Michelle Shocked: If Love Was a Train
[purchase]
Ah, the train as metaphor - most of the time it symbolizes a journey, whether beginning or ending, embracing a new life or escaping from an old one.
In a spirited segue from Paul's previous post, Michelle Shocked uses train symbolism at its most primal... and joyful... and non-compartmentalizable - "If love was a train I think I would ride a slow one". I adore how the musicality supports the premise... and you can just hear the train chugging along, picking up speed and then puffing steamily into its destination - woo! woo! indeed...
Michelle's musical career was ignited by a bootleg recording made around a Kerrville Folk Festival campfire on a Sony Walkman. Released in England as The Texas Campfire Tapes without Shocked’s authority, its success abroad enticed Mercury Records to offer the newcomer a recording contract.
Short Sharp Shocked remains in my Top Ten CDs, with eleven insightful, infectious and insistent tunes celebrating life... and little death - I remain a lifelong fan, throughout her various multi-genred incarnations...
