Public Domain: The Water Is Wide

Karla Bonoff (with James Taylor): The Water Is Wide

[purchase] - Click the Online Store button and then scroll down to Restless Nights

Tim O'Brien, Darol Anger, David Grisman, Michael Manring, Bela Fleck, John Jennings: The Water Is Wide

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Indigo Girls, Jewel, Sarah McLachlan: The Water Is Wide

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From the Wikipedia entry:

"The Water Is Wide" (also called "O Waly, Waly") is thought to be an English or Scottish folk song that has been sung since the 1600s and has seen considerable popularity through to the 21st century... Cecil Sharp collected this song during his journey to America in World War I.

The inherent challenges of love are made apparent in the narrator's imagery: "Love is handsome, love is kind" during the novel honeymoon phase of any relationship. However, as time progresses, "love grows old, and waxes cold". Even true love, the narrator admits, can "fade away like morning dew"...

This post came in a roundabout way, in that my first song choice for this theme was Shenandoah, and I remembered the Heritage CD I had, which contained a version by the lovely Jane Siberry - however, when I listened, it was over 7 minutes long and a child's voice chimed in and... it just didn't resonate... so I used only Laura Love's interpretation...

However, also on the Heritage CD (an amazing project produced by fiddler Darol Anger, with a terrific array of guest stars) was a gorgeous rendition sung by Tim O'Brien, joined by other brilliant musicians... which in turn made me remember the Lilith Fair collaboration (with Indigo Girls, Jewel and then Sarah McLachlan taking turns on the verses)... which brought to mind an old favorite a few years post-college by Karla Bonoff, joined by James Taylor who lends his distinctive guitar and voice....

All are different and all are goosebump-inducing - as Darol says in his liner notes:

"In my life between the cracks as an art/folk musician, I've always dealt with the metaphor of traditional music as a river connecting the present with our parents, grandparents and on back It's a good metaphor because you can just about tease it to death. In that spirit, I've been moved to try to bring some old songs a ways downriver... They've been alternately worn smooth and built up again and again, polished to mirrors, so we see ourselves in them. They are truly emissaries from upriver, reminding us of who we are and where we come from. Point us in a direction. Are you going upriver or down?"

Off-Genre: Under The Water

Jewel: Under the Water

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Sometimes off-genre goes terribly wrong, and you want to beg the artist to keep their day job, or in musicians case I suppose I mean stick to what they're good at. Unfortunately, Jewel, the folky Alaskan girl known for her hits "Who Will Save Your Soul?" and "You Were Meant for Me" from her crazily popular debut album "Pieces of You", sometimes doesn't listen to the wisdom of sticking with what you know and likes to stray.

Jewel released a whole album of pseudo-dance music in 2003, complete with her in neon clothing on the cover. In interviews she said it was to step out of the box people had put her in and to also be a bit ironic. Unfortunately for her, and for us, putting out ironic music looks more like a sell-out than anything else. What she is good at is stripped-down, acoustic, heartfelt and simple. Things that let her voice and words shine through.

But she's always had a penchant for such behavior. This little gem (yeah, that's sarcasm) is from the soundtrack to the '90s teen flick The Craft, and was released shortly after her debut album came out. The song features retro synth beats that remind me of late 70's soul, and a lovely interlude where Jewel attempts to rap. Any white girl who grew up on a ranch, can yodel, and is married to a rodeo star really doesn't have any business rapping. Alas, she was young when she did this, at least she hasn't tried it again since. Jewel, we love your simple acoustic stuff, please stick with what you do best.

If: If I... - The Wizard of Oz Edition

Jackson Browne/Jewel: If I Only Had a Brain

Roger Daltrey: If I Only Had a Heart

Nathan Lane/Jewel/Jackson Browne/Roger Daltrey: If I Only Had the Nerve

Nathan Lane and Full Company: If I Were King of the Forest

[purchase] - also available in VHS here...

Poor Darius - one of our dear fellow Star Makers has been out of commission for the last few weeks, suffering from computer problems, which it appears will take a while to resolve. He sent me an e-mail yesterday (in response to my previous note of concern for him), a bit of which I reprint here:

-----Original Message-----
From: Darius
To: ozwoman321
Sent: Wed, Feb 24, 2010 11:37 pm
Subject: If Darius could post...

Meanwhile, I noticed this week's theme. Do you remember that version I sent you a while back of If I Only Had a Brain?

Sadly, I looked everywhere, on *both* of my computers, and cannot seem to find the version he sent me - I am hoping my offerings above might be a charming substitute...

[This blog post was already written but not yet uploaded... and I went out for the evening, only to return to find Darius is back in the cyber-saddle... with the version he referenced - great news... and I'm still going ahead with my homage!]

It is no secret on SMM that I am an Oz fanatic - about a decade ago, I was flipping through the TV channels and virtually stumbled across a treasure on PBS: The Wizard of Oz in Concert... with quite the eclectic cast: in addition to the four main characters listed above, Natalie Cole was Glinda the Good Witch, Joel Grey the Wizard, Debra Winger the Wicked Witch of the West... Phoebe Snow, Lucie Arnaz, Ronnie Spector, Ry Cooder, Dr. John and David Sanborn were featured... and The Boys Choir of Harlem played various Munchkins...

I found out later that 100% of the proceeds from the sale of the CD benefited The Children's Defense Fund, which was the proverbial icing - it remains a joy to hear and see my literary traveling companions brought to life by some of my musical heroes...

And Toto too? - and Toto too!

Ghosts and Zombies: I Thought I Saw You Last Night

Steve Poltz: I Thought I Saw You Last Night

[purchase] (One Left Shoe CD)

I will go on the record (no pun intended) now as admitting that I loved Pieces of You, Jewel's first album, when it was released in 1995 - one of our local radio stations (WHSE, 103.5) was sponsoring her South Florida concert and, as a marketing ploy, selling tickets for $1.03 - I bought seven (a minivan full) and my friends and I thoroughly enjoyed the evening (complete with Duncan Sheik as the opening act!)...

From what I recall, I bought Steve Poltz's first CD because of his Jewel connection - he "discovered" her, they co-wrote You Were Meant for Me, they were romantically entwined... and he toured with her as her opening act and a member of her band...

I love this catchy, upbeat song... about a guy who purports to be brave except when it comes to the idea of facing an ex-love - he imagines her everywhere, conjuring metaphors of ghostly apparitions from obviously still-haunted past memories (and yes, that is Jewel on harmony vocals)...

Here are two more Ghost songs I posted for our Duets theme in late-January, should you be interested: Conversation with a Ghost by Ellis Paul (with Patty Griffin)... and Kate and the Ghost of Lost Love by Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer - enjoy!