

Norman Blake: Graycoat Soldiers

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Norman Blake wrote Graycoat Soldiers in the shadow of the Vietnam War. But Blake evidently wanted some distance from his subject. So the song, about the homefront, takes place during the Civil War. The song is an eloquent depiction of those who get left behind in war.

Gray coat Soldiers is a first for me, and something you won’t see very often. I posted the song some time ago on Star Maker Machine. I won’t normally repeat myself this way, but I couldn’t see addressing this theme, and leaving this one out.

Tom Waits: Soldier‘s Things

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Tom Waits writes about the effect of war on people in a unique way. He imagines a war widow holding a yard sale, and selling all of her soldier husband’s decorations from the war. “Everything’s a dollar in this box”, she croons. By not specifying which war this was, Waits crafts a song which describes the pain of losing a loved one in a war in a universal way.

Peter Gabriel: Games Without Frontiers

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Peter Gabriel takes a mix of characters who represent current and historical figures, and makes them children on a beach. Their fight for territory is just a game to them, but Gabriel reminds us that the consequences are all too real. Gabriel is not writing about a specific war, but the attitude of the song is reflective of British attitudes about World War I. It would seem that this is a war that has cast a long shadow on the Brittish psyche. Some of the character names Gabriel uses also suggest World War II, but I think Gabriel did this to make the song more universal.

XTC: Generals and Majors

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XTC’s Generals and Majors appeared the album Black Sea. Much of this album was XTC’s response to the Falklands war. But Generals and Majors is about war in general. The band is criticizing the elements of society that seem to always want to lead us into war.

Richard Thompson: Dad‘s Gonna Kill Me

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Richard Thompson is not interested here in universality. Dad’s Gonna Kill Me is about the Iraq war. “Dad” is what the soldiers over there call Baghdad. Thompson takes the role of a soldier stationed there, and depicts him as believing that he will never return home alive.