TELL ME YOU LOVE ME. AND FOR CHRISSAKES, USE YOUR WORDS.
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Too many singer-songwriters. Too many love-you/hate-you songs. Good subject; insipid lyrics. A song of love or loss should sneak up on you, clobbering your emotions as you unload the dishwasher. Make you cry big tears into the cake mix. (Maybe while laughing!) Make you think how true the song is, and how somehow no one ever said this truth before. Eleven examples, in alphabetical order.
- “After Your Orgasm”–David Wilcox
- “Blind Love”–Tom Waits
- “Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t My Baby?”–Louis Jordan
- “I’ve Got the World On A String”–Frank Sinatra
- “Louise”–John Lee Hooker
- “Spring Wind (Live)”–Greg Brown
- “Such a Night”–David Bromberg
- “Summertime Thing”–Chuck Prophet
- “Those Three Days”–Lucinda Williams
- “Volver, Volver”–Los Alegres de Teran
- “Whatta Man”–Salt ‘n’ Pepa
Listen and learn.