Shelter without the elephant in the room? Well ... Jordan *did* once bring it up with a post about the one and only Merry Clayton, who did the incredible backup ... nay ... co-vocals with Mick Jagger on Gimme Shelter (from Let It Bleed) - screenshot above. Myself? I am such an old Stones man that in one of my classes today, the first thing that came to mind was to play <Out of Time> when the clock ran out on my students' quiz time . ("Baby, baby, baby, you're out of time ...") And yes, I've been known to post here about the band on occasion [ here and here and more ]
Gimme Shelter certainly ranks among my favorites - not just Stones favorites. I can't help but stomp my feet when I hear the song kick in full force. Certainly it has something to do with classic Keith style: the songs just reeks of Richards' guitar. Probably the reverb on the intro riffs? And then there's the message in the lyrics. Again, so Stones: murder, rape, shot, flood, fire, storm, war ... a kiss away. Shelter from a kiss, or war is just a kiss away? I tell ya, I'm gonna fade away if I don't get some shelter.
At times of terror and turbulence we, as humans, often seek solace or succour from a higher power, quite whatever that might be. And, no, this isn't extending a troll to the many millions who hold dear such an idea, certain of the reality. I get the need, sure, I get the need, even often wishing I could accept what I can't fully embrace. But I don't believe, arguably more agnostic than atheist, but fully respect the want of others to have a faith. So much so that I can absolutely love the musical convictions offered by those with belief and surety. Religious music can move me to tears and frequently does. Here, as the ravages rained down upon Ukraine fill our 24 hour rolling news channels, I feel sure, were I in the maelstrom of Mariupol, that it would be songs like this that would be filling my head.
One could easily assume the above, as performed by Louisiana bluesman Tab Benoit, to be an ancient spiritual, handed down from generation to generation, even brought over on the slave ships, so earthy, rugged and real the entreaty. I certainly assumed so, Benoit having the knack of uprooting the overlooked and arcane to cover for his repertoire of authentic sounding country blues from the bayous. Having a voice like an earthquake and adept workmanlike precision on his guitar certainly hinders little. Hell, if you forgive the use of the word in this context, he just makes you want to believe in his God. (Or, at least, to take the Marc Cohn option, "Ma'am, I am tonight!")
But it isn't an old hymn, as I discovered, coming from a much more recent source. Here, above, is the original version, as appearing on Buddy Miller's 2004 album, Universal House of Prayer. I sometimes feel an overt Christian faith is deemed as disadvantageous in the world of rock and roll, not least as the Devil is said to have the best songs. Well, if that is the case, someone forgot to tell Buddy Miller, hotshot guitarist and record producer, who has played alongside both Robert Plant and Emmylou Harris, and produced, amongst others, Richard Thompson and Patty Griffin. This is as well as having his own solo career and that as a duet, with his wife, Julie, who actually wrote the song featured. Below is a live version, Buddy with three of his famous friends, Emmylou, Patty and, also a recipient of his production work, Shawn Colvin.
Quite apart from the couldn't be clearer lyrical thrust, is the odd fact that this self same song was used as the theme of a TV reality show in the U.S. Named Sons of Guns, it was about the life and business of a gun dealership. Which sorta sits uncomfortably. So, get rid the thought of it selling guns, and concentrate on applying it to losing the guns, and tanks, and bombs, from Ukraine, or, at least, from the hands of Putin's "military exercise". Maybe offered up as a prayer?
Have a last version, this time from Canada's excellent Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, joined here by no less than Mrs Springsteen herself, Patti Scialfa:
We are thinking about refugees this week: people seeking shelter. Sadly, issues like this come to the forefront when there are wars, when in fact, they are on-going problems that the world faces and often turns a blind eye to on a daily basis. Something is koyaanisqatsi. Maybe many things?
Most definitions of the word inshallah combine a mix of fate/kismet and hope. The word allah is clearly embedded inside and the meaning is: if God wills it so. I would guess that the average speaker of Arabic/Turkish utters the word every day.
it shouldn't be a great surprise that Sting chose it for one of his songs: he is no foreigner to Arabic/Islamic culture (see: Desert Rose), and he comes across as sensitive to multi-culturalism. He himself is an immigrant (see: Englishman in New York)
The song is about refugees coming to Europe from Islamic countries: but he also notes that the sense of "I hope" is an everyday occurance in Western culture - if we are attuned to it. He notes that when you cross a busy intersection in the city, you would be wise to say "inshallah, I'll make it to the other sidewalk". There is an element of fate and luck every time you step off the sidewalk.
And then I try to put myself in the shoes of a refugee (of a war, of hopeless poverty, homelessness), where it's not just a search for protection from tonight's rain or snow, but the longer-term need for a place that's safe. And I can't do it. Sure - I've been without shelter in various bad weather. Short-term, all. But not without hope. And that's where inshallah comes in.
Sting isn't the only one to include inshallah in his lyrics, but it comes as no surprise to me that most other examples are not from US musicians. My better half has on occasion suggested that I refrain from using the word in our private conversations when we are in the US - for example in a mall - because of the unwanted attention it might draw. (I did say that people from this part of the world utter the word frequently every day) Lyrics.com suggests about 500 songs with the word, and the artists are primarily European resident Arabic rappers. No big surprise.
Inshallah, you'll enjoy the song. Inshallah, you'll put yourself in the (mental) shoes of someone seeking shelter - and do what you can. As Sting says in French "I hope this songs engenders your empathy" (my liberal translation) And of course ... the venue for the clip above adds to the poignancy.
Yes, I know it's a cover. In fact, all but one of the songs on her first album are covers, arguably all the more surprising, with her subsequent three records being visually all self-penned, at least including co-writes. But it is to her eponymous debut I return the most, giving life and substance to songs I am otherwise not overly fond of.
Named down to her love of Charlie Parker, her neo-jazz skronkings have soundtracked many an apocalypse, making this post entirely appropriate for the moment. I jest; the name comes from the more prosaic open mouth she made as a hungry infant, seeking sustenance. Plus, it is a whole lot easier to say than her given name, Jasmine Lucilla Elizabeth Jennifer van den Bogaerde, almost as much of a mouthful as the dissimilarly derided Dido, for whom it is compulsory to mock with the full extravagance of her christened names. Odd that, but I digress, not least as Birdy has a far greater claim on the Peerage through the Lords and Barons that abound her family tree. As well, interestingly, the actor, Dirk Bogarde, her late great-uncle. And, worry not, neo-jazz skronkings are the last thing she could be accused of.
The original song, by electronica-dance merchants the xx, is such a slight tendril of a tune that it is, to my mind, remarkable what Birdy brings to it, her skilled and school piano-play an altogether more stately setting for the somewhat allegorical lyric. If this theme was designed to show a light on the horror Putin is unleashing on his neighbour state, I fear the words are overly vague, but I am disregarding that point. Just the act of typing out Putin is a psycho monster makes me feel better, wishing that alone could give some relief to the beleaguered Ukraine. Of course it can't, but I can only hope that someone somewhere is plotting a sly, sneaky bullet in him, sooner rather than later.
But back to Birdy. Like most people, I first heard of her as she brought Bon Iver's song, above, to a wider audience, at the same time, rendering it bearable to those, like me, who can appreciate the construction but cannot stand his enuretic voice. (Apologies to his potent fanbase, who, as he delves deeper and deeper into studio tricks and FX, goes from bad to much, much worse.) What I didn't know, until writing this piece, was that she was a sickening fourteen years old when she cut this cover. Eek, simultaneously discovering I am somewhat older than either of her parents. Given I am known to be especially curmudgeonly toward child prodigies, perhaps it is as well I didn't, at the time I enjoyed the song and bought the album. That was 11 years ago, the other covers on her debut split between the left field indie faves and the sole chestnut, James Taylor's ageless Fire and Rain.
So, what of her later stuff? Casting her net wide for sympathetic co-writers, her next two releases show her finding her feet, it taking 2021's Young Hearts to display the sense of maturity she pretended earlier. Surrender, the song below, is one such example, which brings on board the not inconsiderable talents of Daniel Tashian (Lissie, Kacey Musgraves), a fella who knows his hooks.
Why have I chosen Surrender? I guess as my heart hopes Zelensky won't, even if my head suggests he has to, in the absence of the NATO support he so strongly wants, and that NATO are so scared of providing.
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